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7 Important Bible Verses About Medicine

7 Important Bible Verses About Medicine

Last updated on: September 29, 2016 at 9:59 pm by Jack Wellman

7 Important Bible Verses About Medicine 2016-09-29T21:59:30-05:00 Jack Wellman

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Here are seven important Bible verses about medicine that are found in the Bible.

Proverbs 17:22 “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Science has proven that how a person feels in life is directly related to their health. As the person feels, the typically body follows. It’s as the old Proverb says “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 237a), and so when we are depressed, under great stress, and feel hopeless, that’s how we are going to be in reality, and it absolutely negatively impacts the persons’ health, as the end of the above proverbs says that “a crushed spirit dries up the bones,” and is certainly a detriment to his or her health. However you deal with life, it deals with you in the same manner. That’s why a believer’s joyful heart is just like medicine.

First Timothy 5:23 “(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)”

The evidence from the Scriptures indicates that Timothy had either an ulcer or had problems with his stomach due to some other ailment. For the sake of Timothy’s stomach, the Apostle Paul suggested he take “a little wine for the sake of [his] stomach.” That doesn’t condone drinking of course, as Paul said specifically said to take a “little” wine. Timothy had “frequent ailments,” either from the stresses that he was under as a pastor, or from the severe persecution that he was facing from the Jews. We do know that some were despising Timothy because of his young age, perhaps, in their opinion, too young to be a pastor. This may explain why Paul wrote, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1st Tim 4:12).

Matthew 9:12 “But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

When the Pharisees complained that Jesus was associating with “many tax collectors and sinners,” (Matt 9:9), they didn’t say anything directly to Jesus, but rather “said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners” (Matt 9:11), so Jesus tells them “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matt 9:12). Apparently the self-righteous Jews felt they didn’t need forgiveness, so Jesus rebuked them by saying, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9:13). They understood what He was saying…they just didn’t like it.

Luke 10:34 “He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a Jewish priest saw a wounded man by the road, beaten almost half to death, but instead of helping him, as we might expect, “he passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:31), even going out of his way to avoid the man. Likewise, the Levite, who was also considered a “holy man,” “came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:32). The only one who helped the man was the Samaritan, whom the Jews despised. It was the Samaritan that acted godlier than those who are supposed to be God’s people, so the lesson was; the good neighbor was “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

James indicates that healing can come if a person prays in faith, and the Lord Himself will raise Him up. This destroys the false idea that we can heal anyone. It is God alone Who heals and it is only His prerogative to do so, but if there was some sin involved, which may sometimes be the case, James says “if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” That is obviously predicated on the assumption that the man who was sick, if he had sinned, would have asked for forgiveness.

Revelation 22:2 “Through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

This verse speaks of the New Jerusalem and the healing of the nations, perhaps not from an actual illness, but from their previous disobedience. The leaves on the tree of life, similar to the tree of life in the original Garden of Eden, would bring more than healing…it would bring eternal life. This may tie in with the prophecy of Psalm 86:9 which said that “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name,” and where the Apostle John foretold that “All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed” (Rev 15:4b).

Job 5:18 “For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.”

Job is writing about the fact that the one who God reproves will be blessed, “therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty” (Job 5:17), because He wounds in order to heal, just like it says, “the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb 4:12). The difference being, God cuts in order to heal, so the above verse is dealing with the loving discipline of God, so we know that “the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb 12:6).

Conclusion

Physicians are a great blessing to us and our society, and the points of these verses are that, how one feels about life, affects how they feel, but also God is the Great Physician and heals the broken hearted and those who are crushed in spirit. He will disciple those children of His because of His great love for them. Where there is no discipline, there is no love…only apathy, so the opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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