Jesus, the Life of our Physical Bodies

The Greek word that has been translated as “salvation” in the New Testament means much more than many North American churches have taught. All churches teach that “salvation” means forgiveness of our sins. Others further teach that “salvation” also means deliverance from the demonic and physical healing. However, even in those churches that teach the full scope of our salvation, “healing” tends to have the very restricted meaning of laying hands and seeing the sick made well. But consider the following.  

When we think of our forgiveness from sins, we tend to think of that as having to do with our inner person, something that does not affect the body in any way. However, the Bible says, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23:

Paul said that Christians can experience a fierce battle with sin in that they want to do good, but then find themselves committing sin or not doing the good they want to do. He expressed it this way (Romans 7:21 -24):

According to this Scripture, while in our inner being we may delight in God’s law and want to be obedient, opposition can come from the members of our body. It is further stated that our body is a body of death. Why is it a body of death? Because rebellious sin is in the members of our body, and the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23 ).  

So the question is posed: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). The answer: “Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Jesus saved us from this dilemma through His work on the cross. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus bore our sins and paid the penalty for them on the cross. But how did He bear our sins? We tend to think that He bore them in His inner person. But 1 Peter 2:24 says: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed”, and Romans 7:4 says: “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” So Christ paid in his body the penalty for the sin at work in the members of our body. What does this mean for us?  

First, it means that many of us are living out of an incomplete understanding of our salvation because we have invited Jesus to be Saviour only of our soul and spirit. But He also died to be Saviour of our bodies, and some of us may need to receive Him in that way now, after many years of living with Him as Saviour of our inner person.  

It also means (Romans 8):

In other words, we do not yet have our new resurrected body. Our body is “dead because of sin”. However, the Holy Spirit in our spirit is ready to give life to our mortal body. This life is not natural life, but “zoe” life, the life of God Himself. Where many of us make a mistake in our thinking about healing is that we understand it to be the receiving of a supernatural impartation of life that heals us, but we then go out and live our lives purely in our natural energy. Natural energy is insufficient for a spiritual life, and so we weaken and get sick again. We need daily to recognize that one job of the Holy Spirit is to put supernatural life into our bodies, day by day and moment by moment. The only thing stopping that from happening is our not receiving what He has to give. For many of us, we have not received because we have not known that He is giving. This is one more instance where we need to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (Romans 12:2).  

At the time I first realized this truth, I was fighting a cold. I had the first symptoms: scratchy throat, some nasal congestion, and tired eyes. Because I was not used to living with the mind-set that God’s life is constantly pouring into my life, I had to frequently remind myself that this was happening, and I would consciously choose: “I receive that life”. By the end of the week, the symptoms had not progressed. But I had some pleasant surprises. I was not needing as much sleep, and some of the pain from various repetitive stress injuries had gone down. It was not a huge step forward, but it was significant to me, someone who had lived 50 years needing way more sleep than the average person and, at that time, on the verge of a full-blown tennis elbow injury. I took the next step of beginning to share this understanding with others. As I shared with the first couple, I could feel my throat start to get sore – not a good sign if you believe that God in you is giving life, which to my mind includes health, to my mortal body. That night I woke repeatedly with an ever-increasing burning in my throat – not quite like the pain following a tonsillectomy, but a close approximation. I got up the next morning hoarse and very sore. I had a choice: measure the Word of God by my circumstances, or measure my circumstances by the Word. I chose the latter. I went to spend time with the Lord and to rehearse again in my mind what I already knew: the Spirit was putting life into my body, I received that life, I refused to back down on the obvious truth of the Word. I also began to read other Scriptures on the same topic, which boosted my belief that I had truth. Then I suddenly realized that my throat was no longer sore. It was somewhat hoarse and I still had some nasal congestion – so not a full healing – but a significant confirmation that the life of God was indeed flowing into my body. No one had laid hands, and I had not asked God for healing. I had simple reminded myself of the truth of what the Holy Spirit was doing.  

When we pray with people, asking the Lord for healing of something that is wrong with their bodies, we find a phenomenon that has been baffling and frustrating – people who receive miraculous healings and then return to their former state, as if no healing had occurred at all. Now sometimes, Satan robs through deception. He comes and counterfeits symptoms. The person who was healed then comes to the mistaken conclusion that maybe nothing happened after all, and they follow that deception back into their symptoms. Sometimes, too, and sometimes Satan robs because people still have strongholds in their lives which allow him to regain his hold in the healed person’s life. Jesus once gave a very clear warning that illustrates this (John 5:14 ): “Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” But is it possible that people may also “lose” their healing for a third reasons: because they have a wrong idea of what healing is?  

