SICKNESS AMONG THE
CHILDREN OF GOD*
By PHILIP MAURO
[* From the Author’s Book “Studies in Romans”
(pp.
152 & 153 and pp. 294-304.)
It may also be of interest to know,
that these writings were prepared
during the time of the ‘
-------
AN INTRODUCTION*
[Page 152]
It is quite possible so to teach the grace of God as to make those who have received the benefits thereof lose sight of
their responsibilities. But the Scriptures
do not so teach the Doctrines of Divine Grace. Very clearly
do they teach the blessed fact that all who believe on the crucified and risen
Son of God are “justified freely by His grace” (Rom. 3: 24), “and by Him all that believe are justified from all
things” (Acts 13: 39); and furthermore that the ‘gift’ of God’s free grace abounds unto eternal life (Rom.
5: 21; 6: 23).
But with equal clearness do the Scriptures teach that,
after our sins have been remitted by grace, and eternal life has been given by
grace, we are required to depart instantly from, our old ways. So complete a
change of conduct is required of us that
it is described as walking “in newness
of life.” Not
only are our ways of living to be changed, but the
very place of residence is to be changed also.
What shall we say then, after having listened to God’s
announcement of what infinite grace has made ours through the Cross of Christ?
Shall we continue living in the old ways and in the old place? Shall we
continue in [wilful]* sin? After we
have truly learned, by the Word of the Spirit of God,
our association [Page 152] with Christ in His death, the only
possible reply to this question will be “may it not be. How shall we, who died to sin,
live any longer therein?”
[* See Heb.
10: 26-31, R.V.]
It is a very serious matter to receive light and not to walk
in it. There is a
certain carnal satisfaction in acquiring a stock of Scripture-knowledge, and
its possession may foster carnal pride, and produce a pleasing sense of
superiority over those saints who have less of that knowledge. It is dangerous in the extreme to lose sight of the fact that our
responsibility is in proportion to our light. The Lord did not say “if ye know these things, happy
are ye;” but “if ye know
these things happy are ye if ye do
them” (John 13: 17). Again, He said to those who boasted they were the children of
Abraham, “if ye were Abraham’s children ye would do the works of
Abraham” (John 8: 39). If then we have the faith of Abraham, it is incumbent upon us
to walk in the steps of the faith which Abraham had (Rom. 4:
12).
Indeed it is better not to have the light
wherein some are disposed to pride themselves if we do not walk in that light.
It is written of some who had a certain knowledge of
Christ that “if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again etangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered
unto them” (2 Pet. 2: 20, 21).
There is, of course, no question of the [regenerate] believer’s
losing the gift of Eternal Life; but the Scriptures contain
numerous and most solemn warnings of damage and loss which the saint may
sustain through disobedience, perversity. Heedlessness, or neglect. There is a disposition on our part to pass lightly over such warnings. We do so at our peril; and the command is laid upon all of us to
exhort one another daily, so long as
it is called “Today,” lest “any of you” [“holy brethren”] be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; and so much the more should we do so as “we see the
day approaching” (Heb. 3: 13; 10: 25). Surely now is the time for giving
and receiving these exhortations. In
“a little while” it will be too late. Awake, therefore, ye children of
light and of the day. “Let us not sleep, as do others. But let us watch and be sober” (1 Thess. 5: 6).
* *
*
[PART ONE]
[Page 294]
SICKNESS AMONG
THE CHILDREN OF GOD
It follows from the teaching to which we, as children of God,
have been delivered, that our mortal bodies have been taken out of the old relations
which existed while we were serving sin (as the Israelites served in Egypt) and
have been brought into new relations with God, in Christ Jesus (as the
Israelites were brought into new relations with Him, and new dependence upon
Him for the sustenance of life, after they had crossed the Red Sea. Prominent among the incidents which
are effected by this change is that of sickness and
the treatment thereof. The Scriptures make it very clear that sickness among
the children of God is a very different matter from sickness among the people
of the world, and arises from different causes. It should,
therefore, receive correspondingly different “treatment.”
Any believer who has grasped, though it be but very imperfectly, the doctrines of
Sickness is appropriate to
Here we see every provision for health and sustenance and healing; but the
provision is coupled with responsibility as to the
believer’s “walk” while
journeying through the wilderness. Sickness
may, of course, come upon a child of God through other causes than his own disobedience or departure from
God’s ways. Instances of this will
be given later on* Nevertheless, disobedience
is doubtless the most fruitful cause of sickness among saints, and consequently the path of obedience is
that which is most favourable to physical health and well-being. Even in
the rare case of sickness occurring to a child of God while abiding in His
Will, it would be manifestly wrong to
seek deliverance from it through the use of human
expedients.
