SERMON: “Unified in Prayer” (James 5:13–18)
“Unified
in Prayer” (James 5:13–18)
Series: “James: True Faith Works” #25 Text: James 5:13–18
By: Shaun Marksbury Date:
May
18, 2025
Venue: Living
Water Baptist Church Occasion:
PM Service
I.
Introduction
We are approaching
a controversial and perhaps the most difficult section of James. The Roman Catholic church sees this section
as a foundation for the sacrament of extreme unction, the rite of the sick and
dying. The Charismatics see this as
justification for anointing with oil and receiving the promise of divine
healing. Beyond that, there are many
minor variations in interpretation. How
we interpret this will require some careful study.
At its core,
though, this section is undeniably about prayer. In his commentary on James, Dr. William
Varner notes eight verbs and four nouns related to prayer, noting that vv.
13–16 focuses on prayer practiced by the community and vv. 17–18 gives an
example of prayer.[1] So,
despite all the surrounding discussion here, we are dealing with a passage on
prayer.
This fits with the
broader themes of the book. The
Christian faith was young, and young believers were facing severe persecution
for the first time. They had to flee
Jerusalem and were suffering hardships.
As a result, they were sometimes turning on themselves. James, as such, is calling them back to unity
in the truth.
It's ironic that
this is such a controversial passage, because its message is that prayer should
unite believers. We’ll note three points
as we consider this. First, we should pray
according to our circumstances (v. 13).
Second, we should pray for people sick with sin (vv. 14–15). Third, we should pray for one another with
fervency (vv. 16–18). Let’s begin with
the first point.
II.
Pray According to Your Circumstances (v. 13)
Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
James begins with a
practical call to prayer. He addresses
two points that each Christian experiences in his life — suffering and joy —
and then tells the reader how to deal with each extreme. By understanding this, we also understand how
to live in the middle, treating each day as an opportunity for prayer and
praise and providing a framework for how to respond in faith. Let’s break it down.
A.
Prayer in Suffering
The Greek word for
“suffering” here implies hardship or affliction. James knows there are always some among
Christians who are suffering, and some are suffering as a result of
persecution. Back in 1:13, he gave a
negative example of how to deal with hardship, by blaming God. In this chapter, in verse 7, he warns against
retaliation and grumbling (v. 9), and he addressed suffering and the need for
patience in v. 10. The sufferer should
pray, lifting up his voice to the Lord of Sabaoth (v. 4).
So, believers are
to pray. As Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon
Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me” The imperative here is in the present tense,
suggesting a continual turning to God: “Let him keep on praying.”[2] Remember that God is the source of all
protection and comfort.
Eventually, trials
pass, leading us to another point in our lives:
B.
Praise in Joy
Conversely, James
asks, “Is anyone cheerful?” The word
denotes a state of being in good spirits, and in such moments, the believer is
to “sing praises.” The term originally
meant to pluck a stringed instrument,[3] but in the New Testament, it refers to
singing praises to God, whether with or without instruments (cf. Rom. 15:9;
Eph. 5:19). Colossians 3:16 connects
this to gratitude: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you… singing
with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
This imperative also carries a continuous sense: “Let him keep on
singing,”[4] so music should be something common to our
hearts and lives.
Joy is a gift from
God, and our response should be worship that edifies the body. It, like music, can be infectious. A song at the right time from a joyful heart
can turn the downward attitude of other believers. It can build community and unity. It also turns the worshipper to God to ground
both the good as well as the bad moments in the Lord.
This verse
challenges us to be a praying and praising people. In suffering, do you turn to God or to
grumbling? In joy, do you give thanks or
grow complacent? Prayer aligns our
hearts with God’s will, and praise declares His goodness. Let’s commit to making prayer and praise our
default responses, trusting God in every season.
III.
Pray for People Sick with Sin (vv. 14–15)
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for
the elders of the church and they are to 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.
