Godschool's Blog

My grandfather, Rev Edgar Bell, was a very remarkable person.  He was an Anglican priest but with a difference:  he had a gift of healing, and this at a time when such things were almost unheard-of.  Grandpa did a lot of thinking about this gift,  about what it meant to have been given it by God, and about how it should be used by and through the church.

In the 1950’s he gave a series of talks in Liverpool, when he was Rural Dean in Blackburn.  These talks were put together into a booklet, an amazing publication, streets ahead of its time.  Grandpa’s vision was astonishingly prescient and much that he longed for has since become a reality.

Whenever I read this remarkable booklet it humbles, challenges and persuades me.  Above all it is irradiated with such a love for the Lord Jesus Christ that never fails to move me almost to tears.  Grandpa’s legacy is one of the brightest jewels in our family treasury and deserves to be known much more widely.

I reproduce it here, with the hope and prayer that those who read it will be blessed by it and emboldened in their Christian pilgrimage not only to take its teaching to heart but also to apply it in your own lives, ministries and churches.

I pondered whether to edit Grandpa’s work, called ‘Redemptive Healing’, but have decided against it.  It is of its time, and uses the King James Bible, but is expressed so simply and profoundly that it isn’t difficult to understand.  All I have done is to put his most important points in italics.

So here it is:  Edgar Bell’s ‘Redemptive Healing’.

Part One.

The Healing Work of the Church

Addresses given at Lunch Hour Services

in Liverpool Parish Church

on Fridays in Lent, 1953.

by

REV EDGAR BELL (Rural Dean of Blackburn)

OUR LORD’S CHARGE TO THE CHURCH.

AS A PRIEST OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND I wish to express that which should be done, and what can be done to bring wholeness to suffering humanity through the ministrations of the Church.

Let us begin by a consideration of the work of healing wrought by our Incarnate Lord during His Mission.

At the outset of that mission, when He had received the evidence of the Father’s favour, at His baptism, both through the Voice approving of His Person, ” This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased “, [1]and in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—” the descent of the Dove “,—He went forth filled with the Spirit into the wilderness of Temptation, and thence to His own home at Nazareth.

‘And he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he began to say unto them. To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears.’[2]

We are inclined to give this text a purely spiritual meaning. If it was unique and stood alone, such interpretation would be justified; but if we take with it His answer to St. John the Baptist’s question ” Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?”[3] we see that the text can be taken literally, that He did indeed fulfil the promise of a Spirit-filled Messiah who would bring WHOLENESS to body and soul.

‘In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered and said unto them, Go your way and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the good tidings preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me.’[4]

This is not the time to enlarge on the fulfilment of the claim made by our Lord. There is a full record of His works of mercy to be found in the four Gospels. But you will find that early in His ministry He set to work to share His mission with the chosen Twelve. He trained them by association with Himself in evangelism and in healing, “in preaching and bringing the good tidings of the Kingdom of God “[5]. At the appropriate moment He commissioned them to function in the bringing in of the Kingdom both by preaching and by healing. They were heralds of the Kingdom of God.

The commission is recorded in at least three places in the Synoptic Gospels. While it may be true to say that they have a common origin, each Evangelist takes care to relate the Commission in clear language, thus emphasizing the importance of it in the mind of the early Church.

“And he called unto him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease “. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying ” Go …. to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils; freely ye received, freely give “[6].

“And he goeth up into the mountain, and calleth unto him whom he himself would : and they went unto him. And he appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to cast out devils “.[7]

“And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits; and they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them “[8].

“And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick . . . And they departed and went throughout the villages, preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere . . . And the apostles when they were returned, declared unto him what thing they had done”[9].

After this a similar commission was given to a wider group of disciples, the Seventy. They were sent out, two by two, ahead of our Lord, to prepare the way for Him. He said, ” into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, . . heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God has come nigh unto you “[10].

The power and authority evident in his own work, as He deals with physical and mental disorders, became evident also in the works of the Twelve and of the Seventy. I am convinced that the commission given to these, like all charges laid upon the disciples by our Lord during His ministry, were laid also upon all who should at any time come to believe on Him though their word. They are laid upon the Church in our generation—upon you and me. It is so easy to accept the commands of our Lord, in so far as they refer to spiritual and moral matters, but not so easy when the acceptance of a charge involves concrete evidence of such acceptance!

