Do We Already Have Healing in Our Born-Again Spirits?
Every spiritual blessing, including healing, is already yours as a Christian (Ephesians 1:3). There is no need to try to get God to do anything about what He already provided, including healing.
But now the technical question is whether healing and other blessings “in heavenly places” are actually IN your born-again spirit.
Blessings “in Christ” in Heavenly Places
An argument for a “yes” answer is that the next verse starts, “And hath chosen us in him…” after Ephesians 1:3 just said that the blessings are in heavenly places in Christ.” According to this reasoning, because we are in Him and the blessings are in Him, the blessings are in us.
That is logically flawed. To demonstrate that, let’s substitute Dallas for us, Houston for the blessings, and Texas for Christ and use the same logic. We now conclude, “Because Dallas is in Texas and Houston is in Texas, Houston is in Dallas.”
Paul would have to have said, “And hath chosen Him to be in us” in Ephesians 1:4 for the logic to work. Now, Paul said elsewhere (Colossians 1:27 for example) that Christ is in us; I’m not disputing that. So now we could say, “The blessings are in Christ, Christ is in our born-again spirits, therefore, the blessings are in our born-again spirits,” without a logical inconsistency. However, that isn’t the logic Paul is following in the passage at hand. Still, doesn’t that prove the point?
Well, there is another problem. If we do a quick Greek scan of the 77 times the English phrase “In Christ” appears in the New Testament, we find that the Greek preposition en (usually translated in) is used 70 times, the Greek preposition eis (which is only translated in in a small minority of cases) appears 6 times, and in 1 case, there is no preposition at all – and that single verse happens to be Ephesians 1:3! So from a Greek perspective, the argument above is shaky. Christ in the Greek at the end of Ephesians 1:3 is in the dative (indirect object) form, but without an explicit preposition, you can’t prove the translation should be “in Christ” the way you can in the 70 places where there is an actual word meaning in. The literal Greek only says, “in heavenly Christ” – both places and in were added by the translators. Since Christ is in the dative form, some preposition had to be used to translate it. But since you could assume a different Greek preposition where there isn’t one, you cannot disprove the New Living Translation’s rendering, “Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” You could also say that the blessings are in the heavenly places with Christ without changing the Greek dative word.
And there’s another problem. The Greek is somewhat vague, so it’s hard to assert that it means that the blessings in the heavenly places are located in Christ as opposed to being benefits we have because we are in Christ. I actually think the latter is a better understanding of the verse, mirroring the English Standard Version’s rendering, “Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” (You may not agree with me, but this proves that at least someone else does.)
In short, the Greek cannot be proved to say that the blessings are literally “located in Christ,” so the argument that the blessings are “in Christ” and thus “in your born-again spirit” cannot be proved.
Missing the Obvious
Ephesians 1:3 says explicitly that the spiritual blessings we are already blessed with are in heavenly places. If Paul meant that they are actually in earthly places in our born-again spirits, he could have said so. Someone will probably try to save the argument by mentioning that Ephesians 2:6 says we are in heavenly places, too, so we are in the same place as the blessings, and therefore, they must be in us. Let’s go back to Texas and substitute Dallas for us, Houston for the blessings, and Texas for the heavenly places. This logic says, “Dallas is in Texas and Houston is in Texas, therefore Houston must be in Dallas.” Wait, we heard that already! That’s exactly the same failed logic used earlier!
What About Philemon 6?
A second argument for all the blessings (including healing) being in your born-again spirit is citing Philemon 1:6, which in the KJV reads, “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” The idea is once again that the blessings are in your born-again spirit. However, this argument will leave almost all non-KJV/NKJV readers scratching their heads, as hardly any other translations read that way. Young’s Literal Translation reads, “every good thing that is in you toward Christ Jesus.” A common alternative is “for the sake of Christ” or something similar. Remember our Greek preposition study above? This verse is one of the 6 times the Greek preposition eis is used instead of en. Eis is translated “in” only 138 times out of the 1,774 times it appears in the Greek New Testament. By the numbers, there’s over a 90% chance that this argument is misapplying the verse. That’s why I won’t use it to try to make a point about the blessings being “in you in Christ Jesus.”
