Spiritual and Physical Healing, Mr. Armstrong's Teaching Compared with Protestant Teaching

"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. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).

"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. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls" (1 Peter 2:24-25).

What does the Bible teach about healing?  Is the healing promised by God in Isaiah 53:5-6, "by His stripes we are healed", physical only or both physical and spiritual?  Did Mr. Armstrong ever address this question?  Did he emphasize physical healing only, and if so, why?  What do Protestants teach about the promise of healing through the suffering (stripes) of Christ?

And why do some Church of God fellowships today teach both spiritual and physical healing while one or more others teach physical healing only?

Just a heads up - I do not have the answer to all these questions.  But I can answer some of them, and I will try to address all of them.

First, what is meant by speakers and writers in the Church of God when they use the word "healing"?

Some groups and speakers and writers in the Church acknowledge both spiritual and physical healing.  They may not frequently talk about spiritual healing, but they may mention it from time to time.  In that case, when they say "healing" as a result of the broken body of Jesus Christ, they may mean both spiritual and physical healing.

But if a group never mentions spiritual healing and just uses the term "healing", they are probably only talking about physical healing.  Using the word "healing" without the adjective "spiritual" or "physical" in such a group usually implies physical healing only - not spiritual.  They may not use the term "physical healing" because they want to avoid controversy.  But that is what they probably mean, and if so, they do not acknowledge that we need to be spiritually healed and that Christ's suffering and broken body - "by His stripes we are healed" - enables us to be healed spiritually as well as physically.

Why would some COG groups not acknowledge our need for spiritual healing and appreciate that Christ suffered and was beaten so we can be spiritually as well as physically healed?

Perhaps it is because Mr. Armstrong did not teach and emphasize spiritual healing but rather emphasized physical healing only.  If a group is determined to stick absolutely to what Mr. Armstrong taught, even more than to what the Bible teaches, that might be a reason for them to deny spiritual healing.

What did Mr. Armstrong teach?

I do not know everything Mr. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God under his leadership taught on this subject.  I was only in the Church in the last few years of his life and I only remember physical healing being taught.  It is possible Mr. Armstrong never taught anything, for or against, spiritual healing, at least in the context of the healing made possible by Christ's broken body and described in Isaiah 53:5-6.

Why?

Consider the Protestant interpretation of the healing made possible by Christ's stripes mentioned in Isaiah 53:5-6.

I have not done a thorough survey of Protestant teaching on this or what the commentaries say.  But a lot of what I have run across seems to go to the opposite extreme, claiming spiritual healing only and either denying of minimizing physical healing.

And it may be that Mr. Armstrong, in a reaction against Protestant teaching that denies or minimizes physical healing, emphasized physical healing to the exclusion of spiritual healing.  He may have emphasized that part that Protestantism got wrong as a way of teaching against their false doctrine that this verse in Isaiah 53:5-6 is not about physical healing.

Physical healing was very important to Mr. Armstrong, as anyone who has read his autobiography would know.  Isaiah 53:5-6 refers to both.  By Christ's stripes we are spiritually and physically healed.

If Mr. Armstrong were alive today, if he were asked about spiritual healing, would he agree that by Christ's stripes we are healed both physically and spiritually?  I think he would, because all the elements that lead to this conclusion are present in Mr. Armstrong's teaching in one form or another.

If you consider the biblical reasons for physical healing, you find that the same reasons apply to spiritual healing.  There is a very close parallel between the two.

What does the Bible teach?

I will search Bible passages that mention healing or sickness and quote those that seem to apply to this question.

Does God inspire the words "heal" or "healing" or "sick" in reference to our spiritual condition?  Does He use those words, not just in reference to physical sickness but to spiritual sickness - sin and our sinful nature?  Does God refer to spiritual healing in the Bible?

"For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, 'May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.' And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people" (2 Chronicles 30:18-20).  Here, healing seems to refer to the removal of guilt.

David says, in Psalm 41, "I said, 'LORD, be merciful to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.' " (Psalm 41:4).  David asks God to heal him.  Is he talking about physical healing or spiritual healing?  He does not say, heal my body or heal me of my physical sickness.  There is no record of David being seriously ill, here.  Rather he says, heal my soul because I have sinned against you.  He is talking about spiritual healing.  This is obvious.  This is what God inspired David to write.  This shows that God uses the word "heal" in reference to spiritual healing, not just physical healing.

"Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment" (Isaiah 1:4-6).  This is talking about spiritual sickness, not physical sickness.  Spiritual sickness requires spiritual healing.

"Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed" (Isaiah 6:10).  Is this talking about physical healing only, or spiritual healing?  It is talking about seeing with the eyes, hearing with the ears, understanding with the hearts, and returning to God.  Is that physical or spiritual?  You be the judge.

"And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them" (Isaiah 19:22).  This could be talking about physical or spiritual healing, but I think spiritual healing is the most natural meaning.

"Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun will be sevenfold, As the light of seven days, In the day that the LORD binds up the bruise of His people And heals the stroke of their wound" (Isaiah 30:26).

"For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, And restore comforts to him And to his mourners" (Isaiah 57:16-18).  God says, I have seen his ways and will heal him.  God is not talking about physical sickness but sinful ways. It is his backsliding ways God is concerned about.  That is spiritual, not physical.  And God says He will heal him.  God will heal his backsliding ways.  That is spiritual healing.  Healing is also mentioned in verse 19.

" 'Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings.' 'Indeed we do come to You, For You are the LORD our God' " (Jeremiah 3:22).  God says He will heal our backslidings!  Backsliding is not a physical illness.  This is spiritual healing, and God uses the word, "heal".  How could it be more plain?

"Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:13-14). This is not talking about physical healing.  Who tries to heal a physical disease by saying, peace, peace?  God uses the word "heal" here in the spiritual context.  See also Jeremiah 8:10-11 which says pretty much the same thing.

"Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; And for the time of healing, and there was trouble. We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness And the iniquity of our fathers, For we have sinned against You" (Jeremiah 14:19-20).  Healing is contrasted with trouble - we looked for healing and there was trouble.  Is the primary context of this passage physical healing of sickness or spiritual healing of our sins and sinful nature?

"For thus says the LORD: 'Your affliction is incurable, Your wound is severe. There is no one to plead your cause, That you may be bound up; You have no healing medicines" (Jeremiah 30:12-13).

"Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed. Wail for her! Take balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, But she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country; For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies (Jeremiah 51:8-9).

"How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?" (Lamentations 2:13).  In this case, healing may refer not only to sin and sinful nature but to the consequences of sin - punishment and destruction.

"The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them" (Ezekiel 34:4).  The healing here may refer to physical healing, or spiritual healing, or both.  I think both.

"When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside" (Hosea 7:1).

"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him" (Hosea 14:4).  There is no physical sickness or disability called "backsliding".  This is not physical.  Backsliding is a spiritual matter, a spiritual sickness, and God uses the word "heal" meaning spiritual healing.  It is clear from this verse alone that God teaches the concept of spiritual healing in the Bible.

"For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces" (Zechariah 11:16).  Does the word "heal" in this passage refer to physical healing only?

" 'But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,' Says the LORD of hosts" (Malachi 4:2-3).  God will bring healing in His wings.  Is this only physical healing for our diseases in this physical life?  Look at the context and the time element - the wicked will be ashes under our feet in the day God does this.

"And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, 'Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' When Jesus heard that, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance' " (Matthew 9:11-13).  Christ equates sinners with those who are sick.  This does not refer to physical sickness but spiritual sickness.  See also Mark 2:16-17 and Luke 5:30-32.  

