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Objection: By Jesus' stripes we were spiritually, not physically, healed

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The Greek word healed (iaomai) in 1 Peter 2:24

According to Strong's concordance, the word iaomai (used in 1 Peter 2:24) is the word from which the Greek word for physician (iatros) is derived. (Iaomai is Strong's word #2390, iatros is #2395; you are invited to look these up for yourself.) See if you think this word (iaomai) could possibly mean spiritual healing in these New Testament verses where it is used:

"But speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed" -- Matthew 8:8.

"His servant was healed in the selfsame hour -- Matthew 8:13.

"And besought him, that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death" -- John 4:47.

"She [the woman with the issue of blood] was healed of that plague" -- Mark 5:29.


"The power of the Lord was present to heal them" -- Luke 5:17.

"Which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases" -- Luke 6:17.

"There went virtue out of him, and healed them all" -- Luke 6:19.

"But say in a word, and my servant shall be healed" -- Luke 7:7.

"Certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities" -- Luke 8:2.

"How she [the woman with the issue of blood] was healed immediately" -- Luke 8:47.

"And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick" -- Luke 9:2.

"And healed them that had need of healing" -- Luke 9:11.


"And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father" -- Luke 9:42.

"And one of them [the ten lepers], when he saw that he was healed..." -- Luke 17:15.

"He touched his ear, and healed him" -- Luke 22:51.

"And besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death" -- John 4:47.

"And he that was healed [the cripple (differently abled person) at the pool of Bethesda] wist not who it was..." -- John 5:13.

"And the lame man which was healed held Peter and John" -- Acts 3:11.

"Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed" -- Acts 9:34.


"And healing all that were oppressed of the devil" -- Acts 10:38.

"Laid his hands on him and healed him" -- Acts 28:8.

"Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed" -- Hebrews 12:13.

"And pray one for another, that ye may be healed" -- James 5:16 (in a passage telling what to do if there is "any sick among you").

A related word, also derived from iaomai, is used in 1 Cor 12:9, 28 and 30 when speaking of gift(s) of healing (iama, Strong's word #2386).

There are a few places in the New Testament where the word could possibly (but not conclusively) be said to apply to a more general kind of healing. To be fair, I will list them:


"He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted" -- Luke 4:18.

"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." -- Matthew 13:15.

"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." -- John 12:40.

However, this handful of verses is used unfairly by opponents of healing to attempt to prove that "healed" does not "always" involve physical healing. The fact is that God is the total healer of his people, and he wants you healed in every area of your life. Although heal could be construed in more general terms in these verses, this does not mean that heal is exclusive of physical healing. I would protest that the people of Bible times did not make a big distinction between different "kinds" of healing, and that God's healing in these verses is "including, but not limited to" physical healing. God also "heals" emotional hurts and other areas of your life, but there is no basis for saying that God's healing promised in these verses does not include physical healing.



1 Peter 2:24 is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4-5, which also speaks of physical healing

The word Isaiah used for healed can be used literally or figuratively, as the English word can. In the vast majority of cases, it obviously refers to physical healing. (I'll let you verify this yourself in your favorite concordance.) In the context in Isaiah 53, Jesus bore our sicknesses and our pains (see elsewhere in this book for proof that this is the correct translation of the Hebrew) and was wounded and bruised for us. Since the context is physical distress, we should conclude that the healing talked about here is also physical. Otherwise, he would not be substituting for us by bearing sickness.


You were not spiritually healed by Jesus' stripes anyway!


Another reason that the "healed spiritually" argument is pathetic is that you were NOT healed spiritually by Jesus' stripes. The sinner's spirit is not healed. When you are born again, you receive a new spirit and become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17, Gal 5:15) -- the old passes away and all things become new (2 Cor 5:17)! This is speaking of your spirit, since obviously you keep the same soul and body you had before you were born again.

