James 5:12-20 NKJV
12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
James issues some final encouragements and instructions to the scattered tribes of Israel. The first two we readily understand and imitate. “If anyone is suffering, let him pray. If anyone is cheerful, let him sing psalms.” What about the instruction for the sick to call the elders of the church, that they may anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord for their healing? Is this a practice we should imitate?
We’re reminded here to read Scripture in context. James was not writing directly to Christians in the 21st century. He, like all the epistle writers of the New Testament, was writing to specific groups of Christians at that time. And at that time, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were still present in the Church, including the gift of miraculous healings. Just as the twelve apostles anointed the sick with oil and healed them after receiving from Jesus the special command and power to do so (cf. Mark 6:7-13), so it seems that the elders, that is, the ministers of the Christian churches at the time of James, at least in some places, possessed the same miraculous gift.
The signs and gifts in the first century Church were for confirming the Gospel being spread by the apostles. After their Gospel was confirmed, it didn’t need to go on being confirmed for the next 2,000 years, so we don’t send for our pastors for the healing of the body. But we should still send for them, in our time of sickness, for the Word of God and for their prayers!
Yes, we should all pray for one another, and we should be confident that those prayers do not fall on deaf ears. James assures us that the prayers of the righteous, that is, the prayers of Christians, who are righteous by faith in Christ Jesus, and who are praying for righteous things, are “powerful and effective” (NIV).
If we love one another, as Jesus commanded us Christians to do, then we will always be looking for ways to help one another, whether it’s through prayer, encouragement, confessing our wrongs, or patiently seeking to lead the erring back to the truth.
Let us pray: Father in heaven, we pray for our fellow Christians throughout the world. Bless and keep them. Strengthen their faith. And grant them perpetual peace. Amen.