Eventual total victory

In a brief discussion with someone who believes physical healing is in the atonement (meaning: because Jesus died, we can claim cleansing from sin and healing for our bodies), I suggested that just as our sin is not done with at salvation (or Christians would never sin), so our total healing will not happen until we step into heaven.

The person that I talked with insisted that healing is for everyone who believes; we just have to “receive” it, or claim it as our own, believing what God says. Well, I believe that God gives me victory over sin, but why then do I still sin?

The Lord has reasons for giving us a new nature and leaving the old one for us to battle. He also has reasons for illness, for instance to chasten us for sin, or even as His way of taking us home. As I think about my response to her, I wonder why she picked total bodily healing as the thing to claim at the foot of the cross, rather than total eradication of sin?

One thing that clarifies this issue for me is the way Greek verbs are different from English verbs. The Greek language has more verb tenses, and because most readers don’t read in Greek, the subtle (or not so subtle) meanings can be misinterpreted. One passage is 1 John 3:7-9:

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

Even in the early church, false teachers tried to lead believers astray. John gave Christians this instruction to help them discern the genuine from the deceivers. But the verbs here are not black and white, even though they appear that way. Instead of saying righteous people never sin, the verb indicates that sin is not their habitual practice. That is, Christians will sin, but their new life, the life of Christ in them, has changed their very nature. The new nature tends toward obedience to God and love for one another. Sin is of the old nature and it is separated from God and cannot do any good thing.

The only black and white statement in this passage is that those whose lives are characterized by sin are following the lead of the ultimate false teacher, the devil himself. He was the first to reject God and His righteousness. He now works to build his own following and is good at it; his success makes headlines every day. Sadly, those who follow him seldom realize he is working at the core of their motivations.

My devotional reading on this passage explains that sin was not eradicated when I became a Christian. That would be nice, but instead I was given a new nature that cannot sin and a life of learning how to live in the power of that new nature instead of the old one that is destined for destruction. The reading (edited to make it personal) says:

There will be no thorough destruction of sin within until my body drops into the grave, and my soul mounts aloft to be with the Lord. Nor will there be a full destruction of sin’s effects in my body until resurrection morn, when my body will be raised from sleeping dust and changed into the glorious image of the body of the Son of God. . . . Then will the victory be complete. Then will Christ appear, shining forth with the luster of a million suns. Then will be the glorious manifestation of the Son of God and the works of the devil will be thoroughly destroyed. The weight of heaven’s anthem, the grand theme of eternal adoration, will be the manifestation of the Son of God to destroy the works of the devil.

Until then, I will fight sin. Until then, I may also fight sickness, should God use that in my life to develop Christ in me. Right now, I’m so glad that God gives whatever grace and strength I need for both battles, and also for His promise that one day these battles will be over and the victory will be mine.