"For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them' " (Matthew 13:15).  Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament a passage I have quoted above.  It should be obvious by now the healing here refers to spiritual healing.  If Christ is quoting this passage from the Old Testament to refer to physical healing only, this makes no sense.  He is explaining to His disciples why He spoke to the crowds in parables (Matthew 13:10-14).  The Church has long taught that Christ spoke in parables to hide the meaning.  Why?  According this passage Christ quotes, "Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them".  But Christ did heal physically.  He healed those who had physical sicknesses and disabilities in the same crowds that He spoke in parables to so they would not be healed. This is not a contradiction.  He healed them physically, but not spiritually.  He healed them physically, but spoke in parables so they would not understand and turn to Him and be healed spiritually, because it was not their time to be called except for the disciples.

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them" (John 12:40).

"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. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls" (1 Peter 2:24-25).  The context is spiritual - like sheep going astray - not physical sickness.

Even Mr. Armstrong, in his autobiography, referred to spiritual healing when he described his repentance and conversion.  He did not use the term "spiritual healing", but that is what he meant.  He did not mean physical healing.  He said that the repentance he went through was the bitterest pill he had to swallow, but it was the only medicine that brought real healing.  This only emphasizes what the Bible clearly taught, that the word "healing" can refer to spiritual healing, not just physical healing.

The Bible definitely uses the term "sickness" to refer to spiritual sickness and the term "healing" in the context of spiritual healing.

Are we to live by every word of God, as we claim, or not (Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4)?  Or are we to live by our traditions like the Pharisees (Matthew 15:1-9, Mark 7:5-13)?

What is spiritual healing?

It includes faith and repentance.  It includes forgiveness and the removal of guilt.  It includes conversion - the receiving of God's Holy Spirit and God's Spirit dwelling inside us, giving us the ability to understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:11-12) and the power and love to overcome our evil human nature (2 Timothy 1:7).  It includes God giving us, through His Spirit, the precious gift of His holy, righteous character.  It includes Christ living His life in us (Galatians 2:20).

Spiritual healing is the replacement of our sinful human nature with God's nature, His holy, righteous character.

In this life, we are to make progress in that direction.  That progress is the start of our spiritual healing.  That healing will be complete at the resurrection when we will become like Christ, glorified, immortal, and unable to sin.

It is like Christ's statement that we are to be perfect as God our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).  We understand that we will not be perfect in this physical life, but that is the goal we are to strife for, and God will complete our perfection in the resurrection.

Likewise, our spiritual healing begins at conversion.  We make progress in this life and our spiritual healing becomes complete at the resurrection.

There is an analogy with being treated by a doctor for a physical disability or sickness.  When we go to a doctor for a physical problem, the doctor may give us instructions.  We do our part by following the doctor's instructions.  He may tell us to lose weight, to change our diet, or to do certain exercises until we recover.  The doctor helps us but we do our part.

Likewise, with spiritual healing, God provides the healing through His Holy Spirit, but we have our part to do also by striving to live righteously and put sin out of our lives.

I said I thought Mr. Armstrong, if he were alive today, would probably agree that the healing provided by the beaten and broken body of Christ and by the suffering He endured to pay the penalties for our sins refers to spiritual healing as well as physical healing.  I say this because all the elements that lead to our understanding of physical healing are present with spiritual healing and lead to the same conclusion.

You can see the contrast between the natural, carnal state of man as described as the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), which show our spiritual sickness before conversion, with the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), which show God's nature in us after conversion, which is the beginning of our spiritual healing.

What is the doctrine of physical healing based on?  What is the logic behind it?

Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).

Physical sin is the transgression of the physical laws of health.

Physical sins - violating the physical laws of health - bring on the penalties of sickness, disease, injuries, and disabilities.  These in turn bring us suffering and pain.

Jesus Christ paid that penalty by his own suffering when He was beaten and scourged (Matthew 27:26).  He was beaten and His body broken to pay the penalty for our physical sins - our violations of the laws of health.  Because He paid the penalty for our physical sins, God can remove the penalty of sickness and injury and heal us physically so we do not have to go on suffering.

The broken unleavened bread we eat at Passover represents Christ's broken body, broken so we can be physically healed.

All this is true and has been taught in the Church for a long time.

But consider spiritual healing.  The same principles, the same logic, apply.

