Bibliotheca Sacra 113 (1956):
262-67
Copyright © 1956 Dallas
Theological Seminary. Cited with permission.
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER
By Charles C. Ryrie, Th.
D., Ph. D.
The healing of Peter's mother-in-law in
followed rapidly by a sequence of events which
led to the
miracle of the cleansing of a leper (Matt.
8:2-4; Mark 1:
40-45;
Luke 5:12-16). That evening after Peter's mother-
in-law was healed, the whole city gathered at Peter's
door
to beseech the Savior for deliverance from various
maladies.
It
had already been a busy day, but the Lord healed many of
them (Mark
next day He arose early to seek His Father's face in
prayer
but His disciples found Him and reported that many
others
back in town were seeking Him. Our Lord's reply was
to re-
mind them of the many others in other towns who also
needed
Him.
I. THE LEPROSY OF THE
MAN
It was while the Lord was on this preaching tour
through
oldest diseases known to man, for the Egyptians
recognized
it before 1500 B. C. It was evidently not at all
uncommon in
this incident is the first record of cleansing in
Christ's pub-
lic ministry.
The characteristics of leprosy. Leprosy is a disease
which seems to know no climatic or social boundaries.
Al-
though today's three million lepers are found chiefly
in trop-
ical
has appeared and does appear in all parts of the
world.
"Race,
occupation', social status and climate have no bearing
on the incidence" (John M. Musser, Internal Medicine, 4th
edition, 1945, p. 73).
Leprosy appears in two forms. One affects the
nerves
(262)
The Cleansing of the Leper 263
and the other the skin. It is the latter which
seems to be the
type spoken of everywhere in the Bible, but neither
type is a
disease of the blood. The bacilli appear in the
blood only
during times of fever (ibid., p. 74; cf. C. I. Scofield, editor,
The Scofield
Reference Bible,
p. 141: "Leprosy speaks of
sin as (1) in the blood. . ."). A person may
harbor the
germs for years before the disease erupts. When it
does
appear, however, it takes the form of nodules or of
swelling
of the extremities and usually affects the face,
legs, or feet
first. From then on the disease runs a fearful and
sometimes
lengthy course. "As the nodules enlarge the
skin becomes
deeply furrowed; the ear lobes, lips and nose become
thick-
ened, tending to cause
resemblance to a lion's face. . .
[the skin] is often dusky or 'muddy,' dry or scaling. The
nails are often striated. Ulcerations occur easily. Ulcers
may heal, but often penetrate deeply and spread,
causing
appalling mutilation. Various digits may drop off.
. . .
Destruction
of the cornea and conjunctiva results in blind-
ness" (ibid.,
p. 75; cf. also Sir Henry L. Tidy, A
Synopsis
of Medicine, 9th edition, 1949, p. 137).
The
Jews evidently regarded the disease as contagious
though it is not readily so. Methods of arresting the
disease
have been known for some time, and modern drugs can elim-
inate the germs from the
body, but nothing can undo the toll
the disease takes upon a body before it is either
arrested or
cured. These are the general characteristics of
leprosy.
The consequences of leprosy. In the Old Testament
certain very specific tests were given for the
diagnosing of
leprosy (Lev. 13). When it was discovered the
afflicted per-
son was rigidly cut off from the community. He was
com-
pelled to put on the marks of
mourning as if he were dead.
He
had his clothes rent, his head uncovered, his lips
cover-
ed, and wherever he went he had to shout
"unclean" in order
to warn others away (Lev.
arate place was designated in
the synagogues for lepers, and
infraction of any of these reg1llations of
separation was pun-
ishable with forty stripes.
264 Bibliotheca Sacra July, 1956
It is these consequences that have caused leprosy
to be
regarded as a type of sin. Actually the nearest
Biblical ref-
erence which would justify
this type is Psalm 51:7 ("Purge
me with hyssop"). Because the hyssop
mentioned here is
also a part of the cleansing ritual for the leper
(Lev. 14:4),
it is assumed that David's sin is being compared
to leprosy
and thus leprosy is a type of sin. In reality,
David may more
likely have had in mind the hyssop used in the ritual
of
cleansing in connection with the red heifer
offering (Num.
as a distinct type. It can, however, certainly be
considered
as an illustration of some aspects of sin.
Principally lepro-
sy illustrates the
defilement of sin which results in separa-
tion. Insidiousness,
loathsomeness, uncleanness, separation,
defilement, death, are all points of comparison
between lep-
rosy and sin, but resemblance does not constitute
leprosy a
type--only an illustration.
II. THE LOVE OF THE
MASTER
The way the leper approached the Lord gives
indication
of his great faith in the power of Christ.
"If thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean." It was the love of Christ
that moti-
vated His action in this
instance as in all His work, but it
was love related to power. I might love to give
each reader
a million dollars but I am not able to do so. The
Lord of
glory not only loved this man and us but He was and
is able
to do something about his and our miserable
condition. Sal-
vation is not only related to
the truth that "He loved the
world" but also to the truth that "He is
able."
