Lesson Text – James 5:14-15 (NKJV)
14. Is there anyone among you who is sick? Let him call the elders of the church, and let them pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
INTRODUCTION
I will try to show from 1 Corinthians 12:9 and 28 and Galatians 3:5 that the gifts of healing were intended for the church in Paul’s day and in our day. However, the New Testament does not speak of the gift of healing. He also doesn’t talk about people in the church who are known as healers. The phrase “gifts of healings” (two plurals) in 1 Corinthians 12:9 and 28 rather suggests that at different times for different illnesses, God gives different people different “gifts of healings.” In other words, you may be drawn to pray for a person with extraordinary, expectant faith and see that person healed, but then pray for others and not experience that same gift.
We conclude that it is good to fervently desire the gifts of healing, not as something to brag about but as something to love. Love is the main thing. Gifts without love are deadly. But love plus gifts is the biblical ideal.
COMMENT
14. Is there anyone among you who is sick? Let him call the elders of the church, and let them pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Is any sick among you? – In the previous verse, the reference was to affliction in general, and the duty therein urged was one that applied to all forms of trial. However, the disease is crucial as it is often the case that a specific direction was desirable. That direction is asking for the help of others to guide our thoughts and help us make decisions because someone who is sick cannot direct his thoughts and pray for himself any more than he can in another form of trial. Nothing is said here regarding the degree of disease, whether it is what would be fatal if these means were used or not, but the direction refers to any disease.
Let him call the elders of the church – “presbyters (Gk.)” See notes at Acts 15:2. It cannot be assumed that this refers to the apostles, since it could not be that they were always accessible; Furthermore, instructions such as these were designed to be permanent and apply to the church at all times and in all places. The reference, therefore, is doubtless to the ordinary religious teachers of the congregation, the church officials charged with its spiritual interests. The spirit of the mandate would encompass pastors and others entrusted with the spiritual interests of the congregation: ruling elders, deacons, etc. Suppose the allusion is to the ordinary officers of the church. In that case, it is evident that the expected healing (James 5:1) was not miraculous but was expected by appropriate means accompanied by prayer.
As noteworthy, it may be added that the apostle says that they must “call” the elders of the church; that is, they must send for them. They should not wait for their illness to be known, as it can happen, but should have them informed and give them the opportunity to visit and pray with them.
And pray for him – with him and for him. A sick man is often little able to pray for himself, and it is a privilege to have someone to direct his thoughts with devotion. Also, a good man’s prayer can restore him to health (James 5:15). Prayer is always an essential means of obtaining divine favor, and there is no place where it is more appropriate than at the bedside of the sick.
Anointing him with oil – Oil, of various kinds, was used among the ancients, both in sickness and in health. The oil that was commonly used was olive oil. (See Isaiah 1:6; Luke 10:34).
In the name of the Lord – By the authority or direction of the Lord; or as an act in accordance with his will. When we do something that tends to promote virtue, alleviate misery, instruct ignorance, save lives, or prepare others for heaven, it is right to feel that we do it in the name of the Lord. There is no reason to think that the phrase is used here to denote any peculiar religious rite or “sacrament.” It had to be done in the name of the Lord, like any other good deed.
15. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
And the prayer of faith: the prayer offered in faith or the exercise of an unshakeable trust in God, the belief that He will do what is best, and a joyful surrender of the cause into His hands. We express our sincere desire and leave the case with Him. The prayer of faith is to accompany the use of methods, for all means would be ineffective without God’s blessing.
He will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up – This is to be understood, with this restriction, that they will be restored to health if it be God’s will. It cannot be taken in the absolute and unconditional sense, because then, if these methods were used, the sick person would always recover, no matter how many times he got sick, and he would never need to die. The design encourages them to use these means with a strong hope that it will be effective. It can be reasonably inferred from this statement:
(1) that there would be cases in great number where these media would be served with this happy result; Y,
(2) There was so much encouragement to do so that it would be convenient in any case of illness to use these means.
