The Power of Righteous Praying
James 5:13‑18
Let's open our Bibles now for the study of God's Word to the fifth chapter of James...James chapter 5. The text for our study tonight is verse 13 through 18, James 5:13 through 18. And our study brings us to one of the most interesting and one of the most encouraging sections of this rich letter. It is one that has been, frankly, a battleground for interpreters through the centuries and still there are many people left in confusion as to its meaning. It is the passage that the Roman Catholic Church uses to support what they call the doctrine or the sacrament of Extreme Unction. It is a passage that many would‑be healers and advocates of modern‑day healing use to propound the idea that we have a guaranteed healing if we pray under the proper circumstances. It is a passage that is used for putting oil on sick people. It's a curious passage and it has created even more curious results.
Let me read it to you, you follow along and I'm going to read it from the New American Standard as its written, "Is any one among you suffering, let him pray; is any one cheerful, let him sing praises; is any one among you sick, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit."
Now in just the reading of that text I am sure questions come into your mind as they do into mine and have through the years every time I've read that. When he talks about suffering in verse 13, what kind of suffering is he referring to? When he talks about sickness in verse 14, what kind of sickness has he in mind? And what is it that the elders of the church have to offer in their prayers that other people don't? Do they have a special access path to God? And what is this anointing and why oil? And does the prayer of faith always restore the one who is sick and allow the Lord to raise him up? And what does sin have to do with it? And what kind of healing is he talking about in verse 16? And why does he give an illustration of rain in the middle of a passage about healing?
Now those are the questions that I've always asked and found difficult to answer until this week when I decided that I would lay aside all my presuppositions and try to figure out what this passage really meant.
The first thing I did because I have studied the passage in the past in a cursory way, was take out 16 books, I counted them, 15 commentaries and one other book specifically devoted to this passage and I read all the sections on James 5:13 to 18 and I read the book that dealt specifically with it in one chapter. And after I had completed those 16 books, I put them all back in my shelf and I said I have a feeling that none of these is correct. Now the curious part of that is that all 16 of them said basically the same thing about the passage. And 16 times over I remained unconvinced that there was an interpretation in those books that I could live with.
Now I think you know me well enough to know that I don't go out on a limb and take viewpoints of Scripture that don't have some kind of precedent in history. But by the time I had finished those 16 books, I decided that I was at the end of my proverbial rope and so I put them all on the shelf, I slid back from my desk and I put my head down between my legs and I began to pray. And I said...Lord, You're going to have to show me what this is saying. None of these things that I've read make sense. And I asked the Lord to give me understanding.
I've done that before and I have found that He answers my prayer if I study hard. So I went back to my Greek material and back to the sources of the original language of the text. And for a couple of days I poured myself in, trying to eliminate any preconceived idea I had about the text. And over a period of those two days, it began to dawn on my mind just exactly what James was teaching. And, frankly, it was like striking gold after spending about 20 years hacking through granite. Once I hit it, it came alive to me. And I believe that when we're finished tonight we're going to see something that's thrilling in this passage.
Now I understand the risk of a whole new approach and it happens to me very rarely. But I feel excited and enthusiastic about what I'm going to share with you. The key to interpretation of any passage is always the context. In other words, each section of Scripture must be interpreted in the light of the whole book, the chapter it's in, the paragraph before, the paragraph after. In other words, context is the environment of thought in which a given passage is contained. We communicate using context. If I said to you, "Yeah, I went right up and right down." You don't know what I'm talking about. I might be talking about my temperature, my weight, a roller coaster ride, an airplane trip, short one, driving my car up a hill, taking a walk, you need a context. That's a simple way to say that every conversation with any meaning has to have a context. Every passage of Scripture has an environment of thought in which it exists and makes sense.
