Musings of a Christian Physician on the Physical and Spiritual Healing of Man

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W E E K

MONDAY

So we’ve been teasing out the differences between things spiritual and things carnal. The bottom line is that we are born fully carnal (“in the flesh” as the Bible puts it), subject to imperfect thinking and senses and emotions and sickness and depression and anxiety, etc. But as believers we have access to something much superior, the spiritual realm. Here’s a great verse: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6; emphasis added).

I want to focus on two words this morning, instantaneous and gradual, and contrast the Fall of Man with the salvation of fallen humanity. When we are saved, that is, respond to the Holy Spirit’s beckoning, our spirit person, that part of us dormant at birth, is instantaneously revived and made perfect. We are flawless in God’s eyes. This is seemingly too good to be true, but it is true, and it makes sense to God. “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow’” (Isaiah 1:18).

However, the other two components of our being, the soul (mind/intellect/ emotions) and the physical body, are not changed immediately. The transformation of these carnal aspects is gradual and occurs as we allow more and more of the perfect spiritual aspect of our lives to permeate the carnal aspects. It’s a gradual dying to ourselves and a becoming more like Jesus. This is called sanctification. It’s a process, and it won’t be complete until we get to heaven.

Boy, I’d love to digress here and explain how to go about doing this sanctification thing, because we tend to make it too hard and focus on our efforts, and this has everything to do with the healing of our bodies and minds as believers, but I need to finish this contrast first.

At the Fall, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, their spirits instantaneously died as God had warned, but their souls and minds were initially unchanged. However, their spiritual death triggered a gradual process of deterioration of their bodies, minds, and emotions such that they experienced sickness, despair, want, and eventually death. It was never supposed to be that way for humankind. O the consequences of original sin!

Today’s message is too long, but we won’t end on a negative note. Here’s the good part: “But, you [believers] are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:9; emphasis added). Praise God!

TUESDAY

We have seen how humans became infected with disease, emotional dysfunction, cognitive dysfunction, aging, and even death due to the sin of the “first Adam,” which nullified the overriding spiritual influence on their carnal natures. We have seen how putting our faith in Jesus Christ revives that spiritual element and fully restores it so that we are justified before God for all eternity as if we have never sinned. We are righteous in His eyes as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For God made Him, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This is justification, and although it is ridiculously good news, most Christians don’t have a hard time conceptualizing this and accepting it.

But where does that leave our still present carnal aspects? How do they get progressively transformed so that we have the mind of Christ and are healthy? And is it even scriptural to assume this could even happen, that this sanctification (becoming more like Jesus in our daily walk with Him) is even possible?

Well, it is. Here are some supportive scriptures:
• “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16; emphasis added).
• “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2; emphasis added).
• “Because as He [Jesus] is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17; emphasis added).

My wife and I had the privilege a few years ago to visit the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy, where Michelangelo’s David is housed. By the way, I believe that particular artist was divinely inspired. Just viewing the David sculpture is awe-inspiring. I think Michelangelo captured perfectly both the complete confidence young David had in the Lord and his utter disdain for this non-God-fearing heathen who had the audacity to make fun of David’s covenant God. I think David viewed the encounter as a mismatch—in his favor!

But what I was especially drawn to was the hallway exhibiting the unfinished sculptures, also known as the Prisoners. Michelangelo worked without the benefit of a rough model. He claimed he could “see” the forms inside the blocks of granite, and his job was to set them free. But these works were never completed; there were bodies at various degrees in the process of “escaping” from the formless rock. It struck me that this is a beautiful analogy of our sanctification process. We are to be continually emerging more into the light of the Gospel, into the spiritual realm, and leaving farther and farther behind our carnal natures as they are progressively transformed (Romans 12:2), aiming for the perfect will of God.

And just how is that accomplished? Today we went way over; it will have to wait until tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY

“Now there were certain Greeks … who came to Philip [one of the disciples], and asked him, saying, ‘Sirs, we wish to see Jesus’” (John 12:21, 22).

So here’s the question we’ve been building up to, and it’s super important: How do we accomplish this “transformation” that Romans 12:2 alludes to?