Objection: We Are Healed by Jesus’ Stripes, Not by Jesus’ Stripes PLUS Our Faith

This argument attempts to establish that whatever we are healed of by Jesus’ stripes would not take faith to receive.  But that is utter nonsense.  If you believe, as the objector probably does, that we are only “spiritually healed” with the new birth (disproved elsewhere), it still takes FAITH to receive the new birth.  Otherwise, we would revert to the horrible error of universalism and have to teach that no one goes to hell.  We are not simply saved by grace; we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8).  God has already given us everything we will ever need (Ephesians 1:3) – it’s there to receive, but it’s by faith that we have access into this grace (Romans 5:2).

Healing, like the new birth, is already paid for, but it only becomes ours in actual experience when we receive it by faith.  God’s blessings are free.  The objector’s error is thinking that they are also automatic.  If salvation were automatic, everyone would be saved regardless of his faith or lack thereof.  So in the objector’s terms, we are saved by Jesus’ blood PLUS our faith.  Without faith, no one is saved and no one receives anything from God.  So really all of God’s blessings come as a result of God’s grace PLUS our faith!