Evening Service, John Stasse, 10 January 2010
‘Few passages in Scripture have been more extensively misinterpreted and misunderstood than these verses’ (Frank E. Gaebelin). We might add, and as a result more neglected by the church throughout the centuries. Yes we must approach cautiously, yet not with a sense of the impossibility of interpretation. They are written, so they are understandable with the Spirit’s help.
The first thing we must remember is that James is here dealing, not with healing, but with prayer. The letter written to persecuted Christians opened with a call to patiently endure trials (1:2ff) and clearly highlights the nee dot give attention to consistent Christian living even in difficult times. James, with compassionate pastoral care for his suffering flock, sees the importance and necessity of maintaining one’s prayer life. That is what is taking up his thoughts here – he is seeking to encourage us to prayer. As we saw last week, this is to characteristic of our whole life, regardless of present situations, and in a manner appropriate to the situation (ie sensitively not robotically).
Yet whilst he does not give a study on divine healing, it is still true that James sees divine healing as a continuing possibility in the church – though significantly James does not call in one with a ‘gift’ of healing. He sees a change in the way in which God works.
The Bible clearly teaches that the miracles clustered around the Apostles served to authenticate their unique ministry, they are described as “signs of an apostle” (2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:3– 4). This is in line with the general biblical pattern where we see such miraculous activity occurring at key points of redemptive. Its association with the Apostles was essential for the foundation of the NT church. Hence Acts 14:3 states “the Lord … bore witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.”
The closure of this foundational apostolic era may have seen the removal of the gift of healing as a functioning ministry for individuals, but it did not, however, remove divine healing. Otherwise these verses would not make sense.
Nor is James teaching us to despise the use of modern medicine. The Bible nowhere depreciates the importance of medical research and activity. Indeed, Luke is spoken of approvingly in Col 4:14 as “the beloved physician”.
Nor does this passage suggest that we should expect miraculous healing every time. Paul says in 2 Tim 4:20 that he left a sick Trophimus behind at Miletus; he gave Timothy instruction to drink alcohol to overcome a stomach illness (1 Tim 5:13). Indeed, sometimes God determines sickness to continue without healing to His glory and for our benefit – so Paul was denied healing (2 Cor 12:7).
We must, in other words be careful not to pit James against the rest of the Bible’s teaching. What he is saying is that God, according to His sovereign will, still chooses at times to heal in an overtly miraculous way in the post–apostolic period of the church. The context here is the caring and praying ministry of the church – particularly demonstrated in the role of the Elders. However, to James what is important is the sovereign will of God, not the Elders or the oil. It is the issue of prayer and knowing God’s will.
To this end we note that James is not talking about healing so much as about prayer. He wants to demonstrate the power of prayer, that its power lies in its expressing the secret will of God. We need to remember that v.13–18 are dealing with the importance of prayer in the believer’s life. The misinterpretations arise when these verse are taken away from this central issue. Sickness and healing is the context in which he is talking about prayer.
This also means that James is not instituting a new function for the local church elders, rather he is using a regular ministry of the elders (caring for the sick) to illustrate what happens when believing prayers become ‘prayers of faith’. When this is understood we can extend the principle beyond sickness – as James will do with Elijah. In our praying, as we wrestle with God to pray according to His will we may move from commitment to God’s will to a conviction concerning God’s will. The prayer that evidences this conviction – the prayer of faith – is guaranteed the answer asked for.
1. The Sick and their Activity
1. We are introduced to a seriously ill person. The word refers to one without strength (used in John 5:7 to that effect in describing the man who had no strength to get to the pool once it had been stirred by an angel). The emphasis is on his weakness through sickness or possibly suffering of persecution. This is re–enforced here by the fact that he does not go to the elders, they come to him; and that in praying, they pray “over” him – which probably suggests that the sick believer is confined to bed. This is a time of serious illness.
2. Sick and even bed–ridden though he may be, he is well enough to take the initiative. He calls the elders to come. It is primarily the decision of the sick person to ask for this ministry. It also indicates that he is aware of what is happening; all the more so since he is able to discuss the possibility of sin (v.15)
Clearly James is not thinking of ‘public’ healing services, but a private ministry. Also he is not saying every time we get sick – he is addressing serious illness, where there is the need of a closer pastoral care. And so the elders are called.
This intimate pastoral scene is re–enforced by:
2. The Elders and their Ministry
We see the Elders responding and exercising a pastoral ministry here.
This ministry is seen in terms of both physical and spiritual needs – hence the issue of sin is addressed in v.15. In caring for the believer they are to be concerned for the whole person, and naturally raise the more important issue of the sick person’s relationship with God. Sin is seen as a complicating factor, the possibility of which also needs to be addressed.
What about the oil? Though, clearly, the emphasis is not on the anointing, but on the prayer, yet the oil is seen to have a pastoral function.
In the Bible oil is used because of its medicinal properties (eg, Lk 10:34, in the parable of the good Samaritan, cf Isa 1:6) – it has soothing and cleansing properties. The 2nd century doctor Galen recommended oil ‘as the best of all remedies for paralysis.’ Hence the elders show a practical concern for the sick.
