James 5 Pray for a Change
Intro:
Seven times in this section James mentioned prayer. The mature Christian is prayerful in the troubles of life. Instead of complaining about his situation, he talks to God about it; and God hears and answers his prayers. “Taking it to the Lord in prayer” is certainly a mark of spiritual maturity.
The Lord’s brother was an unbeliever during Jesus’ earthly ministry (John 7:2–5), but an appearance of the risen Christ to him apparently led him to become a believer (1 Cor 15:7; Acts 1:14). He rapidly became a leader in the early church (Gal 2:6–9). The New Testament pictures him as a committed Jew who recognized Jesus as Messiah and Lord and showed spiritual sensitivity to the working of God. James the Lord’s brother would be important enough in the early church clearly to identify himself by the designation “James.”
The tradition is that the Lord’s brother spent such time in prayer that his knees became as hard as those of a camel (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.23).
He shared ethical commands that touched upon both personal morality and social justice.
James wrote to Jewish Christians facing trials and persecution. Under the threat of persecution the readers considered compromising their Christian commitment and accommodating themselves to worldliness. James spoke as a pastor to urge his friends to develop spiritual stamina in facing persecution. He also spoke as a prophet to urge those who considered compromise to give evidence of their faith.
Oil was thought to have medicinal value in the ancient world (Luke 10:34), so James might be encouraging the elders to combine prayer with appropriate medical procedures. But anointing with oil more often symbolized setting apart someone for the Lord’s special attention (Exod 28:41; 40:15); kings and priests were appointed by being anointed (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:12; Ps 45:7)—hence the association of “the Anointed One” (Messiah) with kingship. Probably, then, the anointing is a way of assuring the sick person that they are being brought before the Lord for his merciful consideration (cf. Mark 6:13).
This choice of verb (egeirō) is remarkable because it does not repeat the word meaning “save/heal,” which had just been used, but rather brings in another word with the same kind of dual meaning. “Raise up” refers to an act of God in the present, as in healing one who is bedridden, or an act of God in the eschaton, as in resurrection. Jesus’ healing of the synagogue ruler Jairus’s daughter is an example of this raising: “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” (Mark 5:41)—a restoration of life. The connection between being raised up miraculously from the bed of sickness and the resurrection is also poignantly presented in Martha’s confession at the tomb of her brother Lazarus (John 11:27).
James stated the case conditionally: “If he has sinned …” Sin can be an element in the problem of sickness but is not necessarily so. When the prayer of faith is prayed over the believer, both sin and sickness are committed to the power of God to heal and to forgive.
The Lord who raises the dead will forgive. Perhaps the closest text to this idea is found in Mark 2:8–10, where the forgiveness of sins and healing demonstrate Jesus’ authority:
“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.
Prayer is clearly the topic of this paragraph, being mentioned in every verse. James commends it to the individual believer, in the very different kinds of circumstances that he may face (vv. 13–14) and to the community as well (v. 16a). And he encourages such prayer by underscoring the powerful effects of prayer that flow from a righteous heart (vv. 16b–18).
13. ‘Pray at all times’, Paul commanded (Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17). James, similarly, exhorts the believers to pray in whatever situation they may find themselves. They are to pray when suffering. Kakopatheia, the same word James has used in verse 10 with reference to the prophets, is a general term that denotes the experience of all sorts of afflictions and trials. Paul used the verbal form of this word to describe his imprisonment and exhorted Timothy to be willing to undergo this same kind of suffering (2 Tim. 2:9; 4:5). The prayer believers are to offer in such circumstances is not necessarily for deliverance from the trial, but for the strength to endure it faithfully. The believer is also to pray when he is cheerful. Euthymeō refers not to outward circumstances, but to the cheerfulness and happiness of heart that one can have whether in good times or in bad.
Elijah in v. 17 is the exemplar of that faith James had in mind. The famous story of Elijah’s healing the son of the widow of Zarephath includes this action:
Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. (1 Kgs 17:21–22)
Is this the kind of “praying over” that James meant? It certainly cannot be ruled out as the way the church should utter “powerful and effective” (cf. 5:16) prayer for the sick.
If they have sinned. Illness or physical incapacity is not by any means always the result of sin (John 9:1–3), but God does sometimes use physical problems to discipline his children (1 Cor 11:30). So confessing sin is sometimes part of the healing process.
Is any one of you in trouble? “In trouble” (kakopathei, “suffering ill”; cf. v. 10) relates to suffering from any source.
