If you could do something which would benefit you daily in tremendous ways, would you do it? Every one of you would take advantage of an opportunity to invest $1 and have it multiplied to $1000. You are not alone. I’d invest that dollar in a New York minute. John of Antioch (AD 347-407) was the Archbishop of Constantinople. John was also known as Chrysostom. He was so revered by the early Christians that he became considered an early church father. There seems to be two main reasons for his influence. He was known for his prayer life, and he had the gift of oratory. He could preach, and the people would be on the edge of their seats. “Golden-mouthed” was the description used for this ancient preacher. He wrote about the power of prayer during his time in Constantinople. Let me share it with you. “The potency of prayer has subdued the strength of fire, it has bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the fates of heaven, assuaged diseases, dispelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. There is (in it) an all-sufficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings!”

As we look at our verses today, remember that a major theme of the book is patience. We are to try to be patient, and that is very difficult at times. I read once a humorous line about patience, “I want patience and I want it now.” Prayer is our first step if we are to live with patience. Why do I think that? The first portion of chapter 5 is again about “being patient” just as he’s written about earlier in the letter. These earlier verses set the table for the latter part of the chapter. Seven times the word “prayer” is used in our six-verse passage. Open your Bible to James 5:13-18. If you are a Bible student for any length of time, you have read this passage, possibly heard sermons from it, and if you are fortunate, been blessed by seeing it in action.

Life isn’t always fair. I have heard that from my childhood and think it is true. I did hear once or twice another take on the unfairness of life. “Life is fair. It kicks everyone in the teeth.” 5:13 takes us from one extreme to the other. “Is any among you afflicted?” The “among you” simply means among your church, you fellow believers. Remember, James has a target audience of Jewish Christians that have been “scattered abroad” (1:1). The word “afflicted” carries the meaning of extreme suffering. It is a rhetorical question in my mind. He already knows the answer is “yes.” Their testing’s have been and still are numerous. Be patient. That is one end of the spectrum. If you keep reading, “Is any merry?” Are any of your fellow brethren happy and joyful? Again, he already knows the answer. Yes. In every group of God’s people you have both ends of the spectrum and many somewhere on the spectrum. What are all of them supposed to do? They are to pray and sing psalms. Singing is a form of prayer. Prayer teaches us to be patient always remembering that if we are sick, God helps, and if we are very happy, it is because of the Lord and His gifts (1:17).

The next two verses have been used and abused by “prosperity preachers” ad nauseum. They claim the power to heal the sick like the apostles. There are no apostles today. There is a criteria in the Bible to be an apostle. In my opinion, the major requirement is to have seen the Lord in a physical sense. Once the original thirteen died, we never see them replaced anywhere in the Scriptures, and no one today has seen the Lord Jesus with their physical eyes. If these charlatans were legit with their gifts of healing, they would go and clean out the hospitals, starting with the children’s hospitals. However, when healing doesn’t happen, they claim it is because the sick person didn’t have enough faith. Let me share these verses, the steps within the verses, and the type of sickness involved.

  1. “Is any sick among you?” v.14. The Greek word for “sick” is astheneo. The word is very close to our English word anesthesia. The word means to be weak. The person is so weak they can’t get up; they have no strength.
  2. “Let him call for the elders of the church…” The sick man is the one that initiates the action by the elders. Elders are the leaders of the congregation. Baptist Theologians for many hundreds of years have always considered an elder to be one of the titles of the pastor. The same idea as with the word bishop. All three words, elder, pastor, and bishop can be the same person with various functions. In our church, we have men that are in leadership. We have pastors and deacons. Those offices are the only two mentioned in the Pastoral Epistles. These men, our men and our two office holders, are our elders.
  3. “…and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil …” Notice, the praying is done by the elders as they are “over” him. They are standing around his bed. Remember, he is too weak to rise up. The use of olive oil was long used as medicine in those ancient times. It is also symbolic of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. I have a small bottle of olive oil from Israel in my office. I love having it there, and from time to time, we do anoint a sick person. But there is nothing magical about olive oil. Each time I have used it, it is a reminder of my need and the sick persons great need for the Holy Spirit to help us, especially the one so weak they can’t get up.
  4. “…in the name of the Lord.” When we pray in Jesus’ name, we are invoking his authority. We are simply submitting to the will of God. It is like Jesus in the Garden when He says, “not my will but thine be done.”
  5. 5:15 declares “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up.” The word for raise is egerio. It means “to waken or bring to senses.” In this context, we are not talking about a person’s salvation, he is writing to believers. The raising is a physical arousal, giving strength in the body.

What type of sickness is involved? Why was this sickness given to the man? I think the end of v.15 and the beginning of v. 16 give us a clue. 5:15b, “…and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” 5:16a, “Confess your faults (sins) one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.” It seems to me that the man involved, that is so sick he can’t arise and even get out of bed, is under the discipline or chastisement of the Lord. Paul wrote about this in I Corinthians 11:27-30. At Corinth, some of the congregation had partaken of the Lord’s Table with known sin in their life. Because of this egregious sin, some were weak, some sick, and some had even died because of eating unworthily. David had unconfessed sin in his heart over his adultery with Bathsheba. It physically began to crush him. Ps. 32:3 says he cried out to the Lord, “when I kept silent my bones waxed old…” He was feeling it in his body. He was weak, much like the Corinthians and the Jewish Christians to whom James was addressing. Christians with sin in their life will ultimately need to confess, or it will eat them alive.

My space is long gone, but let me comment on the latter part of 5:16b -18. The man who is healed, forgiven of his sins, and had fellowship restored, is a “righteous man.” If he continues his life seeking to live as a saint (holy one), his prayers will certainly be heard. When our prayers are answered time and again, those prayers could be called “the mother of a thousand blessings.” The joy that comes from walking with the Lord far outweighs the agony of unconfessed sin we carry in our soul. Elijah is the example James uses to prove his point. Elijah was a man just like us. He had the same needs, desires, and problems we have. Yet, when he was right, he could pray and shut up the heavens, no rain, and pray again opening them wide. The windows of Heaven are open to people of prayer.