Sin is the transgression of the law.  Just as violations of the physical laws of health can be termed "physical sin", so the violation of God's spiritual law is spiritual sin.

Spiritual sin brings on penalties.  The one penalty that we all know is the death penalty (Romans 6:23).  But that is not the only penalty of sin.  There is a mental penalty that Mr. Armstrong acknowledged.  He taught that when Adam sinned, something happened to his mind (Genesis 3:1-12).  It became perverted, twisted, evil.  The same thing happened to him that happened to Lucifer when he sinned.  Evil nature entered in.  Lucifer was perfect in his ways until sin was found in him.  His way of vanity resulted in the corruption of his wisdom.  He became completely evil.  Sin leads to more sin and to a habit of sin.

And sin brings suffering, as Mr. Armstrong taught.  It leads to guilt, conflict, destruction, war, death, and everything harmful in the long run.  It leads to long-term misery.

Just as physical sin leads to physical suffering, so also spiritual sin leads to spiritual sickness and suffering.

So death is not the only penalty for spiritual sin.  Suffering is also a penalty for our sins and our sinful nature that grows in us as we sin.

Jesus Christ suffered the pain of being beaten and His body broken to pay the penalties of suffering that come from all our sins, spiritual as well as physical.

So there are two penalties for sin:  death and suffering that comes from sin.

Christ died, His blood was shed, to pay the death penalty for our sins so God can give us eternal life and we can live forever.

But Christ was also beaten and He suffered to pay the penalties of suffering that our sins bring upon us, both physical and spiritual.

And just as the unleavened bread broken at Passover represents Christ's broken body to pay, through Christ's pain and suffering, the penalties in sickness and disease we bring upon ourselves by our physical sins and violations of the laws of health, so that same unleavened bread broken at Passover represents Christ's broken body and the suffering He endured to pay the penalty of suffering that comes as the result of spiritual sin - our evil nature that results in suffering through broken marriages, harmed relationships, ruined happiness, conflict, war, destruction, and misery.

The logic of Christ, by His broken body, paying the penalty of suffering for our sins so we can be healed and not have to go on suffering applies equally to physical sin and sickness and spiritual sin and sickness.  Suffering is a penalty for both.  Christ payed the penalty of suffering by His own suffering so we can be healed both spiritually and physically.

It may help to understand the need for spiritual healing if we consider what life would be like in the kingdom of God without it.

For those who deny their need for spiritual healing, consider this.  

Christ paid the death penalty so you don't have to die in the lake of fire.  God can give you immortality so you will live forever.  Christ, by His suffering, also paid the penalty for your physical sins so you are healed of every physical illness that causes suffering.  But what if you are never spiritually healed?  What if you still have your evil, human nature in the kingdom of God?

You enter that kingdom and are given immortality with all the saints in the resurrection.  Now you will live forever.

At first, you are joyous.  No more fear of death, no more physical pain.

But others in the kingdom of God make decisions you don't agree with.  You even find yourself disagreeing, sometimes, with Christ.  Resentment begins to fill your mind.  You become angry.

You disagree with Peter about something and begin to resist him, fight against him.  But you make an alliance with Paul, who agrees with you against Peter.  John and James side with Peter.  Christ has to intervene to separate the two sides.  But eventually war breaks out.  Each side tries to destroy the works and accomplishments of the other.  It is like Lucifer and his rebellion all over again.

Pretty soon the kingdom of God is kingdom of sin, conflict, hatred, and suffering.  And this goes on for all eternity.

Why?

The death penalty has been paid by Christ.  No one dies for their sins.  There is no physical sickness because Christ, by His stripes, enabled us to be physically healed.

But no one has been SPIRITUALLY HEALED.  We still have human nature.  Christ's broken body and suffering was never applied to the spiritual penalties of our sins - the perversion of mind that began to happen to Adam as the result of his sin and happened to us when we began to sin in our human lifetimes.

We will live forever in the kingdom of God, but without spiritual healing, we would still have human nature and we would still be sinning and bringing on suffering because of our sins, forever.