It should be added that no one can prove that this promise has not been fulfilled in many cases. There are many cases where recovery from illness seems to be a direct answer to prayer, and no one can prove that this is not the case. Compare the case of Hezekiah, in Isaiah 38:1-5.
And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.–Perhaps there may be a particular allusion here to sins which may have brought sickness as punishment. In that case, the removal of the disease in answer to prayer would evidence that the sin was forgiven. Compare Matthew 9:2. But the promise may be understood in a more general sense as denoting that such sickness would be the means of bringing to remembrance the sins of the past life, especially if the sick one had been unfaithful to his Christian vows; and that sickness in connection with the prayers offered would bring him to true repentance and recover him from his wanderings. In backslidden and backsliding Christians, sickness often has this effect; and the afterlife is so dedicated and consistent as to show that the past infidelity of the one who has been afflicted is forgiven.
This passage from James 5:14-15 is essential, not only because of the advice it gives. given to the sick but because the Roman Catholic communion has used it as almost the only portion of the Bible that is referred to in support of one of the peculiar rites of their religion – that of “extreme unction” – a “sacrament”, they suppose, to be administered to those who are dying. It is essential, therefore, to inquire more particularly into its meaning. Only three points of view can be taken from the passage:
I. Which refers to the miraculous healing of the apostles or other early ministers of the religion who were endowed with the power to cure diseases in this way.
(a) The apostle says nothing of the kind, and this is not necessary to provide a fair interpretation of the passage.
(b) The reference, as already noted, is not to the apostles but to the ordinary officers of the church. To suppose that this refers to miracles would suppose that it is a question of a common gift of the ordinary ministers of religion. But there was no promise of this, and there is no evidence that they possessed it. Regarding the extension of the commitment, “They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
(c) If this referred to miracle-working power, and if the promise was absolute, then death would not have occurred at all among the early disciples. It would have been easy to secure a restoration of health in any instance where a minister of religion was on hand,
III. The remaining assumption, therefore, and, it seems to me, the true one, is that anointing with oil was, by common custom, regarded as medicinal and that a blessing was to be invoked upon it as a means of restoration to health. In addition to what has already been said, the following suggestions can also be made:
(a) This was, as we have seen, in common usage in the East and is to this day.
>(b) This interpretation meets all that is required for a correct understanding of what the apostle said.
(c) Everything so directed is rational and proper.
It is appropriate to call ministers of religion in times of illness and ask for their advice and prayers. It is advisable to make use of the ordinary means of restoring health. It was proper then, as it is now, to do this “in the name of the Lord,” that is, believing it to be in accordance with his benevolent arrangements and making use of the means he has appointed. And it was proper then, as it is now, to have made use of those means, to implore divine blessing upon them, and to feel that their efficacy depended solely on him. Used in this way, there was a basis of hope and faith regarding the recovery of the sufferer; and no one can prove that in thousands of cases in the days of the apostles, and since the prayer of faith, which attends the proper use of means, could not have raised those from the brink of the grave, and that Had it not been for these means, he would have died.
Lesson Notes:
(1 Cor. 12:9) “to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit,” Now why do so many men today claim to have the gift of healing upon them, as it was about the apostles in the early church? However, we must admit that no man alive today can raise the dead, as Paul did, and no man has raised the dead in recent centuries. I know that God can heal anyone from any disease, and I know that He heals because I have been the recipient of His healing several times in my life. Furthermore, I have heard the testimony of many men and women who claim to have been miraculously healed by the Lord. But I don’t think any man today can truly say that he has the gift of healing like Paul and Peter did. We are told in Acts 5:12-16 that the sick lay in the streets “so that the shadow of Peter, passing by, might cover some of them.” Then he says, “and they were all healed.” I believe in divine healing, and I pray for the sick every day, but I do not have the gift of healing, and I do not claim that I can pray the prayer of faith that will save the sick. I base my prayers for the sick on these precious verses: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call the elders of the church; and pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the…