The gifts of healing: praying for the sick in the Bible

A man with leprosy approaches Jesus. No one was supposed to touch him; the law obliged him to live apart and cry “unclean” when anyone came near. He kneels and says a sentence that holds all the faith and all the fear of a sick person:

“And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.”
Mark 1:40-41

“If thou wilt, thou canst.” He did not doubt Jesus’ power; he doubted his will, like so many sick people after him. And Jesus answered first with a gesture—he touched him—and then with a word: “I will.” That is God’s heart towards those who suffer. Among the gifts of the Spirit Paul names “the gifts of healing” (1 Corinthians 12:9). This article is part of the series The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. We will look at what they are, how Jesus healed, what the Bible commands the church, what to think when healing does not come, what place medicine has, and what abuses have wounded so many. At the end there is a prayer.

Why “gifts of healings,” in the plural

In the original both words are plural: “gifts of healings.” It is not an unimportant detail. Paul is not speaking of a power someone possesses and applies at will, as if there were such a thing as “a healer.” He is speaking of varied graces, and each healing is itself a gift: a gift God gives the sick person through another’s prayer. No one “has” healing. The one who heals is God.

The plural also suggests variety: healings of body and of soul, sudden and gradual, through the laying on of hands, through the prayer of the community, by way of a treatment. The Spirit does not work on a production line.

God heals: it is his character

Long before the New Testament, God introduced himself to his people like this: “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26). The psalmist sings it: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases” (Psalm 103:3). And Jeremiah prays with the simplicity of one who has no other physician: “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed” (Jeremiah 17:14). Sickness is no part of God’s good creation or of his final kingdom. To ask for healing is not to bother God: it is to ask him to be who he is.

Jesus and the sick

A good part of the Gospels is taken up with Jesus’ encounters with the sick. The first thing the text tells us is what he felt: he “saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). He healed in many ways: with a word, with a touch, with mud, at a distance. To a paralysed man who had lain there thirty-eight years he put a question that respected his freedom: “Wilt thou be made whole?” (John 5:6). He had no method; he had compassion.

Matthew sees in all this the fulfilment of Isaiah: he “healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:16-17). Jesus’ healings were signs: foretastes of the kingdom of God, of that world in which there will be no more pain.

And he corrected an idea that made the sick suffer twice over: that every illness is punishment for a sin.

“And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”
John 9:2-3

In the Church of the apostles

Jesus sent his own with a charge and a condition: “Heal the sick… freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). And they “anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them” (Mark 6:13). After Pentecost, a man lame from birth got up at the temple gate “walking, and leaping, and praising God” (Acts 3:8). The sick were carried into the streets of Jerusalem (5:15-16). On Malta, Paul prayed for the father of Publius, laid his hands on him, and he was healed (28:8); and on that same voyage he was accompanied by Luke, who was a physician.

One sentence of Peter’s says everything about who does the work: “Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise” (Acts 9:34). Not “I make you whole.” The one who prays is not the source: he is the one who points.

Prayer for the sick according to James

The Bible did not leave this ministry only in the hands of extraordinary people. It placed it in the normal life of every church:

“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
James 5:14-16

The sick person calls; those responsible for the community go, pray, anoint with oil in the name of the Lord. There is the prayer of faith, there is forgiveness, there are brothers and sisters confessing to and praying for one another. The Catholic and Orthodox churches celebrate here the sacrament of the anointing of the sick; evangelical churches practise prayer with anointing with oil. In different forms, all obey the same text. And every believer may pray for someone who is ill: “pray one for another, that ye may be healed.”

When healing does not come

This must be said clearly, because the peace of many depends on it: in the Bible not everyone is healed, and it is not for lack of faith.

Paul, through whom God healed so many, carried “a thorn in the flesh.” He prayed three times, and the answer was not healing but a word: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Timothy had “often infirmities” of the stomach, and Paul did not rebuke him for unbelief: he recommended a remedy (1 Timothy 5:23). Trophimus was left behind: “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick” (2 Timothy 4:20). Epaphroditus “was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him” (Philippians 2:27): he recovered by mercy, not because someone commanded it.

If the apostle could not heal his dearest fellow workers at will, no one can promise it today. Why are some healed and others not? We do not know, and it is more honest to say so than to invent a reason. We do know where we stand in history: we already have “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” and still we groan, “waiting for… the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). Every healing in this life is a sign and a foretaste; even Lazarus died again. Complete healing has a date:

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Revelation 21:4

Read Paul’s thorn: when God’s grace is sufficient and How to pray when your health fails.

