By His Stripes We Are Healed — Philip Powell

Isaiah’s Prophecy of Healing in the Atonement

Isaiah 53 verse 5, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. That expression with his stripes we are healed introduces us to the doctrine that is known as healing in the atonement.

The Hebrew Meaning of Wounding and Defilement

The Hebrew word that is translated wounded is rendered profane 36 times, pollute 23 times and defile nine times in the King James Version of the Bible. On one occasion it is applied to the act of prostitution.

Leviticus chapter 19 verse 29 says, do not prostitute your daughter to cause her to be a whore, lest the land fall to whoredom and the land become full of wickedness. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

The Hebrew translated transgression and Avon translated iniquity conveys the ideas of rebellion, perversity and depravity. Christ was profaned, polluted and defiled on account of our depravity so that he might cleanse us from our rebellion and perversity.

Christ’s Spiritual Suffering for Sin

His was much more than physical suffering and the healing secured is far greater than physical healing. Quite obviously he did suffer bodily as the words wounded and bruised rightly convey. But interestingly the Hebrew Dakkar here rendered bruised is three times elsewhere rendered break and three times break in pieces and once beat to pieces.

Yet scripture specifically tells us that not a bone of Christ's body was broken. It was torn, pierced, unmutilated but not broken. So the description relates to something other than to the physical. We will never plumb the depths or know the extent of Christ's spiritual suffering when the Lord Jesus Christ drank for us the cup of human iniquity after he pleaded in Matthew 26 verse 39, oh my father if it is possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as you will.

Paul the apostle by revelation provides an insight to what happened. Second Corinthians 5 21 for he God has made him Christ to be sin for us he who knew no sin that we might be made of the righteousness of God in him.

Maybe the abhorrence of the despised sin of prostitution embodied in the idea of his being wounded helps us to appreciate what he suffered. The prophet says that the chastisement that is the discipline chastening correction of our shalom peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.

Sin Rather Than Sickness in Isaiah and Peter

So what do we mean by healing in the atonement? Interestingly just as Isaiah 53 5 does not emphasize the physical sufferings of Christ so it does not focus on our physical healing either. When it says with his stripes we are healed the context does not feature physical healing nor do the actual words we are healed or as Peter renders it in his epistle you were healed.

1 Peter 2 24 who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. The word that the Holy Spirit chose to express the healing that is ours as a result of Christ's sufferings as described in Isaiah chapter 53 is the Hebrew Rapha which is the suffix of one of the great Jehovistic names of God Jehovah Rapha.

The origin of this name is explained in Exodus chapter 15 when the bitter waters of Mara were healed so even there in the origin of the word the basic idea was not the healing of the human body though there is a reference to bodily ailments and by extension to physical healing.

Exodus 15 26 if you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God and will do that which is right in his sight and will listen to his commandments and keep all his statutes I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians for I am the Lord that heals Rapha you.

Of the more than 60 uses of Rapha in the Old Testament physical healing is in view only 20 times at the most and some of these are questionable for example six relate to leprosy which clearly has connotations of sin.

Leviticus 14 48 refers to a house being healed of leprosy. The English cleansed or cleansing conveys the truth better based on a word study the most that you can say is that the meaning of Rapha is determined by the context.

For example Elijah is said to have repaired Hebrew Rapha the broken down altar while Elisha healed Hebrew Rapha the waters of the springs of Jericho. You read about that in 1 Kings 18 30 and 2 Kings chapter 2 verses 21 to 22.

Interestingly while the prophet while the prophets use the word Rapha frequently they never use it in the sense of physical healing after the book of Psalms. So why is it assumed that the healing referred to in Isaiah 53 is physical?

Twice Jeremiah applies the idea to the effect of false teaching about peace. Jeremiah 6 verse 14 they have healed Rapha also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace.

That is repeated verbatim in chapter 8 verse 11. There is absolutely nothing in Isaiah chapter 53 or in 1 Peter chapter 2 which suggests that the healing referred to is principally physical healing from bodily sickness.

On the contrary in both passages it is sin that is in view not sickness. So is there healing of the body in the atonement? Yes I believe God has made provision for physical healing in and through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross but not in an exclusive sense.

