Problems With “Healing Now” Theology

Example Statements from major Protestant Denominations.
Assemblies of God
“Christ’s death on the cross not only provides for forgiveness of sin but also healing for sickness. The One who gave you the gift of eternal life…is the same One who can heal your body.”

Church of God (Cleveland Tn)
Divine healing is provided for all in the atonement.

What do I mean by “Healing Now”? These above statements communicate clearly the position of many Charismatic churches, tv preachers, and denominations. Healing now is the belief that Jesus death on the cross was in the place of sinners, their sins, and all their sicknesses. The main argument goes like this.

1. “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever” Heb 13:8. Therefore, since Jesus healed disease while he was on earth, this is Jesus desire now. He wants to heal your body. 
2. Is 53:5 says that “By Jesus stripes, we are healed”. Peter quotes this verse in 1 Pet 2:24 when speaking about the work of Jesus. So Jesus died for the sins of sinners but also the sicknesses of sinners. His death and resurrection, therefore, make healing available now for all believers in Jesus.
3. Jesus prayed in Matt 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” There is no sickness in heaven. Jesus does not want sickness for you now. 

Over the years, I have heard this argument repeated time and time again. So I want to point out just a few reasons why I believe this is an unbiblical and harmful teaching.

First. This teaching leads adherents to doubt. Why? Because they tie sickness to the atonement, every time a Christian gets a headache the effectiveness of the atonement is called into question. Should I doubt the effectiveness of the cross of Christ if I get a headache or have to wear eyeglasses? I mean, Jesus death must have not really worked all that well, Christians get sick all the time. If Christ death on the cross for my sicknesses is ineffective then how can I ever trust that His death for my sins is effective? This error is rooted in a simple misunderstanding. Christ did, in fact, accomplish in his life death and resurrection a fully healed and perfect body for all Christians. This, however, is not for now. This is for the one day, future, resurrection when all Christians across all time will receive an imperishable body. This is what 1 Cor. 15 clearly teaches.

Resurrected bodies are for then not now. So when you see Bill Johnson wearing eyeglasses don’t wonder “Why is the cross so ineffective to heal his eyes?”. You can know, if he is a believer, one day he will have imperishable eyes. So Christian, the next time you get a headache don’t worry, your sins are forgiven.

So what about Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6. Jesus clearly desires heaven to invade earth. Let’s not make too quick of a judgement about what that means. Is the first thing that pops into your mind about heaven “I will have a perfect body. I will be reigning and exercising dominion”, or the worship of Jesus? Although it is true that one day we will have perfect bodies and that Christians will reign with Christ, those things are not the main theme of heaven. You see heaven has a song. The song of heaven is “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” Rev 4:8. In fact the last scene of the church in the bible is Rev. 22:3 and it says “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” The point of heaven is not you! It is the worship of Jesus. This is what it means for heaven to invade earth now. The kingdom of God is about the worship of God. This is why Paul can declare in Phil 1:29 “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake”. There is no suffering in heaven yet at times it is the will of God for his people to suffer so the Glory of God would be revealed. Peter says, “Beloved, do not be surprised a the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” 1 Pet 4:12-13. For heaven to invade earth, it does not automatically mean heaven in the sense that we think it does.

Finally, healing now theology focuses only on one aspect of the biblical teaching on prayer. Does your theology of healing and prayer ever allow you to pray as Jesus did in the Garden “Not my will but your be done”? Jesus prayer did not lack faith. Many of us (Myself included) need a more robust understanding of what the bible teaches on prayer. At times, we need to pray and believe that Jesus will do this thing right now. The bible teaches us that. Then we need prayers that acknowledge that God is simply able and sovereign. The bible teaches that too. We can submit to our trustworthy Father. Healing now theology only recognizes the so-called “prayers of faith”. Friends, Jesus and the apostles prayed prayers of faith and still suffered and died.

This short article is obviously not exhaustive. I hope and pray it was somewhat helpful. We do not have a promise of health on this earth. We do have for us the promise of eternity with Jesus.
Sam Storms has written a better articles on this topic here