Question: What does the Biblical phrase “By His
stripes we are healed...” mean? Are we healed, both spiritually and physically,
by the blood of Jesus Christ?
The
most common error in interpreting Scripture is to take a particular passage or
verse, or even a portion of a verse (as here) out of its context, give it meanings
and interpretations according to one’s liking, and then not only accept but
also share those interpretations with others as ‘truths’; even when those
meanings do not stand up to the requirements and evidence of the context, and
are therefore unrealistic, untrue, and unacceptable. God’s
Word, the Bible exhorts us to “diligently present ourselves approved to God (not
to any man)” and to “rightly divide the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15);
and not fall for the trap of following teachers who do not teach Biblically
sound doctrine but things that the audience want to hear (2 Timothy
4:2-4). To avoid falling for Satan’s ploys to misuse God’s Word (which
he had the audacity to do so even with the Lord Jesus – Matthew 4:1-11),
we all need to take heed to do according to 1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Test all
things; hold fast what is good” and be like the Berean Christians, who have
been commended in the Bible for first cross checking everything from the
Scriptures and only then believing in what was taught (Acts 17:11-12) – even
though it was Paul who was teaching them.
The
Bible verse from which this phrase has been taken is Isaiah 53:5 “But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Peter too quotes this verse in his first epistle – “who Himself bore our
sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for
righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
Incidentally, other than these two verses, there is no other verse in the Bible
containing the terms “stripes” and “healed” together. In both of these verses
we see that the ‘healing’ being mentioned is the spiritual healing from effects
of sin; and not a physical healing of the body from any disease, or sickness,
or deformity, or any other physical ailment.
Since
in common usage, the word ‘healing’ is predominantly associated with physical
infirmities, with ailments of the body, hence without giving it much thought,
it is taken for granted that the ‘healing’ mentioned in these verses is
physical healing as well. Unfortunately, many preachers and teachers who would
like to have us believe it to be so, continue to emphasize and teach the
misinterpretation, basing it upon verse portions taken out of context and
continuity with the actual text of the Scriptures. They neither themselves pay
heed to the context and related things in appropriately interpreting
the verse or passage, nor encourage and allow their audience
to study the context and related things of the complete verse and its passage,
before accepting or coming to a conclusion about it.
Another
very pertinent fact to be considered is that nowhere in the whole of the Bible,
have either of the phrases “by His stripes we are healed” and “by
whose stripes you were healed” ever been used or alluded to in any form of
miraculous healing, by any Prophet, Apostle, or Man of God – and there is no
dearth of instances of physical healings in either the Old or the New
Testaments. Consider some examples related to physical ailments and healing
from the New Testament: Paul instructing Timothy says to him, “No longer
drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your
frequent infirmities” (1 Timothy 5:23). Clearly, Timothy was distressed
because of some recurrent physical ailments, and Paul is asking him to use “a
little wine” as a medicine – why has he not asked Timothy to use and claim
healing on the basis of the stripes of the Lord Jesus? Consider Paul’s own “thorn
in the flesh” – Paul says “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the
abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger
of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I
pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me” (2
Corinthians 12: 7, 8). Why did Paul have to plead with the Lord to deliver him
from the problem of the flesh; instead, why did he simply not claim the healing
made available through the stripes of the Lord? And the “faith” of Paul and
Timothy in the Lord and the Lord’s ability to heal in answer to prayer cannot
be doubted! We see in the book of Acts that when Peter healed the lame from
birth person sitting at the entrance to the Temple, in Acts 3, he did not say
to the lame man “by the stripes of the Lord Jesus you are healed and made
whole;” rather, “Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but
what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up
and walk"” (Acts 3:6). Is there any instance of physical healing
through applying or claiming the phrase “by the Lord’s stripes you/we have been
healed” recorded anywhere in the Bible? If not then, why is such a usage and
interpretation being so enthusiastically preached, taught and accepted? More
importantly, why are people being so gullible and not asking the purveyors of
untruth to either justify their stand from God’s Word
about it, or to stop preaching and teaching these wrong things?
The
plain and simple fact of the matter is that these verses are referring to the
suffering Christ endured in our place, for our sins, which He had taken upon
Himself (1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 3:5). Because of
His taking up our punishment, He had to bear those stripes and the agony of suffering on the cross for us, and
by the Lord’s bearing all this for us we have received deliverance from
our sins, and the healing that was required for our spirits broken down by sin, which had been prophesied by Isaiah and its fulfillment was claimed
by the Lord (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18). The phrase “By His stripes we are
healed...” is not referring to physical healing from diseases and infirmities,
but to being healed from the deleterious consequences of our sins.
Similarly,
nowhere does the Bible say that the blood of Jesus heals us from physical
diseases and infirmities. The blood of Jesus is said to be efficacious for
other things, and is the one and only remedy for them – all of them are spiritual and related to
our relationship with the Lord God, e.g. – our propitiation (Romans 3:25); our
justification (Romans 5:9); bringing us near to God i.e. reconciling us to God
(Ephesians 2:13); cleansing of our conscience from dead works (Hebrews 9:14)
and giving boldness to enter the Holiest (Hebrews 10:19); our redemption (1
Peter 1:19); cleansing of our sins (1 John 1:7); washing away of our sins
(Revelation 1:5). But there is no mention of any physical healing through the
blood of Lord Jesus Christ, and neither have any of the Apostles or writers of
the New Testament at any place claimed or taught the use of “Blood of Jesus
Christ” for any healing or recovery from physical ailments.
Therefore teaching people that we ask for or claim some portion of the
Bible, in a manner or for something that the Word of God neither teaches about
nor asks us to claim, is certainly not in accordance with God’s Word, is extraneous to it, does not stand up to 2
Timothy 2: 15, therefore doing these things is quite
unacceptable and ought to be rejected.
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