The relationship between forgiveness of sins and healing

Believer, consider Matthew 9 where Jesus healed the paralytic:

"And Jesus, getting into a boat, crossed over the Sea of Galilee and came to [Capernaum] His own city.

2 They brought to Him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a stretcher. Seeing their [active] faith [springing from confidence in Him], Jesus said to the paralytic, “Do not be afraid, son; your sins are forgiven [the penalty is paid, the guilt removed, and you are declared to be in right standing with God].” 3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes [by claiming the rights and prerogatives of God]!” 

4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven and the penalty paid,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? [Both are possible for God; both are impossible for man.] 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority andthe power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” 7 And he got up and went home [healed and forgiven]. 8 When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God and praised Him, who had given such authority andpower to men."

From the above passage, we see that the paralytic man was afraid. Christ said to Him in verse 2:

“Do not be afraid, son; your sins are forgiven [the penalty is paid, the guilt removed, and you are declared to be in right standing with God].” 

Christ knew that the paralytic man was afraid that his sins were haunting him and that he saw his sins as the reason for his illness and why he was struggling in life. Believer, there is a connection between knowing that your sins are forgiven and being free from disease/suffering. 1 Peter 2:24 says of Christ:

"and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."

"Live to righteousness" here is not by the performance of the Law or doing good things by human effort, just as we did not die to sin by us performing our own death. Christ died our death. We live to righteousness the same way we died to sin: "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross," It is Christ's righteousness that we live by, not ours. We have none of ours. 

But what does all of this have to do with us being healed by His wounds? Why did Peter have to add "for by His wounds you were healed" to us living to righteousness in Christ? Believer, it is because, only by receiving God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ - knowing that our past, present and future sins have been paid for with His blood- only this way do we get to enjoy  perfect healing in Christ. 

As it was with the paralytic, healing flows when we hear and believe the word of Christ:

“Do not be afraid, son; your sins are forgiven [the penalty is paid, the guilt removed, and you are declared to be in right standing with God].” 

By God's Grace, beware of "men of God" whose stock in trade is making you who are in Christ believe that there are some unforgiven sins hanging over your head which you have to do things to clear away. Unless you know that your sins are forgiven, you will be afraid like the paralytic and healing cannot flow. Christ took care of our lifetime of sins at the cross and He does not just leave us to continue to wallow in sins as many bicker about. Right now, this is what He is doing in our lives: John 6:43-46 (MSG) - 

"Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End." 

Also Titus 2:14 -"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Understand the definition of sin too. Sin isn't limited to "doing bad things." See the definition of sin according to God's word in Romans 14:23-

"But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin."

See The Passion Translation: "But the one who has misgivings feels miserable if he eats meat, because he doubts and doesn’t eat in faith. For anything we do that doesn’t spring from faith is, by definition, sinful."

Whatever is not from faith is sin, even concerning food. If you go to your mother-in-law's house and they serve you pork and you don't feel good about eating pork but you eat it anyway and start moaning about it inwardly and wondering if the (imaginary) tapeworm that is in it will make you sick, it is sin. 

Whatever is not from faith is sin. Faith involves having a confident expectation of good. Any word, thought or deed that gives one a guilty conscience and makes one anticipate bad consequences is sin. Even being afraid (fear) is a sin because fear is not of Faith. We often forget that those leading the hell-bound pack in Revelation 21 are "the fearful and the unbelieving." Worry, fear, anxiety - all are sins because they are not of Faith.

The word for "sin" in the original Greek text from which the New Testament is translated is "hamartia." Hamartia simply means "missing the mark" or "forfeiture/loss for not hitting the target." All of us "missed the mark" according to Romans 3:23-

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

Believer, all of us missed the mark and forfeited God's glory. But thank God for Jesus Christ who is (Grace-personified) and who has restored all who believe to God's glory; see verse 24 of Romans 3 below:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,"

See The Passion Translation: 23 "for we all have sinned and are in need of the glory of God. 24 Yet through His powerful declaration of acquittal, God freely gives away His righteousness. His gift of love and favor now cascades over us, all because Jesus, the Anointed One, has liberated us from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin!"

