In Reply to: healing for the soul and the body posted by George on November 23, 2004 at 19:13:06:
Sorry to be contrary, because I appreciate the thought you put into your post, but I still don't think it is necessarily implied in Scripture. For e.g. you say, "Everything about us was affected by the fall -- mind, spirit, body. In order for us to be made whole, redemption has to touch all of those areas."
But our work/livlihood was also touched by the Fall so that God said from now on "you will eat bread in the sweat of your brow". If Salvation were a recovering to perfect state of everything affected by the Fall, then wouldn't this imply that our personal economics is part of the redemption package? And wouldn't this imply a doctrine of financial blessing, ie the "abundant life" of material prosperity.
This isn't a trick question, I'm just trying to see how fully you believe our physical body is to be redeemed. If God cares that we're sick and has promised full healing, wouldn't he also be just as concerned with other physical needs such as finances? Yet I don't see Scripture promising us perfect financial blessings -- otherwise there would not be many millions of poor Christians in China, India, etc.
Also, altho Jesus is called "the Savior of the body" in Eph. 5:23, the same verse specifies it is talking about the church, the Body of Christ, meaning that he died to save the church, not the bodies of specific men.