© 13 Colin Melbourne
When are our Bodies Redeemed?
Q: My Church teaches that we have to wait to go to Heaven to receive healing, because Rom. 8:23 says that believers are waiting for the redemption of our bodies. So healing isn’t for every believer. Is this correct?
A: Certainly not. That’s a common denominational false-teaching, based on ignorance of God’s Word, that robs gullible Christians of faith in their Blood-bought inheritance.
Read the inspired scripture in context (not man’s paraphrase), and ask the Lord to enlighten your spiritual eyes to see The Truth. Rom. 8:16-25 KJV;
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
One Body: Not Bodies
This is the verse you cite;
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Notice that God’s Spirit has written “body“, not “bodies”, as mistranslated in most modern Bibles.
The word body is singular here, not plural, because the body referred to is the one Body of Christ, consisting of all believers in Christ: Past, present and future.
It does not mean believer’s individual physical bodies.
Why are we Waiting for the Adoption?
Christians are still “waiting for the adoption” because many who will comprise the complete Body of believers have not even been born yet!
Nonetheless, Christ has already paid for the redemption of their individual physical bodies. Glory to God!
Only after the full number of Gentiles and Jews who are; born, saved and born again by responding to the Gospel, will the Body of Christ on Earth be complete. Then Christ will return in Glory to take those who have believed in Him to be with Him forever.
The Blessed Hope
The dead in Christ will rise first, and our redeemed physical bodies will be changed into glorified bodies at The Rapture of believers, the blessed hope of Tit. 2:13 and written of in 1 Co. 15:50-57, and 1 Thes. 4:15-18 KJV;
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
This momentous event is the “redemption of our body” that the Rom. 8:23 passage refers to, and the correct way it has been understood down the centuries since God wrote it.
It does not, indeed, cannot possibly, refer to an individual believer’s physical body.
That is false-teaching.
Your Body Was Redeemed at Calvary
To claim a believer’s physical body has not yet been redeemed is serious error, because it directly contradicts the rest of New Testament revelation and scripture. For example: 1 Co. 6:19-20 KJV;
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
A believer’s body belongs to God, He paid the price for its full redemption once and for all at Calvary.
Christ’s body was broken for your healing now.
That is why He gave us the emblems to continually remind us of this glorious Gospel fact, 1 Co. 11:24 KJV;
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Understand that the redemption of our bodies, as well as our spirits, is the whole point of the Lord’s Supper.
Every Sick Body That Came to Him
Christ is God’s Word in action.
He spent much of His ministry healing all who came to Him.
He never turned anybody away, and He healed them all.
He didn’t grill them over their sins: He healed them all. Mtt. 8:16-17, Lk. 4:40, Acts 10:38 KJV
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed ALL that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
God Paid for Your Body
Then He laid down His life to pay for man’s full redemption, including our physical bodies.
The present day redemption of our bodies is the basis of God’s Healing Covenant.
It is a basic Gospel fact that needs to be continually believed, claimed, and confessed.
Read the many other scriptures given as proof, but please read God’s Word, the KJV, not any modern Bible, which are man’s word, and you will avoid such snares in future.
Your “church” is feeding you unbelieving human philosophy, so wake-up and find a Spirit-filled fellowship that teaches the word of God.
The Good News of the Gospel is that God has redeemed all mankind; every person, spirit, soul, and body, now.
And that whoever believes in Christ, according to the scriptures, receives the benefit of this redemption. They are restored to God; righteous, holy, and redeemed.
Redeemed from all of Satan’s power, and all the consequences of our sin, including sickness and infirmity.
Read Dr. McCrossan’s definitive Bible study: Bodily Healing and the Atonement confirms from the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures that bodily healing is included in Christ’s perfect Atonement.
Healing for your physical body now, is included in the Atonement, proving that it is just as important to God, as the redemption of your spirit. because He paid the same price: His Life.
Receive your full redemption today, it is the Gift of God, not by anything we can do, except believe on Christ, and receive Him, and His Life.
How to Receive your Healing from Christ.
Why: Tragedy, Trauma, Triumph: Dr. T.L. Osborn explains why the Lord allows apparently bad things to happen to people. T.L. learned these precious lessons from personal experience throughout his astounding ministry.
© 13 Colin Melbourne
Be Healed, Stay Healthy, and Heal the Sick