James 5:14, commentary and pictures

When any among the church are sick, even gravely ill upon the bed, they are to call for the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer offered is to be the prayer of faith, earnest and calm without excitement or commanding God, asking for healing if it accords with His will and for His glory and the good of the soul. The prayer of faith saves the sick, the Lord raises the sufferer up, and if sins have been committed they are forgiven. Recovery is granted only in submission to God's will, for He knows the heart and the future and whether restored health would honor Him, and when health is not restored He gives grace, comfort, and His presence in suffering. Prayer for the sick belongs together with doing all that human skill and simple, rational care can do, and it is not answered while health laws are knowingly abused to expect a miracle to undo self-inflicted harm.

Instruction and Anointing Practice

James 5:14 directs that when anyone among the church is sick, the sick person himself is to call for the elders of the church, who are to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. When human help fails, God is the helper of His people, and the sick are to trust His power and promises rather than satanic agencies, for faith brings the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit to body and soul. Following these directions means seeking God’s help and trusting wholly in Him, with assurance that His promise cannot fail and that the prayer of faith saves the sick, the Lord raises him up, and if sins have been committed they are forgiven. The instruction stands illustrated in recoveries after earnest prayer, as when Frances Howland rose and a sister’s act of faith was met with healing.

The direction is to be carried out when a person is sick upon the bed and seriously or gravely ill, and it includes infants and small children as well as adults. After other efforts to recover had failed, a seriously ill person sought the church’s prayer and asked God for help with a promise to serve Him, and God preserved him by a miracle of mercy as a witness to His power. For a continually crying infant, the child was anointed and prayed over in faith that the Lord would give mother and child peace and rest, and the crying ceased and both were left doing well. The same prescription was followed for a sick child who was trusted to God without consulting an earthly physician, and the Lord helped the child recover.

The elders called are not only ordained church leaders but may also be older people with experience and sound judgment in the things of God whose lives are circumspect. Anointing is done with olive oil in the Lord’s name, applied to the head and to the sick parts of the body such as the stomach, bowels, or afflicted place, and prayer may be joined with laying on of hands. When the afflicted part cannot be touched the oil may be poured on, as when oil was poured onto Sister Temple’s untouchable arm while prayer claimed God’s promises, and her pain and soreness left during the prayer and she was well eight days later. The anointing and prayer are the service that can be performed, after which the sick person is entrusted to the Great Physician with request that the Lord hear the prayer. In cases of high fever, cramps, vomiting, and great distress in the head hindering the Lord’s work, a small company may anoint and pray together in faith even feeling unworthy, and united prayer brings immediate answer with fever, pain, and distress entirely removed and strength restored to eat, walk, work, and travel again.

The prayer is to be offered in a private place apart from unbelievers, for prayer among unbelievers can bring reproach on God’s cause, following Jesus’ example of withdrawing with His disciples. It is offered by a small united company of believers, even two or three accustomed to pray who unite to ask the Lord for light and special grace, with assurance He will respect their petitions and answer. Its practice can include continued united prayer with only those who have faith assembling at a set time each week to plead with God to restore the sick to health, bringing a spirit of prayer and the Lord’s revelation of Himself as the mighty Healer who alone can reach difficult cases to give comfort and hope. In this pattern James was anointed with oil and the group prayed for him in faith, and fever, pain, and distress left and he quickly regained strength and recovered.

The verse is also applied as asking fellow believers and brethren to pray for the sick, even in accounts that do not mention calling elders or anointing with oil. A sick woman prayed for in the Lord’s name immediately recovered in a healing recognized as the Lord’s, and another after earnest prayer and trust in God’s promise rested and woke with her cough gone, healed during the night after asking the brethren to pray. A gravely ill child prayed for earnestly recovered by God’s touch despite worsening appearances while faith was exercised, and relief came from God praised as the great Physician who mercifully heals when a few people of faith were called to pray. After harmful errors had hindered faith, humble confession of fault followed by fervent prayer brought strength and complete, lasting recovery.