Believer, believe right. Let's not believe like the paralytic who was afraid because of his sins aka "missing the mark." See God's heart towards us in Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

In Christ, God no longer sees us in our sins. He sees us as righteous because of Christ's shed blood. The paralytic that Christ healed had to hear and believe that his sins were no longer held against Him and that he was in right-standing with God in order to be healed. Believer, in Christ, God has FREELY forgiven all of our sins and has given us His righteousness. In Him, we have met His target of righteousness apart from the Law. We are no longer "missing the mark."

Anyone who believes that his sins still remain or that he is still "missing the mark" is subject to the ravages of the wages of sin (death) like the paralytic. As it is in any earthly court of law, with sin/the offence comes guilt and condemnation and the wages of sin is death. This "death" that is the wages of sin is a process as we see in the life of Adam. God said to him in Genesis 2:17-

"and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die."

Adam's spirit died after his sin but he didn't physically drop dead immediately after his death sentence came into effect. He was physically alive for many more years and even had children, but his situation was nothing like the peace that he had in Eden. 

The "death" that is the wages of sin is a process preceded by symptoms of death such as fear, stress, stupid mistakes, depression, oppression, sickness, working so hard yet getting so little, lack, fast-tracked ageing, all earthly ills, physical death and finally the second death in hell- a death that we were all supposed to experience but for the Grace of God - Jesus Christ Himself. Anyone who still has sin on his conscience is subject to this death. Believer, Christ died our death so that we should no longer have sin on our conscience.

Believer, understand that "Sinner" is man's default mode. Anyone who does not have Christ as his righteousness is unclean in God's sight and , no matter how good they try to be Romans 5:19 says:

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

We often think that commiting acts of sin is what makes people sinners. Not so. God's word above tells us that Adam's sin is what made all of his descendants sinners. Anybody who has this inherited "sinful/old nature" (this includes all mankind) will commit sin. It can't be helped. Sinners (made sinners by Adam sin) will commit sin because of the sinful nature within, just as normal dogs will bark and normal sheep will baa:) And the effect of having this sinful nature is death, passed down through generations from Adam. See Genesis 3 after Adam sinned:

11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”...

17 And to the man he said,

“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree

    whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,

the ground is cursed because of you.

    All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.

18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,

    though you will eat of its grains.

19 By the sweat of your brow

    will you have food to eat

until you return to the ground

    from which you were made.

For you were made from dust,

    and to dust you will return.”"

The above is the effect of the sinful/old nature that all mankind inherited from Adam. All who have that sinful nature that is inherited from Adam will face this process of death.  The only reason why the whole world is not like the paralytic that Jesus healed or even in a worse state is because of God's restraining hand that keeps us from sinning (see Romans 1.)

We were all destined to die because of Adam's sin and the sinful/old nature that made all mankind sinners. Christ died to rid us of this sinful/old nature: Colossians 2:11-

"When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature."

In Him, we are fully forgiven of our sins and righteous/godly in God's sight, even with all of our SINS and imperfections (Romans 5:9.) In Christ, we are no longer subject to the wages of sin that is death. The key characteristic of the sinful nature is that its carrier does not believe that he has been made 100% and forever righteous/godly in God's sight through Christ's blood. He tries to keep the Law (which gives the knowledge of good and evil and condemns the best of those who are trying to keep it) in order to be godly aka "be like God." This after God gave His own Son to make us godly; Isaiah prophesied of His suffering for us in Isaiah 53. See the effect of His sacrifice for us in Isaiah 53:11-

"After He has suffered, He will see the light of life. And He will be satisfied. My godly servant will make many people godly because of what He will accomplish. He will be punished for their sins."