Jesus told Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). In verse 6, he explained, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In other words, the first birth is a natural birth, but the second birth is a spiritual birth. Your spirit is born of the Holy Spirit when you are born again. Your spirit is not "healed" -- a new spirit is born inside you, replacing the old, sinful one.


Read what Ezekiel prophesied that God would do:


Ezekiel 11:19-20:

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.


Ezekiel 36:26-27:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

When you are born again, your spirit is not healed -- you get a new spirit. It's the difference between having an old beat-up car and having someone "heal" it so that it rides like a newer car, versus trading in your beat-up car for a brand-new, fancy one!

Even the argument that Peter simply meant that we were reconciled to God falls apart when you consider that this work was done on the cross by the shedding of Jesus' blood. The shedding of blood was required to atone for sin, and Jesus' death on the cross was sufficient to reconcile you to God. The stripes were laid on Jesus before he went to the cross; this was a separate event. His body was broken so that he would bear the curse in the Law of Moses, which included physical sickness and agony. Jesus not only atoned for your sins, but also bore the curse as your substitute to free you from the penalty for sin in this earth, of which sickness is a part (see Deuteronomy 28).



Peter believed in, taught and practiced physical healing

There is no question that Peter believed that healing was part of the gospel; his shadow alone brought healing to the masses (Acts 5:15-16) and he was used in notable miracles of healing. Of course, he had been there in person when Jesus said that his disciples would lay hands on the sick in his name and they would recover. God used him during Jesus' ministry to bring healing where he preached the gospel.

In Acts 3:1-16 and Acts 4:7-10, Peter (with John) got a crippled beggar healed and attributed the act to faith in the name of Jesus Christ and to Jesus Christ personally.

In Acts 4:29-33, the apostles, including Peter, clearly knowing that miracles and healings are the will of God, prayed for them.

In Acts 5:12-16, people were healed when even Peter's shadow fell on them. The people of Jerusalem laid the sick in the streets so that they would be healed through the anointing that was on Peter!


In Acts 9:32-35, Peter raised up a man who had been paralyzed for eight years, attributing the healing to Jesus Christ.

In Acts 9:36-42, Peter raised Tabitha from the dead.

In Acts 10:38, Peter preached how Jesus Christ healed all who were oppressed of the devil. This was Peter's doctrine on the matter.

It should be indisputable that Peter believed in, taught, and practiced physical healing through Jesus Christ. It should not be a surprise that Peter would include a statement about "by his stripes (bruise) you were healed;" Peter obviously understood that healing was part of the gospel of Christ.


Does the word for in 1 Peter 2:25 prove that the context is not physical healing?

One of the more "scholarly" objectors I've read argued that the use of the word "for" in 1 Peter 2:25 proves that the rest of that verse logically connects with 1 Peter 2:24. This supposedly proves that Peter was not talking about physical healing, but was referring to Isaiah's prophecy about sheep going astray.


It is correct that Isaiah's statement, "By his stripes we are healed," is immediately followed by the statement about how we like sheep have gone astray. However, Isaiah was talking about physical healing, as shown by the way the Matthew quotes the verses immediately preceding the one in question. He said that Jesus bore our sicknesses and carried our pains. This speaks of physical healing, not spiritual healing. That is the context in Isaiah 53.

The objector said that the word for indicates that the "healing" Peter talked about was returning "unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." It would appear from reading this passage that the returning would more likely correspond to the part of 1 Peter 2:24 about being dead to sins and living unto righteousness, not to the somewhat parenthetical reference to physical healing.


If Peter were talking about spiritual redemption when he quoted Isaiah, it would be the only place where the bruise of Christ is said to redeem us spiritually. Elsewhere his blood is said to redeem us spiritually. His bruise redeemed us physically.


Conclusion

Even with no knowledge of Greek or Hebrew, you now have definite proof that Peter could not possibly have been saying that you were "spiritually healed" by the stripes of Jesus in 1 Peter 2:24.

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