Is It a Sin to Go to the Doctor or Take Medicine?
NO!
It is not a sin to seek human help even though God declares Himself to be The Lord Your Physician (Exodus 15:26). Sadly, some so-called faith people (who were not really in faith) have died before their time because they would not seek medical assistance when they needed it.
Some people have attempted to use 2 Chronicles 16:12 as proof that God is against doctors. (“And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceedingly great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.”) This verse does not say that God is against doctors. Asa was already failing to trust in God, looking to the Syrians for military help. The issue is not that Asa saw a doctor but that he did not seek the Lord to heal him, which he obviously could have done in the light of Exodus 15:26 and other Scriptures. God’s general complaint with Asa was failure to seek Him, as the context of this verse makes clear. The doctors per se were not the issue. (It has been suggested that the doctors may have been Egyptian sorcerers, but we have no proof of that.)
You might be wondering if you are in disobedience if you call for a doctor when James said that you should call for the elders of the church, not call for a doctor (James 5:14-16). James is only talking about an extreme case where you are laid up, unable to get around. (Someone who can get around can go to church and have hands laid on him there.) People who can get around go to doctors for various reasons. There is no indication that the elders of the church are to substitute for medical practitioners in everyday life.
If it were disobedience to go to a doctor, it would be a sin to practice medicine. Luke was a doctor (Colossians 4:14) and no one told him that his calling was sinful. On the contrary, Paul called him the beloved physician. If being a physician were wrong, Paul would never have said that. Would he have ever sent greetings from Gary the beloved gangster, Patrick the beloved pimp, Archie the beloved assassin or Doug the beloved drug dealer? Paul obviously had no problem with Luke’s profession.
Even Jesus said that the sick need a physician (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31). He made no statement that the sick are disobedient if they go to a physician instead of trusting God, even though healing was provided even under the Old Covenant (Exodus 15:26, Psalm 103:3 and elsewhere). Doctors and medicine are not wrong. They are on God’s side and He is on theirs. God wants you to get well, and the doctor wants you to get well. There is agreement there.
Jesus didn't mean that you have to go to an EARTHLY physician; clearly, He healed multitudes with no natural medicine involved. God says that He is your Physician (Exodus 15:26), so going to Him is legitimate!
While it is not disobedience to call for a doctor, it is disobedience to the Word for a seriously ill person to not call for the elders of the church. That is a command, not a suggestion. I consider James 5:14-16 to be one of the most disobeyed commands in the Bible!
It is not doctors but ignorant religious Christians who will fight you about healing. No doctor in his right mind would sit there and tell you that your illness was the will of God for some reason, yet there are preachers who would tell you that! While the doctor is trying to heal you, the ignorant preacher will pray that you have “patience to endure the suffering which God has seen fit to have you endure” instead of laying hands on you for your recovery. If you are sick, you would be well advised to avoid anyone who calls himself a minister of the gospel who does not believe that it is the will of God for you to be well.
We can see another proof that God is OK with doctors in Exodus 21:19: “If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.” Now this is not the New Testament where the person could lay hands on the other one in the name of Jesus and cause him to be thoroughly healed! A man under the Law could not possibly force another person to be healed of an illness through prayer. So how could God demand that? I think it is clear that this verse is talking about paying the man’s doctor bills, as it is hard to see what else Moses could possibly have been talking about. If God ordered someone to pay someone’s doctor bills, He could not be against doctors!
The woman with the issue of blood had received medical care in vain for 12 years before she encountered Jesus. Jesus never even hinted that she needed to repent for seeking medical care.
Some people suppose that they are putting God on the spot, or somehow honoring Him, by not going to a doctor or taking medicine. Neither is true. God is under no obligation to honor anything but faith. Just because you shun medical assistance or medicine does not mean that you are in faith. It may simply mean that you are being an idiot. This kind of thing brings a reproach on the teaching of divine healing in general, because scoffers love to point out cases of people who shun medical help and die. If you’ve believed that you’ve received your healing, and are so sure that you will stake anything on it, great. If you have any doubts, you had better get whatever natural help is available to you. Don’t gamble with your life.
If you are in faith, your use of medicine will not prevent that healing from manifesting. You have not turned your back on God or stopped trusting Him just because you take a pill or get a treatment. Don’t get bound up over that. Just make sure that you maintain your stand of faith.
I’m well aware that a well-known healing preacher many years ago wrote that it was a sin to go to the doctor. I have a large anthology of his writings myself, and I’m not sorry that I read the whole book. But we need to go with what the Word says, not what a famous preacher said. Over time, we learn things as a body and we learn to throw away some old traditions that weren’t quite right.
Also, there can be a period between the time at which you believe that you receive your healing and the manifestation of that healing. During this time, it is not “anti-faith” to take medicine to relieve the symptoms. If anything, it will make your stand of faith easier. Having your body screaming at you in pain because you won’t take a pill for it may seem like “macho faith” (and go ahead, if that’s what you want to do), but you may find that it’s nicer not to suffer unnecessarily in the meantime.
Your use of medicine or doctors does not dishonor God in the least. If you really believe that you received your healing, that healing will manifest in your body anyway, and God will still get the glory for your healing. After all, in most cases, medicines cannot cure your condition anyway. They can simply relieve some of the suffering associated with it until your healing manifests itself.
Don’t be afraid of going to the doctor. Some people stay away from doctors not because they’re in faith but because they’re afraid of the report the doctor will give them. But if the report is bad, it isn’t bad because you went to the doctor! The doctor is informing you of your condition that would be true whether or not you went to see him. If you’re really in faith, the doctor can confirm your healing and you can testify of it to him.
If you don’t want to be the object of the next anti-healing discussion on some media outlet, it would be wise for you to get medical help if you need it. It isn’t a sin.
I won’t criticize you for going to the doctor, but please don’t criticize me for NOT going to the doctor. (My last regular checkup was roughly half a century ago at this writing.) We aren’t commanded to stay away from doctors, but neither are we commanded to go to doctors. Jesus said that the sick need a physician (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31); He never said that the well need one, if you want to get technical about it. (If you want to get regular checkups, that’s up to you – it isn’t a sin.)
Compared to human doctors, Jesus is cheaper, more convenient, more effective, more thorough, and ALWAYS “in-network” as far as His health plan is concerned. You should make it a goal to learn more about healing and be in a better position to receive healing from Him directly.