These verses are
among the most debated in James. Again,
this verse is a prooftext for the Roman Catholic practice of the sacrament of
extreme unction, also known as the Anointing of the Sick, which is administered
to individuals who are seriously ill or in danger of death. It involves a priest anointing the ailing
with oil and then praying for healing and forgiveness of sins. Let’s carefully exegete the text to uncover
its meaning.
A.
Elders Praying for the Sick (v. 14)
This version
translates James’s question, “Is anyone among you sick?” The Greek word literally means “to be weak”
and is used in the New Testament for both physical illness (e.g., Matt. 10:8;
Luke 4:40) and spiritual or emotional weakness (e.g., Rom. 14:1; 1 Cor. 8:9). While some, like John MacArthur, argue that
this refers to spiritual weakness caused by suffering and evil treatment,[5] the majority of scholars and translations
favor physical sickness, given the context of anointing with oil and healing
(v. 15). There just doesn’t seem to be
anything in this passage to indicate that this should be read in a non-literal,
spiritualized way (though it doesn’t preclude such an emotional condition,
either).
So, this does seem
to refer to sick person, and such a one is to “call for the elders of the
church.” No one knows if the sick don’t
call the church! We might have expected
this to read, “Let him pray” like in v. 13.
This imperative suggests a serious condition, likely preventing the
individual from attending worship.
The plural “elders”
reflects the New Testament pattern of multiple leaders also known as pastors in
a local church (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5); there should never be a single pastor,
if it can be at all helped. Notably,
James does not mention healers, emphasizing pastoral care over miraculous
gifts.
The elders are to
pray over this sick individual and anoint him with oil. The phrase “pray over him” may indicate the
elders standing over a bedridden person, while “anointing with oil” has sparked
much discussion. While there is a term in the Greek that refers to ceremonial
anointing, the verb here typically refers to a practical or medicinal
application of oil.[6] In
the ancient world, olive oil was a common remedy (cf. Luke 10:34; Mark 6:13),
valued for its soothing and healing properties.[7] Even
MacArthur notes here,
It
may well have been that the elders literally rubbed oil on believers who had
suffered physical injuries to their bodies from the persecution (cf. Luke
10:34). Medical science was certainly in
a primitive state and there were few trustworthy doctors. It would have been a gracious, kind act on
the part of the elders to rub oil on the wounds of those who had been beaten,
or into the sore muscles of those made to work long hours under harsh
treatment.[8]
While some
Christians may disagree that this is a text to apply to Christians using
medicine, that seems to be a natural interpretation here. This holistic approach — prayer for God’s
intervention paired with the best medical care available — seems to be a good
practice for anyone who is sick.
We must remember
that Christians were often physicians, and we invented hospitals. Christ’s disciples would work miracles in His
name, but they also anointed the sick with oil in their healings, all the while
preaching repentance in His name (Mark 6:12–14). From Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan,
we understand that Christians should care for the physical needs of people as
well as their spiritual. We call people
to faith and repentance, but we are also users of remedies that God has
provided in His grace. If it is His
will, He will use medicines or even supernaturally heal; if it is not His will,
the sick will not rise up from their infirmity.
We cannot be like the modernist who thinks there is no value in the
spiritual, nor like the Christian cults that forbid the use of medicine.
Some might scoff at
that, but God called us to use means.
For instance, as one study notes, Luke helped Paul in a non-miraculous
way, Paul told Timothy to take wine for his stomach issues, and spiritually
speaking, the Thyatiran church needed eye-salve.[9] The
first-century church used what medicine was available to them.
And yes, they prayed
“in the name of the Lord.” This underscores
that the elders act as representatives of Christ, invoking His authority (cf.
Acts 2:38).[10] This
is not a magical ritual but a faith-filled act of dependence on God’s power. And noting God’s power, we move on to the
next verse:
B.
The Promise of Restoration (v. 15)
Verse 15 explains the
outcome: “The prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the
Lord will raise him up.” That this is a
“prayer offered in faith” emphasizes an ultimate trust in God’s will, echoing
James 1:6 (“ask in faith without any doubting”). This is the faith of both the elders and the
sick, now unified in prayer, trusting in the Lord for one healing or another.