Prayer for the sick may be offered both in their presence and when absent, with the aim of helping them find healing of soul as well as body. Special prayers for relief or restoration belong at a sanitarium, where no day should pass without something done for salvation of souls, joined to pointing souls to the Saviour as their only hope and giving efficacious remedies for healing of the soul so the sick inquire about the remedy for sin and give their hearts to God, done not in human strength but in strong faith, assurance, and confidence imparted by God with souls softened by the Holy Spirit and aglow with desire to help. Consecrated helpers should pray for sick people in sanitariums whether believers or not, for God can do great things through this ministry. Neglecting to pray deprives sufferers of blessings, because God’s angels minister in response to prayer and care must address both body and soul through the gospel and grace of Christ, and the sick have not been prayed for as much as they should be though God’s power is ready to work when allowed, breaking down selfishness to make a greater work possible.

The call to prayer is for those among the church who keep the commandments. Prayer is not to be offered for those who daily trample God’s commandments, except in the special case where people are convicted of the truth and firmly decide to follow it, maintaining the distinction between commandment keepers and those who reject the commandments.

Prayer Offered in Faith

Prayer for the sick is to be the prayer of faith, earnest and calm without excitement, feverish anxiety, or commanding God, confidently entrusting the request for recovery to His wisdom. It is to be practiced more, for the Lord will certainly hear prayer for the sick and suffering both in body and soul, and faith can only strengthen by exercise. The prayer asks for healing if it accords with God's will, for His glory and the good of the soul, confessing inability to read the heart and leaving the decision to God who knows whether raising to health is for good. If health is not restored, it asks for comfort by grace and strength by His presence in suffering, while continuing to do what can be done and using the means His own hand has provided.

It is a solemn act not to be undertaken carelessly or hastily, requiring careful consideration and self-examination, and treating presumption as faith is improper. Before prayer, wrongs such as evil speaking, alienation, dissension, and sowing discord are to be confessed before God and the church, with humiliation, brokenness, tears, and cleansing of life from defilement. Where the sick one has erred, faithful testimony must be given and humble confession made, and the sick person confessing faults and earnestly seeking the Lord opens the way for blessing and hoped-for restoration. God then opens His ear, draws sacredly near as the Great Healer, and gives assurance of being heard with light, grace, peace and joyful praise.

United prayer claims God's promises, holds to the naked promise by faith despite appearances, arrays the promises before the sick, and continues even when relief does not come at once. Prayer that reaches after God first lays hold for the progress of disease to be stayed and then for immediate restoration, until power from on high rests on the sick one and those praying, with only those with faith present since unbelief and darkness hinder healing. When the anointing involves pouring oil because touching is not possible, the same claiming of promises applies. Those under infirmity should themselves trust the Lord, take everything to Him, make known every weakness and perplexity, grasp His promises even with trembling faith, and surrender to God to open the way for healing. Faith may be helped beforehand by speaking of trust and of past deliverances, telling how God has given strength and healing when the feeble went forward trusting Him, and then prayer is offered with the sick by more than one together. The sick have the privilege of going to Christ the Physician who has never lost a case, calling together those in whom they have confidence, taking Him at His word with heart and soul, asking to be healed and blessed for service, and drawing upon His strength day and night while faithfully using simple remedies.

When the sick are depressed, have no desire to live, or to all appearance are marked for the grave, others may hold faith for them, pray earnestly in their behalf, and arouse them to take hold of God. This is to be done even when the sick person has neglected her own condition and is almost too late to save and has no faith for herself, trusting God will have compassion and restore her to labor for Him. Such prayer lifts the heavy weight from the aching heart, defeats Satan's effort to drive the sick to discouragement and despair and desire for death rather than life, and gives divine help and encouragement through those around them so courage and strength do not fail. Prayer for the sick may include rebuking Satan's power over the sufferer, breaking his power so that he flees, since sickness is not kept on the sufferer by the Lord but by powers of darkness. Even a small child crying with stomach pain, with oil applied to the stomach, or a gravely ill child anointed and prayed over, may become quiet and well, open the eyes and recognize family, as assurance that the enemy's power was broken.

