Healing is a gift of God— a universal human experience that bears witness to God’s will that we should live. While bodily systems often bring about healing without intervention, some ailments require surgery. The surgeon’s knife does not do the healing, but provides better circumstances for healing to take place. It is precisely for this reason that the surgeon cuts.
Healing is a gift of God— a universal human experience that bears witness to God’s will that we should live.
Martin Luther recognized that the Word of God brings a different kind of healing through the Law and Gospel. “Law” describes what God requires. It demands perfection: a standard we cannot meet. “Gospel” describes what God provides so that we may live. The Law is like the surgeon’s knife, cutting the sin that corrupts our lives and brings death. The Gospel is healing. It is the most profound healing since it is eternal and heals in every way.
Without the Law, we do not see that we are spiritually sick, and so will not receive the healing that is offered. We see this in the Gospel of Mark as a lawyer came to Jesus in order to justify himself, claiming that he had kept the Law. But since he only looked to himself and not to God, he was unable to fix his spiritual problem. He went away under the condemnation of the Law (Mark 10:17–22). In contrast, many came to Jesus with nothing but a plea of helplessness and need; Jesus provided what they needed and more.
Giving the grace of God (Gospel) to a person who claims to keep the law perfectly is ineffective because the self-righteous person sees no need for grace and may even think it is insulting. They don’t see that they are sick. But when God’s grace is given to a person burdened and afraid under the condemnation of the Law, they find restoration, healing, and new life in Christ.
The Law is like the surgeon’s knife, cutting the sin that corrupts our lives and brings death. The Gospel is healing. It is the most profound healing since it is eternal and heals in every way.
God’s purpose is always healing. He shows us our sin so that we are ready to receive the perfect healing that comes when the work of Jesus is applied to us.
The church—and Christians—are always reforming as they hear the Law and are restored by the Gospel.
-ME