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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Isaiah
53:5 and Healing
Isaiah 53:5 tells us that Jesus "was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are
healed". The question is
this: Does the word "healed" mean that through His death on the cross Jesus
secured healing for all of our physical illnesses? I
suggest the answer is no. In the Old Testament, healing language
often refers to the healing of sin rather than physical sickness. Sin
was frequently portrayed as a disease afflicting the people. For example,
Isaiah 1:5 through 7 describes The central focus of Isaiah 53 is the
cross of Christ dealing with sin, not sickness.
This understanding is reinforced in 1
Peter 2:24, where Peter quotes Isaiah 53:5: "He himself bore
our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live
for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed". Peter
clearly connects healing with the forgiveness and removal of sin. His
emphasis is on Christ bearing our sins so that we might live righteously. Physical
sickness is not mentioned in Peter's text. Both Isaiah and Peter lived within a
Jewish culture that commonly viewed sin as a sickness requiring healing. It
would have been natural for Peter to interpret "healed" in
Isaiah 53:5 as spiritual restoration rather than bodily recovery. Too often, when modern readers encounter
the word "heal" in Scripture, they immediately think of physical
healing. However, context must
guide interpretation. In John
12:40, we read that God "has blinded their eyes and hardened their
hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes or understand with
their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them". Here,
healing clearly refers to spiritual restoration from sin, not physical
illness. For these reasons, I
conclude that Peter understood the healing of Isaiah 53:5 to mean healing
from sinfulness rather than healing from bodily disease. His inspired
commentary should shape how we interpret Isaiah's prediction. In
this case, Scripture really does interpret Scripture. To be clear, I do believe in divine
healing of physical sickness. In
fact, I would not be alive today had Jesus not healed me of Juvenile
Diabetes at the age of six. However, my point is that Isaiah 53:5 should
not be used as the primary proof text to support a doctrine of physical
healing.
Postscript
This article is a shortened version of a
chapter from my book "Misunderstanding Scripture". For
a fuller discussion of my views on divine healing, see my book "Clarifying Biblical Healing", available
on all Amazon sites.
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