God's will for all. Provided in the atonement. Faith = spiritual understanding. Belief = mental understanding. When they agree = miracles. Unbelief is the named variable. Not Word of Faith theology.
## Core Position
Healing was purchased at the cross 2,000 years ago. It is God's will for all to be healed. The variable is never God's willingness — it is the agreement of faith (spiritual understanding) and belief (mental understanding). When the two come into agreement, healing manifests. Not all will receive healing on earth, but this is never God's fault or a reflection of weakness on His part. Some things we will not fully understand until we get to heaven. What is certain is that unbelief is the variable Scripture names — not God's unwillingness.
This position is not Word of Faith. Healing is not a legal right to be demanded. It is a provision to be received through faith.
Isaiah 53:4-5 — "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows... by his wounds we are healed." Past tense — accomplished 2,000 years ago at the cross.
Matthew 8:16-17 — Matthew quotes Isaiah 53 and applies it directly to Jesus's healing ministry: "He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah." Healing is in the atonement.
1 Peter 2:24 — "By his wounds you have been healed." Past tense. Accomplished.
Matthew 12:15 — "Jesus... healed them all." Not most. All.
Luke 6:19 — "Power came out from him and healed them all."
Acts 5:16 — "They were all healed." The apostles healed them all.
James 5:14-15 — "The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick." The prayer of faith — not the prayer of hope or resignation.
Matthew 13:58 — "And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." Jesus himself could not do many mighty works in his own hometown. The reason given is unbelief — not God's sovereign choice to withhold, not the timing, not a redemptive purpose. Unbelief.
Mark 6:5-6 — "He could do no mighty work there... and he marveled because of their unbelief."
If unbelief hindered Jesus's own healing ministry, unbelief hinders healing today. The absence of healing is a measure of faith, not a measure of God's willingness.
- Faith = spiritual understanding — the born-again spirit already knows healing is provided. It was purchased at the cross. The spirit knows this.
- Belief = mental understanding — the renewed mind coming into agreement with what the spirit already knows.
- When the two agree — healing manifests.
This is consistent with the broader sanctification framework: the spirit is already complete in Christ; the mind must be renewed to come into alignment with what the spirit already holds.
Not all will receive healing on earth. This reality must be held with honesty and pastoral care.
What is certain: if someone does not receive healing, it is not God's fault or weakness. Matthew 13:58 is the anchor — unbelief is the variable Scripture names. God does not withhold healing as a sovereign act disconnected from the faith of those who receive.
What remains in mystery: some things we will not fully understand until we get to heaven. The precise reason a specific person of genuine faith did not receive in a specific moment is not always knowable on this side of eternity. This is not a dodge — it is intellectual honesty before the infinite. We hold the tension without forcing a resolution Scripture does not give.
What this does not mean: that the person who did not receive lacked faith (a cruel and unscriptural conclusion); that God chose sovereignly not to heal them for a redemptive purpose (not the variable Scripture names); that healing is not available (the provision is permanent — the reception is the variable).
Not Word of Faith. Word of Faith teaches healing as a legal right to be claimed and demanded by formula or confession. This position holds healing is a provision received through the genuine agreement of faith and belief — not commanded by the believer as a right. The believer asks, trusts, and receives. They do not demand.
Not Reformed sovereignty-only. The Reformed position tends to make healing entirely dependent on God's inscrutable sovereign will, removing faith as a meaningful variable. Mark 6:5-6 and Matthew 13:58 directly contradict this — Scripture names unbelief, not God's sovereign choice, as the reason mighty works did not occur.
The location where Jesus healed the man born blind (John 9:7). "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" is not symbolic language — it was a real instruction to a real man at a real pool. The pool is real. The miracle happened at a real place.
The healing of the demoniac (Mark 1:21-28) and Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31) happened in and near this location. The geography of healing is confirmed.
See all artifacts in the Doctrinal Evidence collection.