In Word Faith theology all believers "should thoroughly understand that their healing was consummated in Christ. When they came to know that in their spirits -- just as they know it in their heads -- that will be the end of sickness and disease in their bodies." Copeland assures his followers that "God intends for every believer to live completely free from sickness and disease." Copeland also maintains that any time a believer has a problem receiving healing, "he usually suffers from ignorance of God's Word."
Isaiah 53:4-6 is the primary verse misinterpreted by the Word Faith teachers to give the foundation upon which this view is built:
Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
When Word Faith teachers cross-reference this passage with Matthew 8:17 ("that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses"), they conclude that Christians are healed through the crucifixion of Christ.
But Matthew tells us that the Isaiah prophecy was fulfilled BEFORE Jesus had been crucified. Furthermore, he only quotes the first two lines of the prophecy. Why? Because only the first portion of Isaiah 53:4 (NIV) (which does mention infirmities) was fulfilled at Peter's house -- the scenario of Matthew 8:16:
When the even was come, they brought unto Him many who were possessed of devils: and He cast out the spirit with His Word and healed all that were sick.
Matthew does not quote the rest of the Isaiah passage because it deals with what would be taken away, or healed, through Jesus' death -- our transgressions and iniquities, our sins. By Jesus' scourging and crucifixion we were healed (Isaiah 53:5), but healed of the moral effects of sin, separation from God, rather than physical disease (Isaiah 53:6). As the psalmist wrote, "Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against Thee." (Psalm 41:4).
The intense aversion that Word Faith leaders have towards sickness is perhaps most obvious in Price's sermons:
How can you glorify God in your body, when it doesn't function right? How can you glorify God? How can He get glory when your body doesn't even work?.... What makes you think the Holy Ghost wants to live inside a body where He can't see out through the windows and He can't hear with the ears? What makes you think that the Holy Spirit wants to live inside of a physical body where the limbs and the organs and the cells do not function right?.... And what makes you think He wants to live in a temple where He can't see out of the eyes, and He can't walk with the feet, and He can't move with the hands?...The only eyes that He has that are in the earth realm are the eyes that are in the body. If He can't see out of them, then God's going to be limited.
Such a mind-set becomes even harsher when it is coupled with the Word Faith practice of citing a person's personal lack of faith as the primary cause of a sickness.
Does God guarantee that Christians will always be healed as long as they have enough faith and are not in sin? No, He does not. Instead, His Word gives numerous examples of godly individuals who were not healed: Paul (2 Cor. 12:7-10; Gal. 4:13-15); Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23); Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20); and Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25-27).
Those who feel that it is God's will that Christians always be healed often ask, "Since Jesus healed everyone who came to Him while He was on earth, why would He not heal everyone who comes to Him today (as long as they have faith), especially since Jesus is the same 'yesterday, today, and forever' (Hebrews 13:8)?"
First, Scripture nowhere states that Jesus healed everyone who was ever brought to Him during His lifetime. The apostle John, at the end of his gospel, noted that "many other things" were done by Jesus that were not recorded. Whether those things might have included "non-healings," we do not know, but we do know that what was recorded, including the healings were recorded so that "ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." (John 20:31). They were not recorded to convince us that physical healing for all is guaranteed.
Second, nowhere in Scripture is perfect physical healing for all promised before the resurrection and glorification which will occur at the final judgment (see Rev. 20-22). Physical healing in its ultimate sense can only be a result of the transformation of our "death-doomed" bodies into bodies like His glorious resurrected body (Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 1:24).
Third, healing came from Christ at His will, regardless of the individual's faith. He healed those who believed (Matt. 8:13) and those who did not believe (John 9:1-38). (from Walter Martin)
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