In 2 Cor. 12:7 (which you quoted in a post to me the other day) Paul speaks of the "thorn in his flesh". In Gal. 6:11 he mentions the large letters he had to write when he signed the letter with his own hand. In Gal. 4:13-15 he speaks of an illness he had, then about the fact that the people would even have given him their own eyes if they could. This has led many comentators to believe that Paul had an affliction of his eyes, a very reasonable view since he had been stricken with blindness for 3 days after his conversion.

Granted it isn't stated point blank, but I think it's enough to say he had a physical sickness. I don't think this is merely a metaphor for his many trials as a Christian leader, since he lists those in other passages without referring to them as a thorn in his flesh.


I understood the original post as emphasizing sign gifts and recommending a book on how to remove blocks to healing, implying that it is always the sick person who alone is responsible for their own healing. I cited James as showing that it is the "healer's" (pray-er's) faith that matters. I did not mean to convey the idea that the sick person does not require any faith to be healed. Sorry for the confusion. Note also that not every instance of healing mentioned the sick person's faith. Sometimes it was another person's faith (like the paralytic on the mat), or just to demonstrate God's power.

According to some commentators, the passage in James implies that the person came to the church elders because his sickness was the result of sin. Many take this instead as some kind of magic forumula. "Celebrity healers" wiggle out of failed healings by blaming the sick person for not having enough faith, yet James puts the burden for such healings on the church elders who are supposed to be praying for the sick person.

Certainly faith in the one true God is required of all who claim to follow him, but physical healing is not promised to anyone. After all, not only Paul but also Timothy and others in the NT were not miraculously healed, and as I said before they were certainly not lacking in faith or harboring hidden sin.

I can't say one thing or another about a book I haven't read, but I'm always leery of anything that sounds like it might promote a "formula for succes" whether it's physical or financial. God promises us eternal life and the power to serve him, nothing more and nothing less.

I don't know if that clears anything up, but maybe I can find an article that says it more clearly.