However, most translations do include a phrase about good things in you. So can’t we assert that healing must be in you because it’s a good thing? No; that is yet another logical fallacy. It’s the same as saying, “Gail says she has many pieces of fruit in her basket. A mango is a fruit. That proves that Gail has a mango in her basket.” Certainly, we DO have good things in us – love, joy, peace, and so on. However, healing is not listed as a fruit of the Spirit. Putting healing in that category goes beyond what is explicitly stated in Scripture.
Power in Your Spirit?
According to Jesus, if you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, you have received power (Acts 1:8). That does not mean you are healed in the natural automatically, but you can release the Holy Spirit’s power by commanding pain and sickness to be gone.
However, that power is only available through the Holy Spirit. If the power were in your born-again spirit aside from Jesus, Jesus could not say that without Him you can do nothing (John 15:5). In fact, Jesus did not even have power in His own righteous spirit when He walked the earth as a man until the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the River Jordan! Even He said that He could do nothing Himself (John 5:30). That is why He attributed His works to His Father (John 14:10) rather than to Himself. He never “had” the power Himself in the sense that He could do anything independently. And neither do you.
You can see this in Romans 8:11 as well, where Paul says that God will quicken (give life to) your mortal body by His Spirit who dwells in you. He did not say that your spirit would quicken your mortal body, which could be the case if healing were in your spirit.
People were healed by the power (Greek dunamis) that flowed from Jesus. He told believers that they would receive this power (same Greek word dunamis) after the Holy Spirit came upon them. Thus, the healing power Jesus flowed in could not have been “in their spirits” when they were born again!
Christ the Healer in You
Let’s look at another way to try to salvage the assumption that healing is in your born-again spirit. Christ is the Healer. Christ is in you. Therefore, healing for your body must be in you.
Once again, we can use an analogy to show the logical flaw. Ice cream makers make ice cream. You have an ice cream maker in your car. Therefore, you have ice cream in your car.
You certainly have the potential to have ice cream in your car, but the mere presence of something that can make ice cream doesn’t mean that you personally have ice cream to enjoy right now. Likewise, having the Healer in you does not mean that you “have” the healing He can produce in you right now in a way that makes it manifest in your body.
One Spirit with the Healer
The Lord is definitely the Healer, and 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that you are one spirit with Him. Doesn’t that prove that healing is in your born-again spirit? Well, by that same logic, you must have omniscience in your born-again spirit, because God is omniscient and you are one spirit with Him. Any takers on that one? The fact that an omniscient God lives in you does not prove that “you” have omniscience in your own spirit, so it’s just as wrong to conclude that because a healing God lives in you, you have healing in your own spirit.
We have to be careful where we go with 1 Corinthians 6:17. It does not mean that you and God are literally the same spirit being – that would mean that you are God! It’s useful to examine the context. The previous verse says, “What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.” This does not mean that the man and the harlot are now conjoined twins sharing a body. There is a bodily union involved, but both continue to have separate bodies. Likewise, there is a spiritual union involved between you and the Lord, but both of you continue to be separate spirits. It is thin to try to interpret the number one (which it what it is in the Greek) one way in verse 16 and a completely different way in verse 17.
What about the argument that Vine’s Expository Dictionary says that the Greek word for one (heis) means a single (“one”) to the exclusion of others? The problem is that Vine’s actual entry for heis cites eight different main meanings, the cited one being only one of the eight. Not even Vine believed that heis has to have the one meaning cited above every time, but you could figure that out reading the Bible in English. For example, Romans 15:6 says that we should glorify God with one mind and one mouth. Does that mean that we must be like the Borg on Star Trek and only have one collective mind to the exclusion of others? Or that only one mouth at a time, to the exclusion of others, should glorify God? When the multitude who believed in Acts 4:32 were of “one heart and one soul,” did it mean that there was now only one heart and soul among them to the exclusion of others? If we agree with the “Vine’s definition argument,” we all should become Oneness Pentecostals who deny the Trinity because Jesus said in John 10:30 that He and His Father are one, which would be a single One to the exclusion of other Persons of the Trinity! Philippians 1:27 (“…that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together…”) cannot mean that all the Philippians had only one spirit and one mind between them, to the exclusion of others. I could cite more verses but I think you get the idea. 1 Corinthians 6:17 does NOT have to mean that between you and the Lord, there is now literally only one spirit to the exclusion of others. You can be “one spirit” with someone while having separate spirits just you can be “one flesh” with someone and have separate bodies. Union does not mean lack of distinction.