The word for
restoration here is an interesting one in Scripture. It’s sozo, the same word used for
“save” in the Gospels, mainly speaking of spiritual salvation. Yet, it also refers to physical healing
(e.g., Matt. 9:21–22; Mark 6:56), meaning that it likely means physical
restoration here. Still, the term’s dual
meaning (physical and spiritual salvation) may hint at a broader restoration — our
need to see Christ over all manner of salvation.
What might that
mean here? The promise that “the Lord
will raise him up” suggests recovery from illness, but though it could also
point to ultimate resurrection (cf. John 6:39). It is appointed unto man to die, so this can’t
mean that we can keep people alive indefinitely with this, though this might
also be a general principle. If the
sickness is brought on because of sin, a sickness to drive a person to
repentance, then this makes more sense in the context here. Certainly, in terms of the salvation of the
soul, Jesus does also promise to raise souls up on the last day (John 6:39),
and it may also please Him to raise the person up from a sickbed.
The conditional
clause “and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him” introduces a
critical nuance. Jesus clarifies in John 9:1–3 that not all sickness is tied to
personal sin. Still, some illnesses may
result from personal sin (e.g., Matt. 9:2; 1 Cor. 11:30), requiring confession
and forgiveness for healing. The elders’
prayer, coupled with the sick person’s repentance, facilitates both physical
and spiritual restoration.
It’s important to
note that this doesn’t mean that everyone gets physically healed in this life. As one study notes,
Dorcas
died. Epaphroditus was close to death
for some time. Timothy, for years Paul’s
constant attendant, was troubled with ‘frequent illnesses’ (1 Tim. 5:23). Trophimus had to be left at Miletus, sick (2
Tim. 4:20). There was repeated and
serious illness in the churches at Corinth and Thessalonica (1 Cor. 11:30; 1
Thess. 4:13–18). Paul himself prayed,
repeatedly and ‘unsuccessfully,’ for release from his physical affliction (2
Cor. 12:7–9; Gal. 4:13–15). The
apostolic church had its invalids, gifts of healing notwithstanding.[11]
Yet, as Matthew
Henry notes, “When you are sick and in pain, it is most common to pray and cry,
O give me ease! O restore me to health! But your prayer should rather and chiefly be,
O that God would pardon my sins!”[12] May we
be more focused on our spiritual state before the Lord.
This passage calls
us to a communal approach to prayer. If
you are seriously ill, call for the elders to pray with you, trusting God’s
will. Elders will respond with
compassion, combining prayer with practical care. As a church, we must reject extremes — neither
dismissing medicine as unspiritual nor neglecting prayer for miraculous
healing. God is sovereign over both, and
our role is to seek Him faithfully.
This is something
the whole church does, bringing us to our final point:
IV.
Pray for One Another with Fervency (vv. 16–18)
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 would not rain, and it did
not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain
and the earth produced its fruit.
James now broadens
the call to prayer, urging the entire church to intercede fervently for one
another, using Elijah as a powerful example.
Let’s look at the prayer in v. 16 and then the example.
A.
The call to pray for one another (v. 16)
The “therefore”
connects this verse to the preceding discussion, suggesting that the issue of
sin and sickness requires communal action. The Lord gives us the command here to confess
sins to one another as well as to pray for one another. This mutual confession fosters transparency
and unity, countering the division James has addressed throughout the epistle.
The pattern of
confession is one that begins the New Testament era. Those coming to John for baptism confessed
their sins (Matt. 3:6; Mark 1:5). The
same thing was happening when converts were coming to the Apostle Paul (Acts
19:18). To make this about private
confession to a priest seems to miss the point of unity that all Christians
should enjoy; we should be willing to confess to one another and grant
forgiveness for the sake of the body.
