Sometimes when we talk about the extraordinary gifts that God gives the New Testament church it is helpful to separate them. What I mean by extraordinary gifts are those spiritual gifts that are not a regular part of the lives of the people of God. This is opposed to something like the fruit of the spirit, which should be evident in the church of all times and places as well as each individual in the church. Rather than grouping all the extraordinary gifts into one group, we should deal with the biblical role of each gift separately.
The gift of tongues, for example, has a different purpose than the gift of healing. The gift of tongues teaches the new church about the nature of the kingdom of God. It is one of the unique acts that is commemorated in water baptism, which include the baptism of Christ and the death and resurrection of Christ.
The gift of tongues teaches that the coming Kingdom of God is made up of every tribe, language, and nation. It is also entirely unique to the NT church. Tongues demonstrated that God now dwelt in a new people formed out of both Jews and Gentiles instead of in the temple.
In contrast, the gift of healing is not entirely unique to the NT church. Jesus exercised the gift of healing. Old Testament prophets exercised that gift. It is interesting to note that reports of the gift of healing are far more common in the history of the church than the gift of tongues. The authenticity of those healings is another matter. The gift of healing demonstrated the authenticity of a prophet. The physical restoration was a sign of spiritual restoration.
What does this mean? I believe that it means that we should not necessarily expect the gift of tongues to continue to happen throughout history. This bears itself out in history. The gift of tongues, in the sense of a sudden ability to speak in another contemporary, human language, has rarely, if ever, been reported in the history of the church.
Compare that to the gift of healing. Healings, whether real and spurious, have often been reported in the history of the church.
I want to make a couple of notes on the gift of healing in the NT and its continued use in the world today.
1. The gift of healing is only done in the power of God. It is meant to draw attention to what God is doing. Everyone who participates in a healing ministry will tell you this, but that doesn’t mean that it is not a highly important point. God does the healing. As soon as a man starts to believe that he has a special power in himself or fails to recognize God’s work in the healing, he becomes a charlatan. The gift of healing is not given for the gain of an individual man.
2. The work of healing is sacramental or has a similarity to sacraments: By this, I mean that the work of the healing is not found in the words of the person or in the form a person uses in order to heal someone. Rather the words and the touch are only powerful if accompanied by the Spirit. This is naturally derived from our first point. If healing is an act of God, we are only means for that act.
We can think of the time that God used Elijah to raise a child from the dead. Elijah spreads himself out over the child and God uses that to raise the child (1 Kings 17:17-24). Elijah’s actions are not in themselves healing. It is rather that the Holy Spirit uses Elijah’s actions for healing. Further, the gift of healing always points to Christ.
3. The gift of healing is occasional, not regular. This is somewhat technical language. We might also use the language of ordinary and extraordinary. A regular or ordinary gift is something like teaching, preaching or charity. These three are the true work of the church as she seeks to spread the kingdom of God. Ordinary gifts are essential to the kingdom of God. The gift of healing is occasional. God used it in the history of Israel as a sign to confirm true prophecy. Now that we have the final word there is less need for such a confirmation. Extraordinary gifts are not essential to the kingdom of God.
4. The gift of healing is not proof of one’s salvation. Neither is receiving healing a proof of salvation. Jesus makes the former quite clear in Matthew 7. Speaking of the day of judgment, he says, “many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name.” Jesus doesn’t question that they did mighty works. Jesus questions their faithfulness to his name and to his word. In the end, the one who does mighty works before God is no different than the one who lives a quiet life. Each must trust in Jesus for his salvation.
5. Receiving healing is no proof of salvation. Healing is closely connected to the faith of the healed in the gospels, but in some stories, the connection is not so clear. In Luke 17: 11-18, Jesus heals ten lepers. One comes back, thanking him and praising God for the gift of healing. The passage is not about receiving salvation in the sense of eternal life, but the implication is clear; even when you receive healing, there is no guarantee that the one who received healing is moved by a desire for God. God may use the faith of a person in order to heal someone. God may use the faith of the healer in order to heal someone, but ultimately it is God who gives healing; sometimes that healing is affirmed by faith, sometimes not.
We can look at Jesus’ warning in Matthew 12:43-45 where he speaks of rescuing an individual from a demon. The individual, instead of filling himself with Christ instead of a demon, goes on his way empty. The demon comes back and brings seven others. Jesus’ warning is to Israel, but it applies to individuals. Jesus is talking about exorcism, which is a different thing again from healing. However, what applies to the exorcised man applies to the man who is healed. The exorcised man must look continually look to God for grace. The healed man must look to God for the continued health of both body and soul.
6. Another thing to notice (and this is particular to healing) is that healing is never forced on anyone. It is requested. We see this in the miracles of Jesus, though at times Jesus does offer first.
7. God can lead someone to look for healing or he may lead someone through a valley of suffering. God works through the suffering of Job to show his power. Paul will often appeal to God’s work in weakness as he reflects on his ministries in his letter. This is a very important point, for it through faithful suffering that we most reflect Jesus. According to Paul, he “fills our Christ’s sufferings” (Colossians 1:24) by his sufferings. The same applies to us. Healing shows Christ’s power. Our weakness and suffering do so even more.