Chapter 21
God’s Prescription for the Sick
“Is any sick among you? 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; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15).
This text, above all others, is that which most clearly declares to the sick what they have to do in order to be healed. Sickness and its consequences abound in the world. What joy, then, for the believer to learn from the Word of God the way of healing for the sick! The Bible teaches us that it is the will of God to see His children in good health. The Apostle James has no hesitation in saying that “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” May the Lord teach us to hearken and to receive with simplicity what His Word tells us!
Notice, first, that James here makes a distinction between affliction (or suffering) and sickness. He says (verse 13): “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.” He does not specify what shall be requested in such a case; still less does he say that deliverance from suffering shall be asked. No; suffering which may arise from various exterior causes is the portion of every Christian. Let us therefore understand that the object of James is to lead the tried believer to ask for deliverance only with a spirit of submission to the will of God, and, above all, to ask the patience which he considers to be the privilege of the believer (James 1: 2-4,12; 5:7-8).
James 1 2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. James 5 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
But in dealing with the words, “Is any sick among you?” James replies in quite another manner. Now he says with assurance that the sick one may ask for healing with confidence that he shall obtain it, and the Lord will hear him. There is therefore a great difference between suffering and sickness. The Lord Jesus spoke of suffering as being necessary, as being willed and blessed of God; while He says of sickness that it ought to be cured. All other suffering comes to us from without, and will only cease when Jesus shall triumph over the sin and evil which are in the world; while sickness is an evil in the body itself, in this body saved by Christ that it may become the temple of the Holy Spirit, and which, consequently, ought to be healed as soon as the sick believer receives by faith the working of the Holy Spirit, the very life of Jesus in him.
[WStS Note: We see little difference between sickness and suffering. While all suffering is not sickness, all sickness is suffering. God’s are manifold, and wide enough in scope to deliver from any circumstance within His Will (e.g., ‘And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son’ (John 14:13); ‘For the LORD God is a Sun and Shield: the LORD will give Grace and Glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly’ (Psalm 84:11); ‘The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing’ (Psalm 34:10). Sickness and suffering, in and of themselves, are neither morally good or evil. Though sickness and suffering may be caused by sin (and most often are); on the other hand, sickness and suffering are SOLELY instruments in the Hand of God to promote holiness in the Godly. It is possible to be Godly and sick, because Scripture says, “IF he have committed sins”– demonstrating that not all sick people need to repent of sin. “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up; and IF he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:15).]
What is the direction here given to the sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let the elders pray for him. In the time of James there were physicians, but it is not to them the sick believer must turn. The elders then were the pastors and leaders of the churches, called to the ministry not because they had passed through schools of theology, but because they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and well known for their piety and for their faith. Why should their presence be needed by the sick one? Could not his friends have prayed? Yes; but it is not so easy for everybody to exercise the faith which obtains healing, and, doubtless, that is one reason why James desired that men should be called whose faith was firm and sure. Besides this, they were representatives to the sick one of the Church, the collective body of Christ, for it is the communion of believers which invites the Spirit to act with power. In short, they should, after the pattern of the great Shepherd of the sheep, care for the flock as He does, identify themselves with the sick one, understand his trouble, receive from God the necessary discernment to instruct him and encourage him to persevere in faith. It is, then, to the elders of the Church that the healing of the sick is committed, and it is they, the servants of the God who pardons iniquities and heals diseases (Psalm 103), who are called to transmit to others the Lord’s graces for soul and body.
Psalm 103 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases;
Finally, there is a promise still more direct that of healing; the apostle speaks of it as the certain consequence of the prayer of faith. “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” This promise ought to stimulate in every believer the desire and expectation of healing. Receiving these words with simplicity and as they are written, ought we not to see in them an unlimited promise, offering healing to whomsoever shall pray in faith? The Lord teach us to study His Word with the faith of a truly believing heart!