Dr. Joseph Mattera heads The U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, and he recently wrote an article for the Christian Post on 14 reasons why Christians should believe in divine healing.

Amazingly, there are Christians who believe that healing is not for today, and insist that this stopped as a spiritual gift with the ending of the Apostolic age.

I am not going to go through all Dr. Mattera’s reasons, but there are three that caught my attention.

My favorite reason: Dr. Mattera’s third reason

The first one that struck me is that the early church disciples pointed to divine healings as evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.

After the healing of the lame man at the temple, Peter and John were dragged before the Sanhedrin the next day to explain what happened the previous day.

“Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well,” Peter said (Acts 4:10 ESV).

So, of course, this begs the question, is Jesus still risen from the dead in the 21st century?

My second favorite reason: Also Dr. Mattera’s second reason

Dr. Mattera points out that the Greek word, ‘sōzō,’ which is used to describe salvation in the New Testament, has a much broader definition than just spiritual salvation. It also describes healing.

The word means: “To save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, and to heal.“

In his letter, James uses the same Greek word to describe both spiritual salvation (James 5:20) and physical healing (James 5:15).

My third favorite reason: Dr. Mattera’s fifth

In his article, Dr. Mattera notes that the Bible clearly states that healing and salvation are woven together in the Atonement.

He cites Isaiah 53:4, which tells us through Christ’s death on the cross, we receive both divine healing (By his wounds we are healed) and salvation (Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow.)

Dr. Mattera then points to the story of the healing of the paralytic in Matthew 9:1-7, where Jesus revealed this connection, by stating to the man “Your sins are forgiven.”

When the scribes accused Jesus of blasphemy, the Lord asked them, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?”

Jesus then continued “‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—’Rise, pick up your bed and go home,’” and he was healed.

Though some try to separate this connection, the Bible doesn’t. If people are still getting saved, then they can still be healed.