Just as we are
called to confess, we are called to forgive in Scripture. That means making a promise never to bring up
the fault again, never to allow yourself to think about it, never to allow it
to interrupt the relationship, and never to allow it as a topic of conversation
with others. It’s a precious promise
that reflects the gospel message, God’s forgiveness of our sins in Christ. If you are having difficulty with
forgiveness, prayer is a sure means of developing a tender heart toward the
offender!
We are all part of
the universal priesthood of believers and can forgive one another. As we confess and pray, we will find that all
manner of illnesses can be healed. In
some cases, illness can be the result of stress from unresolved situations, and
it’s amazing what restoration brings in such cases. The verb here can refer to physical healing
(e.g., Matt. 8:8) or spiritual restoration (e.g., 1 Pet. 2:24).[13]
The verse concludes
with a powerful statement: “The effective prayer of a righteous man can
accomplish much.” This is a call for all
believers to engage in active and fervent prayer, as it will produce results
when aligned with God’s will. This is
not a reference specifically to a pastor or elder, but simply a righteous believer,
committed to God’s purposes. Any
Christian confessing, praying, and forgiving wields prayer as a potent force
(cf. John 9:31).
To illustrate,
James points to Elijah:
B.
The Example of Prayer (vv. 17–18)
He says, “Elijah
was a man with a nature like ours.” This
means that, despite his prophetic role, Elijah shared our human frailties — hunger,
fear, and even depression (1 Kings 17:11; 19:3–14). Yet, his fervent prayer stopped rain for three
and a half years (1 Kings 17:1) and later brought it back (1 Kings 18:42–45). This aligns with Jesus’s reference in Luke
4:25, specifying the drought’s duration.
Elijah prayed and it happened!
Why? Elijah’s prayers were effective because they
aligned with God’s will. God told Elijah
when and what to pray. The Lord tells us
to confess and forgive, so we can pray along those lines with fervent,
faith-filled prayer. His story
underscores that ordinary believers, through righteous prayer, can see God move
powerfully, and the church will grow in unity as a result.
This passage calls
us to fervent, communal prayer. Confess
your sins to trusted believers, not to relive them but to find freedom and
restoration. Pray earnestly for one
another, trusting that God hears the righteous. Like Elijah, align your prayers
with God’s Word and will, believing He can do great things through you.
V.
Conclusion
James 5:13–18 is a
clarion call to unified prayer. In
suffering and joy, we pray and praise, anchoring our lives in God. In sickness, we call for the elders, seeking
physical and spiritual restoration through prayer and care. In all things, we confess and intercede
fervently, trusting the God who hears the righteous.
As a church, let’s
commit to being a praying people. As the
Lord says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you
will honor Me” (Psa. 50:15). May we be united
in faith, fervent in prayer, and expectant of God’s work.
[1] “There are eight verbs — προσεύχομαι (5:13, 14, 17,
18), εὔχομαι (5:16), ψάλλω
(5:13) προσκαλέω (5:14), and εὔχομαι
(5:16) — and four nouns— ὄνομα (5:14), εὐχή
(5:15), and δέησις (5:16) and προσευχή (5:17) that make up this chain. The paragraph first presents prayer as it is
practiced in the community (5:13–16) and then describes the specific praying of
Elijah as an exemplar (5:17–18).” William
Varner, James, Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham
Press, 2014), 529.
[2] A. T. Robertson, Word
Pictures in the New Testament, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jas
5:13.
[3] J. Ronald Blue, The
Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, 1985, 2, 834.
[4] Robertson, Jas 5:13.
[5] John F. MacArthur Jr., James, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Press,
1998), 276.
[6] Blue, 834–835.
[7] Robertson, Jas 5:14.
[8] MacArthur, 278.
[9] R. E. O. White, Evangelical
dictionary of biblical theology, 1996, 329.
[10] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael
S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R.
Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife Study
Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Jas 5:14.
[11] White, 329.
[12] Matthew Henry, Matthew
Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume,
(Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 2420.
[13] Barry, et. al.,, Jas 5:16.
