The Complexity of Christianity

Christianity has always been a complex tradition. Even the earliest documents of it, like the Gospels and letters that make up much of the New Testament, reflect the Jewish and Greek ways of thinking about Jesus and God at the time they were written. But this complexity is also a key to its beauty, revealed in the thousands of churches, sects and denominations that compose the modern Christian tradition.

The earliest members of the church were Jews, and so they stood in the faith tradition that had been inherited by Hebrew people across Israel and the diaspora. It was a tradition that believed in monotheism, a belief in a God of revelation, and the concept of salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

That means that the early disciples embraced healing, casting out demons, and miracles – all in accordance with the Bible. It meant that blind eyes would be healed, lame people made whole, and dead people raised from the grave. It meant that a woman who had been demonized received a miraculous deliverance by a simple act of laying hands.

But this does not mean that if you are a Christian, it is your obligation to cast out all demons and heal all sick persons. Rather, it means that Jesus’ command to his disciples to “heal every disease and affliction” is still true today. Those who have the faith and obedience to heal will receive divine healing, but it is not a guarantee that everyone will be healed.