Prayer for the Sick

Steadfastness in our faith is produced as we endure our trials in a God-centered manner, patiently awaiting the last day when the Lord will set everything right and asking Him for grace and strength to endure and to learn from our suffering (James 1:2–4; 5:7–13). None of this means that we should remain passive in our pain or that we would be wrong ever to look for our particular trials to end. James makes this point in today’s passage as he continues to present some practical ways to respond to tribulation.

In James 5:13, the Apostle called for prayer during suffering, focusing particularly, but not exclusively, on physical illness. James goes further in verse 14 to address situations in which physical sickness calls for a special intervention by the church’s elders. He envisions a situation in which sick people call on the elders to visit, which indicates that these individuals are likely suffering serious illness that makes it impossible for them to travel. According to today’s passage, the elders are to come, anoint the sick person with oil (olive oil), and pray for the individual’s healing. Some commentators have argued that James calls for oil because ancient people used it medicinally, but his use of the term “anointing” points us in a different direction. Old covenant priests and kings were anointed to consecrate them to God (e.g., Ex. 28:41; 1 Sam. 16:13). Similarly, the anointing that James has in view, when coupled with prayer, sets the sick person apart to the Lord as an object of His special care and empowerment.

James says that when the elders anoint sick individuals and pray for them in faith, the ill people will be made well (James 5:15). Certainly, the Apostle cannot mean that physical healing will occur every time that the elders pray for someone. Paul prayed in faith for God to remove the “thorn” in his flesh, but God did not do so (2 Cor. 12:7–9). We must take the words of James about the elders’ prayers in concert with his words about God’s sovereign will (James 4:13–17). Thus, James means that God answers the prayers of the elders with physical healing when He has sovereignly ordained to do so. Moreover, the sins that caused the physical ailment will be forgiven (5:15), but note that while some sins can lead to physical sickness, not every illness results from a particular sin, as the book of Job tells us. We can also be sure that God always forgives a repentant person even if He does not heal every physical ailment (1 John 1:8–10).