But many churchgoers still hold on to the sinful nature by not believing that they are fully and freely forgiven in Christ and that they are righteous in God's sight and rapture-worthy by the blood of Jesus alone. Many churchgoers are suffering the symptoms of death in varying degrees because they do not believe that their sins (past, present and future) are 100% forgiven. Such are living under the condemnation of the Law of Moses that they are trying to keep in order to be godly aka "be like God." See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the Law that many are trying to keep in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG.) -

"The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me...."

Satan, through his ministers who pretend to be for Christ, is still seducing people to eat of the forbidden fruit aka interpreting God's will as obeying the Law and doing its works in order to be godly. Just like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the letter (law) kills. Believer, the Law is Satan's weapon to kill. For we who are in Christ, Christ has taken away the only weapon that the Accuser uses to label man as guilty - the Law. See this in Colossians 2:13-15:

"At one time you were dead in your sins. Your desires controlled by sin were not circumcised. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. 14 He wiped out what the law said that we owed. The law stood against us. It judged us. But he has taken it away and nailed it to the cross. 15 He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross."

"Ha Satan" is literally prosecutor at law in Hebrew. Like any prosecuting attorney, Satan's work as the "Accuser of the brethren" is to accuse one of breaking the Law so that guilt, condemnation and judgment (death process) can follow. This is how he steals, kills and destroys. The letter (law) kills. In Christ, we are not under law but under Grace. Keeping the cannot make any righteous in God's sight (Romans 3:20.) All who try to keep it in order to be godly stand cursed (Galatians 3:10,) cut off from Christ (Galatians 5:4) and condemned and will pay the wages of sin that is death. This is why many "pastors" who are nothing but agents of Satan go around preaching the horrid and false doctrine that says:

"Yes we are saved by Grace through faith but you still have to keep the Law as a guiding principle for morality/so that God will not turn his back on you/so that you can maintain your salvation and live a godly life/etc."

This horrid mixture that is neither Law nor Grace is the "neither cold nor hot" that Christ spoke of in Revelation 3. Following it is the way to get cut off from Christ:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4.

Believer, Christ has freed us from the law of sin and death. Only believe that God gave His own Son to make you just/righteous and watch your path shine brighter and brighter like the morning sun... (Proverbs 14:12.) Like the paralytic man who got his healing from Jesus, you will experience a reversal of the "death process" and not just have life but have it more abundantly (also a process!) Christ says so: John 10:10-

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

We get to live the abundant life in fullness of health because we believe the same thing Christ told the paralytic in Matthew 9:

"...Jesus said to the paralytic, “Do not be afraid, son; your sins are forgiven [the penalty is paid, the guilt removed, and you are declared to be in right standing with God].” 3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes [by claiming the rights and prerogatives of God]!”

Notice the Pharisees in verse 3? Like the antichrist Pharisees who could neither understand nor believe Christ's freely-given forgiveness of sins showered on the paralytic, many who profess Christ cannot fathom or believe how we who believe are freely forgiven in Christ today or even how Christ heals FREELY and without terms and conditions like fasting or sowing seed. Healing is a gift of Grace. God's freely-given forgiveness of sins in Christ is the gift that brings life (also a process!) Just as sickness is "death begun," healing is "life begun."

Remember "missing the mark" aka sin (hamartia in Greek) is falling short of God's perfection/glory which is the default mode of all mankind outside Christ? Beware of "pastors" whose trade is teaching that you who believe in Jesus Christ have "missed the mark," tell you that your sins remain unforgiven and hanging unpaid somewhere until you do something like fast and that the curse of the law is still hanging over your head. Beware of wolves behind pulpits who point out your sins and their penalty that Christ died to save you from and ask you to do things by your will-power to restore yourself to the glory of God aka "be like God." E.g. any pastor that tells you that generational or other curses exist in your life when God's word tells us "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law..." in Galatians 3:13. 

Only by receiving God's abundance of Grace and believing that He gave His own Son to make us righteous  do we get to live in triumph over sin and death:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

Right believing always produces right living.