Untitled Sermon (8)
Am I my brother’s keeper?
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:1–2)
Mutual confession leads to mutual prayer
Am I my brother’s keeper? The purpose of this question is not to get information but rather to make a negative statement: “I am not my brother’s keeper.” Keeper translates a noun related to the verb meaning “to watch over, care for.” Some translations express it as a verb; for example, FRCL has “Is it up to me to look after my brother?” TEV and GECL “Am I supposed to be taking care of my brother?” and SPCL “Is it my responsibility to watch over him?”
5:16 “Therefore,” James continued, the entire fellowship of believers should be characterized by mutual confessing of sin
The believers are to intercede for one another, both in the greatest matter of ministry, that confession that appropriates forgiveness, and also in the great matter of healing sickness. This mutual intercession is a prime New Testament example of the evangelical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (cf. 1 Pet 2:4–5). Along with the sacrifice of praise that arises from the worship of the whole body of Christ, the mutual interceding of believers one for the other(s) is a priestly function
“Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
The saying, “Am I my brother’s keeper,” comes from the story of Cain and Abel, who were the first children of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden. About them this is recorded, “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” (Genesis 4:3–4).
God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice but not with Cain’s. When Cain saw this he became angry. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:6–7). But Cain would not heed God’s words and jealousy got the best of him and he murdered his brother Abel. Then the LORD said to him, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9)?
Cain’s sarcastic and uncaring words now symbolize people’s unwillingness to accept responsibility for the welfare of others—their “brothers” in the extended sense of the term. That Christians do have this responsibility was taught by Jesus when he said the second greatest commandment was, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
4:15 “The mark of Cain”
But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
For the crime of murdering his brother Abel, Cain was exiled by God to a life of wandering in a distant land. Cain protested the punishment and said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me” (Genesis 4:13–14). So the LORD set a mark upon Cain to protect him in his wanderings. What the “mark” was, the Bible doesn’t tell us, but the “mark of Cain” now refers to an individual’s or mankind’s sinful nature. In the past, perhaps more than now, the expression was used to speak of a person’s evil nature, such as, “He has the mark of Cain on him.”
Texts are important for what they include and do not include. In following this verse, it is appropriate to name a sin but no more. Following David one might confess the personal suffering caused by an unspecified sin; indeed, how “sick” it had made the person (cf. Ps 51:8). When confessing sin, there is no room for reliving it in the retelling. There should not be anything sensational about the mutual confessing of sin, nothing that feeds sinful desire (cf. 1:14). Confession should entail only humble acknowledgment of the act of sin and the joy of release from the offensiveness of those acts. Along with active correction of those who fall into sin among believers, Paul surely had mutual confession in mind as he counseled how to carry out the law of Christ:
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:1–2)
Although believers bear one another’s burdens, nothing in confession should spawn temptation and sinful acts.
Mutual confession leads to mutual prayer. The prayer of faith (cf. v. 15) is not exclusively a prerogative of the office of elder but is a shared responsibility among the members of the church. The believers are to intercede for one another, both in the greatest matter of ministry, that confession that appropriates forgiveness, and also in the great matter of healing sickness. This mutual intercession is a prime New Testament example of the evangelical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (cf. 1 Pet 2:4–5). Along with the sacrifice of praise that arises from the worship of the whole body of Christ, the mutual interceding of believers one for the other(s) is a priestly function. A number of biblical references to healing are spiritual in nature, but this probably was not the case here. The same kind of prayer over the sick was being offered for one another. Faithful prayer is the sole means of healing in this verse—oil is not mentioned here as it was earlier. The same confident faith for healing should be evident throughout the fellowship of believers.
James asserted the important relation between the virtue of righteousness and the quality of prayer for all believers. The essence of biblical righteousness is dependence upon God in all one’s dealings. To be righteous is to live a life centered upon the word of God; not sinlessness but mercy (cf. 2:13) typifies this life. Indeed, since it is the prayer for others that is being discussed, the righteous are the ones who intercede not so much on behalf of themselves but in obedience to God and for others. This was characteristic of the exemplars Job (v. 11; cf. Job 1:5) and Elijah (v. 17). The prayer of the righteous believer is both powerful and effective. These two terms have overlapping meaning, together connoting the potency of prayer to accomplish the purposes of God.41 Just as Jesus taught that his disciples would suffer for the sake of righteousness in fulfilling their prophetic task (cf. Matt 5:11–12), James called his audience to the same righteousness in the face of suffering. The reference to healing does not include a special gift (cf. 1 Cor 12:9); rather, healing is simply a part of the intercessory role to which believers are called. The question of the assurance of healing must be balanced with the will of God in each case. As C. Hodge wrote,
It cannot be supposed that God has subjected Himself in the government of the world, or in the dispensation of his gifts, to the shortsighted wisdom of men, by promising, without condition, to do whatever they ask. No rational man could wish this to be the case.
He then asserted that the condition expressed in 1 John 5:14 is everywhere else implied: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” It was the divine will in Elijah’s case that drought and rain should be limited to a certain time (see vv. 17–18). This is also the case with every event of healing. The intercessor must trust the will of God.
“Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins …” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
James reflected Jesus’ goal, the forgiveness of sinners and, only secondarily, their physical healing. The literal translation of “sinned” here would be “become a doer of sins”—a striking contrast to the earlier “doer of the word” (cf. 1:22). Not everyone is sick because of sin; not everyone who is sick has unforgiven sin, but there are some of both. The Lord is willing to forgive those who humbly confess their sin (just as surely as he is willing to bestow wisdom on those who humbly request it; cf. 1:5). Where healing of the body is needed, there will be healing; where forgiveness is needed, there will be the forgiving of the sin.
The straightforward teaching then is confidence in the efficacy of prayer. The result of prayer is always dependent on the will of God to heal in a particular case. Such healing points to resurrection and reconciliation with God and is never an end in itself. Healing then is a sign of the complete saving work of God: the demise of sin and death and the restoration of the body on the last day. Of course, not every believer receives the healing requested, and not every believer is healed in the same way as another. But all healing stimulates hope in the God who will one day remove all causes of sickness and death.