These final seven cases are people who apparently were healed through gifts of healings. In the first three cases, however, obedience to a specific command of Jesus was required before the sick person could be healed. In none of these cases did Jesus tell the healed person not to tell anyone of his healing. And in none of these cases did the sick person seek out Jesus.
15). The man with the withered hand: Matt. 12:9-13; Mark 3:1-5; Luke 6:6-10 “Arise and come forward….Stretch out your hand.”
16). The man at the Pool of Bethesda: John 5:2-9 “Arise, take up your pallet, and walk.”
17). The man blind from birth: John 9:1-38 “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.”
18). Peter’s mother-in-law: Matt. 8:14-15; Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-39
19). The woman who was bent over for 18 years: Luke 13:11-16
20). The man healed of dropsy: Luke 14:2-4
21). The high priest’s slave: Luke 22:50-51
Notice that in all of the twenty-one examples above, there are no cases of an adult being healed solely by another adult’s faith. In every case when someone was healed by another person’s faith, it was always a child being healed through his parent’s faith (see examples 1, 3, 8, 13, and 14).
The only possible exceptions would be examples number 1 and 2, the Centurion’s servant and the paralytic lowered through the roof. In the case of the Centurions’ servant, the Greek word translated servant is the word pais, which can also be translated boy as it is in Matthew 17:18: “And the boy was cured at once” (emphasis added).
If it was actually the centurion’s servant and not his son, his servant must have been a young boy. Therefore, the centurion was responsible for the boy as a legal guardian and could exercise faith on his behalf just as any parent could for his or her child.
In the case of the paralytic lowered through the roof, note that the paralytic himself must have also possessed faith, otherwise he would never have allowed his friends to lower him through the roof. Thus he was not healed solely by the faith of his friends.
All of this indicates that it is unlikely that one adult’s faith can result in the healing of another adult if the sick adult does not have faith himself. Yes an adult can pray in agreement with another adult who needs healing, but the sick person’s unbelief can potentially nullify the effects of the other adult’s faith.
Our own children, however, can be healed through our faith, up to a certain age. Yet they will eventually reach an age when God expects them to receive from Him based on their own faith.
I encourage you to study closely every example listed above in your own Bible to strengthen your faith in the healing provision of our Lord.
