We can all praise God when people are healed of various diseases and illnesses. But we can also praise God when that is not the outcome. Our faith rests not in our circumstances but in a loving and gracious God who is still on the throne.

There are some understandings of the sorts of things referred to in my title that are better, and more biblical, than others. One rather faulty teaching is found in the Health and Wealth Gospel. In nearly 100 articles I have already discussed all this in great detail. See those pieces here.

But there is always more that can be said. In the HWG, sickness in a believer’s life is mainly due to a lack of faith (and/or a lack of good teaching on the subject). If only we had more faith, we could enjoy good health. But there is a tendency here to see faith as an amulet. That is, health is there for the asking, if we simply have enough faith.

Scriptures obviously put a high premium on faith. Plenty of examples of it are found, although a rigid theological formula is not actually forthcoming. The closest we come to a working definition is Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV). Yet as most commentators note, even this is not so much a definition as a description of the way it works, or what comes as a result of faith.

But saying that faith is the “substance of things hoped for” seems to fit in with the faith teachers’ idea of positive confession, visualisation, and actualisation. They state that by strong faith and positive confession we can bring things into existence, including perfect health. See more on that here.

However, we learn in the rest of Hebrews 11 that having great faith is no guarantee that one will avoid all the hardships of life, be it ill health, poverty, or other forms of suffering and tribulation. The entire eleventh chapter, known as the believers’ hall of fame, or the heroes of the faith, makes several important points.

First, it is in the midst of great difficulty and suffering that the Old Testament saints are commended for their great faith. It is faith which sees one through difficulties, not faith that avoids them, that is being celebrated here. While the faith of some produced happy results, eg., “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword” (11:34-35), many others did not receive the promises and did not have a pleasant outcome.

“Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated” (vv. 35-37).

It is most interesting to note that the same faith being commended which saw some escape the edge of the sword (v. 34) also resulted in some dying by the edge of the sword (v. 37). Once again, it is not escape or evasion of suffering that is always the mark of great faith.

As Leon Morris comments, “The statement that some were put to death ‘by the sword’ is important, lest it be deduced from. v. 34 that men of faith were safe from this fate. While God could deliver them from it, his purpose might be for some believers to be slain in that way. It is not for men of faith to dictate. They trust God and know that, whether in life or death, all will ultimately be well.”

To argue that faith results in an illness-free life, while the lack of faith results in all manner of illness and suffering seems to run counter to the thrust of this passage. Indeed, verse 13 makes this very point: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance”. And in verse 39 it says, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised”. Many commentators argue that “these all” refer to the entire list, commencing with verse 4.

The health gospel seems to have it backwards. It promotes a faith that obtains instant satisfaction, that receives immediate release from difficulty. Many of the saints here commended are those who did not receive, at least not right away, the hoped for benefits and deliverance associated with being a son of God.

In fact, it is the forward-looking nature of faith that is celebrated here. This is the second great truth of this passage. It is not so much obtaining a life free of suffering and hardship now that is characteristic of biblical faith, but a dogged tenacity to hang on to the promises of God when circumstances seem to belie such promises.

As William Lane expresses it, “in 11:1-12:3 faith is shown to be an orientation to the future. The forward-looking character of faith lends solid-ness to the realm of Christian hope. Faith celebrates now the reality of future blessings which are certain because they are grounded in the promise of God. For the Christian it is the future, not the past, that molds the present.”

Read More