THE POWER OF THE SERVICE OF ANOINTING AND PRAYER

THE POWER OF THE SERVICE OF ANOINTING AND PRAYER

(James 5:16, 18)

 

It is now set forth in the argument of James which follows and it is clear that the same thread of thought goes on as the reading of the Revised Version indicates, "Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." "Therefore" looks back to what has already been said, and forward to new thoughts about to be expressed.

(1) Preparation for the service of anointing should be made by confession of sin (16a). In the preceding verses, 13 through 15, James was touching the high points of the service. Confession of sin must therefore come first, for sin is that thing which interrupts the whole relationship with God. Until that is successfully removed, there can be no happy and healthy fellowship with the triune God. True worship is therefore possible in spirit and truth. And what is true with the individual and God is also true of the entire Christian community. Blameless is the quality of both the pastor 1 Tim. 3:2 as well as his flock 2 Pet. 3:14. So there is need for each one to confess his sins before others of the Christian community. This certainly implies that the sins may be known by all and should therefore be faced personally and forsaken. This is the very thing that makes for the health of the Christian society and helps to strengthen that bond of fellowship with God. In the case of anointing the sick there is special need for confession preceding anointing.

(2) Following confession and anointing should come the prayer of the elders (16a). The general word for prayer is used in this connection, covering all the various aspects of prayer. The character of this prayer will then be that of warship, intercession, childlike converse, thanksgiving, and petition. It will recognize the Word and the will of God, and seek the good of the sick one. As the tense here indicates, the habit of praying should characterize the practice of the Church. It may include much praying for one man during the same sickness. But right here James reaches out to the full sweep of Christian concern, when he urges the people to pray one for another. The ultimate goal he has before him is that such prayer might bring healing to sick members of the Church. This is indicative of the fact that the Christian society is one mutually concerned for one another, this concern beginning with the spiritual and then reaching out to the physical.

(3) In order to undergird his argument James now points to the power of prayer (16b-18). In proof he first cite the principle governing the exercise of prayer (16b), and then points to particular instances of its operation (17-18).

The principle governing the exercise of prayer is set forth in the latter part of vs. 16. In the Authorized Version it reads, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." The Revised Version read, "The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working." The Revised Standard Version reads, "The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects." Except for a few changes in wording these three readings all mean the same thing. Taking into consideration the participle rendered "effectual fervent" (AV), "in its working" (RV), "in its effects" (RSV) in the above readings, and translating it as a passive voice as it is so rendered in every one of the other 18 appearances of the same form in the New Testament, the following reading emerges: "The prayer of a righteous man, which is being energized (wrought) in him, accomplishes much." This makes the power of the prayer to depend not upon the righteous man, but upon God who works in the righteous man. God is the energizer (Phil. 2:13), and works in the righteous man "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." When He works in a man to pray, that prayer will accomplish much. It is powerful, for it pleases God.

The particular instances when such prayer was offered up to God are set forth in verses 17 and 18. To establish the fact that these instances are appropriate to the occasion now being discussed, James points out the fact that Elijah was "a man subject to like passions as we are" (17). His prayers were answered because they were wrought in him by God, and not because he in himself differed from other men. And what was true of him is also true for all those who are truly the servants of the Lord. Two instances are then cited from the prayers of Elijah (17, 18). In the first prayer Elijah prayed that it might not rain, and the Lord stayed the rain for three years and six months (1 Ki. 17:1, 7). In the second he prayed that it might rain, and it did (1 Ki. 18:36, 37, 41-45). So powerful were these prayers that nature moved at the word of this prophet of God, and an evil king and a whole nation bowed down to recognize that Jehovah is God. But the power of these prayers was not in Elijah but in the God who wrought within Elijah. Remembering that Elijah was of like passions with us, and that it is God working in believers that produces powerful prayer, Christians should take heart and pray for the sick that they might be healed.