Introduction
James’ ending to this epistle is not abrupt though it might
appear that way compared to the endings by Paul. It concludes his teaching on
faith that results in action. Throughout this letter, James admonished the
Jerusalem Christians and later readers to put their faith into action by
praying without doubting and doing practical works such as bridling their
bodies by not showing favoritism, slandering, and judging, and by loving their
neighbors by helping the poor and speaking with love. Added to these, James
taught the Holy Spirit resides in every believer to help him or her live life
as a child of God – loving God with all his or her heart, soul, mind, and
strength, and loving his or her neighbors as this or herself. He recognized the
Jerusalem Christians experienced trials and persecutions and admonished them to
endure knowing they had eternal hope - eternal life Jesus Christ gave them.
This letter’s biggest teaching is that believers must live
out their faith in works as evidence and testimony of their faith and salvation.
As James said, faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Along with this, he
taught faith should be lived out in community with other believers. Christians
are not isolated and should support one another in prayer, practical help, and
encouragement to walk in the ways of the Lord. The last two of these are the
teachings by which James ended this epistle. Through his teaching on prayer in
verses thirteen through twenty, James taught the Christian faith is personal
and communal. Let us now look into these eight verses to understand what James
taught.
Prayers of an Individual
James taught the Jerusalem Christians prayer should occur
during hard and easy times – times of suffering and of cheer. He spoke to
individuals in specific in verse thirteen as noted when he said, “anyone.”
James taught each person to pray when he or she experienced hardships and
troubles, and when afflicted. By using these words, he reminded the Jewish
believers of Psalm 50:15 when the Lord said, “Call upon me in the day of
trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.” [NASB] James taught the
believers to pray during their suffering because he knew and wanted to remind
the people God will hear and help them.
In this same verse, James reminded the believers they should
pray to God even during joyful times when no suffering or hardship wearies them.
When times are joyous, cheerful, and peaceful, Christians should praise God. Lifting
praises to God is music to His ears. It results in our hearts soaring so that
our spirits and minds sing of God, who He is, and what He has done. “Singing
praises” to God requires more than our minds. It requires the spirit (the whole
person). Paul spoke of this prayer and praising in 1 Corinthians 14:15 when he
said, “I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also. I will
sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.” [NASB] In reading
verse thirteen, we learn James taught the Jerusalem Christians to pray no matter
the situation – suffering or joy.
Prayers of the Ministers and Leaders
With verses 14-15, James taught the Jerusalem believers the
ministers and leaders – the elders – were to pray with and over people in the
church. The word “elders” comes from the Greek word presbuteros, which means a person of rank or holding an office in
the church, those people in ministerial leadership in the church[i]. In
these two verses, James spoke about the elders praying over the sick people in
the church. He mentioned four things about praying over a sick member of the
body of Christ for the prayer to be effective.
James told the elders of the church to anoint the sick
person with olive oil. In Israel, people used olive oil for their lamps, for
anointing their heads and bodies at feasts (religious and secular), for consecrating
someone to the Lord, and for a healing aid for the sick. James taught the
elders to use olive oil to consecrate and set aside the sick person for God.
They would give the sick person into God’s hands. The readers and hearers of
James’ epistle noted this with the next prepositional phrase of verse fourteen
– “in the name of the Lord.” Pouring oil on a person does not heal that person,
but anointing a person for God’s purpose and attention and in the power of
Lord’s name requests God’s intervention for the health of the one anointed. Praying
in the name of the Lord acknowledges and requests the Lord’s authority,
excellences, and power for the person about whom the elders make the prayer.
Mark 6:13 and 16:18 tell of the apostles anointing the sick people with oil in
the name of the Lord and of the healing of those sick people. The most
important point to understand is that the Lord is the one who heals the sick
person, not the elder or the oil the elder poured. James made sure the people
knew the praying and anointing required the Lord’s power for healing to occur.
Another aspect required for an elder to be an effective
participant in the healing of a sick person is the elder’s faith. In verse 15,
James said, “And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick.”
