Scriptures on Spiritual Issues That Appeared Physical

For many years I have been intrigued by the Bible verses where people were healed, not by directly addressing the issue they appeared to have, but by going after it spiritually. In these accounts the cause was not actually physical. It was spiritual. The verses below show this in the text's own words: a woman bent over for eighteen years, a boy who could not speak, a man who was blind and mute. In each case Scripture names a spirit as the cause, and the person was restored once that spirit was dealt with.

Luke 13:11-13, 16

"And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself."

She appeared to have a condition of the back. Luke calls it a "spirit of infirmity" (Greek pneuma astheneias), and in verse 16 Jesus says Satan had bound her. He addressed it by declaring her loosed and laying His hands on her.

Mark 9:17-27

"He rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him."

The boy could not speak and was thrown into convulsions. Jesus did not treat the symptoms. He spoke to the spirit and commanded it to leave. Matthew records that the child "was cured from that very hour."

Matthew 9:32-33

"They brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake."

The man appeared simply unable to speak. The text attributes this to a demon (Greek daimonion), and his speech returned when it was cast out.

Matthew 12:22

"Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw."

Blindness and muteness are attributed to a demon. Matthew uses the ordinary word for healing (etherapeusen) for what Jesus did.

Luke 11:14

"And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake."

Luke describes the demon itself as mute. The man spoke once it was gone.

Luke 8:2

"And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities."

The same word for healing is applied to evil spirits and to infirmities together.

Acts 10:38

"Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."

Peter sums up the work of Jesus as healing those oppressed by the devil (Greek diabolos).

The followers of Christ are given the same power

Matthew 10:1
"He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease."

Acts 8:7

"For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed."

The twelve were given the same authority, and Acts records Philip exercising it.

Not every sickness was spiritual:

Mark 1:34
"And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils."

Scripture keeps the two apart. Some who came were sick, and some were troubled by spirits. Not every physical problem is presented as spiritual.

Taken together, these passages are clear. People were healed of what appeared to be physical issues, and they were healed by spiritual means. A spirit was rebuked or cast out, and the person could stand, speak, or see. Scripture does not say that every sickness is spiritual, but in these accounts it shows that the problem was spiritual from the beginning, even though it looked physical to everyone who saw it.