The text of Luke 13:10-17 (NRSV)

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Satan as used in the New Testament is a word of Hebrew origin. It means the accuser, the adversary, the opponent, the prosecution (in a legal case). In the Greek New Testament the Hebrew word Satan is often translated into the Greek word diabolos, which means the accuser, slanderer, calumniator, backbiter, enemy, one who separates. The common English translation for the Greek word diabolos is the Devil. See http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/satan.htm.

In Luke 13:10-17, we read an account that may depict an image of Satan as a prosecutor who had effected a guilty verdict and a harsh sentence against the accused -- a woman. This sentence included having the accused and convicted woman being bound in chains of a crippling illness for eighteen long years. Jesus' action, healing the woman, may be viewed as overruling the earlier guilty verdict, acquitting the woman of the prosecutor's (Satan's) accusations, and immediately annuling the sentence. Jesus spoke of setting free the woman whom Satan had held in chains for eighteen years. See also Matthew 9:2-9, where the Greek word translated as "forgive" is sometimes used in classical Greek as a term for acquittal in a legal proceding. (See the commentary on Matthew 9:2-9 at http://www.bibletexts.com/versecom/mat09v02.htm.)

In the Gospel according to John, Jesus implies that he himself had been serving as a paraclete (Greek: parakleytos; in English, a defense attorney, counsellor, or advocate - translated in the KJV as "Comforter."). He also spoke of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, as "another paraclete" that would continue to teach all things and remind Jesus' followers of what Jesus had taught. See John 14:16, 17, 25, 26; John 15:26; 16:7-15. For additional insights on gospels' use of this legal metaphor, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/comforter.htm.

To further explore Christian healing, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/topics/christianhealing.htm.