[* See ‘PART TWO’.]
Whether or not sickness ever comes to
children of God except as a means of chastening or discipline, or as a check
against a course of self-will not necessarily involving any moral evil, or as a
means of instruction in His ways, it is in any case clear that it is not of faith for them to seek deliverance from sickness through
the agency of those expedients which unbelieving man has devised, and by means of which the latter endeavours
to maintain himself in a state of independence of God. The efficiency of any particular
medicinal remedy or “cure” furnishes no argument for its use by a child of God, but rather the reverse. So long as sickness is or may be a
chastening of the Lord, the certainty of a humanly-devised
means of escape from it, would rather furnish a greater reason why it should
not be used. There could be no worse issue to the sickness of a child of God
than to lose the benefit of the purpose for which it was permitted
to overtake him.
Whatever view, therefore, we may take of sickness, it is in any case certain
that, for a child of God to put himself in the hands of a doctor, and to take
into his body the drugs he may prescribe, is not walking by faith. It is not
necessary at this point to inquire whether “Divine
Healing” is taught or implied in this or that
passage of Scripture, or [Page 296] whether the promises of the Word of
God with respect to healing are available to [obedient] believers of this dispensation, or
are the exclusive property of the Israelite.
The believer of this dispensation, who is a member of the Body
of Christ and a sharer of His resurrection life through the indwelling [Holy] Spirit, and whose special call is to
walk by faith, has no need to invade the covenant privileges of the Israelite
in order to obtain the promise of healing for the mortal body. The relation of
the believer to the Risen Christ brings the mortal body of the former into a position
of privilege and blessing to which the Israelite was a stranger. The believer’s
access to Divine life and health is direct and ample. To him
healing for the body comes - not through a miracle or outward sign, as in Old
Testament times, and as in the days of our Lord’s earthly ministry among His
own earthly people, nor yet by the exercise of the “gift of healing,” (which was used so far as the
record goes, only on those outside the Church), but by means of his vital union
with the glorified Man Whom God has raised from among the dead, and through the
presence of the Spirit of Life, indwelling and quickening the mortal body.
There are two aspects of this important subject. We have to
consider first the resources which the members of Christ’s Body have in Him; and secondly the matter of the believer’s separation from
the world and its resources. The first we have already discussed. As to the second, it is clear that there can be no complete separation from the world so long as the child
of God places dependence for relief from sickness upon the remedies of the
world. The question of the use of such expedients is
settled for every believer who has gained a clear apprehension of the
position into which be has been brought by the crucifixion of Christ and His
resurrection from the dead.
The doctrine of Galatians 6: 14 which teaches that the believer has been
crucified to the world, would have little meaning if he
is remanded to the remedies of the world-system for the cure of his physical
ailments. If it be a departure from the believer’s place of
separation unto his crucified Lord to participate in the world’s pleasures and
projects, or to compete for its honours, it must be equally (if not more
so) a departure for him to seek the aid of “medical treatment” when chastened by sickness.
The writer has not been able to find in Scripture any shadow of a reason why
believers should subject to medical “treatment”
the bodies which God has demanded for His service, which He alone understands,
and which the Holy Spirit condescends to occupy as His temples. If it grieves
the loving heart of our Heavenly Father whenever a child of His looks to the
things of the world for any pleasure, gratification, or benefit, how very
grievous to Him it must be when they seek the world’s expedients for
deliverance from evil!
In considering this subject it must be
remembered first that disease is a manifestation of
the power of evil (that is, of Satan’s power, who has the [Page 297] power of death), and
second that man’s “medical science” is largely the outcome of his efforts to
be independent of God. It is, therefore, a dishonour to God and a triumph to His enemies whenever a child of God
seeks the aid of human expedients for deliverance from sickness. Occasion is thereby given to the scoffer
to say that God’s children can talk about trusting Him when all goes well, but
that when a real need arises, and a real trouble overtakes them, they immediately
fly for help to man’s remedies. On the other hand, by so doing the child of God
deprives those who are observing his conduct, of such a benefit of a testimony
to God’s faithfulness as can be given in no other way. The writer knows of a
remarkable conversion wrought through the trust exhibited by a little child,
who had been taught to look to God and to Him alone, for deliverance from sickness.
