Does Jesus heal everyone? A study based on 2 Timothy 4:20
Who was Trophimus and why didn’t the Apostle Paul heal him, or did he?
2 Timothy 4:20
“Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.“
This verse appears near the end of Paul’s final letter before his martyrdom. Paul is giving personal updates about people he knew and worked with in ministry. The statement about Trophimus is brief, but it raises an important question:
If Paul had a gift of healing, why did he leave Trophimus sick at Miletum?
Trophimus was a Gentile believer from Ephesus who traveled with Paul during some of Paul’s missionary journeys.
We first meet him in Acts 20:4. Later, in Acts 21:29, Jews falsely assumed Paul had brought Trophimus a (Gentile) into the Temple, Gentiles were forbidden to enter into the Temple, which contributed to Paul’s arrest when he was falsely accused.
Trophimus was therefore:
A faithful coworker in the ministry.
A traveling companion of Paul in some missionary journeys.
A mature believer involved in ministry.
What does the verse actually say?
Paul says:
“Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.”
The plain meaning is that Trophimus became ill while traveling, and Paul left him behind because he was unable to continue.
Paul does not tell us:
What sickness he had.
How severe it was.
Whether he later recovered or not.
Whether Paul prayed for him by the laying on of hands and/or deliverance prayers.
The verse simply states the fact that he was sick when Paul left. We must keep also keep in mind that healing is not always instantaneous, and the fact that the Apostle Paul was leaving because he was focused on his next mission trip. Although the scripture does not tell us if Paul prayed for him or not, we can with certainty believe that the Apostle Paul most likely did pray for his healing but then had to leave and we are never told in scripture if he was healed or continued to be sick.
The fact that Paul was used of God to lay hands on the sick and they recovered, we can “most likely” believe that Trophimus was probably healed because the Apostle Paul believed every word of Jesus concerning healing, deliverance, and the laying on of hands as Jesus stated in the gospel of Mark.
Mark 16:17-18
“17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Why wasn’t he healed, or was he?
Scripture does not explicitly tell us why. We are never told in scripture if Trophimus recovered from his illness, however, several biblical principles help us understand what may have happened.
1. Healing was never automatic
Even during the ministry of Jesus, not every sick person in the world was healed, only those who Jesus personally ministered to were 100% healed.
Matthew 4:24
“When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.”
Jesus healed every person that was brought to him.
Matthew 8:16
“And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”
Healing miracles always operated according to God’s will and purpose.
2. Timothy also had recurring health problems
Paul told Timothy:
1 Timothy 5:23
“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.“
Notice Paul did not simply command Timothy to be healed.
Instead, he gave practical advice.
This indicates that God sometimes heals miraculously and sometimes allows believers to use ordinary medical means while enduring illness.
3. God may use sickness for spiritual purposes
The Bible teaches that trials can produce:
Patience
Faith
Dependence upon God
Spiritual maturity
James wrote:
James 1:3
“The trying of your faith worketh patience.“
God does not delight in suffering, but He often uses difficult circumstances to accomplish His purposes.
In scripture we learn of a man who was born blind and Jesus healed him. The man’s blindness from birth was so that God can receive glory when people would find out that he was healed. Jesus called it a work he had to do to bring glory to the Father!
John 9:1-4
“1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”
4. Apostolic gifts did not override God’s sovereignty
Some assume that because God used Paul to bring healing to people in the book of Acts, he could heal anyone whenever he wished.
The New Testament never teaches that. In fact the Word of God teaches not to lay hands on any man suddenly. The laying on of hands is how God used the Apostles to bring healing to others, and to anoint people for ministry.
1 Timothy 5:22
“Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.”
The apostles were instruments through whom God worked, and their ministry was always led by the Holy Spirit including who they prayed and laid hands on. The power belonged to God, not to them. This is why Jesus taught “All AUTHORITY belongs to Him – JESUS”
John 5:26-27
“ 26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”
The Lord Jesus heals all who come to him as we’ve read in scripture, but when we come we must come as a child with child-like faith nothing wavering in order to receive anything we ask for from His kingdom.
