Objection: Ten Lepers Were Healed but Only One Had Faith

This is another attempt to try to prove that it is not our faith, but God’s will, that matters, and like other similar arguments, this one falls on its nose, too.

In the account in question (Luke 17:12-19), all ten lepers were told to go show themselves to the priests.  They all knew what that meant.  They were to go certify their healing from leprosy according to the Law of Moses.  Yet right at the moment Jesus gave them to the command to go to the priests, they were still lepers, as the passage says that they were healed as they went.

So these lepers, with no initial visible proof that they were healed, went off to see the priests to certify their healings.  That was most definitely an act of faith on the part of all ten of them.  And as is clear from the passage, all ten of these lepers who exercised their faith were healed – Jesus said so Himself!

The issue Jesus had with them was that nine of them never even came back to say thanks or to share their testimonies.  They ALL were healed, but only one had a proper grateful attitude about it.

God’s will was quite clear here when Jesus, who always did what God wanted, told them to go certify their healings.  They acted on God’s will in faith and received their healings.  Jesus didn’t tell the one who came back, “God wanted you to be whole, so He just did it for you.”  He said, “Your faith has made you whole.”  So this passage actually is further encouragement for people who want to walk in faith – as these lepers did – to receive their healings.

The fact that Jesus only told one of the former lepers that his faith had made him whole did not mean he was the only one who was in faith.  He only told one man this because the other nine were nowhere to be found, so He couldn’t say anything else to them!