What does it mean that “by His wounds we are healed”?

1 Min Read

Whether healing is in the atonement is clear in terms of Isaiah 53: it is. But when that healing takes place is a matter of great debate.

There are many people who claim this passage to mean that because the atonement has already been rendered by Christ and He’s offered that healing, then we should not, as Christians, ever suffer any kind of affliction or sickness. That is on a collision course with everything the New Testament teaches about the suffering of the saints in this life, concerning both disease and affliction, prior to glory.

When we get to glory, it will be the end of all disease, all illness, and all death, which is one of the consequences of the perfect atonement that Jesus made.

This transcript is from an Ask R.C. Live event with R.C. Sproul and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.

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R.C. Sproul

Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., and first president of Reformation Bible College. He was author of more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God.