Related to this is the word “anoint”. This is not the usual word for ceremonial anointing, but what A T Robinson describes as ‘to ‘rub’ as it commonly does in medical treatises.’ It is used to describe anointing one’s head with oil (Matt. 6:17; cf. Luke 7:46), the women’s anointing of Jesus’ body (Mark 16:1), Mary’s anointing of the Lord’s feet (John 11:2; 12:3), and anointing the sick with oil (Mark 6:13). This rubbing with oil serving the two-fold purpose of using available medical technology, but also of showing tender compassion.
But oil also has a symbolic use, as seen with the use of saliva by Jesus in situations where ordinary communication was not possible such as with the deaf and blind (Mk 7:31–37; 8:22–26). Here Jesus used a tangible way of assuring the afflicted that He intended to heal them. This may be underpinning Mk 6:13 where the action of the disciples meets with Jesus’ tacit approval.
In either case James is not enshrining a practise, but describing what was ordinarily done so that the sick person was encouraged and soothed, and by linking it with the Lord’s name they were assuring them of the Lord’s compassion towards them. The key, however, is not the oil but the prayer.
For then the elders pray, as would be expected in such a pastoral situation.
One of the precious elements of church fellowship is prayer support, of knowing that others are praying for you in your trials, and in particular to know that the church’s leaders who have been charged by Christ with a special duty of pastoral care for His flock are praying for you. They are a key and special gift of Christ for the care and well-being, especially spiritual well-being of His people.
What we are seeing here, then, in this very tender scene, is simply the normal pastoral activity of elders ministering to the serious ill; and it is this that we need to underscore. It is not a step 1, 2, then 3 for healing, but a picture of the regular ministry of the elders engaging in their natural calling as under-shepherds of the Lord Jesus responding to physical needs and probing for spiritual needs. A picture in which weak, struggling believers see the importance of seeking the help and comfort of their elders in times of personal difficulty.
In so describing a tender, yet, routine aspect of church life James is stressing the important role and pastoral value of the eldership in the life of the local church. Do you see them as having such a vital pastoral role to you? Do you, in times of distress, look to their ministry and call for it? Elders, do you see that you have such a role? Do you respond with concern and compassion to their needs?
3. The Promise and its Condition
With reference to the elders praying – and this is the point James is wanting us to get to – comes a promise. But we note that is a promise with a condition: the “prayer of faith”. By this qualification we see that not all prayer will result in healing. We should also see that nothing is being said about the level of faith in the sick person, or really in the elders either. The word “faith” is here descriptive of prayer. It is describing the type of prayer, not the person who is praying or being prayed for.
Motyer makes a distinction which is helpful here. He speaks of praying with commitment to God’s will. And so praying with faith is in effect, “Thy will be done”. Such prayers are in effect saying we are unsure of your purpose Lord, or if what we desire is what you desire; so we commit ourselves to Your will as perfect. May it now be done.
Hallesby puts it like this: ‘Lord, if it be to Your glory, heal suddenly. If it will glorify You more, heal gradually; if it will glorify You even more, may your servant remain sick awhile; and if it will glorify Your name still more, take him to Yourself in heaven.’
It would be true to say that most of our prayers are such prayers of ‘rest’ in the Lord’s sovereign and gracious will, and rightly so.
But it is in such praying that sometimes comes what Motyer terms a conviction concerning God’s will, that we are praying for what God Himself has committed Himself to do. This is what James calls the “prayer of faith” – a conviction that it is God’s will to perform a healing. Only such is guaranteed.
I draw your attention to John 14:14 where Jesus says He will do whatever we ask “in My name”. This is the condition Jesus specifies. What does it mean?
It is not a turning of the name ‘Jesus’ into a magical talisman. Rather, the name expresses the person, so it means praying what Jesus would pray for if He was standing where I am standing.
It is praying which arises out of unison with the will of God. That is the prayer of faith.
The same thing is seen in 1 John 5:14–15. This I believe is the key to interpreting James 5:14–15. How can we pray this way? In 1 Jn 3:22 John tells us – it is by controlling our thoughts and directing our lives by the revealed will of God – the Bible. The more we think and live God’s thoughts after Him, the more we will pray within His purposes.
James is not saying that we should whip up a ‘believing’ spirit, or pretend to have it when we don’t. That would surely be disastrous even a vile cruelty in ministering to the sick. What damage has done by so–called ‘healers’ assuring people of their healing and that they must now claim it by faith! We must protect the tender spirit of the sick. The elders, instead, must ponder their response to a call to pray over the sick, and ask: Is the Lord granting that special unction of faith whereby you can believe that you have what you ask?
The whole picture, then, is of the importance and power of prayer when in praying, God assures those praying that He is going to do something special, and so they confidently ask for it.
As we leave this then, our concern in praying, whether in a context of illness, or as with Elijah the ungodliness of the nation, we should so wrestle with God that we might know and pray according to His will. That we don’t always receive what we ask for, then, does not undermine our view and practice of prayer. Rather, this teaching encourages us to know God’s Word and to pray more earnestly within the spirit of it, not for the problem but for God’s mind concerning the problem. It also teaches us that in the mean time to continue to trust God and rest in His secret will, knowing it is perfect; and knowing that the closer our walk with God, the more powerful prayer will be.