Faith and Medicine

BY Oladejo Justinah O.

We have had instances where one chose to stay on the side of religion than on the side of medicine and obviously there are testimonies birthed from it. Also, some have stuck-up on the sides of medicine and believe that it is the primary way God can heal. But, the question comes, is there a relationship between this two? Let’s see!

The relationship between medicine and religion dates back to biblical times. There are numerous examples of Christians performing healing miracles. Today, it is a common phenomenon found on the door of medical doctors stickers that read, “Doctors care but God heals”. This is a clear admission of the fact that there is a knit relationship between medicine and christianity. This is because faith plays a dominant role in the healing process of any illness. Again, in Nigeria several people believe in the efficacy of prayer to solve all their problems including sickness. Hence, we see people trooping out in thousands to attend any miracle healing service for barreness, sickness and all human problems (Not bad). The reason for this in Nigeria is because, most Nigerians believe in witchcraft and several sicknesses are seen from the spiritual angle and therefore the cure to such illnesses must be obtained spiritually. 

If religious faith could be packaged in a pill, the stock price of drug companies would soar. Religion, not merely spirituality, is a profound predictor of health. Spiritual practices can reduce blood pressure, strengthen the immune system and help stave off some effects of mental illness about as well as many drugs on the market. In fact, the lack of religiosity is about as unhealthy as 40 years of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. If you care about your health, you might want to start going to church and praying regularly.

However, Does the Bible forbid the use of medicines in general? If a person is not healed miraculously, is it wrong to seek medical aid? Is a Christian who sought for such help interfering with God’s will?

When we consult scripture, we’ll find nowhere that God commands Christians to avoid doctors or medicine, nor to refuse blood transfusions, inoculations or surgery. In fact, we often see medical knowledge praised as a gift from God for the benefit of people. For example, in Genesis 17:10-14 the Lord commands the procedure of circumcision to Abraham. God ordained this minor surgery for a very specific, spiritual purpose, but nevertheless this example demonstrates that relying on a medical procedure isn’t contrary to obeying God. In fact, sometimes it’s necessary to obeying God. We find physicians called Joseph’s “servants” in Genesis 50:2, and the word for physicians is the same word used to described God as our “healer” in Exodus 15:26. Once again, the implication is that physicians are doing a good work for God’s people as an extension of God’s own healing ministry.
Also, in Proverbs 17:22 we read, “A merry heart does good like a medicine.” This verse presents medicine in a positive light as a metaphor for a happy heart. If our reliance on medicine was contrary to faith, then the word of God would never have used it as a metaphor for a glad heart.

Then in Isaiah 38:21 we find the prophet prescribing a poultice (i.e., medicinal remedy) for Hezekiah’s boil. While all healing is directed by God, we see the poultice clearly demonstrates that God uses medical procedures at times as a means of delivering the healing He provides. Here is strong evidence that we may be healed by God though the use of sound medical practice!
In other examples, we find in Jeremiah 8:22 a statement that Gilead approves of physicians, albeit metaphorically. Then Jeremiah 30:13 equates the lack of medicine with a lack of healing, and Jeremiah 51:8 says medicine is the way for Babylon to be healed. Although these examples are spiritual metaphors, they only work as metaphor because they rest upon the fact of God’s gracious provision of medical treatments available for our benefit.
One final verse from the Old Testament is especially telling. Ezekiel 47:12 says healing medicine will be made from the leaves of trees that are nourished by waters from the new temple in the New Jerusalem. Revelation 22:2 also describes the tree of healing in the New Jerusalem, suggesting that medicinal tools are an important part of God’s purpose.

I’m not suggesting that healing is accomplished through medicine alone (nor that our resurrected bodies will suffer from physical ailments), but rather that God supports the life of our bodies in a variety of physical ways, including through food, water and at times medicine. 

Looking to the New Testament Jesus Christ said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick” (Luke 5:31). Again, in Luke 4:23 Jesus quotes the proverb, “Physician, heal yourself,” and applied it to Himself. In no case do we find Christ disapproving of medicines or physicians. In fact, one of the Gospel writers, Luke, was a “beloved physician” himself (see Col 4:14).

Certainly, every Christian should understand that all healing comes from God, so we can seek medical treatment knowing that the Lord often uses medicine to accomplish His healing. As Jeremiah 17:5 states, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.”

We need to exercise caution when trumpeting the benefits of faith, as faith was never intended to be a pill and the Bible is not an exercise pamphlet. Faithful, believing Christians get sick and lead lives plagued by disease or physical ailments. But if we believe that God’s authority stretches to the physical as well as the spiritual, then we can accept that He can manifest that authority in our physical health as well as our spiritual health.