Objection: We Are Promised Tribulation in This World
John 16:33:
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
If we are going to throw around verse fragments to fight the message of healing, we should at least be scholarly enough to (1) finish the verse and (2) look up the word on which we build a castle in a concordance.
A partial answer to this objection is found by simply completing the verse. Jesus has overcome the tribulation that you will face in this world.
So are you supposed to lie in your sickbed, rejoicing that Jesus has overcome the world, while having to suffer your tribulation of sickness?
No! The tribulation Jesus spoke of refers to persecution for the gospel’s sake, not sickness. The Greek word used here for tribulation is translated tribulation or tribulations in 20 other verses, and in none of these is the context physical sickness. Jesus’ prophecy concerning tribulations in the form of persecution was obviously fulfilled. The word used refers to literal and figurative pressure, not sickness.
The word is also translated anguish in one verse (John 16:21) describing a woman giving birth. This still does not refer to sickness. Pregnancy and childbirth are not illnesses, despite the way your medical insurance company might categorize them!
It is translated burdened in 2 Corinthians 8:13: “For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened.” This is obviously not speaking of disease.
It is translated persecution in Acts 11:19: “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen...” Be assured that no plague broke out because of Stephen.
It is translated trouble in 1 Corinthians 7:28 (married couples will have trouble in the flesh), 2 Corinthians 1:4 (“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble...”) and 2 Corinthians 1:8 (“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia...”). In none of these cases does this word refer to disease.
Jesus promised you persecution. He promised it in other verses, too, and so did other New Testament writers. But neither Jesus nor any other New Testament writer ever promised that you would have sickness in this world.
James gives instructions on what to do IF (not when) any among you is sick. James gives instructions so that the sick will be healed. See James 5:14-16.
See also: