“to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit…”

to another

The words “to another” indicate everyone is different in the way God distributes His gifts. God puts God’s people in God’s place for them. God gifts some to do one kind of ministry and some another. There are many different ministries requiring many different gifts.

gifts of healings

Gifts of healings are gifts to cause physical healing (12:28,30). “Gifts of healing” is the capacity to cause instantaneous and complete healing of the body to health. The person who exercises healing does not require the one being healed to have faith.

The plural “gifts” implies different kinds of healings. Healing may be in the areas of physical, spiritual, or mental healing. The word “healings” means to make whole. This is the gift of restoring health.

There are three overarching kinds of gifts: (1) speaking gifts, (2) servicing gifts, and (3) sign gifts. Sign gifts verify or authenticate the New Testament canon as true. The gifts of healings, miracles, tongues, and interpretation of tongues are sign gifts. God designed all sign gifts to testify to the authenticity of the truth of the message behind the healing. God limited sign gifts to the first century during the writing of the New Testament. Those gifts ceased at the end of the first century with the passing of the apostles. The Word of God became self-authenticating after the first century.

It is important to distinguish between the gifts of healing and the possibility of healing. The healing gifts ceased with the apostles, but God is still able to heal in answer to prayer or at His own volition. In every case, it is God who sovereignly bestows healing. Gifts of healing do not account for all healing in the New Testament.

It is crucial to note that sickness is not always due to sin (John 9:1-3).

PRINCIPLE:

It is not always God’s will to heal.

APPLICATION:

God can and does heal today, but this is not the gift of healing. No one can heal like Jesus or the apostles. Paul could not heal his friend Epaphroditus (Ph 2:27) or his close protégé Timothy (1 Ti 5:23). He left his associate Trophimus in Miletus sick (2 Ti 4:20). He only exercised the gift of healing to confirm the gospel, never to heal a friend.

For Christians to demand that God heal today is to play god by exercising sovereignty over God Almighty. It is not always God’s will for everyone to be healed. The gift of healing was the prerogative of the person with the gift, and it did not depend on the faith of the individual healed (Acts 3:1-10; 9:32-35; 14:8; 28:7-9). Paul had a physical ailment that God did not heal (2 Co 12:9).