Disability in the Bible
Being disabled is not a barrier to God working in and through a person’s life. In fact, many disabled people appear in the Bible and were used by God – see all the many examples below.
God uses the gifts and abilities of disabled people, just like he uses those of non-disabled people – to serve Him and to build His Kingdom.
What does the Bible really say about disability?
For many, what comes to mind is either images of the miraculous healings performed by Jesus in the New Testament, or the harsh (and often challenging to read) exclusions against disabled people found in certain Old Testament laws. But actually, when we take a deeper look into Scripture we see that there is so much more to disability in the Bible than this! Throughout its pages, disabled people are not simply subjects of healing or exclusion, nor are they portrayed as objects of pity due to their disability or impairment. Instead, they are active participants in God’s glorification and humanity’s redemptive story.
Made in God’s Image
This reflects the deeper truth that all people are made in God’s image and carry His divine purpose, something which we read of in the popular Scriptures of Genesis 1:26-27 and Psalm 139:13-26. Whilst there are different views and interpretations of what it means to be made in the image of God (which is a conversation for another time), the simple truth is this – all people are created by God in His likeness and we read this in Gen 1:26-17 – ‘then God said, “let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them’.
We are created in God’s image and likenessto reflect His attributes; His goodness, love and compassion. We are able to do this because we have His Spirit within us, and it is by His Spirit that we are able to live out the calling and purposes for our life which He ordained for us before one of our days came to be, as can we seen in Psalm 139:16, which says that ‘all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be’.
Old Testament
With this truth in mind let us now turn to look at some examples of disability in the Bible, starting with some key Old Testament figures.
Isaac
Isaac was a prominent figure of faith and obedience to God who trusted in Him even with faced with blindness in his old age, which we read of in Genesis 27:1 (‘Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see’). In his vulnerability Isaac is deceived by Jacob into giving the blessing meant for Esau to him, which is recorded in the rest of chapter 27. The Bible acknowledges that disability – and the vulnerability that can come with it – may sometimes lead to others taking advantage of a person’s circumstances, as seen when Jacob uses his father’s blindness to achieve his own goal. Unfortunately, even today, disabled people can still encounter challenges stemming from misconceptions or unfair treatment in various ways. Although Isaac was deceived by his son, God still used him to fulfil His divine plan. Isaac continued to pass down the covenant promises given to Abraham and his blessing of Jacob, though obtained through deception, ultimately aligned with God’s plan for Jacob to become the father of Israel’s twelve tribes, from which we eventually get Jesus (read the genealogies in Matthew 1 or Luke 3 for the full breakdown).
Jacob
Jacob himself was not without disability. However his disability did not come with old age but rather from a wrestling match with an angel, which we read of in Genesis 32:22-32. During the struggle, the angel touched Jacob’s hip leaving him with a limp which became a symbol of transformation as it marked a turning point in Jacob’s life. Jacob was no longer just a man who was known for the deception of his father, but he was now someone who had wrestled with God and prevailed. What others would perceive as defeat, God uses in a powerful way to show that physical struggles can lead to great spiritual growth as after his encounter with the angel Jacob was renamed Israel, meaning ‘one who struggles with God’. Jacob’s disability did not hinder his ability to lead and instead it became a reminder of his perseverance and divine calling as the father of the 12 tribes.
Moses
There are so many examples scattered throughout the Bible of disability and one final example from the Old Testament before we turn to look at how disability is shown in the New Testament can be found in the story of Moses. The story of God calling Moses to be the one who would lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt is one we all know very well. There’s the burning bush, the 10 plagues, the parting of the red sea and finally, the freeing of God’s people from Pharaoh’s rule over them in Egypt. But more than that, this story is another beautiful example of how disability is not a barrier to fulfilling our divine purpose. When Moses expresses his concern regarding his speech, God doesn’t dismiss him from his divine calling or see his difficulties as a reason why Moses is unable to serve and lead. Instead, God sees Moses’ anxieties and concerns around his speech and He directly addresses them saying, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” (Exodus 4:11). This verse is not to say that God is the reason why Moses had a speech impairment, but it actually emphasises God’s sovereignty over all of humanity; our characteristics, our unique traits, our gifts, our ways of navigating the world and our disabilities. God, in His sovereignty, honours and works with the fullness of who we are, not overlooking the parts of our lives that others (or indeed ourselves) might view as less valuable to His work, but rather embracing them as part of His divine story and plan.