Prayer should be offered often, by several praying together, with the sick joining in prayer, confessing sin and receiving pardon; through prayer the Healer strengthens and blesses and acute illnesses may be healed. It brings assurance, light, peace, joyful praise, and a sense of God's presence even when suffering continues, as with a fevered nurse receiving several seasons of prayer, or a sufferer feeling God's presence and blessing while physical suffering remained. The suffering ones are to be pointed to the compassionate Saviour and His power to forgive and heal and to their Advocate in the heavenly courts, repenting and ceasing to transgress God's laws. Prayer in behalf of the sick is a privilege and duty to be practiced more, short and tender with sympathy, offered in the fear of God, presenting the suffering ones in faith to the great Physician. Such tender prayer with intelligent hygienic care gains confidence, gives access to homes and all classes, inspires rest and trust tending to health of soul and body, and those who pray do not know who may be greatly blessed in God's kingdom.

Healing and Divine Will

The prayer of faith saves the sick, the Lord raises the sufferer up, and if sins have been committed they are forgiven, because Christ ever lives to make intercession for this healing and forgiveness. The sick have the privilege of going to Christ, the Physician who has never lost a case, calling together those in whom they have confidence to pray, taking Him at His word with heart and soul, and calling for the elders without delay when sick upon the bed. Healing is worked by Christ the great Physician and miracle-worker and by the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer, not by any human agency. No one prays as a miracle-worker, but calls upon God who is the Miracle-worker, and all glory belongs to Him when He raises the sick, often from a hopeless condition, sometimes filling the room with the light of His Spirit, bringing humble trust that does more than medicine and a great visible change to renewed strength, healthy color, firmness, weight gained, happiness and praise.

Following this direction has brought immediate recovery while prayer was being offered. A sick woman who asked fellow believers to pray rested and woke with her cough gone, healed during the night as she trusted the promise, and Frances Howland rose after earnest prayer and a command to rise in the Lord's name. Sister Temple's arm, which could not be touched so the oil was poured on, lost its pain and soreness while they prayed and she was well eight days later, and heart pain, fever, confusion of brain, and stomach distress have left in answer to prayer in the Lord's name. Children have been healed in the same way: a continually crying infant with its sick mother was anointed and prayed over in faith for peace and rest, and the cries ceased and both did well. A gravely ill child was anointed with laying on of hands and prayer instead of more medicine or consulting an earthly physician, trusted to God, and quickly regained strength, opened the eyes and recognized family as the enemy's power was broken, with parents' earnest faith despite worsening appearances followed by recovery.

Adults have been raised from alarming, hopeless, or hindering disease. A man threatened with paralysis, anointed and prayed for by a few brethren, resumed healthy action with stronger stomach toward recovery through God's blessing and rest; a father with confusion and stomach distress was relieved and praised God as the Great Healer; and sickness with high fever, cramps, vomiting and great distress in the head that hindered the Lord's work and seemed impossible without deliverance was entirely removed by united prayer of faith with anointing on the head and on the sick parts such as stomach and bowels, restoring strength to eat, walk, work and travel. Disease in the throat with loss of voice that hindered labor for God was instantly removed with strength to travel and speak freely in God's presence, swelling, inflammation, soreness and pain from a rusty nail wound through the foot threatening lockjaw were entirely removed at once when believers knelt, besought healing power, and bade the sufferer in the Lord's name to rise and walk, so that he walked and traveled thirty-eight miles the same day with praise, and cholera was stayed and severe throat and stomach inflammation healed as a seal upon a right decision. Healing has also come through relief from pain and sickness after great faith when other efforts had failed and the sufferer promised to serve God, preserved by a miracle of mercy as a witness to His power, and through prayer around the bedside attributed to a higher power rather than physicians' skill, through many healings in the early history of the work, and through a brother's anointing after confession with pain removed.

