Healing Of Sin

Physical and emotional illness is often related to underlying patterns of sinful attitude and behavior. In such situations, genuine repentance is an essential component of healing.

The first and deepest form of healing that Christ brings is the forgiveness of sin. Salvation from sin is healing at the deepest level. Even though a person has been forgiven and received into the family of God, the practice of sin in his or her life is often related to physical and emotional illness. The Lord promises Israel that if they keep the commandments God will not bring on them the diseases God brought on the Egyptians (Exod. 15:26; Deut. 7:15). Paul warns the Corinthians that failing to properly recognize the body of Christ will result in physical ailments and even death (1 Cor. 11:29–32). The connection between sin and sickness has been noted by psychologists and physicians. Howard R. and Martha E. Lewis write:

Even cancer has recently been linked to emotion. Researchers are finding that cancer victims are often people who have long felt hopeless, who have believed that their lives are doomed to despair. The onset of the disease in many cases is associated with a series of overwhelming losses that make the person finally give up entirely. (Psychosomatics: How Your Emotions Can Damage Your Health [1972], 7.)

The Gospels record that in some instances Jesus responded in anger to illness. When told that Peter's mother-in-law was sick, Jesus is said to have rebuked the fever (Luke 4:39). This is a distinctively different attitude from that of some Christian writers, who see illness as redemptive. Rather than being redemptive, physical sickness can be a sign that a person is falling apart at a deeper level.

The realization that physical illness can symbolize a deeper sickness caused Dr. Paul Tournier to abandon the merely physical treatment of his patients and to incorporate both prayer and psychology, in attempting to heal his patients at all levels. It is sometimes helpful to initiate a prayer of repentance for inner healing before praying for physical healing. When Jesus healed the paralytic, who was let down through the roof, he first pronounced forgiveness on the man. In this case, the physical healing was a sign that spiritual healing had occurred. People have been known to be healed spontaneously after participating in a prayer of forgiveness for those who had wronged them. On the other hand, a lack of forgiveness appears to be a major obstacle in receiving healing. This may be why Jesus links the forgiveness of one's enemies with answers to prayer (Mark 11:24–25). A person who refuses to forgive what others have done is closing himself or herself off to another person, and in so doing is rendered incapable of opening himself or herself to the Lord. Jesus said that loving one's neighbor is closely related to loving God; it is in doing both that a person fulfills the Word of God (Matt. 22:38–40). James' classic statement on healing includes a directive to "?confess your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you may be healed?" (James 5:16).