The exceptionality of miraculous healing
Reflection of the subject of miraculous healing has led me to the conclusion that such healing should be considered really possible, yet exceptional. The rationale for such an approach is well put by Craig Blomberg in the article ‘Healing’ in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. He writes as follows:-
Though some would argue that there is healing in the atonement (Mt 8:17), clearly no one receives full physical healing until the life to come, since all die. There is good evidence, therefore, that supernatural, physical healing should be viewed as the exception rather than the rule in this life. Healings, like other miracles, are not uniformly spread throughout the pages of Scripture or periods of church history. They tend to be clustered around the initial stages of key advances in the knowledge of God’s Word and will-Moses with Pharaoh, Elijah and Elisha, Jesus and the next two centuries of church history, and sporadically throughout the Christian era until a substantial outpouring of the Holy Spirit has once again made healings well known in the twentieth century.
On the pages of the Gospels there is no indication that Jesus healed all or even a majority of the sick people in his day. He warns against those who would work counterfeit signs and wonders in his name (Mt 7:21-23), especially as the last days unfold (Mt 24:5). He refuses to work signs on demand and warns against an inappropriate dependence on the spectacular (Mt 12:38-42; Jn 4:48; 20:29). Even the most well-authenticated signs do not necessarily prove their divine origin (Mt 9:32-33; 12:22-24); Christian faith should therefore be based on a more solid foundation.
Some of the devil’s strongest temptations involved his encouraging Christ to rely on his miraculous power to avoid the way of suffering and the road to the cross (Lk 4:1-12). Gethsemane is the most powerful testimony in all of Scripture to the divinely ordained necessity of not always receiving protection from suffering (Lk 22:39-46). In his epistles Paul echoes this theology (esp. 2 Cor 4:7-18; 6:3-10). Not all receive or benefit from gifts of healing, and Paul personally and agonizingly learns the lesson that God’s grace is sufficient for him and that God’s power is made perfect in Paul’s weakness (2 Cor 12:8)
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