Big Healing Book - Vine's Expository Dictionary Says That 1 Peter 2:24 Is

Objection: Vine’s Expository Dictionary Says That 1 Peter 2:24 Is Figurative of Spiritual Healing

Mr. Vine did say what the objector claims, but it is easy to prove in many different ways that 1 Peter 2:24 cannot possibly refer to spiritual healing! Vine may have created a famous classic work, but I have found that doing my own research beats taking famous people’s words for anything. It’s more work, but I’ve found out some things I never would have found if I just took other people’s word for things. The question is not WHO says something – the only question is whether the person can back up his supposition with Scripture.

The problem is that people use books like this in seminary, teach these things to others, and the circle of ignorance goes unbroken – until someone does some digging on his own and finds out otherwise. Several old classic books are seminary favorites that have similar problems, and some of them are cited here because other people cite their writings as if they were Scripture.

This is similar to Thayer’s similar error. See that response because it applies equally well here. However, something specific to this objection is the following information that the objector leaves out –Vine said that the word iaomai used in 1 Peter 2:24 refers to “physical treatment” 22 times! It is Vine’s supposition that it doesn’t mean that in 1 Peter 2:24, against the preponderance of use in the New Testament. Even his citation of the threefold repetition of Isaiah’s “and I should heal them” prophecy (Isaiah 6:10) in Matthew 13:15, John 12:39-41 and Acts 28:27 and his assumption that this is “spiritual healing” (his words) cannot be true, as you are not spiritually healed! I don’t think you can prove that Isaiah didn’t mean physical healing anyway when salvation and healing are so closely intertwined.

I’m not cutting down Vine’s in general, as it is an excellent resource to see what words are translated from which original-language words and where they were used. The problem is that Vine inserted his own idea of what the word meant in 1 Peter 2:24. Some other “classic” reference works have the same problem. You have to distinguish the facts of where certain original-language words are used from the author’s interpretation of what a word means in a certain verse.

I am grateful for the reference materials available today on the internet. (Many old books are in the public domain now.) At least this book will save you some of the time it took me to research some key words, as I looked up all the places they appear for you. I want you to see the evidence for yourself. I am convinced that the evidence always points to physical healing when you examine it closely!