James 1:5-8
“6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
Doubt and unbelief is what hinders us because it causes double mindedness that hinders our prayers. The bible is clear in that we must approach the throne room of God in faith believing and trusting the Lord, especially when it comes to our healing and deliverance.
Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
When God used Peter to pray for a man who was crippled, he said concerning the miracle:
Acts 3:12
“Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?“
God decides when and how healing occurs, and when we pray and approach God in prayer we must come to God in FAITH to make our request known to Him.
Hebrews 4:16
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Also…
Ephesians 3:12
“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”
Jesus is wanting us to believe what he taught about faith when praying to God the father. Look at what Jesus said to a man who daughter had died from sickness.
Luke 8:50
“But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.”
One of the most disturbing things we can read in all of scripture is the fact that Jesus went to his own hometown to preach and heal people there, and what Jesus found was an entire town filled with so much unbelief that Jesus was amazed at all of their unbelief and could not pray for “might – works” of God there, except heal a few people. Not only were they filled with so much “UNBELIEF”, they also were offended at his preaching and teaching.
Mark 6:1-6
“1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.”
What if all of those people in Jesus’ home country had faith and trusted in what the Lord desired to do there in his own hometown? I personally believe Jesus would have healed all of them because we are told that he could not do mighty works there, implying that Jesus came there to do mighty works!
The question we must never ask is does God want to heal me? This would be a statement of unbelief. What a “believer” should be professing is what God already says about our healing…
1 Peter 2:24
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
That verse you’ve just read is God stating you were (past tense), even if you do not look or feel healed, God says you were healed by the “stripes” that Jesus took on his back to pay for your healing.
The “stripes of Jesus” refers to the literal floggings and beating, wounds and lashings that Jesus Christ endured from Roman soldiers before his crucifixion to offer healing to all mankind. They lashed and whipped the back of Jesus thirty-nine times until he bleed to pay for our healing. His body was unrecognizable from the beatings Jesus took upon himself.
Isaiah 53:1-8
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
A deeper lesson
The remarkable thing about 2 Timothy 4:20 verse is its honesty.
Paul did not pretend that every faithful Christian including Trophimus was always healthy or would be healed instantly.
Trophimus was:
A devoted servant.
A ministry companion.
A believer loved by Paul.
Yet he became sick.
This reminds us that sickness is not always the result of personal sin, lack of faith, or spiritual failure.
Faithful Christians can become ill. Great servants of God can become ill. Even people surrounded by powerful ministries can become ill.
The New Testament teaches us to:
Pray for healing.
Trust God for miracles.
Use practical means when appropriate.
Continue serving Christ whether healing comes immediately or not.
The strongest biblical conclusion
The most careful conclusion from 2 Timothy 4:20 is this:
Paul left Trophimus sick because God, in His sovereign wisdom, had not chosen to heal him at that particular time instantaneously. We are never told about Trophimus, we could only hope that God did heal him.
The verse stands as a powerful reminder that God’s servants are called not only to trust Him in miraculous healing and deliverance, but also to trust Him in seasons of weakness, sickness, and in patience waiting by faith for the Lord to do His will.
Every believer is told in scripture to “put on” the armor of God because we all have an adversary called Satan who is seeking to destroy people’s lives and this includes sickness and disease.
1 Peter 5:8
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
We are all told to “resist” the devil and he will flee from us.
Submitting to God is believing what he taught and said in scripture.
James 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
This is why Jesus commissioned his Apostles in Matthew 10:1 with authority to cast out devils and heal all manner of disease.
Matthew 10:1
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”
The Apostle’s obeyed Jesus and went and did just that, and it cost most of them their lives. They understood the cost – Their lives because they loved the Lord and obeyed Him.
