There is an incident in Matthew 8 that illustrates the place of spiritual authority in healing the sick:

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour. (v. 5-13)

The centurion understands authority in military and social settings. He issues commands to his soldiers and servants, and since he has the right to command them, the soldiers and servants must obey him.

Then, he has a remarkable insight – Jesus has authority over sickness. Although human government could confer authority over soldiers, it can never confer authority over sickness. Yet the centurion realizes that Jesus has this divine authority. He also understands that, like his own natural authority, this supernatural authority could issue commands and compel obedience. Thus all he needs is for Jesus to give the order: “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus answers, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith….Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” Faith confesses and believes in the authority of Christ.

This understanding of authority also forms the basis for the Christian’s ministry of miracle healing. Men could confer authority on the centurion to perform actions and issue commands; likewise, Christ is able to confer his authority to his people, so that they could minister healing in his name. For example, Matthew 10 says:

He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness….

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “…As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (v. 1, 5-8)

Jesus does not limit the ministry of miracles to the twelve, but he sends out many more disciples with a similar commission: “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go….Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you'” (Luke 10:1, 9). They return to report their success, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name” (v. 17). The diseases and demons obeyed these disciples because they were ministering in the name of Jesus. In themselves, they did not have authority over diseases and demons, but they were effective because Jesus sent them to preach in his place.

After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, the disciples continued to exercise the authority he conferred. For example:

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. (Acts 3:1-8)

When the people express their astonishment, Peter says, “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?…By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see” (v. 12, 16).

In ourselves, we cannot heal the sick, and it is not because of our holiness that God heals us and enables us to heal. Healing comes through faith in the name of Jesus, and this faith does not come from ourselves, but it comes from him. Therefore, God receives all the credit when a miracle of healing occurs, because he is always the one who heals, even when he involves us in the process.

The religious leaders of that time were threatened by this faith and power that they did not possess. They portrayed themselves as the elite of spiritual knowledge and authority, but their credentials consisted of only the approval of men. Their lack of divine commission was exposed when God’s hand endorsed others instead, even those who did not submit to their system. Their hold on the population began to erode as it became obvious that these disciples who preached the gospel and healed the sick were the ones who had true understanding and authority.

Today’s situation is similar. Church leaders, theologians, and other self-anointed defenders of orthodoxy are threatened and embarrassed as God’s hand endorses others, even those who have faith to declare the true orthodoxy, one that affirms the continuation of the manifestations of the Spirit. Their reaction is also similar. As the religious hypocrites are exposed and their hold on the population begin to erode, they persecute those who are more faithful to the doctrine and power of Jesus Christ. Thus they conspire against the Holy Spirit, and claim that they perform God a service.

Thus the religious leaders seized the apostles and demanded, “By what power or what name did you do this?” (Acts 4:7). The apostles replied, “If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed” (v. 9-10). Today’s religious hypocrites continue to pursue those who demonstrate the kindness of Jesus Christ.

As in the days of the apostles, the most hostile and effective enemies of the Christian faith today are not the heathens, but the church leaders and theologians who claim to defend the faith and that miracles have ceased. They make so much noise about honoring the sufficiency and completion of the Bible, but then they persecute those who dare to believe and follow all of it, including its teachings on faith and miracles, and the manifestations of the Spirit. They are whitewashed tombs. They declare themselves innocent and faithful, even the watchmen of the church, but inside they are full of the bones of the prophets that they murdered. Woe unto you, theologians and cessationists, hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

There is this relationship between authority and healing. Men in themselves have no authority to heal the sick, but the Son of God has conferred authority on his followers to minister healing in his name. Those who do not have faith in Christ cannot do this. In fact, it can be dangerous for them when demons are involved:

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:13-16)

All Christians continue to have authority to minister healing in the name of Jesus, to demonstrate his kindness and power in his place:

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:15-18)

James writes, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15). The church members are commanded to request healing prayers, and the church elders are commanded to perform healing prayers, and in faith they should expect the Lord to heal.

Christians who do not request and minister miracles of healing are in direct rebellion against the Lord. If miracles of healing are not happening in our churches, it is not because God has ceased to heal, but because men have ceased to obey. If Christians would renounce the false doctrines and traditions that they hide behind, but would admit their unbelief and rebellion, and begin to pray for the sick in faith, then a new surge of divine healing power will flood the church and the world.

During Jesus’ ministry on the earth, there was a man who used his name to work miracles without his direct authorization:

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.” (Mark 9:38-41)

The man could work miracles using the name of Jesus by faith without an explicit commission from him. So even when Jesus was on the earth, when he was there to physically point out his chosen disciples, those authorized to heal the sick and cast out demons were not limited to his immediate disciples, but anyone who had faith in him could perform these miraculous feats. As he said, if a man has faith, he can command a mountain to move, and it would obey him.

Jesus said that one who works miracles in his name is for him, not against him, and he must not be stopped. If a man has faith to heal in the name of Jesus, it shows that he is for Jesus and that he is authorized to heal. This is also the reason so many resist the ministry of miracles and persecute those who pursue it – it is because they have no faith. One who supports a man like this because he belongs to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. On the other hand, what would happen to the person who makes it his mission to criticize and discredit those who heal the sick and cast out demons by faith in the name of Jesus? He assaults Christ himself, because whatever he does to the least of these, he does to Christ.

Faith is God’s ordination, heaven’s degree. Human institutions can maintain order, but it can never confer spiritual authority. Without faith, a man can have a thousand degrees and ordinations, but he is still nothing. Faith is the badge of divine authority, and earthly credentials are worthless in comparison. If you have any zeal for God, and if you have any compassion for men, then take up the name of Jesus by faith, and minister healing to the sick.