The Placebo Effect (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We are familiar with the placebo. It is any medication or treatment that is perceived as real but has no active substances. Any improvement or worsening of the patient’s symptoms are attributed to the patient’s expectations and is termed the placebo effect. Placebos have many appearances but are commonly pills that only contain sugar. However, placebos may encompass sham treatments such as surgery or intravenous infusions. The patient may see or experience the treatment but no medication or surgical procedure is actually given or performed.

Placebos are an important component of scientific research and serves as the control for experiments involving a true medication or treatment. Patients may be randomized to receive either the treatment or the placebo. In a double blinded study, neither the investigator nor the patient knows which treatment they are administering or receiving. Any perceived response to the placebo is incorporated in the statistical comparison with the true treatment. If 20% of the patients responded favorably to the placebo and 20% of the patients responded to the true treatment, the true treatment would be statistically viewed as a failure.

While all of this seems straightforward, there is an interesting wrinkle. Some medical investigators have utilized the placebo effect as an actual treatment. Patients are informed that the medication or treatment they are receiving is a placebo. Yet, they are instructed to follow the same procedure as if it were a true treatment. In selected studies, a statistically significant positive response has been identified with some placebo treatments! Even when a patient knows the treatment they are receiving is fake, it may still have a powerful effect. The mind can be a powerful ally with medical treatments.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

For many years, I thought religion and Christianity were placebos. Praying to and worshipping an imaginary god was the ultimate placebo effect. But God, by His mercy and grace, turned my heart and showed me the depravity of my sinful nature. I confessed and repented of my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. At that moment, something miraculous happened. God began to transform me by the power of His Holy Spirit. I began to understand, what billions of other souls know, that God is real and He is not a placebo effect. His power is not mind over body but God over my soul.

Placebos demonstrate the power of the mind over body. Jesus Christ is the power of God over all Creation! He transforms my entire being and conforms me to His glory!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.