The Biblical Foundation for Wholistic Healing

Abstract by Brazil de Souza

The biblical foundation for wholistic healing lies in the anthropology of the Bible. From creation to new creation, the Bible depicts the human creature as a wholistic entity whose multiple dimensions are so intertwined that they cannot be separated. According to the biblical understanding of the body, we do not have bodies—we are bodies through which we go through every aspect of reality, from the most concrete and mundane daily interactions with the world around us to the most complex and emotional, intellectual and spiritual experiences. Thus, a biblical understanding of wholistic healing must come to terms with our embodied existence.

From creation to new creation, our bodies matter because rather than creating and saving souls, God created and redeems human bodies through which we experience the world and entertain communion with our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thus, the present paper attempts to provide an overview of a biblical theology of the body. After beginning with the created body, it addresses the fallen, broken and redeemed body and concludes with the glorified body. The central thesis of this paper is that a clear understanding of wholistic healing must rest on the foundation of the biblical theology of the body. This study follows the exegetical data from Scripture and flows from the theological conviction that a human body now stands “at the right hand of God” in heaven.