Relief does not always come at once; faith rests on the promises, waits for the Lord to work in His own time without judging by finite ideas, and sometimes brings blessing and partial relief first. The church should come together to make the case a special subject of prayer, arraying the promises before the sick and holding to the naked promise by faith when outward appearance weakens faith, assembling again if relief delays, while the sick one too weak to pray vocally prays silently and whispers belief in recovery through the night until healing comes. Anointing and prayer have brought immediate relief from pain though lung illness remained before later full recovery and strength, disease has stopped progressing with relief at once while weakness continued for three days, and earnest united prayer brings blessing and relief even when full restoration waits for God's good time. Recovery is not granted apart from submission to God's will, for God knows the past, future, heart, and whether restored health would honor Him or lead to backsliding and apostasy; He may withhold what would bring harm and instead give comfort by grace and strength by His presence in suffering. Prayer therefore asks for healing if it accords with His will and is for the good of the soul and the glory of His name, confessing inability to read the heart, laying the case at His feet to arrest disease and cause healthy action after all human skill can do has been done, remaining firm while accepting His wisdom in way and time.

Healing has come even when the minister who prayed was vile and corrupt, not through his character but through the sick person's sincere faith as a true disciple. The corrupt minister wrongly took glory to himself, while God saw his dark, misty prayer falling downward and the believer's prayer rising like light, like diamonds, like sweet incense to Jesus and the Father, sending back a beam of light to revive and strengthen the afflicted, even raising one given up by physicians to die of consumption to immediate strength to work again, gathering every particle of true faith to surely answer, though He will at last search out the hypocrite and separate the precious from the vile. When elders cannot be sent for in time, God by His mighty power can heal in that very place if best. Asking then means putting life or death fully in His hands, asking to be spared only for further need and usefulness in His vineyard, being entirely reconciled to His will whether to live or die, resisting Satanic influences and trusting God to send an angel to resist the devil who has the power of death and to suggest measures necessary for recovery, speaking faith decidedly from Scripture, believing the Lord hears and raises up even from the point of death as a sure testimony.

Prayer Joined with Care

Prayer for the sick belongs alongside earnest effort for recovery, and seeking practical help does not show unbelief, for God and people are to cooperate. After all that human skill can do has been done, the case is to be entrusted to God with request that He bless the means His own hand has provided and, if for His glory and the good of the soul, arrest the progress of disease and raise the sufferer to healthy action in the system. The petition confesses inability to read the heart, leaves life or death to His wisdom, and asks for sanctified wisdom to cooperate with Him, so prayer increases rather than ends effort for recovery.

Those who pray in faith and simplicity are also to give proper treatment, relieve suffering, point the sufferer to the Great Physician, and join care for the body with teaching repentance, conversion, and salvation of soul and body through Jesus. Families are to be taught how to care for the sick, and physicians are to work intelligently by rational methods, connecting Jesus the great Healer with simple remedies and then drawing by the prayer of faith upon divine power to stay disease and revive gospel hope. Those who come to Christ in this ministry are to be willing to do His will, humble themselves, and confess sins.

Care uses the most simple means, intelligent rational treatment upon right principles and hygienic principles, and nature's remedies such as water, air, sunshine, and healing herbs rather than drugs, while instructing in how to regain health, avoid disease, live healthfully, eat with self-denial, and trust simple methods. The Christian physician seeks God's wisdom, trusts that the Lord hears and answers prayer, and unites living faith expressed in deeds with practical knowledge of right treatment and calling upon the great Physician for divine assistance. Such ministry inspires belief in Christ and the power of prayer, gives confidence in simple methods, and directs minds to truth.

Calling for the elders to pray does not remove responsibility to care for health, and restoration leading only to renewed sacrifice of health through unhealthy appetite will not be granted while intemperance and disregard for health continue. Those who have neglected sound principles of eating, drinking, and caring for the body, or indulged unholy practices, must be enlightened and thoroughly changed, for healing does not make it safe to return without restraint to foods and drinks that harm health. When health laws knowingly given are disregarded, no miracle is worked to undo harm from abuse of the body, while turning from harmful indulgence opens the way to relief, as when long-standing catarrh and head pain were greatly relieved after snuff was abandoned and health became better than for years.