Furthermore, to choose God’s wav rather than man’s is to
choose the better way. The inadequacy of medicinal remedies is being specially
manifested and recognized in these perilous times, wherein the power of Satan is being increasingly displayed. God’s
children, therefore, have special need to be taught at this time, the place
which He has given to their mortal bodies in His work of redemption, in order
that they may be protected, not only from the blunders and inefficiencies of
the medical practitioner, but also from the more dangers which have been lately
introduced into the sphere of Christianity by the “psychotherapist”
and other religious charlatans.
I am the more urgent to press this
matter upon the people of God at this time, and to exhort them earnestly to
seek God’s mind about it, as He has revealed it in His Word, because I am
persuaded that the saints living in the CLOSING
days of this present evil age are specially called upon to walk in complete
separation from the world. I am persuaded that, to seek God’s way in sickness, and to
walk in it, will especially characterize those whose wonderful privilege it
shall be to be changed in a moment at the coming of the Lord. These are they in
whom the Apostle’s prayer shall be answered, for they shall be wholly
sanctified or set apart unto God from every thing that is of the world, and
shall be preserved blameless, spirit, soul, AND BODY, unto the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5: 23).
For these reasons I have been deeply
impressed with the thought that God’s gracious purpose is to give to His people
at this time a fuller knowledge of His ways with regard to the use and care of
their physical bodies and members. I believe that He is calling them to take,
in this matter, a position in advance of that to which the saints of former
generations were called, whose bodies were not to
experience the marvellous change referred to above. And if this be indeed His
purpose, we can readily understand Satan’s activity in seeking to obscure God’s
path of simple faith by bringing forward and making prominent, just at this
time, the false healing cults and movements which [Page 298] constitute such a remarkable
feature of these strange and evil days. May the Holy Spirit find every child of God who may read these
lines ready to follow where He may lead.
* *
*
[PART TWO]
[Page 299]
THE “CAUSE” OF SICKNESS
AMONG SAINTS
The Scriptures give us one, and only one, direct statement as
to what may be the cause of sickness in a believer of this dispensation, a
member of the Body of Christ. That solitary reference teaches in the clearest
way that it is not so much the natural cause of diseases, exposure to
contagion, or to unsanitary conditions, or to the elements, - that the child of
God has to fear, as the supernatural or spiritual causes. The passage is 1
Cor. 11: 27-32, where instruction
is given concerning the commemoration and the showing forth of the Lord’s
death, in the manner appointed by Him. We are commanded to do this in
remembrance of Him and thereby to show forth His death until He come. That can be done “worthily” only by those members of His Body
whose manner of life is consistent with the fact that they have been conjoined
in the likeness of His death. It follows that “whosoever shall eat this
bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and
Blood of the Lord”; that is (as I understand it) shall be guilty
in regard to the purpose for which the Body was broken and that Blood poured
out; for he who eats and drinks unworthily treats them as a nullity. “But let a man
examine (or prove) himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body. FOR THIS CAUSE many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
For if we would
judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged
(lit. being
judged) of the Lord we are CHASTENED, that we should not be condemned with the world.” Among the [Page 300] truths that are to be learned from
this important passage of Scripture the following are prominent, and are unmistakably
clear, namely;
Firstly, that sickness is sometimes permitted to overtake
and lay hold of a child of God whose conduct is unbecoming one who is in Christ,
and has been allowed to pass without
self-judgment.
Secondly that this is
permitted as a chastening or discipline of the Lord.
Thirdly that God’s purpose in thus chastening
His children is to the end that the latter may be exercised to
repentance, godly sorrow, and confession, so that
they may not be “condemned with the world.” It thus most
clearly appears that sickness in a child of God is a totally
different affair from the sickness of an unbeliever; and if we resort to
the same “treatment” in the former case that is used in the
latter, we thereby disregard the
plain teaching of God’s Word. The Lord does not discipline the children of wrath;* He disciplines only His own children (Amos 3: 2; Heb. 11: 6-13).
[* That is, the Apostates.
See Num. 14:
22-23; 16: 1-3, 12-14; 21, 24-34; Deut. 9: 7, 8, 22, R.V. Cf. Eph. 5: 6ff. Heb. 10: 26-31, 39. R.V.]
It is evident,
therefore, that if a child of God, when
thus brought under His chastening hand for his own profit, seeks to escape
therefrom by resort to the medicinal remedies upon which the unbelieving rely,
he does but further affront and grieve his Heavenly Father by despising the
chastening of the Lord. Therefore God also says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou are rebuked of Him.” The discipline is rather to be regarded
as a mark of His love, “For whom the Lord LOVETH He chasteneth,
and scourgeth
every son whom He receiveth.” The passage in 1 Cor. 11 further teaches that different degrees of misconduct among the [regenerate] children of God receive
corresponding degrees of chastening. Some of the offending
ones at
“There is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:
16). This may be one thing or another. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira the “sin unto death” was lying to the Holy Spirit. In the case of the Corinthian assembly it
consisted in gross misconduct,
utterly unbecoming those who are called upon to show forth the Lord’s death during
His absence and rejection, - and in then making a mockery of the ordinance of
commemoration of His death, by
participating therein without judging their own mis-doings. If we can
conceive that any, in such case, recovered
health through the aid of medicinal remedies, even supplemented by prayer,
the last case of such would be far worse than the first.
