Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Matthew 16:6 And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 16:6 Jesus said to them, "Watch out and be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." |
Subject: Is "slain in the Spirit" biblical? |
Bible Note: HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT Even in our world of advanced medical technologies, there are many diseased individuals living all around us. Many of them suffer constant pain, and some of them do not have the ability to even perform the most ordinary tasks. There are others who endure lesser sicknesses, but the pain and inconvenience are just as real. It is natural for the Christian to ask whether God has provided any relief for such individuals. Some say that God decides whom he may heal on a case-by-case basis, that he may heal some but not others, and that he has good reasons for doing so in each instance. I will argue that according to the Scriptures, it is God’s desire for every Christian to be healthy. I base this assertion on what the Bible reveals to us concerning the nature of God and the atoning work of Christ. I will show that these two elements are the basis for faith in receiving healing. The Source and Origin of Sickness. In a very real sense, all sickness began because of sin. Physical death itself had started because of the sin of Adam: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). Many individual instances of sickness had occurred since then as a direct result of specific sins. For example, after having healed a man who "had been an invalid for thirty-eight years" (John 5:5), Jesus said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you" (John 5:14). Although sickness itself had started due to Adam’s transgression, this is not to say that every instance of sickness is due to a specific sin that the individual has committed. In John 9, when Jesus and his disciples came across a man blind from birth, the disciples asked, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (v. 2). Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned" (v. 3). In other words, not every instance of sickness can be traced back to a particular sin. However, even if a particular instance of sickness is the direct result of a sin that one has committed, the word of God says that there is forgiveness for such a one. James 5:15 says, "The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." We should be careful before determining the spiritual reasons for someone’s sickness. There are a number of reasons and it may not be a sin, so do not judge a person base on limited and inaccurate information. The person may not have sinned. He may have contracted the sickness and allow it to remain due to lack of wisdom or ignorance of the Scriptures, or some other reasons. God bless |