Divine Healing

Definition and Meaning

Divine healing (Korean sinyu, 神癒) means "healing by God." The term refers to the belief, and the experience, that God answers prayer and heals illness, whether apart from medical treatment or alongside it. In everyday Korean usage it is often simply called "healing of sickness." Many churches do not limit divine healing to physical recovery; they also describe it as an expression of God's grace connected with the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of the soul, that is, with salvation.

Biblical and Historical Background

The following passages are frequently cited as the basis for belief in divine healing:

• Exodus 15:26: "I am the LORD that healeth thee"
• Isaiah 53:5: "with his stripes we are healed"
• The healing ministry of Jesus recorded in the Gospels
• James 5:14–15, which instructs the elders to anoint the sick with oil and pray over them

The Holiness movement and the divine healing movement in nineteenth-century America emphasized this belief. With the rise of Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century, divine healing spread widely within Protestantism.

Denominations differ in their interpretation. Cessationists hold that the gift of miraculous healing ceased with the apostolic age, while continuationists hold that the gift continues today. Even cessationists, however, generally acknowledge that God can answer prayer and heal illness. The subject is treated in more detail in the article Cessationism and Continuationism.

Practice in Korean Churches

In Korea, the revival meetings of Kim Ik-du in the 1920s became widely known for divine healing. Since then, seeking healing through revival meetings, prayer retreat centers, and prayer with the laying on of hands has become a popular religious practice.

• Holiness churches: The Fourfold Gospel of regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming stands at the center of their doctrine. Holiness bodies such as the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church teach divine healing as part of the gospel.
• Full Gospel (Assemblies of God): Divine healing is included in the Fivefold Gospel (regeneration, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, divine healing, blessing, and the Second Coming) as formulated by David Yonggi Cho. These churches actively practice prayer for healing in worship services and meetings.
• Presbyterian, Methodist, and other churches: Prayer for the sick and pastoral visitation are routine. In many cases, however, these churches do not set forth divine healing as a distinct doctrinal article, and they tend to emphasize prayer in conjunction with medical treatment.

Criticism has also been raised across denominational lines. Concerns include cases in which an emphasis on divine healing leads people to refuse or delay medical treatment, and cases in which a failure to be healed is attributed to a lack of faith. Some also criticize the linking of divine healing with material blessing as a drift toward prosperity theology. Denominations that emphasize divine healing respond that they recognize medicine as a means given by God, and that divine healing is not a substitute for treatment but an expression of God's sovereign grace.