When I lay hands on a sick person, is that person’s idea of what I am doing that I am asking Jesus to give me a gift of healing which I can then pass on to the sick one? Because, if the person receiving healing believes he needs someone to lay hands in order to receive any help into his body, how can he live out his healing on a daily basis? Instead, he is in danger of doing what again leads to sickness – living life out of purely natural energy, and shortchanging himself of receiving an unlimited supply of God’s life and healing through the Spirit who is in him. The fact is, that person has as much of the healing life of God within him as I do. So why lay hands? Because Jesus says to. Because He loves to do things that keep us in loving relationship. But the truth of the matter is, healing is not a gift from Jesus that I pass on to another and hope he doesn’t lose it or squander it. Healing is the life of Jesus flowing from me to the sick person. And that person, once made well, can walk in a continual flow of Jesus’ life into his body through the Spirit within him – if he is made aware that he has this miracle happening within him.  

The flow of God’s life into our mortal bodies has more value than simply release from bodily ailments. It flows also so that we have health, energy and strength for whatever it is God gives us to do.  

People who first experience divine physical healing can find themselves the target of the most severe demonic attacks they have ever experienced in their lives. Sometimes that comes is what looks like a return of symptom. But if they will rebuke Satan and stand on the truth of what they know happened, symptoms again disappear, proving that God has healed, but Satan is trying to deceive them into believing their way back into their ailment. Other times, the attack consists of mind games: thoughts that come which war against confidence in God’s healing – “do you really believe God healed you”, “don’t be a fool; nothing really happened”, “that wasn’t God; that was the enemy tricking you”. Why does the enemy attack physical healing with a ferocity beyond that of his attacks on other things in our life?  

Satan operates out of a belief that sickness is the ultimate weapon in turning people from God. When he asked permission of God to afflict Job so as to get Job to reject God, he said to God, with regard to the final trial he wanted to send Job’s way (Job 2):

Where does that belief come from? It comes from what Satan knows about the effect death has in our lives. Hebrews 2 says:

If death is the last enemy, and Satan’s last hold on our life, and if the salvation of Jesus is sufficient to set us free from death and the fear of death, then it makes sense that Satan would fiercely fight healing and anything else to do with our freedom in this area. Because once we are free of death, Satan is completely defeated in our lives, and what can stop us in moving the kingdom of Jesus Christ forward?  

But is the salvation of Jesus sufficient to set us free from the fear of death? Let’s look at how we become entrapped in death and – yes - how Jesus is able to set us free.  

Following Adam’s sin, death reigned in the world: “[B]y the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man” (Romans 5:17 ). Death is not a future reality that people face: death is a present reality, for Christians as well as non-Christians: “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin” (Romans 8:10 ). That’s the bad news.  

The good news is that, while “by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). The good news is that, although “your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:10-11). The good news is also: “because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). The good news is that, because of what Jesus has done for us, our sin is replaced with Christ’s righteousness, and death is replaced with life, the ongoing flow of Jesus’ life into us. So we can visit that sick person and not be fearful of succumbing to their dread disease. We can take that call to come at 2:00 AM to deal with some tragedy and not fear being unable to do a good day’s work the next day. We can go that extra mile God asks of us without worry that we will be sucked so dry of energy and rest we won’t be able to function.  

So how shall we then live? Romans 12:1 says: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 6:13-14 says: “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Our response is to “present” or “offer” our bodies to God. The Greek word for “offer” or “present” means “to place at someone else’s disposal”, “to bring into fellowship or intimacy with another person”, “to stand by and with”. This speaks of our daily life in communion with Jesus. The difference is that we usually think of that union in terms of the inner person relating to God. These portions of Scripture state that the body is to be in that kind of intimate relationship with God as well. And why not? After all, we “are the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27 ). He has no other body to do His work on earth than our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:20 ), the dwelling place of God. Is it any wonder that God has such a high regard for our bodies and works to bring life and sanctity to them as well as to our inner person? That is why the Scripture says (1 Thessalonians 5:23 ): “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”