John Wesley and the Five Miracles of Healing
Christ Healing the Blindman by Gerardus Duyckinck I
I first heard about “the five miracles of healing” when I was a student at Asbury Theological Seminary in the early 1970’s. Growing out of a profound experience of healing in his own life, Dr. Frank Stanger, who was the seminary president at the time, had a passionate interest in healing and taught a course at the seminary on Christian healing. “When most Christians hear the word, ‘healing,’” he said, “They tend to think primarily about supernatural healing. But as Lord of both creation and new creation, there are five principal ways in which Jesus heals, five miracles of healing we should emphasize.” He went on to describe them like this:
Jesus heals directly and supernaturally–the miracle of the supernatural touch.
Jesus heals through doctors and medicine–the miracle of modern medicine.
Jesus heals through the human body’s healing power–the miracle of nature.
Jesus heals through bestowing grace in suffering–the miracle of sufficient grace.
Jesus heals through victorious dying–the miracle of the victorious crossing
What Dr. Stanger said profoundly shaped my own theology and practice of healing in the years that followed, first as a pastor and then as a seminary professor. And so thirty-five years later, when I began teaching the class on healing at Asbury that he had initiated, I was keen to introduce students to the five miracles of healing and to underscore how important it was for those who engage in healing ministry to recognize and affirm all five. We shouldn’t elevate one above the others or set them over against each other. Often Jesus will use a combination of these five ways in bringing about healing in someone’s life.
Sometimes well-meaning Christians pray, “Lord, if it be thy will, heal so-and so.” But in the light of the five ways Jesus heals, I am convinced he always wills to heal. The question, then, is not whether Jesus wills to heal or not; the question is how does Jesus want to heal this person at this particular time? Through which of the five miracles of healing does Jesus will to heal? Does he want to use a combination of them? Better then to pray, “Lord, heal according to thy will.”
In the past, Christians from different backgrounds and traditions have often failed to take all five ways Jesus heals into account. For example, I was raised in the Evangelical wing of Methodism, and we were strong on Jesus’ healing through doctors and medicine. We also emphasized his sufficient grace for those who were suffering. Though we believed in the possibility of supernatural healing, in practice, we seldom expected or prayed for Jesus to heal that way. Your experience may have been similar to or distinctly different from mine. Maybe you grew up in the Pentecostal or Charismatic tradition where you prayed regularly and often for supernatural healing, but tended to neglect other ways Jesus heals.
As we follow Jesus the healer, it’s time for us to recover his wide-ranging, holistic ministry of healing. It’s time for his followers to recognize the vital importance of each of the five ways Jesus heals, and to engage in a balanced, integrated, full-orbed practice of them all. I can’t emphasize that enough.
When I began teaching the course on healing I didn’t realize what a friend I would have in John Wesley in making the case for the five miracles of healing. I knew that because he understood salvation not merely as the forgiveness of sins but as the restoration, recovery, and renewal of the image of God, he had a deep and abiding interest in healing. But it was only after further study that I came to recognize how in his practice of ministry, his interest in healing led him to a balanced, integrated emphasis on each of the five ways Jesus heals. So I want to spend the rest of this article briefly describing his involvement in all five. I am convinced he can serve as an exemplary model not only for us Wesleyans, but for all in the body of Christ who are seeking to follow Jesus in his ongoing healing ministry today.
Unlike many ecclesiastical leaders in his day Wesley was definitely not a cessationist who believed that healing miracles were restricted to the age of the apostles or the first three centuries of the church. He was convinced that miracles declined not because they were no longer necessary, as the cessationists argued, but because the hearts of believers eventually grew cold and hard. Having only a form of godliness, boldness and power (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5).
According to Robert Webster, “Throughout his lifetime [Wesley] unabashedly embraced a belief in the supernatural and was convinced that an affirmation of the invisible world was an important component in the mission and ministry of Christianity in general and his Methodist societies in particular.” (Methodism and the Miraculous, 12). Belief and expectation of the supernatural, Webster maintains, was an essential strand in original Methodist DNA. Scattered then throughout his Journal, as well as The Arminian Magazine Wesley published for his followers, are specific accounts of supernatural healings among the early Methodists.