So, the first thing I want us to do is think about the context in which this passage is written. James is writing this letter to an assembly of Jews. They are called in verse 1 those who were scattered abroad. They are a church, an assembly of Jews who name the name of Christ. They have been scattered out of Palestine, out of Jerusalem by the persecutions of Acts 7 and 8, we call that the dispersion, or the diaspora. And here is a group of Jews living in an assembly, naming the name of Christ, somewhere in the Mediterranean area, we don't know where but there would have been plenty of places they could locate in the Mediterranean region, in Asia Minor or some such place.
Because they are Jews to start with and most certainly because they are Christians and exalt the name of Christ, they find hostility. And so they are in a situation of tremendous stress. They are under trials, chapter 1 opens up telling them that they are to learn how to be patient in their trials. They are under temptations that are severe, they are under persecution. And James is writing to them in the midst of the stress and hostility and persecution and temptations and trials that the world is bringing to bear on them to exhort them to stay faithful. Some of them need to examine their...themselves to see if they're even saved. The ones who are genuinely Christians need to remain faithful in a very difficult situation. They are experiencing great trouble. They are being persecuted for what they believe. The pressure is coming at them from outside and from inside. From outside, the Antichrist, hostility from inside, the lusts and temptations that are elicited out of them from the things in the world that would attract them. It's tough. It's a battleground.
And through this wonderful epistle, James is calling his readers to endure it all. To endure it, as he says in chapter 1, without wavering, without being unstable, without doubting, to look pass the pain and the persecution to the glory, to look for the crown of life, as he calls it in chapter 1 which is that eternal life for which they are prepared. He calls them to accept their temptation as a part of humanness, but to use the means of grace to overcome it. He calls them to avoid being angry with the world, avoid being vengeful, avoid giving back an unrighteous attitude. He calls on them to put away all sin, to live by the Word of God obediently no matter how difficult it is. Not to be lured into the world to become its friend. And so from all of these implications and we just covered chapter 1 in that little review, we can be sure that they were in a hostile situation and it was very, very difficult.
In chapter 5 he returns to that same theme. Look at verse 7. He comes right back as he closes to the theme with which he opened the epistle. "Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil being patient about it till he gets the early and late rains. You, too, be patient. Strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brethren, against one another that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door. As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."
Now you get the thrust of that, don't you? From verse 7 to 11, he is calling them again to be faithful in persecution. They are in a continual situation of suffering. They are in a continual stress of animosity that could produce irritability, it can produce weakness. I mean, you can just sort of give up in that kind of onslaught. It's possible for a believer to get angry, to even sin with his mouth, to retaliate, to feel vengeance. And so he says in verses 7 to 11, be patient, endure your mistreatment, strengthen your hearts. In the Greek the word means "prop up your hearts with determination, persistence, inner strength, hang on, do not complain, suffer affliction." That's the word in verse 10, it means to...it's that same word we saw in 2 Timothy, kakopatheia, it means to suffer evil treatment, endure, verse 11, hang on. You get the feeling of this epistle? It's an exhortation to people who under persecution, to hold patiently, strongly, without complaint, taking their share of suffering and enduring it all for the name of Jesus Christ.
Now with that kind of theme in mind as the overarching context for the epistle, we're not surprised, frankly, when we come to verse 13. And he opens the verse by saying this, "Is any one among you...what?...suffering?" That doesn't surprise us because that's exactly what he's been talking about. Let him...what?...pray. These verses, beloved, verses 13 to 18, are all about one subject, prayer. Prayer is mentioned in every single verse...from verse 13 through verse 18. The heart of endurance...what is the heart of endurance? You want to be able to endure, what do you do? Pray. You depend on a divine resource. You go to God.
And, frankly, I suppose we would have reason to be shocked if James had written an epistle to persecuted believers who were doing their best to endure a very difficult situation and started out and ended up and in the whole epistle never mentioned prayer. But he hasn't mentioned it till now. I'm so glad he did. It's fitting that it comes at the end because, in a sense, it's the climax of everything. The persecuted troubled tempted church will find at the heart of its endurance is a strong commitment to prayer. This then is a passage on prayer. People being called to patience and endurance and strengthening of their hearts and suffering without complaint and taking affliction like Job did and enduring it all are going to have to be people committed to prayer.