However, love and power are not enough; there
must be
willingness, and the form in which the leper's
question was
cast shows that lie recognized this fact. The
question was
not, Could He do it? but,
Would He do it? "There might be
the ability without the will, or the will without
the ability,
but his hope was that in Christ there would be the
combination
of both, and all that was needed for that, in his
estimation,
was the will" (William M. Taylor, The Miracles of Our
The Cleansing of the Leper 265
Saviour, p. 114).
Thus powerful and willing love resulted in
active love,
and the Savior touched the leper. The act of
touching the de-
filed man, which normally would also have defiled the
one
who touched him, illustrates the deep mystery
involved in
the Savior's identifying Himself with sin. Who can
fathom all
that may be involved in the fact that He was made
sin for us
(2
Cor. 5:21)? And yet this touching of the leper may
illus-
trate something of that
mystery.
III. THE LAW OF MOSES
After the cleansing came the command: "See
thou say
nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest,
and offer for thy cleansing those things which
Moses com-
manded, for a testimony unto
them" (Mark
things which Moses commanded" are recorded in
Leviticus
14.
Briefly, the ritual of cleansing was as follows: two clean
living birds, a cedar rod, scarlet, and hyssop were
taken;
one bird was then killed in an earthen vessel over
running
water; the hyssop was then tied to the rod with the
scarlet
band and it and the living bird were dipped in the
blood of the
dead bird; next the blood on the rod was sprinkled
over the
leper seven times, and the living bird was loosed. At
this
point the leper was pronounced clean, but more was
still re-
quired of him. He had to wash
his clothes, shave, bathe,
stay away from his house for seven days, repeat the
ablutions
and shaving, and finally on the eighth day offer at
the temple
a sin offering, a trespass offering, a meal
offering, and a
burnt offering. It is evident that the law was very
detailed
about this procedure, and doubtless, because it had
seldom
if ever been used, there would have been a lot of
scratching
of priestly heads had the leper obeyed the Lord
and gone to
them. Instead, he chose to disobey and publish his
miracle
abroad so that it actually hindered his benefactor's
ministry.
The power of the law. Certain important doctrinal facts
about the relation of the Savior, the sinner, and the
Mosaic
266
Bibliotheca
Sacra
law are illustrated in this miracle. The first is
that the
saic law was powerless to
cleanse. It could after a length
time pronounce as true the fact that a man was
cleansed,
it could not perform the cleansing itself. The
nature of
law has not changed; it still cannot cleanse the
sinner
matter how admirably he may try to keep its
"Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
justified in his sight" (Rom.
means of spiritual salvation, and great is the error
of
who so use it today.
The purpose of the law. The Lord’s reason for com-
manding this leper to go to the
priests was that the
law might be used as a testimony to them. In the
process
performing the ritual of the law they might have
been led to
the Savior. Such is a legitimate purpose of the
preaching of
the law today. It may be used to lead a man to
Christ. It is
for the unrighteous (1 Tim. 1:9), to shut him up to
faith in
Christ
(Gal.
25-37)
and so may we.
Although the law may be used to show a sinner
his hope-
less condition, only Christ can save. What then is
the place
of the law in the life of the redeemed? Being
saved does not
exempt one from lawful living, but the law involved is
no
longer the law of Moses but the law of Christ. So it
was for
the cleansed leper (Mark
sinner in this age (1 Cor.
part of the Mosaic law (including the Ten
Commandments, 2
Cor. 3:7-11), but he is to live by the commandments
of
Christ
under grace.
But, someone will say, Are
not many of the requirements
of the law (and especially the principles of the
Ten Command-
ments) repeated substantially
in the teachings of grace? The
answer is obviously yes. Then, one will say, Why insist
that the Christian is not under the Mosaic law
(including the
Ten Commandments)? We insist on it for the
evident reason
that the Scripture says so (2 Cor.
3:7-11;
The Cleansing of the Leper 267
some of the standards may be similar under law and
grace,
no one will ever possibly reach any of those
standards in his
life if he tries to do so by keeping the law. The
law can only
motivate to sin (Rom. 7) and never to
sanctification. Legal-
ism is the greatest enemy of sanctification; thus
to connect
the believer's sanctification with the law is to
defeat him be-
fore he starts.
Love is the only workable motive for
sanctification, but
love does not mean license. No doubt, the leper was
so
overpowered with love for his deliverance and his
deliverer
that he thought he was doing right by telling
everyone else of
Jesus.
But that was not real love, for if he had had genuine,
thoughtful love he would have obeyed. The law of
Christ is
tailor-made and perfect in every detail. The love of
Christ
b rings perfect obedience to each and all of
those details.
May
the lessons of this miracle be practice in a life of
obedience motivated by the love of the one who
loved us and
gave Himself for us.
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
www.dts.edu
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at:
thildebrandt@gordon.edu