Christ the Healer: An Analysis (part 3)
A study of the book, Christ the Healer, by F. F. Bosworth:
II. Where Sickness Comes From
The author takes great pains to assure us that “disease is … the work of the devil.” His evidence for this is Acts 10:38, where we are told (by Peter) that “[Jesus] went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” (Mr. Bosworth reiterates this on pages 14, 33, 60, 86, and 127.)
But is the apostle offering us a comprehensive statement on the source of each and every malady experienced by humanity? Hardly. To paraphrase his words, “Jesus went about bestowing benefits on people, in particular curing those who had been overpowered by Satan.” (Both M. R. Vincent and A. T. Robertson, eminent Greek scholars, say that the “and” (kai) in this verse has what Vincent terms “particularizing force”.) The “good” Jesus did covers the broad spectrum of physical and spiritual restoration. Then, Peter focuses on one aspect that will demonstrate to his listeners that, in truth, Christ was “anointed … with power”. He overcomes Satan himself.
Without question, Satan has the power to afflict individuals with physical infirmities. That is demonstrated in the case of Job (Job 2:7), and we see it happening elsewhere (for instance Luke 13:11, 16). But the Lord does not relinquish all responsibility for such things to the Adversary. He says, “Who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?” (Ex. 4:11). There are broader purposes at work than can be identified by simplistically giving the devil the credit for causing all our troubles!
To see that a little more clearly, we need to look at another misconception propounded by the writer. He seems to be in some confusion as to the nature of the “curse of the Law” and its application to today. When Adam sinned, the Lord God pronounced a “curse” upon nature (Gen. 3:16-19). (The Hebrew, arar, has the root meaning of binding or rendering powerless. Creations inborn power to work harmoniously and at maximum productivity was lost.) The very ground was cursed– the elements from which man and every material thing is made. All creation was affected by the curse. “The creation itself [is in] the bondage of corruption” (meaning it is subject to decay). “The whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs” (Rom. 8:21-22). “The creation was subjected to futility” by a sovereign God, but “in hope” of a better day, up ahead (Rom. 8:20).
The perfect order and balance of nature were disturbed. Into the benevolent beauty of God’s world came the “thorn” and all the hostility of environment which that has come to symbolize. The animal kingdom became carnivorous and predatory– to use Tennyson’s phrase, it is “red, in tooth and claw”. And physical deterioration and death were a part of that curse, as was pain and suffering. As disorder spread to microscopic organisms, parasites and viral infections resulted, brining the spread of disease.
It is not until the Lord’s return that the curse upon creation will be finally removed. In the new heavens and new earth that God will make, “there shall be no more curse” (Rev. 22:3). That will mean “no more death or sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things shall have passed away (Rev. 21:4). Until that great day, we must live out our days in dying bodies, subject to disease and death– “we ourselves groan… eagerly waiting for… the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23 – a resurrection body, not subject to such things). (Though full and final removal of the curse on creation awaits eternity, it seems the curse will be suspended or held in abeyance during the Millennium. See Isa. 11:1-10, etc.)
Yet, we must not assume that the curse was entirely negative in its purpose or effect. It serves as a continuing object lesson to us of the destructiveness of sin. (Other benefits will be considered a bit later.) Among the most common uses God makes of the outcome of the curse is to use pain and disease and death as a tool to discipline His disobedient children. (Thus we have, in 1 Cor. 11:30, “For this reason many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep [in death]”. And there are other examples as well.)
That is precisely what the Lord does with Israel, when He establishes the Mosaic Law to direct their conduct. He says, “Cursed is the one who does not confirm [by doing them] all the words of this Law” (Deut. 27:26). And the Lord goes on to detail the kind of physical chastening that is to accompany disobedience to the code, as well as the blessings that will reward obedience (Deut. 28).
Mr. Bosworth lays great stress upon this passage, and ties it to Paul’s statement in Gal. 3:13, that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law” (pages 15, 31, 57). He uses this to support his contention that Christians should not get sick. “If Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, and sickness is included in the curse, surely He redeemed us from sickness” (p. 31). But, in response, we must observe several important points.
As has been indicated, the curse upon creation and the curse of the Law are not one and the same thing. The curse upon nature is universal, and extends from the time of the Fall to the placement of the redeemed in the new heavens and earth, in the glory of their resurrection bodies. The curse of the Law made use of some of the disruption in nature as a disciplinary tool. And it applied in a very restricted way to the nation of Israel under the Law. (Bosworth mentions the diseases spoken of in Deut. 28, but he conveniently skips other things that are a part of the curse: the invasion of the Babylonians and the Babylonian captivity, and the later oppression of Israel by Rome, not to mention the present dispersion of the Jews across the world. All of that was prophesied as God’s chastisement of Israel, for disobedience to the Mosaic Law (Deut 28:49-68).
The rule of the Law ended at Calvary (Rom. 6:14; 10:4). In Christ the penalty of sin was paid and salvation is offered to all who in faith will reach out to Him. However, that does not mean that God will instantly remove all of the effects of sin. The curse remains upon creation. Yet, for all that, God is not powerless. “The bondage of corruption” is part of the “all things” that God is able to “work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28). Sickness may be due to an assault by the devil, or it may be used by the Lord in chastening His own, or it may simply be the natural outcome of creation being “subjected to futility” which God sovereignly allows to continue, for a time, and which He will inevitably use for His own glory.
I may be missing something, but it seems to me Bosworth creates an inconsistency by trying to assert that all sickness comes from the devil and that it is (or was) the result of disobeying God’s laws. Surely, Satan would want to reward disobedience, not punish it! That inconsistency is clearly seen in the case of Job. Satan tormented Job because he was righteous, to try to get him to turn from God.
And several other things of interest. Job lived (according to the best guess scholars can make) around the time of Abraham, before the curse of the Law (Deut. 28) was put in place. Further, a sovereign God permitted the devil to afflict Job, all the while affirming that Job was a righteous man, undeserving of such treatment (Job 1:8, 2:3). In keeping with his theory that sickness and sin are directly connected, Bosworth tells us that Job’s flesh was healed through an atonement” (p. 20) and he cites Job 33:24-25 to prove it. That is nothing less than a false and deceptive handling of God’s Word. The passage he quotes comes from a speech by Elihu. And while Elihu has a somewhat elevated view of God, in comparison to Job’s three “friends”, he nonetheless comes to a similar conclusion– that Job must have sinned in some way to be so oppressed (see Job 34). Thus, his recommendation that sacrifices be made is a request that Job deal with the sin causing his sickness. But, as mentioned above, that did not apply to Job’s situation. The Lord allowed Job’s suffering, rather, to demonstrate the utter faithfulness of His godly servant. And Bosworth must bend Scripture to claim otherwise. His quotation does not come from the history of Job, but from the speech-making of a man who was in error.
(article continued tomorrow)
Learn more about the book of Job in these twelve Bible studies.