For example, in his journal entry for Thursday, October 7, 1790, he tells of visiting with a Mrs. Jones, a devout Methodist who had suffered in pain for many years due to a collapsed uterus. Various doctors had treated her, but her condition only worsened. Finally, having been bedridden for two months, she cried out, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole! Be it according to thy will!” Immediately, the pain and the disorder ceased, and she arose and dressed herself. In fact, from that hour, she had enjoyed perfect health. “I think our Lord never wrought a plainer miracle, even in the days of his flesh,” Wesley concluded.
Wesley believed in direct, supernatural healing, but he also held doctors and medicine in high esteem. Because poor people in his day had little or no access to physicians, as a desperate expedient Wesley decided, “I will prepare, and give them physic [medicine] myself.” So he read widely in medical journals and consulted pharmacists, surgeons, and doctors in order to give them “the best advice I could and the best medicines I had.”(Works, 9, 275). The result was the establishment of a number of medical clinics among the Methodist societies and, most importantly, the publication of Primitive Physic for ordinary people. By far Wesley’s best-selling book, it went through 23 editions during his lifetime, earning him $750,000 in royalties, most of which he gave away. Many of the recommended remedies and cures he included seem strange and even comical today, but in the 18th century they were the best fledgling medical science had to offer.
Because he recognized the natural healing powers of the human body, Wesley practiced “holistic medicine” by regularly instructing his followers as to the importance of proper diet, regular exercise, appropriate sleep and rest. Don’t expect to receive much benefit from these remedies, he warned the readers of his Primitive Physic, if you disregard these crucial habits and practices. In a letter to the aristocratic Lady Maxwell, he advised “Exercise, especially as the spring comes on will be of greater service to your health than an hundred medicines” (Letters 5:42)
Wesley also clearly understood the impact our thoughts and emotions have on our bodies. In fact, he criticized the doctors of his day for often failing to take this into account. “They prescribe drug upon drug, without knowing a jot of the matter concerning the root of the disorder…. Why then do not all physicians consider how far bodily disorders are caused or influenced by the mind?”(Works, 21, 191). In most cases, “Till the passion [emotion] which caused the disease is calmed, medicine is applied in vain.” (Works 32, 119).
You can find Wesley’s emphasis on healing through sufficient grace in affliction in published sermons such as “On Patience” and “Heaviness through Manifold Temptations.”
There is also a whole section labeled “For Believers Suffering” in the 1780 Collection of Hymns for the Use of The People Called Methodist. Charles Wesley, who wrote most of these hymns, was convinced that suffering and growth in holiness were closely linked.
As a pastor and spiritual adviser to many, John Wesley often wrote letters of encouragement to Methodists who had told him about their suffering and affliction. To one such dear woman, Mrs. Woodhouse, he writes, “Though sometimes it should be a grievous cross, yet bear your cross, and it will bear you: your labor shall not be in vain. Is not our Lord just now ready to bless you to increase your faith, and love, and patience… Surely His grace is sufficient for you: sufficient to subdue all things to Himself.” (Letters 5:12)
Healing through victorious dying is reflected in the many accounts of “happy deaths” Wesley included in his Journal and in the Arminian Magazine. About a woman named Betty Fairbridge he wrote, “But her bodily weakness increased: so much the more did her faith and love increase; till prayer was swallowed up in praise, and she went away with triumphant joy.” John Bennets also died well: “A little before his death, he examined each of his children concerning their abiding in the faith. Being satisfied of this, he told them, ‘Now I have no doubt that we shall meet again at the right of our Lord.’ He then cheerfully committed his soul to him, and fell asleep.” (Holifield, Health and Medicine in the Methodist Tradition, 89).
As a result, the early Methodists were known for dying well. A physician who treated a number of them told Charles Wesley: “Most people die for fear of dying; but, I never met with such people as yours. They are none of them afraid of death, but [are] calm, and patient and resigned to the last.” (Johnson, “Dying Well according to John Wesley,” Seedbed, April 17, 2012.)
Much more could be said about Wesley regarding his involvement in each of the five ways Jesus heals. I want to commend him strongly to you as a model for healing ministry today. Of course, today we certainly have much more scientific knowledge in all five of these areas than he did. But we can still learn from how he held these five together in an integrated, balanced way. In his emphasis on all five of the miracles of healing, Wesley was ahead of his time and remains someone we should all seek to emulate.
Stephen Seamands is emeritus professor of Christian doctrine at Asbury Theological Seminary. This article is adapted from his forthcoming book, Follow the Healer: Biblical and Theological Foundations for Healing Ministry (Zondervan Reflective/Seedbed, September 2023).