The Atonement and Every Christian Blessing

Healing is included in the atonement in the same way that every blessing is provided for in the atonement. If there were no atonement there would be no resurrection and no rapture no heaven and no hope and of course no healing either now or in the future.

The atonement is central to everything in the Christian gospel. This is not the way most Pentecostal preachers view the so-called doctrine of healing in the atonement. What they mean and teach is that in the same way that Christ suffered for our sins he also suffered specifically for our sickness.

As a consequence this as a consequence of this it is our right and God's obligation that we should be healed. Some go so far as to say that Christ died to deal with sin and he suffered beating and torture to deal with sickness.

One preacher I heard went so far as to say that Christ suffered 39 stripes to atone for the 39 major diseases known to man. This is absurd for a number of reasons not least the fact that there is no evidence that there are 39 major diseases.

Christ did not suffer only 39 stripes which was the Jewish maximum for corporal punishment. Christ suffered under the Roman flail not the Jewish rod. His stripes were more numerous and severe than those administered by Jewish law.

Scripture describes his back as being like a plowed field as a consequence of his suffering. Psalm 129 verse 3. In fact the expression with his stripes would be more accurately rendered with his bruise.

The Gospel’s Focus on Sin and Salvation

We are healed. Extreme teaching about healing in the atonement is false and dangerous. There are bible passages that show that it is not true. It conjures up a false hope and ends undermining not creating faith.

It detracts from the glory of Christ's death both in its purpose and in its achievement. Christ did not die to deal with sickness. He died to deal with sin. That is the gospel is defined everywhere in the New Testament but particularly by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 3 where he says I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

We must understand that both Isaiah and Peter are talking principally about the effect the atonement has upon mankind's basic ailment namely sin. Peter's phraseology makes this abundantly clear. By whose stripes you were healed.

1 Peter 2 24. The Greek word translated were healed conveys the idea of being made whole. That is to be free from errors and sins to bring about one's salvation. The stripes are viewed as part of the cross experience.

It is actually a euphemism for Christ's death and does not allude to his whippings or suffering separate from his death on the cross. It is heresy to divide the atonement into sections. So part deals with sin and another part with sickness.

Present Suffering and Future Bodily Redemption

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. His death is effective for our salvation which in the ultimate sense affects the whole man body soul and spirit. However the ultimate is not yet. Paul the apostle explains that part of redemption is not yet complete.

We are waiting for something. Romans 8 19 and 23. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. Verse 23. We ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption.

That is to say the redemption of our body. When Isaiah refers to the chastisement of our peace being laid upon the suffering savior he uses the Hebrew word Shalom which expresses far more than our English peace.

It embodies the ideas of physical and financial well-being. When our Lord voluntarily accepted the divine discipline chastening and correction that should have been ours. He secured everything that is essential to our spiritual and physical life and well-being for this present world and for our future in the next.

Healing Now and at Christ’s Return

These are the benefits that flow from the atonement and so long as you see healing in the atonement in that context your faith is totally biblical. But and here is the major area of dispute to remain biblical you must recognize the time warp.

Physically we were healed at the cross. Practically we are still subject to sickness as members of the groaning creation until Christ returns. So can we enjoy the healing that has been secured for us right now?

The short answer is yes. The explanation is much longer that I can deal that I can't deal with right now. You can obtain a full teaching on this subject by contacting Christian Witness Ministries and asking for the tape Healing in the Atonement.

Suffice it to say that the Bible always provides the answer. Paul wrote Romans 8 11 but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwells in you.

The final demonstration of this will be at the resurrection and rapture of the church. Those who have died in Christ will be quickened that is made alive by the Holy Spirit and those who are still alive will be quickened that is changed in their bodies by that same Holy Spirit.

That's not just pie in the sky but there's something in the present now. By faith that quickening of which Paul speaks and which is general for the future can be experienced now. For those who are interested in these things theologians call it the proleptic principle but as I've suggested it's a big subject.

I have dealt with it in the full message available from Christian Witness Ministries. May God bless you and may the healing virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ flow to you. Amen.