Nor should it be expected that
healing must always immediately follow penitence, confession, and believing prayer for recovery. It may be needful in God’s wisdom
that the sickness be severe and prolonged. Or
perhaps He might even grant the healing,
if asked for, before the end desired by Himself (which [Page 301] is that we might be “partakers
of His holiness”) be fully accomplished. Better it is to
endure the chastening patiently, for if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with
you as with sons; and though “no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto
them which are exercised thereby.” It is better, therefore, to pray for the
peaceable fruit of righteousness than for the recovery; and we may be sure
that, by truly seeking the former, we shall the more speedily obtain the latter.
We wish not to be understood as
saying that every sickness overtaking a saint of God is a chastening for some
fault. The Scriptures do not so state, but rather indicate that God may permit
sickness for other purposes. Thus Paul’s experience mentioned in 2
Cor. 1. was
to teach him not to trust in himself, but in God Who raises the dead. The
afflictions of Job, including physical illness, were to teach him that the Lord
does not afflict willingly, but is very pitiful and of tender mercy (Job 37: 23;
James 5: 13). Epaphroditus was “for the work of Christ nigh unto death,
not regarding
his life.” “But God had mercy on him,” and healed him (Phil.
2: 27-30). David’s child was sick because of the sin of his father (1 Kings 12:
15). The man born blind was not thus afflicted for his own sin, nor for sins of his parents, “but that the works of God should be made manifest in him”
(John 9: 3). All these illustrations point to the
conclusion that every case of sickness occurring in a child of God is a case
for God’s dealing alone. In every case
the interference of man and his remedies could only oppose the purpose of God.
The Scriptures bearing on the subject of sickness, some of
which we have briefly considered, show that, while Satan is the agent by which
the affliction is caused, yet in the case of sickness
in a child of God, it is God Himself Who permits the affliction, giving Satan
leave to put forth his power. The case of Job is a conspicuous example of this
(Job 2: 6,
7). It is in accordance with the clearly revealed ways of God
thus to use even His enemies in the accomplishment of His gracious purposes. It
is most important that we should understand this.
The history of God’s earthly people,
as related in Judges, Kings and Chronicles, abounds in instructive incidents in which God suffered His
people to be overpowered by their enemies, or to be
humbled before them, either as a punishment for their faithlessness,
or in order to teach them that it was
for their own good to look solely to Him for defence against, and deliverance from, their foes. The experience of King Asa is specially pertinent, and we would therefore ask particular
attention to 2 Chron. chaps. 14.
and 16. When King Asa, of whom God
has testified that He did, “that which
was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God,” was assailed by the mighty Ethiopian host of a
million men, he cried unto God, saying: “There is none BESIDE [Page 302] THEE to help between the mighty
and him that hath no strength. Help us, O Jehovah
our God, for WE RELY ON THEE, and in THY NAME are we come upon this
multitude” (14: 11. Am. R.V.) When Asa and Judah thus relied upon the LORD alone, seeking no aid from man,
the result was that “Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before
And yet, notwithstanding this marvellous
deliverance, when subsequently the King of Israel came up against Asa, the
latter followed the course dictated by prudence and human wisdom. He sent money
to the King of Syria, to buy his assistance. This expedient of calling in the
aid of the world-power in order to repel an attack permitted by God, was
apparently successful; for the enemy was compelled, through the activities of
the armies of Benhadad, to withdraw (2 Chron. 16: 1-6). Consequently, one
who “judged by appearances” would have said
that God had “blessed the means.” But the Word of God has revealed to us that Asa, in applying to one of his enemies for aid against another, not only acted foolishly, but that he also incurred the severe
displeasure of the Lord, and was
accordingly rebuked by the Lord's messenger, who said, “Because thou hast relied on the King of Syria, and hast not relied
on Jehovah thy God, therefore is the host of the King of Syria escaped out of thy
hand” (ver.
7).
In the same manner in this dispensation, God often uses the
power of His enemies for the chastening and instruction of His [redeemed
and regenerate] people. The lesson before us is so
plain that we cannot miss its meaning unless we wilfully close our eyes
to it. In the present time, as of old, God’s people often find themselves
assailed by mighty foes, against whom they have “no strength”; and often God permits them to fall
into the hands of these enemies. The attacks that are the most
common are those of physical diseases of various sorts. In every such case, the
believer has precisely the same choice that King Asa had. He may either rely upon the LORD alone, which in the judgment of the world and of many Christians is folly or
fanaticism, or he may pursue the
course dictated by prudence and human wisdom, namely, that of buying with
money the aid of one of his natural enemies (the world and its “science”) against
another.*
* For proof that the
modern sciences, which are the boast
and confidence of the world, are the
enemies of God and His people, see The Number of Man
by the same author, chapter on Latter-Day Idols;
also his pamphlet the Foundations of
Faith.
Now let it be particularly noted that
these incidents in the life of Asa are recorded for the special purpose of
teaching the very lesson we are seeking to enforce, namely, that a child of
God, when attacked by an enemy, should look to God alone for help and
deliverance. For the messenger of the LORD declared to Asa that “the eyes of
the LORD run to and fro throughout THE [Page 303] WHOLE EARTH” - nor through Israel only - “to show HIMSELF STRONG in the behalf of them whose HEART IS PERFECT toward Him” (ver. 9). A “perfect” heart is an undivided heart; and for
the purpose of our present study this means a heart
that seeks aid from God alone for deliverance from sickness and other enemies.
To do otherwise deprives us of the help of God, and (which is far more
important) it deprives Him of the opportunity to “show HIMSELF strong.” A “perfect”
heart certainly does not mean the heart of one who, in time of danger, sends to
the world for the aid of its “science,” and
asks God to “bless the means” which
He has taught His people to shun.
In order to make it impossible for us to miss the application
of these incidents, the sequel of Asa’s case is recorded
for us; and we earnestly exhort our readers to weigh the whole record
carefully, bearing in mind that King Asa was a beloved child of God. The sacred record tells us that Asa was highly incensed by the message of the prophet, and that he did what he could to stifle the voice of the messenger by
shutting him up in a prison-house. And then another
enemy assailed King Asa, even a
grievous disease, and “this disease
was exceeding great, and yet” - that is, notwithstanding the
experience he had enjoyed, and the
direct message from God explaining that experience - “in his
disease he sought not to the LORD but to the physicians.” The consequence is stated with
impressive brevity, “And Asa slept with his fathers.”
The writer of these lines has been
made of late to feel very keenly that a message, which calls upon the people of
God to seek God alone for deliverance from their enemies, is to some of them a
most unacceptable message; and that confinement in a prison-house is not the
only means by which a true believer may attempt to stifle the bearer of an
unacceptable message. The reader, however, is responsible to determine whether this message be
from God or not; and he must decide this by the test of God’s Word. And if, upon receiving the message, there should arise in
the reader’s heart a repugnance to it, with perchance a feeling of hostility to
the messenger and a desire to stifle his message, we would most earnestly and
affectionately press upon such a reader the solemn warning which Asa’s
experience teaches. God has not changed during the
intervening centuries. Still do His all-seeing
eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, searching for one to whom He
can “show HIMSELF strong”; and
still there are agencies available for the chastening of those who having, like
Asa, experienced His faithfulness and His power to deliver, and having received
instruction in “His Ways,”
YET in their “diseases” resort to the way of
the world and “seek not
to the LORD but to the physicians.”
It may not be out of place at this
point to remark that the practice of the writer and his family which they have
followed for the past seven years has consisted in the very simple plan of
committing every case of sickness (some have been chronic, some acute, and some
very severe) into the Lord’s hands and leaving it there. “Commit your way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass.” He has done so in every case to His
own glory, and to our unspeakable profit. We have gained by the sickness, and
gained again by the restoration, and can praise Him for both. But, it is said,
people sometimes die who decline medical aid; and this argument against
trusting the Lord in sickness is actually advanced by those who also say that
for the believer to depart and to be with Christ is “far better.” It is, however, better to die
trusting God than trusting man. But with a child of God it should be not a matter of living or of dying, but of walking in the ways of God; and it seems to me that He has made His way in sickness plain enough
for those who are willing to walk in it, and who can trust Him in the face of human opposition.
The writer has further discussed this important and practical
subject in two pamphlets entitled, respectively, Sickness Among
Saints, and Trusting God in Sickness, which may be had of the publisher of this
volume. The latter discusses the principal objections that have been raised to
the doctrine that God’s children when sick should look to Him alone, and use
only the means prescribed by Him, - the Great Physician.
THE END