684 The Spiritual Man
sickness. This, then, is the factor common to all disease. However,
there is actually more than one cause to account for sickness coming
upon people. Some sicknesses spring from sin, while others do not.
So far as mankind is concerned, sickness does come from sin; but in
relation to the individual it may or may not be the case. We need to
distinguish between these two applications of sickness. Now it is
entirely true that were there no sin there could neither be death nor
sickness; for if there were no death in the world, how could there
ever be sickness? Death arises through sin, and sickness through the
inception of death. Even so, this cannot be specifically and
indiscriminately applied to every individual, because while many do
fall ill through sin there are others who become ill for reasons other
than sin. In this matter of the relationship of sin to sickness we must
therefore make a careful distinction between the application of this
relationship to mankind as a whole and its application to individual
men.
We will recall in such Old Testament books as Leviticus and
Numbers that God’s promise was, that if the people of Israel obeyed
Him, walked in His way, rebelled not against His laws and did not
sin against Him, then He would keep them from many diseases.
These words plainly teach that many maladies derive from sin or
rebellion against God. Yet in the New Testament we discover that
some sicknesses are not caused by the person having committed any
transgression at all.
Paul once wrote that he would deliver to Satan for the destruction
of his flesh that man who had sinned by living with his father’s wife
(1 Cor 5.4-5). This definitely indicates that some sickness proceeds
from sin. The consequence of sin is either sickness if the sin is light
or death if it is serious. Judging from the words of 2 Corinthians 7
this man was not sick to the point of death because, out of godly
grief, he produced a repentance which led to salvation and brought
no regret (vv.9-10). Paul charged the church at Corinth to forgive
such a man (2 Cor. 2.6-7). In 1 Corinthians 5 mention is made of