So what James is telling us then is that the heart of your endurance is prayer. Verse 6, go back to verse 6 of chapter 5, he speaks to the rich and he says, "You have condemned and put to death the righteous." I'm telling you, this kind of persecution was severe. There were some worldly rich people who were literally killing these believers. This was a rather serious hostility. For some of them, I want to tell you something, they were suffering. Some of them had suffered by implication of that verse death. Some of them were suffering bodily injury, no doubt, physical wounds in being persecuted physically. Some of them were literally crushed in their mental, emotional spirit. They were really devastated, weariness, weakness, defeat had set in in some cases. Some of the soldiers, to put it simply, are going down on the battlefield. Some of them have been wounded deeply. Some of them have been crippled seriously. And so, James says, "Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray."
That's always the resource, beloved. It's so simple and it's so direct. And somehow we've lost it somewhere along the line, to be honest with you. If any one is suffering, let him pray. On the other hand, he says, "Is anyone cheerful?" And he may be somewhat sarcastic in saying that. "Let him praise," that's the other side.
Now with that as a background then you understand that this is a passage about prayer. It's a passage about prayer. It's not a passage about healing. It's a a passage about prayer. Let's see specifically what it teaches. Four things that I want to point out to you: prayer and comfort, prayer and restoration, prayer and fellowship, prayer and power. Okay? The relationship of prayer to comfort, the relationship of prayer to restoration, the relationship of prayer to fellowship, the relationship of prayer to power...prayer provides to the wounded warrior comfort, restoration, fellowship and power. That's the idea. Each of these is a wonderful resource to that loyal Christian who is suffering greatly in his spiritual experience.
So, James...this is a look into his heart, there's a warm sympathetic spirit that comes through this portion of this epistle. It's not just five chapters of strong demanding, confronting exhortation. There's a tenderness here. He recognizes the hardness of the conflict. He knows there's the need of prayer. And he not only covers four features of prayer but he fits everybody into it. In verse 13 he talks about the believer, the individual. And then in verses 14 and 15 he talks about the elders, the pastors, the leaders of the church. Then in verse 16 he talks about the whole congregation, the one anothers. So he embraces the whole church in its prayer life and also speaks about the wonderful features of prayer that benefit the life of the believer. The primary attention of this passage based on verse 13 is clearly the casualties of the battle. The weak believers, the defeated believers, the ones who have lost the victory in their spiritual lives, the fallen soldiers, the seriously wounded in the fray and that's how it is out there. You've experienced it, haven't you? Sometimes it's more than you can take and the battle gets hot and heavy and your spirit is broken. And somebody has crushed you. In some places in Christian history, and some places in the world today, it might even be physical wounds that are inflicted.
Now I say all that to say this and this is the key to interpreting the passage if you understand the context. I am convinced that the thrust of this passage has absolutely nothing to do with physical sickness or disease at all. It is not a passage about healing physical diseases. It is a passage about healing spiritual weakness, spiritual weariness, spiritual exhaustion, spiritual depression which calls for spiritual means, namely what? Prayer...prayer. There's no compelling reason at all in this text to think that James has dropped in here a section on physical healing. That is incongruous. What...what a strange place to drop a section on healing diseases. The passage before would never cause you to expect that. And the final two verses wouldn't cause you to expect it either. It would really be out of sinc with the context. But a section on how to help people who are spiritually weak and broken and embattled and bruised and wounded and hurt and have lost the victory, that makes sense.
Now with that in mind, let's look at point number one. This is just so rich. Prayer and comfort, verse 13, very simple, prayer and comfort. "Is any among you suffering?" Same word as in verse 10, exactly the same word. We saw it in 2 Timothy 2 in our study there in the mornings. It means to suffer evil treatment. Are any of you persecuted? That's what it means. Any of you being abused? Treated wickedly? Including some kind of bodily beatings? Any of you in distress? Any of you in calamity? Any of you that are feeling the blows and you're crushed, "Let him pray." Turn to God for comfort. That's the idea. Turn to God.
