Prayer and the Healing of the Sick (verses 13-20)
The theme of the closing verses of James is prayer. It is referred to seven times, either as a noun or verb.
Verse 13 – In every circumstance of life we should go to the Lord in prayer. When in trouble, we should approach Him with an honest attitude and faith. In times of rejoicing, we should lift our hearts to Him in praise. He wants to be brought into all the changing moods of our lives. We should see God as the first great cause of all that comes to us in life. We should not look into what Rutherford called the “confused rolling of the wheels of second causes.” It is defeat to allow ourselves to be victims of circumstances, or to wait for our circumstances to change. We should see no other hand but God’s in our life. This is one of the most disputed portions of the epistle, and maybe of the entire New Testament. It brings us face to face with the place of healing in the life of the believer today. Before looking at the verses in detail, let’s look at what the Bible teaches about sickness and healing.
Divine Healing
- We (Christians) agree that all sickness is, in a general way, the result of sin in the world. If sin had never entered, there would be no sickness.
- Sometimes sickness is a direct result of sin in a person’s life (1 Corinthians 11:30).
- Not all sickness is a direct result of sin in a person’s life. Job was sick in spite of the fact that he was a very righteous man (Job 1:8). Other examples are the man who was born blind (John 9:2-3), and Epaphroditus, who was sick because of his tireless activity in the work of the Lord (Philippians 2:30).
- Sometimes sickness is a result of satanic activity. It was Satan who caused Job’s body to be covered with boils (Job 2:7). It was Satan who crippled the woman in Luke 13:10-17. Paul had a physical problem caused by Satan. He called it “a thorn in the flesh… a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (2 Corinthians 12:7).
- God can and does heal. In a very real sense, all healing is divine. One of the names of God in the Old Testament is Jehovah Ropheka – “the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). We should acknowledge God in every case of healing. God uses different means of healing. Sometimes He heals through natural bodily processes. He has placed within the human body tremendous powers of recuperation. He heals through medicine (1 Timothy 5:23). He heals through physicians and surgeons. Jesus taught that sick people need a physician (Matthew 9:12). Paul spoke to Luke “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). God uses doctors in the ministry of healing. As Dubois, the famous French surgeon said, “the surgeon dresses the wound; God heals it.”
- God also heals miraculously. The Gospels contain many examples of this. There is nothing in the Bible to discourage us from believing that God can heal miraculously today.
- We must also be clear that it is not always God’s will to heal. Paul left Trophimus sick at Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20). The Lord did not heal Paul of his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). If it were always God’s will to heal, some would never grow old or die!
- God has not promised to heal everyone; therefore, healing is not something we can demand from God. In Philippians 2:27, healing is spoken of as mercy, not something we have a right to expect.
- It is not true that failure to be healed indicates a lack of faith. If it were, this would mean that some would live on indefinitely, but no one does. Paul, Trophimus, and Gaious were not healed, and yet their faith was strong and active.
Verses 14-15 – Returning to James 5, we see how it fits in with what the rest of the Bible teaches about healing: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.”
If these were the only verses in the Bible on healing, we would assume that a Christian could be assured of healing from every illness that comes in life, if he met the conditions listed. However, we have already seen from other Scriptures that it is not always God’s will to heal. Therefore, we conclude that James is not talking about every kind of illness, but only about a certain form of sickness; that is, a sickness that is the result of specific circumstances.
The key to understanding the passage is found in the words: “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” Healing in this section is connected with the forgiveness of sins. To summarize, then, we believe that verses 14-15 apply to a case where a person is sick as a direct result of some sin. When he realizes this and repents, “he should call the elders of the church” and ask them to pray for him and he should make a full confession to God. They can pray for the person’s recovery in faith, since God promises to heal the person.
Verses 16-20 – A casual reading of this statement might give the impression that we are to tell other people all about our secret sins. But that is not at all the thought! Primarily, James means that when we sin against someone else, we should be quick to confess this sin to the person we have wronged. Also, we should pray for each other. Instead of holding grudges and allowing resentments to build up, we should continue fellowshipping with others through confession and prayer.
Finally, faith goes out in love and compassion to those who have backslidden. Your faith and mine are on trial each day. What is the Judge’s verdict?