Notice to have an effective prayer, the pray-er needs a strong faith to affect the
healing of the sick person. The elder must believe in the power and authority
of God over everything including the health of people for God to answer his or
her prayer. In James 1:6, James taught the Christians if they doubted when they
asked God for anything they would be like the surf of the sea, driven and
tossed by the wind. The people who doubted did not have firm faith in God and because
of that He would not answer them. In verse fifteen, James said prayer offered
in faith would restore (rescue from danger, destruction, injury, and peril) the
sick person – the one who is weary and ill. God will answer the prayers offered
in faith of Him and His authority and power. James 1:21 says, God has the power
to save souls. In James 4:12, he said, God can save and destroy. James 5:20
says, God can save a person’s soul from death. James taught faith can save a
person in James 2:14. God has the power to save and heal. He has authority to
act as He wills.
With these three elements – anointing the sick person with
oil, doing it in the name of the Lord, and praying with faith in the power of
Jesus to heal and restore, the Lord will raise the sick person up – cause the
person to arise from the sick bed and be well. Besides healing, the Lord will
forgive the sick person his or her sins, those things that led the Christian to
wander away from God and His divine Law. With this final part of verse fifteen
– forgiving the sins of the sick person, James appears to say the person’s
illness was discipline or punishment from God for his or her sins against Him. With
God’s healing of the person, He forgave the sins of the sick person. Yet if
James meant that, the forgiveness of sins would have to precede the healing of
the person. Because of that reasoning, a few theologians believe James meant,
by including the forgiveness of sins, the prayers of faith by a Christian in
the name of the Lord are effective in healing and forgiveness of sins by the
Lord. Whether you believe the illness occurred because of God’s punishment for
sin or not, James taught the pray-er who prays in faith without doubting is the
one whom God will answer for healing and forgiveness of sin.
Prayers of Members of the Body of Christ
James began verse sixteen with the word “therefore.” By
starting this section in this way, he showed this verse is a continuation of
his thoughts from verse fifteen. James said in this verse, “Therefore confess
your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.” He
meant since the prayers of faith can bring God’s power to forgive sin, each
member of the body of Christ can confess their sins to another member and each
believer can pray for God to heal the confessing person from the stain of sin
to make him or her whole again – righteous and clean before the Lord.
Confession is important for healing/restoring/cleansing from
sin. Through it, the sinner acknowledges his or her walk away from the Lord, which
is sin. By confessing, the person recognizes and professes God’s power to
cleanse and heal so the he or she can renew a right relationship with Him. Each
Christian confesses his or her sins before his or her baptism, so cleansing
from later sin requires confession, too.
The members of the body of Christ can offer prayers of faith
to God asking Him to forgive and restore the person who confessed sins to him
or her. A communal element exists for Christians. Another person cannot cleanse
a person from sin nor make a confession of sin for him or her, but that person
can lift the confessor up before the Lord asking for God’s forgiveness and
restoration. Another element of communal life as Christians is worshipping the
Lord, singing praise to and adoring Him. Offering encouragement and support, as
well as teaching and guiding, are other elements of a communal life of faith.
Christians make an individual decision to become followers of Jesus; no one can
decide for another person. Yet, Christians live out their lives in communion
with each other and God. Faith is individual, but a person must live it out –
act upon it. Jesus explained this in the two greatest commandments – love the
Lord God and love your neighbor. Christianity is not insular. Christianity is
relational, and as such is communal and individual. God answers prayers because
of concern and love for another person, the relationship of the pray-er with
God, and the faith of the pray-er.
Effective Prayer
James revisited what he taught in verse 15a with verse 16b.
He said in the latter verse, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish
much.” This sounds straightforward. Let us look at a few of the words of this
passage. “Effective” comes from the Greek word energeo from where our English word “energy” comes. Energeo means to be operative and put
forth power in aiding another person; intense and fervent, not wavering[ii]. The
English word “accomplish” comes from the Greek word ischuo. It means to have power, to be a force, to avail, and to be
able[iii]. With
this understanding of these words, this passage means the intense, fervent
prayer of a Christian who has no doubt about God or his faith in God can bring
God’s power and authority to prevail in the situation. God makes a righteous
person’s prayer powerful. The rank or position of the pray-er and the anointing
of oil do not cause healing; they have no power to heal without God’s power. The
three elements of effective prayer are:
1.