Peter put it this way, "Casting all your...what?...care on Him because He cares for you." That's the spirit. Pray. Take it to the Lord. Jonah said, and Jonah was in deep trouble...no pun intended...Jonah prayed and he said, "While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to Thee." That's the spirit. Jonah 2:7. When I begin to faint away, I remember the Lord and I pray to Him. And God in His wonderful grace delivered that prophet.
The word here in the Greek means a continual pleading. When life isn't going the way it ought to go and you're weary with the battle and you're weak in faith and you've begun to sort of get crushed under the whole thing, continually plead to God for comfort. That's a basic truth. I mean, it's just so basic but so easily forgotten.
From the time I was a little kid, I grew up singing this song...do you recognize it? "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry...what? Everything to God in prayer." That's right. "What a friend we have in Jesus."
And so, if you're suffering, pray. And perhaps as I said, even a bit sarcastically or ironically, he may be saying, "Is anyone cheerful?" I mean, I can't imagine that any one is in your circumstance. But should someone be cheerful, let him sing praises. Now let me tell you about that word "cheerful." That is a very interesting word, euthume. Eu means "well," e‑u, transliterated, thumos means "the principle of life, or the principle of thought, or the principle of feeling." To put it simply, the soul or the spirit. What he's saying is anyone who is well in spirit‑‑that's very helpful in understanding this text‑‑anyone who is well in soul. To put it simply, anyone who has a happy attitude. You're on top.
That is in contrast to the other. He's not talking about physical things here, he's talking about your spirit. On the one hand you have the suffering soul. On the other hand you have the happy soul. On the one hand you have the wounded broken spirit. On the other hand, you have the whole rejoicing spirit. One is singing praise, the other is pleading for comfort. He says if you're cheerful, if you're happy in spirit, if you're strong of mind, strong of disposition, if you're inner self is experiencing well being, let him sing. And he uses a beautiful Greek word, psalloto from which the word "psalms" comes. Let him psalm. Let him psalm. Praise is basic to spiritual comfort. Prayer is basic to spiritual comfort. The two are closely related.
So verse 13 talks about comfort. You're in deep spiritual pain, your soul is broaken, pray. Your soul is rejoicing, praise. And praise is really a form of prayer, isn't it? It's not the petitioning pleading form, it's the praising thanking form.
So the main interpretive point that I want you to notice out of verse 13 is that James is not concerned for prayer in relation to those who are physically sick. He's not concerned with prayer for those who have some disease. But those who are mentally and emotionally suffering the effects of their trials, temptations, and persecutions. Consequently as we approach the next point, he moves beyond the one who is suffering to the one who frankly has just lost the ability to endure the suffering. And when he comes to verse 14, you've got the fallen soldier. You've got the wounded warrior, the exhausted weary depressed defeated Christian.
And that brings us to the discussion of prayer and restoration in verse 14, follow this. The Scripture says, "Is any among you..." and then the Greek verb is astheneo, the root verb. The translations have always said "sick." As a result of that, everybody assumes that he's talking about sickness. But what does it refer to? There are several terms in the New Testament that can refer to sickness or disease. The term here is a very, very important one. Astheneo may refer to sickness, it may and it is so used in the New Testament, but all Greek lexicons agree that its primary meaning...and I checked out about five different ones...that its primary meaning is to be weak, to be feeble, to be impotent. In fact, in the epistles and Acts, it is used most of the time for that kind of weakness. In Romans 4:19, in Romans 14:1 and 2, in Romans 14:21, it is used of being weak in faith. In 1 Corinthians 8:9 and also in verses 11 and 12 of that same chapter, it is used of spiritual weakness. In Romans 5:6 it is used of spiritual weakness, the impotence of the unsaved. In 2 Corinthians 11:21 it is used to refer to the weakness of personality.
Look with me for a moment at 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 10. And this is a very interesting use of this same word. Paul is talking about his persecutions, about his difficulties. And he says that he has a thorn in the flesh which he prayed that God would t