This would be the result if we are never spiritually healed.

Those who deny spiritual healing, those who do not acknowledge spiritual healing, need to consider this.

Being composed of spirit does not mean we won't sin.  Satan and his demons are spirit, but they sin.  We also need to be spiritually healed so we don't sin anymore.

If you are part of a Church of God fellowship that teaches and acknowledges our need for both spiritual and physical healing, when the term "healing" by itself is used, at Passover services for example, the members can correctly understand that it means both physical and spiritual healing, and they can give God thanks for both.

But in a fellowship that does not acknowledge spiritual healing, that term "healing" by itself implies physical healing only, and members will understand it as such.  Therefore, members in such a fellowship will not have a complete explanation of the meaning of the broken bread and what it represents.  This is especially true for a fellowship that refuses to learn new knowledge Christ wants to teach them from the Bible and only follows Mr. Armstrong and his teachings exactly, mistakes and omissions included.

No one should be so arrogant in the sight of God that they think they do not need to be spiritually healed.  No one should fail to give thanks to God and Christ for the beating and suffering Christ endured so we can be healed both physically and spiritually.

We need more than eternal life.  Christ's shed blood, His death, pays the death penalty for us so we can live forever.  But without spiritual healing, that eternal life would be a life of misery.  Christ suffered in our place to save us from that misery by enabling us to be healed spiritually.  

That is an important lesson of Passover.

The Protestants know we need to be spiritually healed.  Many or most of them do not understand the promise of physical healing.  But they know that Christ was beaten for our spiritual healing, even if they do not completely understand what that means.  At least they acknowledge it, though their understanding is limited.

What a shame to the Church of God, and an embarrassment to us, if the Protestants understand the stripes of Christ for our spiritual healing and acknowledge that, while some of us refuse to acknowledge that part of the sacrifice of Christ.  And they do not even keep Passover!

We have no excuse.

Those who do not give God thanks for this at Passover, those who claim Christ as their head, may have to answer to Christ for this in judgment.  I think there is not a better illustration of how some, who say that Christ is their head, do not follow where Christ leads in this matter.  Christ leads through His word the Bible, while some in the Church of God refuse His lead and rather follow their traditions, like the Pharisees, including the traditions of what Herbert W. Armstrong, a man, taught about healing.

Mr. Armstrong practiced a way of life that included correcting his own mistakes in doctrine when he found them.  I have no doubt he would correct his omission of teaching about spiritual healing if he were alive today.  He followed the Bible in other doctrines and I am confident he would follow the Bible in this matter.  But he is not alive today.  The Church, ministry and members alike, should continue his way of life today including correcting doctrinal errors in his teaching as discovered.  But some of us don't, even in the important, even vital, matter of spiritual healing.

For between physical healing and spiritual healing, which is more important?  Physical healing affects some of us and has to do with this temporary physical life only.  Spiritual healing is needed by all of us so that our eternity in the kingdom of God will be happy and joyous, no longer sinful.

No wonder we are in the Laodicean era.

Some have accused those who wore face masks at services of being afraid, lacking courage, not trusting God.  Actually, for many members, that was not an issue of fear of disease or lack of faith in God but respect for God's authority and government in the Church and probably a desire to protect the Church of God from lawsuits that could injure the work and diminish the preaching of the gospel.  The implication is there, though not openly spoken, that some leaders, ministers, and members of fellowships that had restrictions based on the Covid pandemic may be cowards in God's sight.  Yet, are some of who stood up in the matter of face masks and singing now afraid to take a stand on the issue of spiritual healing?  Or do they hide behind the general meaning of the word, "healing", without acknowledging both physical and spiritual healing?  What is more important, more weighty, the matter of singing and wearing face masks or the matter of giving thanks and glory to God for the tremendous sacrifice and suffering of Christ so we can be healed of our evil human nature and be happy in God's kingdom forever?

We should not be ashamed of what we learn in the Bible about such an important matter.

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38).