Healing In the Atonement, part 2 of 16

II. History

The only passage in the New Testament that explicitly ties healing with Christ's suffering is 1 Peter 2:24, which says, "by his wounds you have been healed." As I will show later in this article, the healing referred to in this passage is spiritual, not physical, so there is no explicit evidence that "healing in the atonement" was ever taught in the first century.

From the first few centuries of the church, any evidence that even remotely addresses the question at hand is scant, so it seems that the concept of healing in the atonement was rarely if ever even considered. I was only able to find two references.

"Consequently, therefore, though disease, and accident, and what is most terrible of all, death, come upon the Gnostic, he remains inflexible in soul,-knowing that all such things are a necessity of creation, and that, also by the power of God, they become the medicine of salvation, benefiting by discipline those who are difficult to reform; allotted according to desert, by Providence, which is truly good." Clement of Alexandria (c. 195) Stromata VII, xi

Clement believed that sickness, disease, old age, and death were a natural part of being human whether one was a Christian or not, and that it was fitting for people to see a doctor if they got sick, but that such calamities also have refining qualities.

"But nevertheless it disturbs some that the power of this Disease attacks our people equally with the heathens, as if the Christian believed for this purpose, that he might have the enjoyment of the world and this life free from the contact of ills; and not as one who undergoes all adverse things here and is reserved for future joy. It disturbs some that this mortality is common to us with others; and yet what is there in this world which is not common to us with others, so long as this flesh of ours still remains, according to the law of our first birth, common to us with them? So long as we are here in the world, we are associated with the human race in fleshly equality, but are separated in spirit. Therefore until this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal receive immortality, and the Spirit lead us to God the Father, whatsoever are the disadvantages of the flesh are common to us with the human race. Thus, when the earth is barren with an unproductive harvest, famine makes no distinction; thus, when with the invasion of an enemy any city is taken, captivity at once desolates all; and when the serene clouds withhold the rain, the drought is alike to all; and when the jagged rocks rend the ship, the shipwreck is common without exception to all that sail in her; and the disease of the eyes, and the attack of fevers, and the feebleness of all the limbs is common to us with others, so long as this common flesh of ours is borne by us in the world." Cyprian (c. 250), Treatise VII On the Mortality, 8

Cyprian clearly believed that sickness and disease were just as common among Christians as among unbelievers. He didn't believe we should be immune as long as our bodies were mortal. He believed the joy of perfect health was reserved for the future when our bodies would be resurrected. I could not find anybody from the early church who disagreed with Clement of Alexandria and Cyprian. So the only evidence concerning healing in the atonement from the early church shows that they did not believe in healing in the atonement, and they seemed to hardly even think about it even though they did believe in the gift of healing as late as the 4th century.

From then on, there is no evidence at all I'm aware of that healing in the atonement was ever taught until the beginning of the 20th century at the dawn of the charismatic renewal movement. There were a few people teaching that healing was guaranteed in the atonement from about 1901. Among them were Charles Parham, and a disciple of his, William Seymour, who founded the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles, California in 1906. The revival going on at Azusa Street was the origin of most Pentecostal/charismatic churches today. Among those that still teach that healing is in the atonement include the Assemblies of God, the Church of God of Prophecy, the United Pentecostal Church, the International Church of the Four Square Gospel, and a plethora of television evangelists and independent charismatic churches.

Continue to Part 3.