The Good News of Christ is a gospel of healing for the whole person.
Isaiah 53:5 prophesies the healing that will come in Christ. I Peter 2:24 declares the healing that is finished in Christ. Some believe that Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24 speak only of spiritual healing. But the healing that was accomplished in the gift of Christ’s life for us was complete. It lacks nothing. His healing is for the whole person.
When we were born again—thoroughly and completely forgiven by the grace of Jesus—we were spiritually healed and made new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our spirit was reborn by the Holy Spirit (John 3:6). The phrase “by His stripes, we were healed” (1 Peter 2:24, NKJV) speaks of the result of the spiritual healing we have received in our born-again spirit. When Christ destroyed sin, He destroyed the root of all sickness. We were made whole in Him—healed spiritually, mentally, and physically by His blood.
Just because you may not wholly
experience this, does not mean it is not the truth of His grace. “You are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:10, NKJC).
We are created in three parts—spirit, soul (mind), and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Where are we complete in Him? Which part of us was made new?
“Flesh gives birth to flesh, and spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6, PHILLIPS).
Our spirit is born of His spirit. Christ, who was sinless, took our sin so that we might receive the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our spirit has been reborn—made new, righteous, and complete by the Holy Spirit. For these truths to make a difference, we have to understand and believe them in our hearts. We must be renewed in our minds to know the new person we are in Christ. We must put on our new identity—the new man—which God has created within our spirit in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:23-24).
If we are going to understand the healing power of New Covenant grace, it is imperative that we understand that it is only within our spirit that we are completely reborn as a new creation in Christ. Our minds and bodies are not perfectly reborn. In our mind and body, we still deal with temptation and destructive emotions, and pain. We don’t feel new in Christ when we look at ourselves, and it is hard to believe we have been made new in Him. We know our failures. But when we look into the truth of God’s Word, we see the forgiven, healed, delivered, new person that Christ has made us.
Rather than explain away God’s love and desire for us to be healed, we need to press on to believe the truth of God’s Word. “By His stripes, you were healed.”
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17, NKJV). We are joined to the Lord in spirit.
“For in Him (Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9-10, NKJV).
All the fullness of the Godhead is complete within our born-again spirit. We must be renewed in our minds by the Word to understand and conform to the new person Christ has made us (Romans 12:2). The Holy Spirit convinces us to believe who we are in Christ. When we believe, our lives—in every way—are changed by God’s truth.
Christ, the healer, lives in you. You are saved from sin’s power and the destruction it has wrought in your life. You are forgiven, healed, delivered, and filled with the fullness of God.
Just as you stir up faith to walk in the holiness that is yours in Christ, you stir up faith to walk in the healing that is yours.
When Jesus touched the eyes of the two blind men seeking healing, He said to them, “According to your faith let it be to you” (Matthew 9:29).
Lord, teach us who we are in you. Teach us to walk by faith and not by sight—to let go and believe.
© 2023 Lynn Lacher
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