All this, of course, takes place before the Cross and Resurrection. We must keep in mind that both Baptism and Holy Communion were instituted before the death and victory of our Lord. Just as these two great Sacraments receive their significance through the Cross and the Resurrection, so also does the charge to heal the sick. It is immediately after the Resurrection that the risen Master makes this abundantly clear. When he appeared to the assembled disciples in their Upper Room, He linked up his risen state with His sacrifice, for “He showed unto them His hands and His side “[11]. Then he spoke to them the significant words:   “As the Father sent me, even so send I you “[12].  “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto. them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; Whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them: whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained “[13].1

It is true that here He commissioned His Church to proclaim the forgiveness won by His Redemptive act, but works of healing must surely find a place in the purpose of the Father’s “sending “. To cut them out would be to rob the Gospel of much of its Glory. His redemptive act embraces both the forgiveness of sins and the healing of infirmities.

Let us note that our Lord is not concerned primarily with the mere restoration of sick persons to a state of physical health. There is ample evidence to show that He worked His works of Mercy to the Glory of God.[14] The end and purpose of healing was shown to be nothing less than the consecration of the person healed to the service of Christ.[15] Christian healing should always be to the Glory of God and never to the Glory of the one ministering healing. Christian Healing should always be for service. A person so restored is not restored merely to be physically or mentally well, but for the service of Christ.

How did Our Lord’s commission work out in practice? When we come to examine the works of healing carried out during the early years of the Church’s activity we find that restoration is dynamic—to the Glory of God, and for the benefit of Christ’s Body, the Church. This comes out notably at the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. “He entered ” with Peter and John ” into the Temple, walking and leaping and praising God “[16] ” All men glorified God for that which was done “[17].  The Apostles disclaimed altogether that this miracle of healing had been done by them. It had, rather, been done through them. “Be it known unto you all “, said St. Peter to his judges, ” And to all the people of Israel, that in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in Him doth this man stand before you whole”[18].  ” And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved “.[19]

The Apostolic prayer recorded later in this chapter contains this petition “Grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the Name of thy holy Servant Jesus “. ” And when they had prayed the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness “[20]. “And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all “[21].

I say then, that healing is wrought through the victory of our Lord over sin and death. The emphasis must always be His Sacrifice on Calvary and His mighty Resurrection. Because of these, the healing work of the Church is concerned with the eternal wholeness of persons and not with the production of healthy bodies only. The aim and object of the Church is to bring persons to Christ as perfectly unified personalities, finding integration in and through Christ. As a result lives are renewed in the service of the Great Physician of souls and bodies. Christian healing is redemptive healing, deriving its meaning from the mission and purpose of our Incarnate Lord.  Any healing outside the scope of His Redemptive love is on a level far below that with which we are now concerned.

In all this I have emphasised the spiritual aspect of healing. I am convinced that there is a real danger that we may look and hope for healing on a physical level, without being much concerned if healing on a spiritual level takes place at all. For perfect wholeness there must, of course, be both. When, for instance our Lord healed Mary Magdalene, she at once devoted herself in His service.[22] The same thing applies to Legion, who would have followed Jesus in the way, had not Jesus shown him another way of service. “Go to thy house, unto thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee “.[23] But first his poor troubled mind was made whole. Or, again, the sick of the palsy heard the gracious words ” Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee “[24] before he was told to take up, his bed and walk; but he was healed. Healing of the soul and body are complementary. Thus in the Church’s work of healing we can expect that the urgent need of the body shall be caught up into the wholeness of the soul and be healed of its infirmity. A body made whole, and an entirely new outlook, give the soul better conditions in which to grow and expand. How this happens today we shall see as we go on with our subject.

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[1][1] Mt. iii, 17.

 

[2] Lk. iv, 16b-22a.

[3] Lk. vii 19b.

[4] Lk. vii, 21, 22.

[5] Lk. viii, 1.

[6] Mt. x, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8.

[7] Mk. iii, 13-15.

[8] Mk. vi, 7, 12, 13.

[9] Lk. ix, 1, 2, 6, 10.

[10] Lk. x, 8, 9.

[11] Jn. xx, 20.

[12] Jn. xx, 21.

[13] Jn. xx, 22, 23.

[14] See Jn. xi, 40.

[15] See Lk. viii, 38, 39,

[16] Ac. iii, 6.

[17] Ac. iv, 21.b. i

[18] Ac. iv. 10.

[19] Ac. iv. 12.

[20] Ac. iv. 29b, 30, 31.

[21] Ac. iv. 33.

[22] Lk. viii, 3.b

[23] Lk. viii, 38.

[24] Mt. ix, 2.b.