Something that I found interesting while reading How Eternity Slipped in by Alexander Thomson (as referenced in this thread), that he points out that the word “salvation” only came into the English language in the 12th century and that Wycliffe rendered “salvation” or “saved” as health or safe in the NT scriptures. Here’s a few examples from Wycliffe’s 1395 Bible (as compared to the KJV):
Luke 3:6 – and euery fleisch schal se the heelthe (health) of God.
KJV - And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Luke 19:9 - Jhesus seith to hym, For to dai heelthe (health) is maad to this hous, for that he is Abrahams sone;
**KJV **- And Jesus said unto him [Zacchaeus], This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
Acts 4:12 - and heelthe (health) is not in ony othir. For nether other name vndur heuene is youun to men, in which it bihoueth vs to be maad saaf (safe).
KJV - Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Romans 1:16 - For Y schame not the gospel, for it is the vertu of God in to heelthe (health) to ech man that bileueth, to the Jew first, and to the Greke.
KJV - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Romans 10:1 - Britheren, the wille of myn herte and mi biseching is maad to God for hem in to helthe (health).
KJV - Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
I Thessalonians 5:9 - For God puttide not vs in to wraththe, but in to the purchasing of heelthe (health) bi oure Lord Jhesu Crist, that was deed for vs;
KJV - For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Hebrews 2:3 - hou schulen we ascape, if we despisen so greet an **heelthe(health) **? Which, whanne it hadde takun bigynnyng to be teld out by the Lord, of hem that herden is confermyd in to vs.
**KJV **- 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;
The article also stated that the old word for **Savior **was Haeland, or Healer.
It dawned on me how this idea that salvation equates to health can correlate to so many scriptures in which physical healing is a component. One that jumps out to me is found in Matthew 9:1-9, where the man with palsy is brought to Jesus through the room of the house He was preaching in. When Jesus tells the man, *“Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee”, *the chief scribes believe Jesus is blasphemous since only God can forgive sins. However, Jesus replies,
“For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.”
Granted, Jesus may just be proving in the miracle that He is God, but what if there is a correlation between the forgiveness and healing?
Soon after this, in the same chapter, when the Pharisees express distaste in Jesus associating with publicans and sinners, to which Jesus answered,
“…they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” – Matthew 9:12-13
In Deuteronomy 28, there is blessing and cursing. The blessing comes when Israel is obeying God’s commandments, whereby they will experience a healthy and bountiful existence. But on the other hand, if they do not obey God’s commandments, a curse will bring pestilence and vexation and all kinds of ailments.
According to His reading of Isaiah 61, in Luke 4, Jesus came to “heal the brokenhearted” and “recovering sight to the blind”. Part of His mission is to bring healing, but I’m wondering if in our understanding of ‘salvation” that we ought to look not just for the forgiveness of our sins (presumably to escape hell), but that salvation is a term to indication a healing of both our body and our souls, a restoration of health to better things. After all, the Resurrection speaks about ridding the body of all diseases, including death. “Physician, heal thyself” indeed.
What do you think?