Actually there is no reason to consider “sick” as referring exclusively to physical illness. The word asthenei literally means “to be weak.” Though it is used in the Gospels for physical maladies, it is generally used in Acts and the Epistles to refer to a weak faith or a weak conscience (cf. Acts 20:35; Rom. 6:19; 14:1; 1 Cor. 8:9–12). That it should be considered “weak” in this verse is clear in that another Greek word (kamnonta) in James 5:15, translated sick person, literally means “to be weary.” The only other use in the New Testament (Heb. 12:3) of that word clearly emphasizes this same meaning.
God can transform troubles into triumphs. “He giveth more grace” (James 4:6). Paul prayed that God might change his circumstances, but instead, God gave Paul the grace he needed to turn his weakness into strength (2 Cor. 12:7–10).
Praying and singing were important elements in worship in the early church, and they should be important to us. Our singing ought to be an expression of our inner spiritual life. The believer’s praise should be intelligent (1 Cor. 14:15) and not just the mouthing of words or ideas that mean nothing to him. It should come from the heart (Eph. 5:19) and be motivated by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18).
The “righteous man” here referred to is the man whose sins have been confessed and forgiven. His prayer is fully able to secure results, such as healing of the sick.
These two terms have overlapping meaning, together connoting the potency of prayer to accomplish the purposes of God.
In Greek they are both verbs, one finite and the other a participle. More lit. we could translate, “The prayer of a righteous person, being effective, can do much.”
The entire section is caught up by issues involving prayer, as prayer is mentioned in every verse. James here deals with the prayer of the individual (v. 13), the prayer of the elders (vv. 14–15), the prayers of friends and companions for one another (v. 16), and finally the prayer of the righteous prophet Elijah (vv. 17–18).
Some see this verse as combining a declarative statement with an imperative: “There is among you one who suffers. He should pray!” Yet whether this or the more traditional reading (an interrogative followed by an imperative) is chosen, the force is the same. In times of distress, the best recourse is to prayer.
The Greek word for “trouble” here is kakopatheo, which means “to suffer misfortune”; this word is normally not used of illness. Davids offers the opinion that the word indicates not a specific misfortune, but rather the “inner experience of having to endure misfortune.” As in chapter 1, James is not advocating a prayer for the removal of the cause of trouble so much as for the strength to endure the present troublesome situation.
The emphasis should fall on the “fervent faith,” that is, a prayer that expresses trust in God and that flows from a deep commitment to God (cf. vv. 17–18). The prayer and the faith is, evidently, that of the elders, since only the prayer of the elders is mentioned.
The word afflicted means “suffering in difficult circumstances.” The phrase “in trouble” is a good translation. Paul used this word to describe the circumstances he was in as he suffered for the Gospel’s sake (2 Tim. 2:9). As God’s people go through life, they often must endure difficulties that are not the results of sin or the chastening of God.
The Old Testament prophets often used healing from sickness as an image for healing from sin, and Jewish literature often associated sin and sickness; for instance, the eighth blessing of a Jewish daily prayer, for healing (although the emphasis is not physical healing), followed petitions for forgiveness and redemption. James does not imply a direct causal relationship between all sickness and sin, any more than Paul or the Old Testament does (see comment on Phil 2:25–30).
This is most important, for the explicit instruction to call for the elders makes two implicit personal demands on the ill. The first is that before one calls on the elders there must be personal confession of all known sins. This is substantiated by the promise at the end of verse 15 that “If he [the sick] has sinned, he will be forgiven.” James is not saying one’s sickness is necessarily a result of sin, for he knew that when the Lord Jesus was asked if a man’s blindness was due to sin the Lord answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned” (John 9:3). Similarly, “Job’s perseverance,” mentioned previously in verse 11, was severely tested by his friends who wrongly kept insisting he was ill due to his sin.
One of the first responsibilities of the local church is to pray for government leaders (1 Tim. 2:1–3).
Mutual confession of sins, which James encourages as a habitual practice (this is suggested by the present tense of the imperative), is greatly beneficial to the spiritual vitality of a church. This was seen at the time of the ‘Methodist’ movement in eighteenth-century England. The suggested ‘rule’ for the small meetings of believers that spiritually fuelled that movement had at its head the encouragement to mutual confession and prayer from James 5:16a.
b. Who heals? James’ answer to this question is clear: ‘the Lord will raise him up’. Nowhere does the New Testament suggest any other answer. When the apostles ‘healed’ people, they made it clear that they did so only through the power and the authority of the Lord Jesus (Acts 4:7–12). Paul spoke of a ‘gift’ of healing (1 Cor. 12:9, 28), but this gift, as all others, was empowered by and directed by the Spirit who gave the gift.
