Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

5:13-14 There is another ABA pattern in these verses (cf. note on 3:1-4:12). James begins with those suffering (A), then addresses the cheerful (B), and concludes with those who are sick (A). He alludes back to 1:2, where the one under trial was to "count it all joy." Though "sick" (Gk. astheneō) can also mean "to be weak" (even spiritually weak, as in Rom. 14:1), when used (as it is here) without any qualifiers, it usually refers to physical sickness. Elders were pastors and overseers (cf. Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1-2), known for wisdom and maturity, who functioned as leaders in the churches. This provides evidence for a plurality of elders in all the churches to which James was writing, for he simply assumes a sick person could call for "the elders of the church." Some think that anointing . . . with oil was medicinal or sacramental (as in Roman Catholic extreme unction at death), but it is best seen as a symbol representing the healing power of the Holy Spirit to come upon the sick person (cf. the use of "anointing" for symbolic consecration to God's use and service, both in the OT [Ex. 28:41] and in the NT [Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38; 2 Cor. 1:21; Heb. 1:9]). In the name of the Lord means it is God, not the oil, that heals.

5:15 the prayer of faith. Not the faith of the sick person but the faith of those praying. In this instance, James mentions no requirement for the sick person to exercise faith, only that he call for the elders. Christians who are ill often find personal prayer difficult. Will save perhaps carries a double meaning here: (1) the sick person will be physically healed (one meaning of Gk. sōzō), and/or (2) the sick person may also experience spiritual salvation (another meaning of Gk. sōzō), or growth in the blessings of salvation (sins . . . forgiven). As seen throughout the Gospels, Jesus healed both physically and spiritually, and the same double connotation may be present here as well. James is not teaching that all illnesses will be healed if people would simply call on the elders, or try to make themselves have enough faith, or pray with enough conviction. Healing, when it does come, is always a gift from God, who is sovereign over all circumstances, including sickness and health. It does not follow, therefore, that lack of faith on the part of the sick person is the reason that the sick person may not be healed. (On the gifts of faith and of healing, see note on 1 Cor. 12:9.) Some interpreters suggest that James is referring to the promise of the resurrection rather than physical healing. If, in the phrase "if he has committed sins," implies that not all sickness is connected to specific sins, though James seems to expect that some sickness is (cf. 1 Cor. 11:30).

5:16 confess your sins to one another. Sometimes confession in the community is needed before healing can take place, since sin may be the cause of the illness (cf. 1 Cor. 11:29-30). Pray for one another is directed to all the readers of James's letter and indicates that he did not expect prayer for healing to be limited to the elders (James 5:14). The righteous will have great power in prayer, as God grants their requests.

5:17-18 Elijah illustrates how a man with a nature like ours could have the powerful prayer life of "a righteous person." The drought recorded in 1 Kings 17-18 was punishment on King Ahab and Israel for idolatry, and the three years and six months is probably derived from "in the third year" (1 Kings 18:1) as symbolic of judgment (half of seven; see Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 11:2; 12:6, 14; 13:5).