The gifting to heal has never been given to individuals. It is a gift given to the church, and that those who are called to the ministry have the use of the gift when it is needed.
No. The church is a collection, group, or body of believers. A group of believers are made up of individual believers or individuals. Gifts were given to specific individual believers according to the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:6-8
6 "
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy,
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry,
let us wait on
our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth,
let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness."
1. Prophecy.
2. Ministry.
3. Teaching.
4. Exhortation.
5. Giving.
6. Leadership.
7. Mercy.
1 Corinthians 12:4, 1 Corinthians 12:8-11.
4 "
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit."
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another
divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all
these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
1. Word of Wisdom.
2. Word of Knowledge.
Faith (Repeat).
3. Gift of Healing.
4. Working of Miracles.
Prophecy* (Repeat).
5. Discerning of Spirits.
6. Tongues (The speaking of other known languages without study).
7. Interpretation of Tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:28
"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."
1. Gift of Apostleship.
Prophecy (Prophets) (Repeat).
2. Gift of Teaching.
Working of Miracles (Repeat).
Gift of Healing (Repeat).
3. Gift of Helping Others (KJV - Gift of Helps).
4. Gift of Administration or Organizing (KJV - Gift of Governments).
Tongues (Repeat).
Ephesians 4:7, Ephesians 4:11-12
7 "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"
Gift of Apostleship (Repeat).
Prophecy or Gift of Being a Prophet* (Repeat).
1. Gift of Evangelism (A winner of souls).
2. Gift of Pastorship.
Gift of Teaching (Repeat).
If a person professed to have a gift of healing, it is either a pretence or the gift comes from somewhere other than the Holy Spirit. No one has a special power to heal or to do miracles. Jesus is the only healer and worker of miracles.
Not true.
We see the Lord work miracles through Peter to heal others:
6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." (Acts of the Apostles 3:6-8).
15 "they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid
them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
16 There came also a multitude
out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one." (Acts of the Apostles 5:15-16).
Also, Paul was able to heal by the power of God:
Acts of the Apostles 19:11-12 says,
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Acts of the Apostles 28:8-9 says,
8 "And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
9 So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:"
You said:
In the church, the elders are to pray the prayer of faith, and it is the Lord who raises the sick person up. The laying on of believers' hands is an act of faith, but the power to heal comes from the Lord and not from the person laying on his or her hands.
Okay. First, I never said that a person has this power on their own that is a power separate from God. What Christian even believes that way? Second, I never said anything about the laying on of hands and how it was the sole exclusive means to heal without any faith. Nowhere did I even mention the laying on of hands. So you cannot assume that I am claiming that there is no faith involved in such things. You are accusing me of something that I do not believe without any evidence. Three, as I pointed out in my OP (so as to address those who think God heals on demand): Well, just because they laid their hands on a person and believed by faith that he would be healed, it does not mean God would heal them 100% of the time. It is ultimately up to God to decide who is healed and not healed. There are many groups who claim to heal just by touching them on the head and pushing them back.
Nowhere in the New Testament does it say that a particular individual has a gift of healing. When 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of the gifts of healing, it says they are gifts given for the building up and strengthening of the church.
No. 1 Corinthians 12:9 talks about the gifts of healing as a specific individual gift.
4 "
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit."
8
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9
To another faith by the same Spirit; to
another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10
To another the working of miracles; to
another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another
divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all
these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
Notice the words... one, and another repeated through out the passage. This is talking about individual believers here. The words "one" and "another" is not referring to a group of believers but individual believers.
When Jesus healed people it was in the context of Him having compassion on sick folk. It was not to prove anything nor was it meant as a sign for anything. It was just because the heart of Jesus went out to sick people and He used the power of the Holy Spirit to heal them. Jesus was just being the Person He is, and He is just the same today, and He will always heal the sick through the faith of compassionate gospel workers.
While everything God does is out of His love, the Bible actually tells us that the primary reason why God gave individual believers specific gifts within the early church was to confirm the Word.
"And they went forth, and preached every where,
the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen." (Mark 16:20).
3 "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?" (Hebrews 2:3-4).
Tongues were for a sign that the Jews looked for.
1 Corinthians 1:22 says, “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:” But Jesus says, “ An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign;” (
Matthew 12:39). Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. (
1 Corinthians 14:22). "In the law it is written, with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people (Jews); and yet for all that (all the tongues) will they (Jews) not hear me (warning ignored), saith the Lord".
1 Corinthians 14:21. Tongues here clearly are a warning to the Jews that they ignore.
1 Corinthians 14:21 is quoting from
Deuteronomy 28:49 where God warns of judgment coming from "a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand."
The three greatest prophets and miracle workers in the Bible are Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. We see that the miracles that they performed were a way to authenticate them as a messenger from GOD and the Word of God that they provided (that would be immortalized into Scripture). We notice that after each of these prophets, there was a time of silence where no miracles were done. Just like with the prophets Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, miracles authenticated the apostles' message as from God.