Fifth in a series of short answers to questions about the New Testament
Consider Matt. 4:23-24: Jesus was going all over Galilee … and healing every disease … So they brought Him all those who were afflicted … And He healed them.
Did Jesus really go all over Galilee and heal every disease? Jesus probably didn’t cover every square inch of the region but no doubt cut a wide path through it. As His fame spread, people flocked to Him so that even if Jesus didn’t personally visit every village in Galilee, people from every village probably visited Him. Insofar as His healing powers are concerned, the words “every disease” may be translated “every kind of disease.”
Finally, was every person in Galilee afflicted with a disease brought to Jesus at that time? Probably not, since Jesus continued to encounter the infirm and healed them. No doubt Matthew is using hyperbole to illustrate the large number of sick brought to Jesus and the wide variety of illnesses He cured. Jesus will fully and finally eradicate every illness — and every other effect of the Fall — in the new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21:3-4).
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Jason
June 25, 2011 at 9:43 pm
An interesting tidbit on this is that Strong’s Greek English Lexicon says that the word translated as, “Every” or “all” in these passages about healing and others referring to these, throughout the New Testament literally means “of every type” or “every region” and not to mean literally every person or every inch of ground. It makes it just a bit more realistic. It’s the same word used when it says that all Israel came to the Jordon to be baptized by John the Baptist. Meaning people from all parts and not every single person.