[Roundtable] A Calvinist looks at healing, part 3

[Jefferis Peterson]

Hi folks, I am about to post the article, and just finished the last
section. It was getting a little long, so I condensed the last section about
Jesus as the Mediator:

The Covenant Meal ­ Jesus as Mediator
³Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and
gave it to the disciples and said, ŒTake, eat; this is my body.¹ And he took
a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ŒDrink of
it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many for the forgiveness of sins,¹² Matthew 26:26-28, RSV.
 
³Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an
unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a
man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to
himself, not discerning the Lord¹s body. For this reason many are weak and
sick among you, and many sleep,² 1 Corinthians 11:27-30, NKJV.
 
If the blood is for the forgiveness of sins, what is meant by eating the
Lord¹s body as part of this New Covenant meal? I used to think that Paul, in
saying that many were sick because they did not discern the ³Lord¹s body,²
was referring to sin against other members of the Body of Christ, or the
Church. But I don¹t think Paul is referring to the corporate body, because
he is talking about the bread and the wine.  Paul is saying that people are
sick because they don¹t understand the meaning of the Lord¹s sacrifice of
his body. They are taking his sacrifice for granted and are not seeing in
themselves a need for this mercy. The people are sick because they do not
appreciate the meaning of this new covenant. The blood is for forgiveness,
but the body is for our healing.  That is why Peter says about Jesus that he
³Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to
sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed,² 1
Peter 2:24, NKJV.  The stripes on Jesus¹ body provided the healing for our
souls and for our flesh.  We are healed in our relationship to God and we
are healed in our flesh as a consequence of our restoration to holiness.
 
Sickness and disease could not attach themselves to Christ because he had no
sin in him and he had not broken the Law. For that reason Jesus was not
afraid to touch the leprous, who were contagious. If we also have been made
righteous by the blood of Christ, sin has no legal right to afflict us
either. According to the Law, we are without sin through the sacrifice of
Jesus, and we are under the blessings of the Covenant Names of God.
 
If Jesus died to give us all these benefits, his body and his blood, who are
we to refuse them? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jefferis Peterson, Pres.
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