WHY DID Jesus spend so much of His time in the healing ministry? According to the Gospels, He was almost constantly engaged in healing. Was it to get attention? Was it to establish His authority? Was it simply the result of the reaction of a compassionate Lord? Or was it to demonstrate God's concern for man?
A more pointed question might be added: Should the Christian church today make a serious attempt to follow Christ's pattern, including the ministry of healing? In order to come up with the right answer we need to recognize that the emphasis on healing lies in our understanding of the nature of man him self.
The prevalent concepts of the nature of man have an interesting history. In Western civilization it is generally conceded that the ancient Greek philosophers are largely responsible for the development and dissemination of the belief in the dichotomous nature of man, i.e., that man is composed of two separate though complementary entities, the soul, or mind, and the body, or matter. Although varying and even conflicting interpretations of his dualism may be found in Greek literature, the mind-matter differential came to be a firmly established part of the Greek heritage that has quickened the minds of men for more than two millennia.
The ancient philosophers predating the Greeks did not conceive of a conscious spiritual entity surviving the body after death. However, by the time of Socrates (470-399 B.C.) a dichotomous understanding of the nature of man was largely assumed. It is thought that this change was influenced by the imported Eastern doctrine of transmigration of the soul.
Plato (427-347 B.C.) heartily em braced dualism. He espoused not only the theory of the immortality of the soul but also its eternality—its pre-existence and post-existence, regarding the body as a prison house or sepulcher of the soul.
By the time of the early Christian church this dualistic concept was deeply imbedded in the thinking of a world dominated by Greek thought and culture. Of course, it was not illogical for the Greeks, who endowed their gods with both virtues and vices, to look upon themselves as dualistic in nature. Tragically, however, the Hellenists of Alexandria exerted a subtle yet significant influence on the early church and the formulation of its theology. The philosopher Plotinus, who lived in the third century A.D., is recognized as the founder of a school of thought that revived some of Plato's concepts into a system known as Neoplatonism. This movement undertook to reconcile the teachings of Plato and Aristotle with Oriental beliefs. Among them was the dualistic nature of man, which through Hellenistic converts greatly influenced the developing Christian church. The natural sequel to the inroads of Greek dualism was a widening cleavage be tween the soul and the body. Along with this the belief developed that the mind or spirit was good and the body, being material, was bad.
The developing Christian church was also influenced by several other ideas that contributed to the dualistic philosophy of the nature of man:
1. Gnosticism, emphasizing mystical religion.
2. Monasticism, asceticism, getting away from the world and the flesh.
3. Abstinence from the material, be cause it was evil.
4. Indulgence, giving license to immorality.
Bible Concept Is Holistic
All this came about in spite of the clear Bible emphasis on the monistic nature or the wholeness of man. Moses is the first to make a statement regarding the holistic concept. In his record of the creation of man he stated: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7).
To the Hebrew the soul was not a mystical abstraction. It was the being, the total man. The whole person. Initially, there was no Hebrew belief that the soul is immortal while the flesh is mortal. When God created man in the beginning He made a whole being.
When God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life man became a living soul, a living person. (Some translations or versions are dropping the term "soul" because of the wrong connotations so many give this word.) Man was a unit, a body activated by the life-giving power of God. A body so activated is a living soul. Man is not a composite of two separate entities, a body and a soul. Part of this body, when activated, has the characteristics that produce consciousness, his mind. However, man's mind does not function apart from the "material matter" we call the brain and the nervous system. And, of course, the brain substance does not function unless activated by God. In short, living man is a holistic unit. Take away the spark of life and the body decays, the mind ceases to function, and the soul ceases to exist.
The Old Testament has no distinct word for "body" as it certainly would have had if a sharp differentiation be tween the body and an abstraction called the soul (as conceived by the Eastern cults and Greek philosophers) was intended. The appeal in Deuteronomy 6:5 to love Jehovah with all the heart, soul, and might is clearly one of the earliest expressions of the total responsibility of the whole person. The New Testament is beautifully complementary in establishing the monistic concept of the wholeness of man. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:1, 2). When we present ourselves to God in worship, when we dedicate ourselves to Him, we are dedicating body, mind, soul—ourselves. They are inseparable.
The Bible teaches that God seeks those who worship in spirit and in truth because, for one thing, God knows that if we worship Him in spirit and in truth we'll become like Him. He cannot accept half-hearted worship. He wants the heart, that is, our whole being. How else could we become like Him? We cannot worship God with the mind and hold back our bodies. We're simply not made that way. We must present to Him our all. Therefore to keep the mind clear and the body healthy is but offering to Him our best.
