The Power of the Cross: Introduction
Scholars who have studied the New Testament concept of God’s power point out the complete and whole picture one sees of His power throughout the New Testament. No aspect of power is excluded from the whole pattern of God working in the Christian life. God’s power through the Cross of Christ makes possible miraculous healing as much as it does sanctification, endurance, and “suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (II Tim. 1:8).30
Experiencing Spiritual Gifts and Healing in Part
As pointed out by the scholars quoted above, miraculous healing is the chief expression of God’s power accompanying the proclamation of the gospel in the New Testament. The overall witness of the New Testament regarding God’s attitude toward healing shows that God desires to heal. His Son healed the sick.31 The apostles and Early Church laity healed the sick (Stephen, Philip, Ananias, the Corinthians, Galatians, Jewish Christian churches, etc.).32 God gave the church gifts of healing (I Cor. 12:9). As well, He commands the church to pray for the sick (Jas. 5:14-16).
However, such a whole view of God’s power as one sees in Scripture does not overlook sanctification on the one hand (Rom. 8:4-16; I Cor. 6:11-19; Gal. 5:16-6:10) nor suffering, weakness, and prolonged and unresolved sickness; on the other (Rom. 8:17; II Cor. 4:7-11; II Cor. 12:7-10; Gal. 4:13-14; II Tim. 1:8; II Tim.3:12). Although God desires to heal, Scripture also makes it clear, as was mentioned above, that in some cases we may not experience complete healing in this age.33 In this age, according to Paul, the Church will only experience spiritual gifts, including healing, “in part” (ek merous) until the second coming of Christ: “For we know in part and we prophesy in part” (I Cor. 13:9; cf. I Cor. 1:6-7; and 13:8-10, 12; I Jn. 3:2; Rev. 22:4).34
John Wimber touches on the issue of our faith and God’s faithfulness in such cases in his discussion of suffering, persecution, and martyrdom for the faith:
The fact that we are living between the first and second comings of Christ, what George Ladd calls living between the ‘already and the not yet,’ provides the interpretative key for understanding why the physical healing that Christ secured for us at the cross is not always experienced today. His sovereignty, lordship, and kingdom are what bring healing. Our part is to pray ‘Thy kingdom come’ and trust him for whatever healing comes from his gracious hand. . . . We have no right to presume that unless God heals in every instance there is something wrong with our faith or his faithfulness.35
And though not all may experience immediate or complete healing in this age, Scripture does not allow us, on the other hand, to be complacent and capitulate in the face of illness. We are commanded, rather, to pray for healing (James 5:14-16)—again and again (James 5:17-18; and I Kgs. 18:43)—just as we are to pray for deliverance from persecution (cf. Acts 12:3-17; Rom. 15:31; II Cor. 1:8-11; II Thes. 3:2; II Tim. 3:11; II Tim. 4:17):
Jesus says very little about sickness; He cures it. He does not explain that sickness is health; He calls it by its proper name, and has compassion upon the sick person. There is nothing sentimental or artificial about Jesus; He draws no fine distinctions, and utters no sophistries about healthy people being really sick and sick people really healthy. . . . Jesus does not distinguish rigidly between sicknesses of the body and of the soul; He takes them both as different expressions of one supreme ailment in humanity.36
Even in weakness, when we see no immediate answer to prayer, Christ’s power can work in us and through us, sanctifying us, enabling us to endure all difficulties (II Cor. 12:7-10):
The contrast between the weakness of the incarnate Lord and the living power of the Risen Christ is central to the theology of the early Church: “He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth through the power of God” (2 Cor. xiii. 4). . . . The birth of Christ, “born of a woman, born under the Law” (Gal. iv. 4), and His human life “in the form of a servant” (Phil. ii. 7), as well as His death on the Cross, which appears to be defeat and weakness, are the means of the breaking through of God’s victorious power.37
Category: Pneuma Review, Spirit, Spring 2006
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