To be effective prayer, the pray-er must be fervent
with unwavering faith in God
2.
To be effective prayer, the pray-er must be righteous,
upright, guiltless, and innocent observing divine laws so he or she is in a
close and right relationship with God.
3.
To be effective prayer, the pray-er must acknowledge
God is the only One who has the power and authority to bring change in a situation
and ask Him to act specifically in each situation for which prayer is needed.
James
reminded the Jewish Christians of Elijah in verses seventeen and eighteen. Elijah
was human and prone to sin. He had no power within himself to effect changes in
the normal course of nature. When Elijah prayed earnestly for God to withhold
the rain, no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months (1 Kings
17:1 and 18:1). After those three and a half years, he prayed again, rain
poured from the sky, and the earth produced its fruit (1 Kings 18:42-45).
Elijah was wholly man with no personal power or authority over nature to
command the cessation and restart of rain. He was a man completely devoted to
the Lord; he was righteous. Elijah was in a right relationship with the LORD.
He prayed in the LORD’s name asking for this thing to occur and acknowledging
the LORD is the only One who had the power to control nature. Elijah prayed an
effective prayer.
More Than Prayer
Living in community with other believers, since Christianity
is to be lived communally and individually, now and then requires more than
prayer. Because of Jesus’ noting the two greatest commandments, which sums up all
the laws God gave the Israelites, living as Christians means loving and being
concerned for other Christians. As stated earlier, living communally with
others means acting out your faith for the good of each person. Sometimes this
means caring for another person by providing necessities. Other times it means
supporting a person during trying situations such as during grief, persecution,
or sickness. Still other times it means encouraging, teaching, and admonishing
a believer for his or her waywardness from God’s truths and laws and then
leading him or her back to God. Verses 19-20 speak to times other than joy,
illness, or confession.
James said, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the
truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the
error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of
sins.” [NASB] This passage causes difficulty for a few people. To these people,
they think it says a Christian can lose his or her salvation if he or she sins
after becoming a Christian. To understand what James meant, we must look at the
original Greek words and Greek thought of that time.
Let us begin our study of these two verses with definitions
of words. A list is below to help our understanding.
1.
“Brethren” comes from the Greek word adelphos, which means fellow Christians[iv].
2.
“Strays” comes from the Greek word planao and means to go astray from the truth into deception, from
virtue into sin[v].
3.
“Truth” comes from the Greek word aletheia and means truth about God and Christianity[vi].
4.
The verb “turns back” comes from the Greek word epistrepho and means to turn back to the
worship of the true God; to cause to bring back to the love and obedience of
God, love for the children of God, and love of wisdom and righteousness[vii].
5.
“Error” comes from the Greek word plane and means led astray from the right way, from God’s laws[viii].
6.
“Soul” is used thirty-three times in the New Testament and
comes from the Greek word psuche. Psuche is translated often as “life” in
the New Testament. Psuche is the
Greek concept of the entire person - body, spirit, mind, and heart (feelings
and emotions) [ix].
7.
“Death” comes from the Greek word thanatos and means the death of the body as in separation of body
and spirit, or spiritual death[x].
8.
“Cover” comes from the Greek word kalupto and means to hide or veil as in knowledge, or to cover as
in Jesus’ blood covers the stain and guilt of sin[xi].
When we study this passage and any New Testament passage, we
need to understand the Greek culture of thought. The Greek mindset spoke and
thought of a whole person made up of body, spirit, mind, and heart. The word
Greeks used for the whole person was psuche.
When the Greeks meant to talk specifically about part of the whole person, they
used specific words that were not psuche.
For our purposes in this Bible study, when the Greeks spoke about the spirit of
a person - the part of a person that separates from the body after death and
lives eternally either in heaven or hell, they used the Greek word pneuma. Bible authors used pneuma just four times in the New
Testament (Luke 23:46, James 2:26, Revelation 11:11, and Revelation 13:15).