Therefore, preaching, teaching, and healing as employed by Jesus were not arbitrarily selected modalities for propagating a new faith, but were normal avenues of approach to the problems of man, who has physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions and problems that are so completely interrelated that they have to be dealt with holistically.
New Emphasis on Wholeness
It's interesting that for several decades the discoveries of the physical, biological, and behavioral sciences have been silently bringing into place the pieces of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle that more and more fit the concept of the wholeness of man as a biological organism, fully emancipated from the shackles of dualism. No longer do biology and medicine accept the belief that the body is nonessential to the personality. Science can and does in general accept the principle of the ancient He brew conviction that the human being or personality "is an animated being and not an incarcerated soul."
It's rather interesting that many times Christian ministers have found themselves on opposite sides of the philosophical fence from many biologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Yet today there is emerging a realization that man's problems cannot be solved unless he is treated as a whole man. Medicine and ministry are converging on the same client, more and more aware that he is not a compartmentalized organism but a whole person.
The Bible definition of salvation carries the meaning of healing. Salvation always has the concept of healing. The two Greek words for health and salvation (sozo and soteria) come from the same root, "to heal, to save, to redeem, to rescue." One who understands that man is a whole unit sees clearly the importance of good health.
To go a step further, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, bringing conviction and conversion. And the only medium through which the Holy Spirit reaches us is through the physical senses, the brain, and the nervous system. These are material. Today we know the condition of the physical to be of great importance to the mental, and vice versa. Smoking, drinking, and a lot of other popular habits affect the nervous system and the brain. Anything we do to weaken our nervous systems and brains tends to clog up the means by which the Holy Spirit impresses us. Of course, these clogging mechanisms include not only what we eat but the amount of rest we get, the right amount of exercise, the state of mind, and even our purpose in life.
The objective of the Christian ministry of healing is that we might for ourselves recover clearness of thought, be more alert, have greater capacity to know God's will and to understand spiritual truths, and not merely to live longer.
A Double Reason
Our very nature is diseased. As beings with minds crippled by sin, there is a double reason why we should do all we can to be in optimum health. Our bio logical nature and spiritual nature are affected by it. And to indulge in harmful commodities is not only a dramatic dis play of our ignorance of the nature of man biologically but also can be at least a partial denial of man's spiritual situation. Certainly a significant amount of our violation of the laws of life and health is due to ignorance. But "ignorance is no excuse." It does not change the inevitable consequences. Placing the hand on a red hot stove through ignorance does not change the result.
Jesus spent much time in healing so that people might be better able to understand great truths. Our healing ministry is a very practical part of reaching man with the gospel. It is designed to better prepare those for whom we work to evaluate the evidence of God's plan for man, His plan of salvation.
The evidence continues to mount that good health has not only its obvious physical benefits but also mental benefits and moral benefits. "A youth guidance specialist contends there is medical evidence that faulty diet is responsible for much juvenile delinquency. He said research has shown that conscience the power to discriminate between right and wrong is a specialized function of reason. And reason, he said, is affected by the quality of brain tissues that obtain their nourishment from the food that is eaten." —Dr. Curtis G. Shears, chairman, Religious Life Committee of the District Commissioners Youth Council, at the annual convention of the Federal Bar Association, 1960.
A most sensible position is taken in the following reference: "... the great object of hygienic reform is to secure the highest possible development of mind and soul and body [the total person]. All the laws of nature—which are the laws of God—are designed for our good. Obedience to them will promote our happiness in this life, and will aid us in a preparation for the life to come." —Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 23. The same author adds: "The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character. Hence it is that the adversary of souls directs his temptations to the enfeebling and degrading of the physical powers." —The Ministry of Healing, p. 130.
Why should we emphasize health in our ministry? The answer is clear. Be cause of the nature of man. One other factor that needs additional thought is that of the character of God. As we trace the record of God's counsel regarding diet we find a strong thread of consist ency all through the Bible, buttressed by an understanding of God as a loving Father whose commands and counsels are not arbitrary threats but beneficial suggestions to the children whom He loves.
To say that God was particular about what the Israelites were and ate (He wanted them to be healthy, free from disease and happy) but that today He simply doesn't care what we consume, betrays a rather tragic misconception of His character. We believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Anything but a consistent revelation of His character doesn't make sense at all. The psalmist, knowing God as a Father and man as a whole unit, exclaimed in response: "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Ps. 103:1-3).