New Testament
Flipping forward to the New Testament offers a fresh perspective on disability in the Bible through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Where society often saw disability as shameful or sinful, shying away from disabled people and excluding them from community, in stark contrast Jesus moved towards disabled people by listening to them, honouring them, commending them for their faith and healing them. Healing can be a difficult topic to talk about within disability and that is because physical healing is not something that everyone will experience. This can be particularly difficult to come to terms with when we see so many examples in the New Testament of disabled people being healed. So before we look at those people it is important to remember that Jesus’ healings of disabled people weren’t just about the physical but actually (and more importantly) were about the spiritual as they revealed the glory of God and restored the belonging of disabled people to society and community too. In Jesus’ earthly ministry, disability was not a barrier to the grace of God but a place where grace and glory of God were revealed in new and beautiful ways.
The man born blind
One interaction between Jesus and a disabled person that challenged society’s ideas about the origin of disability can be found in John 9 with the man born blind. Upon meeting the man, the disciples immediately ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2), their question reflecting a widely held belief that disability was a direct consequence of sin, either by the individual or their ancestors. Out of deep compassion for the man and to sever the preconceived ties between sin and disability, Jesus rebukes this notion saying that “neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). This is a key statement. Jesus reveals that the man’s blindness was not a curse, but a context within which God’s power, compassion, and divine purpose could be revealed. Jesus’ actions affirmed the inherent dignity and worth of the man, demonstrating to everyone that he was not merely an object of pity or a case study but a person to be engaged with, healed, and ultimately, brought into a deeper relationship with God. He dismantles the harmful theological framework that linked disability with sin, demonstrating instead that disability can be a canvas for God’s glory and a means through which individuals are brought closer to Him.
The woman with a chronic haemorrhage
In Mark 5:25-34 we read of the woman with a chronic haemorrhage, a condition she had lived with for 12 years which caused great pain and social isolation due to Levitical law deeming her ritually unclean (Leviticus 15:19-33). Just like in John 9, we see Jesus responding not just with healing, but with compassion that challenges the assumptions people carried about disability. When he meets the woman who has been bleeding for twelve years, it’s not her illness that is in focus—it’s the social and spiritual isolation she’s been living with, and the quiet yet courageous faith it took for her to reach out to him. She would have been an outcast, unable to participate in public life, religious services, or even intimate family life without making others unclean. She would have been shunned, touching no one and touched by no one out of fear that they would become “unclean” because of her. Knowing this, the woman approached Jesus in a big crowd, believing that just touching the hem of his garment would heal her. Jesus was not repulsed or angry that she made him “unclean.” He felt power leave him and sought her out not to condemn her but to affirm her faith, saying “daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34). Again, healing here was so much more than just the physical cure of the woman’s bleeding. By publicly acknowledging the woman and her faith, Jesus restored her not only to physical health but also to social and religious standing. He removed her shame and isolation, granting her peace and wholeness in every sense.
The paralysed man
We cannot talk about disability in the New Testament without mentioning the story of the paralysed man found in Luke 5:17-26 – it is after all the Biblical account that Through the Roof gets its name from!!
God is glorified when disabled people go ‘Through the Roof’
Our charity’s name comes from the Bible account in Luke 5 or Mark 2 of the paralysed man being lowered ‘through the roof’ to see Jesus. It shows:
• The friends had great faith and took action to get their disabled friend to Jesus
• Jesus treated the disabled man as a friend.
• Jesus focused on the man’s greatest need: salvation.
• Jesus enabled the disabled man through healing him to show His authority.
• Everyone’s minds/attitudes were changed.
• God was praised and glorified.
Our Roofbreaker initiative encourages people in every church to act like the friends of the paralysed man, working alongside disabled people to overcome barriers to church and Christian life. So let’s support disabled people to use their gifts for God’s glory as part of His kingdom!