With these definitions and the Greek way of understanding our
English word “soul,” which includes the body, spirit, mind, and heart, we can
better understand verses nineteen and twenty. James wrote to the Jerusalem Christians
to live out their faith together and help their fellow Christians not stray
from the truth about God, His truth and laws, and their obedience to and love
of Him. He told them to bring back the brother or sister going astray from God
and His truth because of their own love for God and their straying brother or
sister. According to the Bible, they can bring them back using prayer,
admonition, and confrontation in love for him or her. Matthew 18:15 and Galatian
6:1 speak about how to lead a straying Christian back to God. James continued
in verse twenty by saying, “The Christian who brings his fellow believer back
to following God and His ways will save his or her soul – the whole being of
the Christian – from death.” By leading a wayward Christian from deception, a
believer can save a person from injury and bodily death. Understand this.
Because James used the Greek word psuche
here, he did not mean a loving Christian would save the spirit of the person
from spiritual death. Psuche means
the whole person, not just the spirit of the person. This then means the loving
Christian who brought the wayward Christian back to a close relationship with
God will save the Christian from physical death or injury. Besides that, the
fervent Christian who loved and went to save the wayward Christian kept more
sins from occurring against God by bringing the sinning Christian back to God
and His ways. With these two verses, we realize James taught being a Christian
in community with other Christians means more than just praying. It means
acting out your Christian faith in love so that a Christian is led back into
union with God, a sick Christian is prayed for, and/or praise goes to God for
His provisions.
Recap
Throughout this letter, James taught Christians to put their
faith in action. In this Bible study, the actions about which he spoke were
prayer and bringing a straying believer back to God. In this lesson, James
showed that Christianity is not solely an individual life style, but is communal
– people helping each other and worshipping together. He exhorted the believers
to pray over the sick, rejoice and praise God, confess sins to one another and
pray for each other, and to lead a wayward Christian back to God. Faith is not only
an inner testament and profession to God, but is an outward way of life. By
doing what James taught in 5:13-20, Christians would put love of God and
neighbor into action.
Relevance and Conclusion
Throughout this epistle, James taught four primary things. James
taught the Jerusalem Christians and later readers of this writing to live out a
life of faith in action. He exhorted them to consider suffering and trials as
opportunity for growth in Christian virtues – endurance, patience, wisdom, faith,
and joy. James contrasted the poor (Christians) and the rich (unbelievers). He instructed
them to look to the future for their eventual and eternal hope in Jesus Christ.
True faith shows itself in the life – actions and words – of a believer. James
conjectured whether a person truly received salvation from sin and death if a
testimony of that salvation was not visible in the person’s life. He did not
propose a person had to work to receive salvation, but rather the person’s
salvation would show in what he or she said and did. James encouraged the
Jerusalem Christians to persevere in the midst of trials asking God for
strength to endure without doubting He would give it. From trials, Christians
will grow in virtue. James reminded them in the midst of trials to hold on to
the hope they have that Jesus Christ gave them when they believed and received
salvation– the hope of eternal life with Him in heaven. In the midst of these
lessons, he taught particular lessons giving examples of how to live life. James
taught them to love others by providing for their needs, praying for them, not
discriminating and, by that, judging them based on their income, and helping
turn a straying believer back to God. These are a few ways to live out his main
lessons.
We can apply the same lessons to ourselves today. Is our
faith lived visibly in our community – to other believers and to our neighbors?
Do our words and actions testify to God’s saving work in our lives so that His
love shines through us? Do we persevere and grow by holding on to the knowledge
that God provides strength for us now and hope for the present and future?
Today each of us should stop and take stock of our lives. We
should go to God asking Him to show us what keeps us from growing more like
Christ and from showing God’s love in genuine love for others. For Christians, it
is never too late to return to God. For non-believers, you do not know the day
when Christ will return, but when He does, it will be too late for you to
receive forgiveness and salvation from God. You, then, cannot live with Him in
heaven for eternity.
We all
have decisions to make now.
What
will you decide?
[i] Thayer and
Smith, The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon, 1999. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/presbuteros.html).
