James Ch 5:12-18
The Bible does not forbid taking oaths, acknowledging that in a world filled with liars there are times when they are necessary. Certainly it is not wrong to take an oath when testifying in court, being ordained, or getting married. Oaths are wrong when they are misused with the intent to deceive others, or when taken rashly or flippantly. The Bible gives examples of godly men who took oaths, lists God’s commands that oaths be taken, and records instances of God Himself taking oaths.
It was C. H. Spurgeon who said, “Any fool can sing in the day. It is easy to sing when you can read the notes by daylight. But the skillful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by. Songs in the night come only from God. They are not the power of men.” It is true isn’t it.
The anointing with oil28 is not merely a kind of home remedy. As it is applied, the name of the Lord Jesus (cf. 1:1) is to be invoked. Olive oil, according to Old Testament and Jewish understanding, was prized for its nurturing of human well-being and for its healing properties. In Jesus’ and his disciples’ ministry, olive oil was utilized in their healings of the sick when combined with the preaching of repentance:
They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.… for Jesus’ name had become well known. (Mark 6:12–14)
The connection between the act of anointing29 and of calling on the name of the Lord (Mark added the call to repentance) shows that although James never directly related sin and sickness as cause and effect, he indirectly related them in that sickness and sin make persons suffer and in that God can save from the effects of either (e.g., 5:6, 10, and esp. 16). The name of Jesus the Lord is the all-embracing name and foundation for this act of faith in which there is healing and in which there will be judgment against the wicked.
The prayer31 of faith (cf. 1:6), not the prayer with “wrong motives” (4:3), will heal the sick. The faithful prayer of the gathered believers, united by the plea of the sick member and the authority of the elders, has real effectiveness. The Gospels emphasize the connection between the prayer of faith and healing.32 The word for healing here, translated “make well,” is sōzō, “save.” It is used in the Synoptics for either spiritual salvation or physical healing.33 “Save” in a spiritual sense has appeared in Jas 1:21 as the effect of “the word planted in you” and has appeared in 2:14 in the debate about whether faith without deeds can save. In the present verse healing of the sick is meant, but close connection between the physical and the spiritual should be noted. This statement recalls the words of Jesus, for instance, to the woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years: “Take heart, daughter … your faith has healed [using sōzō] you” (Matt 9:22). In our verse, however, the instrument of healing is prayer rather than faith—though not without faith.
Even the great Apostle Paul did not see everyone healed that he prayed for. He wrote to Timothy that he had to leave Trophimus who was sick in Miletus. Hello. The great Apostle Paul certainly could have spoken the word of faith and Trophimus would have been healed. But no. He remained sick in a place called Miletus.
He also mentioned Epaphroditus who was ill and almost died over there in Philippians 2:27. One one occasion he told Timothy, “Take a little wine for your stomach.” We are assuming that Timothy had some kind of a malady. Why didn’t Paul just pray for him?
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
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 healing38 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.
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.
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.
Now, if it is God’s will to heal a sick person, then the Bible says that God will give us the faith—God will give us the faith. And, it is the prayer of faith that saves the sick. Now, watch this, because there are people who get you in one of these highly hypnotic, emotional, so-called “healing” services, and I believe the hottest part of Hell is reserved for these charlatans, and these fakers, and these fraudulent people, who are going up and down the country bilking people out of thousands of dollars, pretending that the power of God is upon them and saying that they’re healing them when it’s nothing but a sham and a pretense. And, it’s an abomination to Almighty God.
Having said that, there is the power of God to heal, and I want you to know that. And, I believe in supernatural, miraculous healing, and I believe that God has healed me that way. And, I believe in healing, but everything that God has, the devil has a counterfeit. And, here these healers, who often go around, will take some poor person who comes through in a wheel chair with crutches or whatever, and they will lay hands on him and say some hocus pocus over him. And, nothing happens, and they’ll say, “Well brothers, it’s God’s will to heal everybody, but you didn’t have enough faith.” Can you imagine what that would do to a person who didn’t understand the Bible? Can you imagine how that would destroy his spiritual psyche? I don’t think there’s anything more abominable than that. You study this passage of scripture, mister, and you’ll find out that it’s not the sick man’s faith that’s talked about here—it’s the prayer’s faith; it’s the person who is praying over him. And, that healer better say, “Mister, I didn’t have enough faith”—not, “You didn’t have enough faith.”