The power possessed by prayer is not limited to ‘super saints’; the righteous man simply designates one who is wholeheartedly committed to God and sincerely seeking to do his will.
17–18. As an example of a righteous man whose prayers had great effect James cites Elijah. The prophet, whose exploits were so spectacular and manner of ‘death’ so remarkable, was one of the most popular of all figures among Jews. He was celebrated for his powerful miracles and his prophetic denunciations of sin. Most of all, however, he was looked for as the helper in time of need whose coming would pave the way for the Messianic age (Mal. 4:5–6; Ecclus. 48:1–10; Mark 9:12; Luke 1:17). But it is not Elijah’s special prophetic endowment or unique place in history that interests James, but the fact that, though he was a man of like nature with ourselves, his prayer had great power in its effects. James highlights the fervency of Elijah’s prayer with the use of a Semitic influenced ‘cognate’ construction: literally, ‘in prayer he prayed’. He wants his readers to recognize that this power of prayer is available to all who are sincerely following the Lord—not just to a special few.
The situation James describes is recorded in 1 Kings 17–18. The drought was proclaimed by God through Elijah as a means of punishing Ahab and Israel for their idolatry. Although the Old Testament does not state that Elijah prayed for the drought, 1 Kings 18:42 does picture him praying for the drought to end, and it is a legitimate inference to think that he prayed for its onset also. Similarly, we should probably take the three and half years specified by James (cf. also Luke 4:25) as a more specific figure for the rounded-off ‘three years’ in 1 Kings 18:1. Perhaps the figure ‘three and a half’ was suggested by its symbolic associations with a period of judgment (Dan. 7:25; cf. Rev. 11:12; 12:14). But in the light of the fact that the Old Testament never specifically mentions Elijah’s prayer for the drought, why has James chosen this as his example—particularly since other examples of his praying were much better-known (that fire would consume the sacrifice on Mount Carmel) or appropriate to James’ context (raising the widow’s son to life)? Perhaps James intends us to see in the deadness of the land brought back to life an analogy to the illness of the believer restored to health (Davids). On the other hand, evidence exists of a tradition that associated the drought with Elijah’s praying (Ecclus. 48:2–3; 2 Esdras 7:109) and it is probable that James has chosen this simply as a familiar illustration.
Elijah knew all the frailties of human nature but “in prayer he prayed” (proseuchē prosēyxato), that is, he prayed earnestly, and rain was withheld and later restored (1 Kings 17:1; 18:41–46). Earnest and persistent prayer, of course, is essential, whereas halfhearted prayer is self-defeating (cf. James 1:6–8).
Elijah was a man “like us” (homoipathes hemin), an expression that conveys the sense of the same limitations. Luke uses the same expression in Acts 14:15, when Paul and Barnabas attempt to convince the citizens of Lystra that they are not divine beings, but people just like anyone else. James’s point is that such a prayer is possible for the people he is addressing. The phrase “prayed earnestly” (or, more literally, “by prayer he prayed”) is a Semitism, conveying the sense of intense prayer. Because Elijah was a man of sincere faith, he discerned God’s heart, and his prayer was honored by God.
But it is not the fervency or the frequency of the prayer that renders it effective—it is faith. Faith in 1:6–8, where James also discusses the efficacy of prayer, refers to a wholehearted unwavering commitment to God. Since it is the elders who offer this prayer, it is clear that it is also their faith that is intended here. James describes two results of the prayer of faith: the sick person will be saved and the Lord will raise him up. Save (sōzō) usually refers in the New Testament to deliverance from spiritual death, and some scholars think that this may be James’ meaning here also. In fact, they suggest that all of verses 14–16a may be about restoration to spiritual health rather than physical health. But James’ language is too definite to allow this interpretation; he is clearly thinking, at least primarily, of physical healing (see the Additional note on Healing, pp. 189–192). The word sōzō is certainly appropriate as a description of restoration to health and is used in this way frequently in the Gospels. Similarly, raise up (egeirō) is used to describe the renewed physical vigour of those who have been healed (Matt. 9:6; Mark 1:31; Acts 3:7). Thus the picture is of the elders praying ‘over’ the ‘sick man’ in his bed and the Lord intervening to raise him up from that bed.
Elijah was determined and concerned in his praying. “He prayed earnestly” (James 5:17, NIV). The literal Greek reads “and he prayed in prayer.” Many people do not pray in their prayers. They just lazily say religious words, and their hearts are not in their prayers.
Elijah was not only believing in his praying, but he was persistent. “He prayed … and he prayed again” (James 5:17–18). On Mt. Carmel, Elijah continued to pray for rain until his servant reported “a cloud the size of a man’s hand.” Too many times we fail to get what God promises because we stop praying.
5:11. The whole structure of the book of Job was probably meant to encourage Israel after the exile; although God’s justice seemed far away and they were mocked by the nations, God would ultimately vindicate them and end their captivity. Hellenistic Jewish tradition further celebrated Job’s endurance (e.g., the Testament of Job, and Aristeas the Exegete). (Various later rabbis evaluated him differently, some positively, some negatively. The Testament of Job includes Stoic language for the virtue of endurance and transfers some earlier depictions of Abraham to Job; this transferral may have been the source of one later rabbi’s rare conclusion that Job was greater than Abraham.)
First, the prayer of faith comes from a faith in Almighty God who sovereignly carries out his will. Nothing is beyond him. He can heal anyone anytime he wills, and he does heal today! He does as he wills in every circumstance, working all things to his glory.
More amazing, the Apostle Paul saw his prayers fail to bring healing, for Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy that he had had to leave “Trophimus sick in Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20). Similarly, his dearly beloved Epaphroditus was “ill, and almost died” (Philippians 2:27). Why was he not healed outright instead of going to death’s door as the illness ran its course? And Paul prayed three times for his own healing of his “thorn” (2 Corinthians 12:7–10), but had to go on living with it until he died.
The background of this incident is found in 1 Kings 17–18. Wicked King Ahab and Jezebel, his queen, had led Israel away from the Lord and into the worship of Baal. God punished the nation by holding back the rain that they needed (see Deut. 28:12, 23). For three and one half years, the heavens were as brass and the earth unable to produce the crops so necessary for life.
Then Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel. All day long the priests cried out to their god, but no answer came. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah repaired the altar and prepared the sacrifice. He prayed but once, and fire came from heaven to consume the sacrifice. He had proven that Jehovah was the true God.
But the nation still needed rain. Elijah went to the top of Carmel and fell down before the Lord in prayer. He prayed and sent his servant seven times to see if there was evidence of rain; and the seventh time his servant saw a little cloud. Before long, there was a great rain, and the nation was saved.
Do we need “showers of blessing” today? We certainly do!
“But Elijah was a special prophet of God,” we might argue. “We can expect God to answer his prayers in a wonderful way.”
“Elijah was a man just like us,” stated James (5:17, NIV). He was not perfect; in fact, right after his victory on Mt. Carmel, Elijah became afraid and discouraged and ran away. But he was a “righteous man,” that is, obedient to the Lord and trusting Him. God’s promises of answered prayer are for all His children, not just for ones we may call the spiritual elite.
Elijah prayed in faith, for God told him He would send the rain (1 Kings 18:1). “Prayer,” said Robert Law, “is not getting man’s will done in heaven. It’s getting God’s will done on earth.” You cannot separate the Word of God and prayer, for in His Word He gives us the promises that we claim when we pray.
“Elijah,” James says, “was a man just like us.” He had no superhuman powers; he was by nature a human being and nothing more. However, when he prayed “that it would not rain, … it did not rain” (cf. 1 Kings 17:1; 18:42–45). The explanation of his power in prayer is twofold: he was a righteous man, and “he prayed earnestly.” So James assures his readers that such answers to prayer are within the reach of any believer. It is true that 1 Kings 17–18 does not explicitly say that Elijah prayed, but this may be assumed from 17:1 and especially from 18:42. The three and one-half years is a round number based on 18:1.
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.
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.
Elijah’s prayer included the following: “Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again” (1 Kgs 18:37). The repetition in this prayer expresses the earnestness of the prophet, along with his absolute confidence in the purposes of God for wayward Israel. And we note the intent of the prayer: not merely to demonstrate the power and truth of God but most of all to fulfill his purpose of converting Israel back to faithfulness (cf. Jas 5:19–20)
James concludes with the thought that just as the prayer of the righteous Elijah resulted in the refreshing of the earth, so the prayer of the righteous believer can result in the refreshing and healing of a Christian afflicted by sickness caused by sin.