How do you categorize sickness in the Bible? Look through the Bible, especially the New Testament, and you will find it’s hard to sickness sicknesses in the Bible. Some biblical authors give us different labels or categories for sickness but you can’t lump them all into the same category.

In my last post, I described the four kinds of healing in the Bible. In this post, we will discuss how to label and categorize the sicknesses and maladies in the Bible and in the world.

There are so many ways to categorize sicknesses even today. Medical science has helped us come a long way in understanding how the body does and doesn’t work. This makes it harder to look at how biblical authors categorized sicknesses of many kinds.

We may look at some of their categories and labels today and think the writers didn’t know what they were talking about. I’m careful about that because the Bible is God’s Word. He is the Author of Scripture, and I wouldn’t challenge Him about His labels and categories for sickness.

The Bible has a wide range of descriptions for what is not right in the body. As we look at some of the ways the Bible gives us for understanding maladies people suffered back then, I believe I have a word that covers the gamut of human experience with sicknesses.

Sickness Is Not God’s Desire

We need to start our study with a clear understanding from God’s perspective about sickness in the Bible. They are not His design or desire for us. He did not create Adam and Eve with sickness. God wants health for you.

In a later discussion, we will talk about the origin of sickness. For now, you will be hard-pressed to find anywhere in Scripture where God is happy about sicknesses happening in His creation. The one objection you may have to this statement is that God causes sickness among the Israelites in the wilderness. This is true. However, it was in response to their disobedience.

Has God changed how He approaches His people today? The New Testament does not have any occurrences of God bringing sickness upon people. It’s just the opposite. When Jesus comes and inaugurates His Kingdom, healing sickness is a vital part of His ministry. The rest of the New Testament gives instructions for healing.

It seems God’s approach for the Israelites in the wilderness and the curses for not following the old covenant are part of that era. We must remember the old covenant was for Israel and the new covenant is for the people of God including believing Jews and Gentiles. Even under the old covenant, God promised healing to those who believed. It is the same today.

Categorizing Sicknesses in the Bible

Medical science helps us categorize the types of sickness we have in our bodies. Doctors go through years of extra education to perform their skills and knowledge with excellence. Much of medical science relies on the scientific method to properly diagnose sicknesses and maladies.

They might scoff at some of the ways even Dr. Luke describes sickness in his gospel. Medical science has come a long way since the first century. They would probably throw a fit over some of the accounts of healing in the Old Testament, too.

Priests diagnosed and examined sicknesses in the Old Testament. They would decide if a person was “unclean” and had to be quarantined from the rest of society to avoid the spreading of sickness. Most sicknesses in the Bible are characterized under miracles.

This is not to say the ancients didn’t know anything about sickness and how to heal it. From the ancient times of the Greeks and the Romans, the medical profession was alive and well. They used some of the same scientific approach as we use today.

As we go through our study, you will find many categories for the sicknesses people encountered in the Old and New Testaments. Everything from paralysis to skin conditions (leprosy) to eye and muscle problems fill the Gospels. Leprosy may be the most widely used categorization.

What about Trials, Troubles, and Hardships?

As we continue to talk about sickness in the Bible, the Bible has much to say about trials, tests, troubles, and hardships. Each one of those is a different word describing a slightly different set of problems. Can we use them to describe sickness? Certainly.

Trials and hardships, along with suffering, can compound when a person has any illness. Take, for example, the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). Luke tells us she spent all her money on doctors and still had no relief.

Consider the resulting extra trials she faced. She would be unclean and not allowed to be mere people. She was probably destitute because she had no money. Her sickness still is not healed. She must have suffered a tremendous amount of pain every day. If those are not trials, I don’t know what is.

Trials come with my paralysis. I can’t do anything for myself. I need around-the-clock care. Sometimes I have to pay for my own medical supplies. The lack of movement can cause other health issues. I’m thankful to God that most of these health concerns have not become issues.

Sickness is a trial, hardship, and trouble all on its own. It could easily cause other trials to become part of your life. People who talk about how God can you sickness is a trial to teach people lessons have little compassion or care for the sick. I counsel you to be very careful about how you approach people suffering maladies.

What about Demons? and Sickness in the Bible

Would you go to a doctor today with a demon possessed person and ask the doctor to cast out the demons so the person would be well? I know you’re laughing as you read that sentence. Guess what. Demonology had a part to play in the Gospels. People brought the demon possessed to Jesus and asked Him to “heal them” or “make them well.”

We will find some interesting studies ahead of us when we talk about Demons and sicknesses. Sin was a big culprit according to many rabbis and teachers in the Bible.

We will discuss demons as they crop up when we are looking at of healing in the Bible. As I go through the many words used for sicknesses and healing, you will find some of them are used for demonic activity as part of the fall of the human condition and can result in sickness. We will cover the theological background of why this happens in Scripture.

My One Word Solution for Sickness in the Bible

I could have spent this post giving you word after word for sicknesses and healing. There are some words for our topic I will spend many posts in the future of this study on.

Instead of doing that here, I would like to do what I did in my book. While I may talk about certain words in context of the accounts we will examine, I want to tie them all together. As I have studied sicknesses in the Bible and dealt with my health issues, I have found a word that fits the bill for these different maladies. I call problems in the body afflictions.

Afflictions of all types affect the human race. We can all understand suffering and pain. Everyone experiences pain differently. My pain might be more than yours. I may have a lesser pain threshold. I don’t question the pain of others.

No matter the affliction, we will see repeatedly that God is the great Physician and Healer. He takes away the pain, suffering, and afflictions we all face. The rest of the study is all about how He does it and why we must place our faith in Him to do the impossible for us.

“Afflictions” covers sickness, illness, disability, disease, impossible medical diagnosis, cancer, paralysis, blindness, lameness, and any other term that describes your malady.

Praying for Your Healing

As we get deeper into our study on healing, I want to ask the Lord to help us as we continue to cry out to Him. He is our only hope.

Great Physician Jesus, our many words for our conditions are only surpassed by your one cure for our bodies. All we need is You. I ask for my brother and sister in Christ that you would touch them physically whatever their affliction may be and bring them into complete health in their body. We know your will is to heal. We trust in you alone. Heal us and make us whole. We thank You for Your grace toward us. In the name of the mighty Creator and Healer, Jesus, Amen.

Up Next

Now that we have labels and categories for the kinds of ailments of the human body, we will turn to the theological topic of biblical reasons for sickness.

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