When Jesus healed the paralysed man lowered before him, He first declared “When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” Luke 5:20
Most people I know would interpret this as proving the link between unconfessed sin and sickness.
It is a common interpretation that the man had sins in his life and therefore either caused his paralysis or hindered his healing.
Today I’m going to share my understanding of this passage; I hope it sets you free from any confusion or condemnation that your sin may have caused or delayed your healing.
There is a link between forgiveness of sins and healing. This is for 2 reasons:
- They both are part of the atonement.
- They are impossible without God (Obviously I’m not talking about medical healings).
SOZO
According to the Strong’s Concordance, the word sozo means” to forgive, to heal, to rescue”
“He will save (sozo) His people from their sins” Matt 1:21
“your faith has made you well (sozo).” Matt 9:22
If you’re a Christian you are saved (sozo), and therefore you are healed (sozo) at the Cross. Even if your symptoms remain in the natural.
THE ATONEMENT
When Jesus died for you and I, He took our sins and our sicknesses. Both forgiveness and sins are part of Jesus’ atonement.
See IS IT ALWAYS GOD’S WILL TO HEAL?
We cannot therefore separate them. They are part of the same obedient act.
Throughout the Bible, we see forgiveness and healing together.
“Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,” Ps 103:3
“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
In context, Jesus was showing the Pharisees that He alone had authority to forgive sins and heal sickness.
Salvation of course does not. We tend to think therefore that forgiveness of sins is easier because it doesn’t require any physical manifestation. This isn’t accurate.
From God’s perspective, both are as easy as each other because both require the same atoning action.
The benefits of salvation are eternal, whilst healing is a need on earth so we tend to think healing is just an afterthought. I personally don’t agree with this.
In fact, I would say that there is no evidence in the Bible at all, that healing is secondary to salvation. Plenty of people in the Bible were healed and not saved.
SEEK THE HEALER
In this passage, Jesus makes it clear that forgiveness is just as necessary as healing. Many people approached Jesus for healing with no evidence of wanting forgiveness.
When we’re ill, it’s easy for the sickness to consume us, and healing becomes the top priority.
If you relate to this, know you’re not alone. Don’t be condemned or stressed that you keep putting the healing first. I think this is human nature.
I can honestly testify that in my experience, if you keep your eyes on Jesus by spending time with Him, growing in faith and seeking Him, somehow, along the way, He transforms you so you end up putting the Healer above the healing.
He does this for you so the pressure is off. I feel I need to say this to you because I know I felt so bad about it, it was like I just couldn’t help it.
It’s ok and He understands.
By forgiving the man’s sins publicly, Jesus is reminding us all that forgiveness is just as important as healing.
THE FORGIVENESS OF THE PARALYSED MAN
The most common interpretation of this man’s forgiveness is that He had sins causing his illness or blocking his healing
There are Christians who believe that sin causes sickness or hinders our healing. (There may be occasions when this may be the case, but it’s not a rule of thumb as far as I believe).
When Jesus healed the man born blind, He said this
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him
John 9:3
When Jesus healed, He did so to show He had the power and authority to do so. This attracted people to Jesus and showed the heart of God.
He healed people out of the compassion of His heart. He loves us and wants us well, just like any loving parent.
When Jesus forgave and healed the paralytic, He did so to show everyone that He was the Messiah.
If you think about it, Jesus healed the multitudes. That means, hundreds, maybe thousands of sinful people. There is no mention that He forgave their sins first.
Surely there were plenty of people with unconfessed sin, and with no intention of following Jesus or wanting forgiveness of sins.
When Jesus forgave the paralytic, it seems unlikely to me that this man’s sins were somehow worse than the multitudes’.
They all needed forgiving.
I therefore believe that the man needed to know and experience the freedom of how forgiven his sins were. Our forgiveness is complete. Yet how many times do we feel guilty about our wrong-doings?
Have you ever confessed the same sin over and over because you feel that bad about it? What about feeling unworthy of the love of God, because you don’t feel good enough?
This is also condemnation.
See IS AN EVIL CONSCIENCE HINDERING YOUR HEALING?
And WHY FEELING UNWORTHY OF GOD’S LOVE HINDERS HEALING
There is a freedom that comes with the revelation of our forgiveness.
When we know we are forgiven, we easily forgive others. We crave to spend time with Jesus in response to His forgiveness.
The greater our revelation of our forgiveness, the greater our revelation of God’s love. Andrew Wommack teaches that we don’t need more faith in God, we need a greater revelation of His love.
Well-known psychiatrist Karl Menninger once said if he “could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 per cent of them could walk out the next day.”
There is something deep within our flesh that believes we deserve punishment. But God’s truth is that the Cross dealt with our sins once and for all.
In order to receive a healing we have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is not holding our sins against us.
Hebrews 10:17 says ‘Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more’ The Psalmist David longed to be where you and I are today. ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered’. Ps 32:1
When Jesus hung on the cross He took every sin of our life. Past, present and future sins were all done away with, once and for all! Even those sins we’re not aware of!
The Bible says that condemnation kills.
Feeling guilty for all our mistakes or listening to the voice of the accuser again and again has the potential to make us ill both emotionally and physically.
It’s a form of self-hatred which is harmful and destructive and can be responsible for ill-health.
The understanding that God really does love us that much will set us free. The gospel of Jesus Christ really is too good to be true!
Jesus confirms this freedom when he told the paralyzed man ‘your sins are forgiven you’. He knew exactly what the man needed to hear to give him a deeper revelation of his forgiveness, paving the way for him to receive his healing miracle.
Guilt and condemnation surely release stress hormones into our cells, whereas the peace and freedom when we know our sins are forgiven, is medicine to our bodies.
Telling ourselves how forgiven our sins are, instead of listening to that internal critic or as I like to call her ‘the internal pharisee’, will bring safety and health to our systems.
Maybe the paralytic had an internal pharisee, continually condemning himself. Knowing our forgiveness is essential to our healing.
Can I suggest you spend some time meditating on the truth of our forgiveness?
I hope this sets you free today.
Lorna xx
Other posts on this series on the man lowered through the roof: