Are miraculous healing gifts still active today?
The Straight Answer
This is a genuine, ongoing debate, closely tied to the same continuationist versus cessationist divide as the tongues question elsewhere in this library.
The Case They've Ceased
Cessationists argue miraculous sign gifts, including healing, served specifically to authenticate the apostles and the newly forming church before the New Testament was complete, pointing to a noticeable decline in explicit healing accounts as the New Testament era closes.
The Case They Continue
Continuationists point out that nothing in scripture explicitly states these gifts would stop, and that James 5:14 to 15 instructs the whole church, not just apostles, to pray for healing over the sick, phrased as an ongoing practice with no expiration date attached.
Worth Knowing
Both camps agree God can and does heal today through prayer. The actual disagreement is narrower than it first appears, it's specifically about whether the formal spiritual gift of healing, as a distinct empowerment given to certain individuals, continues to operate the way it did in the apostolic era.
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