Confusion in the Receiving Line
I understand how people get confused about “receiving” healing in a prayer line. How can you receive it if you already have it? Well, if you already “had” it in your physical experience, you wouldn’t be in the line in the first place or maybe even at the healing service. You are not there to get God to do anything new for you. You are “receiving” something that is already provided and already there for the taking in heavenly places so that it can manifest in the natural. You are the one doing something, not God.
In Mark 11:24, you believe you receive something when you pray (the Greek is in the present tense) and you shall have it (the Greek is in the future tense). The future tense only makes sense if you do not “have” everything you need in your spirit already. The only way to get around having to receive something before it is yours in the natural is to claim that Mark 11:24 was only for unbelievers, an idea that is refuted elsewhere.
Now wait a minute. Don’t you already “have” healing as your covenant right? Yes, you do. But the fact that it is a present-day covenant right does not mean that it will automatically manifest in your body where you need it. The sense in which you “shall” have it is the sense that it will be manifested in the natural where everyone can see it. You already “have” it in terms of it being paid for and belonging to you legally, but action is required on your part to bring it into the natural. Otherwise, all believers would be healed automatically in the natural.
Then you could ask, “Can’t we just command healing instead of receiving it?” And the answer is YES. BOTH are legitimate ways to be healed, among many others. Some preachers major on one over the other, but you can get healed either way – the Mark 11:23 way (commanding) or the Mark 11:24 way (receiving).
Do New Covenant Saints Actually Need to “Receive” Anything?
If believers have already “received” every blessing (including healing) in their born-again spirits, there would be no talk of believers “receiving” under the New Covenant, but there are such Scriptures. To see some, please see the separate article that deals at length with that particular issue.
If you automatically “receive” every spiritual blessing in your born-again spirit the moment you are saved, there must be no need to "receive” the blessing of being baptized with the Holy Spirit, but we know otherwise, as proved here.
Have You Automatically “Received” Everything Jesus Paid For?
Consider these Scriptures:
1 John 2:2:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
John 1:29:
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
As far as God is concerned, Jesus already paid for everyone’s forgiveness. But not everyone enjoys His forgiveness – only those who have received Jesus have “received” it so that they avoid the lake of fire.
From this, we reach the following important conclusion: The fact that something is legally yours based on Jesus’ past action does not mean that you have necessarily “received” it. Receiving it requires a separate, definite act of your will. This is necessary before it will manifest in the physical realm. God does not force His blessings on you even though they are legally yours. Otherwise, the fact that you “were healed” would mean that your body could never be sick whether you liked that or not.
The Mark 11:23 Issue
Mark 11:23:
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Some preachers who teach that Mark 11:24 is not for today preach that Mark 11:23 is for today. That is inconsistent given that the two verses are conjoined by the word “therefore,” but there is another problem. The Greek in “he shall have whatsoever he saith” is definitely a future-tense verb. That means that you are speaking something that you do not yet have, which is contrary to the idea that the answer to your need has been in your born-again spirit all along.
Hindered Prayer
Finally, 1 Peter 3:7 addresses the possibility that your prayers will be hindered. This fits a model where the blessings are in heavenly places for you to receive in prayer. Mistreatment of your spouse could hinder that process. 1 Peter 3:7 doesn’t make sense if you already have all that you need in your born-again spirit. There would be no need to pray and no way that the process of receiving in prayer could be hindered because you would already have received whatever it is in your spirit as opposed to taking it from heavenly places to bring it into the natural realm.
God Won’t Nitpick over Technicalities Like This
Feel free to disagree. Technicalities aside, you can receive healing for your body regardless of whether you think the right term for doing that is receive, activate, appropriate or release. Different preachers prefer different explanations, but I don’t believe that God will nitpick over semantics. You can choose your favorite explanation for how it works as long as you realize that Jesus has already provided healing for you and you need to do something to bring what is already yours in the spirit realm into the natural realm. People who take both sides of the question covered here are getting miraculously healed because they believe the statement underlined above.
See also: