1 Peter 2:24 - By His stripes we are healed

The suffering that Peter is talking about is not suffering for its own sake. Jesus did not suffer just so He could suffer, instead it was central to God’s plan and served a glorious purpose. On the cross bore our sins. Our sins were placed upon Him, and He took upon Himself the punishment for our sins. Now the cross was not the end in itself, rather it is the means to the end. The ultimate goal is that we become like Christ (Rom 8:29). As it says here, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. Any notion that the forgiveness offered through the cross is a matter of getting away with sin is badly mistaken. Equally, while the cross contains a multitude of things, any notion of the cross that rejects the sin bearing aspect is utterly unbiblical.

“By His wounds you have been healed”. This verse is oft quoted, especially in charismatic circles. This is often done in the context of physical healing. This is not the context within which we find the verse here, nor in its original context in Isaiah 53:5. The Biblical context is about being set free from sin, healed of our sin, its judgement and its control over our lives. To use this verse primarily in the context of physical healing is to misuse the verse.

Now does this mean the cross has nothing to do with physical healing? Absolutely not. Let’s see what Jesus said, for He should know. In Matt 8:16,17 it says Jesus healed many people and set many free from demons, and that this was to fulfil Isaiah 53:4, where it says He bore our infirmities and diseases. So there is healing in the cross. Moreover, there is a link between healing and the sin-bearing. Why does sickness have a hold on our lives? Ultimately it is because of sin. By this I do not mean that sickness is always a direct result of sin (though sometimes it can be), or that someone who is sick is a worse sinner than someone who is healthy. Such ideas are unbiblical. But all sickness can be traced back to the fall. If we had never sinned then there would be no sickness in the world. Once we were given over to sickness as part of the judgement of the fall, but now we have been completely forgiven, completely justified, sickness has no right to be in our bodies. Now this does not mean we will or should never be ill again. Just as the outworking of our freedom from sin takes time, so our freedom from sickness takes time as well, but we have a weapon, sickness no longer has any right to be in our bodies. We should understand and apply this verse in its proper context.