Healing and medicine are not enemies

Luke, Paul’s companion and the author of a Gospel, was “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). The prophet Isaiah ordered a lump of figs to be laid on King Hezekiah’s boil (Isaiah 38:21). The good Samaritan bound up the wounds, “pouring in oil and wine.” And Jesus himself took the obvious for granted: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Matthew 9:12).

God heals through prayer, through medicine and, very often, through both together. Doctors’ knowledge and the effectiveness of a treatment are his gifts too. So praying for healing never means abandoning treatment. If you believe God has healed you, give thanks and ask your doctor to confirm it; he or she will tell you whether you can stop a medicine. That is how Jesus dealt with the lepers, whom he told to show themselves to the priest so that their cure could be verified.

Abuses that have wounded many

Blaming the sick person. “You were not healed because you lacked faith,” or “because you are hiding a sin.” This lays a cruel burden on someone already carrying enough, and it contradicts Jesus.
Asking people to give up their medicine as proof of faith. It has cost lives.
Charging, or making prayer conditional on an offering. “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Spectacle. Jesus often healed in private, and frequently asked for silence.
Announcing healings that have not been verified, or promising them in God’s name.
Forgetting those who were not healed, as though they were an embarrassment to the testimony.

If any of this was done to you, what you were told did not come from Christ. He does not break the bruised reed.

How to pray for someone who is ill

Ask and listen. “Would you like me to pray for you? What do you want to ask God for?” Respect the answer.
Pray simply, in the name of Jesus. No raised voices or formulas are needed.
If the person allows it, place a hand on their shoulder or hold their hand, respectfully.
Ask clearly for healing, and leave the outcome in God’s hands. “If thou wilt, thou canst.”
Call on the Holy Spirit: to bring peace, to take away fear, to sustain the family.
Do not give the sick person orders (“get up,” “stop taking the tablets”) or require them to feel anything.
Stay. Visit again. Company heals too.
Give thanks for every improvement, small or great, and for those who care for them.

Healing of the heart

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). Jesus said he had been sent “to heal the brokenhearted” (Luke 4:18). There are wounds that show up on no X-ray: abandonment, abuse, guilt, bereavement, years of resentment. Often the deepest healing the Spirit gives is this: being able to forgive, to stop hating oneself, to sleep again, to trust again. And it often comes, too, through people trained to accompany: a pastor, a counsellor, a psychologist.

The place of the sick in the Church

The sick person who is not healed is not a failed believer. Often they are the one holding others up by their prayer and patience. In their weakness “the power of Christ” rests. A church is known by how it treats its sick: whether it visits them, makes room for them, listens to what they have to teach.

Does God still heal today?

On this there is broad agreement: all Christian traditions pray for their sick and believe that God can heal. They differ on whether today he grants certain people this gift as a regular ministry, as Pentecostal and charismatic churches affirm, or whether he answers the prayer of the community without “healers,” as many historic churches hold. Both have before them the same command in James 5 and the same certainty: God listens.

Frequently asked questions

Does God always want to heal? God is always against evil and on the side of life, and one day he will heal everything. In this life he sometimes heals quickly, sometimes little by little, sometimes he sustains us in the midst of illness. We can ask with confidence and rest in his love.

Is it a lack of faith to go to the doctor? No. It is using the means God gives.

Can any believer pray for the sick? Yes: “pray one for another.” And it is good also to ask for the prayer of the church’s pastors.

They prayed for me and I am still ill. Has God forgotten me? No. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” still stands. His presence does not depend on your diagnosis. Read Where was God when this happened to me?

Series “The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit”: Introduction · previous: The gift of faith · next: The working of miracles.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you touched the leper when no one else would, and you said “I will.” I come to you with my illness, or with that of someone I love. (Say the name here.) If you will, you can. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Come, Holy Spirit, and lay your hand where it hurts: on the body, and on the fear underneath. Give wisdom to the doctors and effectiveness to the treatments. And if the road is long, do not let me walk it alone; let your grace be enough for me and your power be shown in my weakness. Forgive those who made me feel guilty for being ill. Use my hands too, Lord: teach me to pray for those who suffer simply and tenderly, without promising what is not mine to promise, always pointing to you. And uphold our hope in the day when you will wipe away every tear, and there will be no more pain. Amen.