Every physician is to know how to pray in faith for the sick as well as to give proper treatment, laboring as minister and evangelist, blending physical ministry with spiritual ministry, teaching how the soul may be healed by the Lord Jesus, and pointing to the Saviour who can heal and save soul and body. Special prayers are to be offered both with the sick and when away from them, with no day in sanitarium work passing without something done for salvation of souls, pointing souls to the Saviour as the only hope and giving efficacious remedies for healing of the soul so hearts inquire for the remedy for sin. Such combined labor is done not in human strength but in strong faith, assurance, and confidence imparted by God, with souls softened by the Holy Spirit; it encourages the afflicted, inspires faith in patients, gives courage to the hopeless, brings peace and joy even to the dying when recovery cannot be promised, broadens the physician's experience, greatly enlarges influence, and through calm faith, hopeful words, and prayer beside the patient asking Christ to take the case in hand may bring back physical health even when death seems near and save the soul.

Having sanitariums does not end calling upon the great Healer, and the afflicted are not to depend on simple remedies alone but to be pointed to the mighty Healer whose power is pleaded to work in harmony with medical ministrations. The work is more successful when physicians read the Word more earnestly, put its precepts into practice, preach the kingdom of God, and pray for the healing grace of Christ to come upon the afflicted. Prayer belongs to those who study the Bible and teach present truth from the physician's standpoint, and to gospel ministers able to present health reform clearly and simply, especially for the many sick who cannot have sanitarium advantages, for whom the Lord removes infirmities, brings response from many hearts, and helps the workers; thus in every case of illness treatment and prayer belong together, whether for a critically ill man receiving attentive treatment with confidence that the Lord will raise him up or for a nurse sick with fever over whom several seasons of prayer brought a sense of the Lord's blessing and presence as Physician who never lost a case.

Prayer for the sick is gospel medical missionary work and ministry of the Word to be done everywhere before the world, even by canvassers carrying essential publications while turning souls from sin to righteousness, continuing Christ's miracle work of healing by living faith without drugs, reading the Word, praying by the bedside, and speaking and inspiring faith. Sanitariums were erected to relieve suffering humanity and counterwork Satan who afflicts the sick, and this prayer with practical care for diseased bodies and sin-sick souls relieves suffering, presents sufferers in faith to the great Physician, and may lead them to Christ and eternal life and afterward to advocate health reform. The prayer is short, weighted with tenderest sympathy and spoken in tenderness by one seeking to alleviate physical suffering; with intelligent hygienic treatment and words for truth it gains confidence, gives access to homes, reaches all classes otherwise unreached because affliction humbles the spirit and touches the heart, inspires confidence, rest, and trust tending to health of soul and body, and serves as witness directing minds to Christ.

God is the mighty Healer who may remove sickness for His glory in keeping with treatment given, working through human agencies and simple means while human helpers and treatment remain only means. He hears when His people humble themselves, cleanse the soul temple and life from defilement, have the Holy Spirit purified and remaining pure in heart and home, and in faith do all they can to combat disease with the simple methods He has provided; then He blesses their efforts and the use of His remedies. Prayer for the sick gives patients confidence, and bringing their cases to the Great Physician in humble trust does more for them than medicine alone.

Warnings Against Misuse

When human help fails, God is the helper of His people, and the sick are to trust His power and promises rather than satanic agencies and spiritualist physicians, for faith in His promises brings the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit to body and soul. The duty in sickness is for the sick person to call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the Lord's name. In early experience this course was followed by trusting the child and the sick one in the Lord's hands without applying to any earthly physician, and the Lord worked for healing as no earthly physician could, bringing fast improvement so there is no need to fear trusting the sick one to Him. Beside this stands the teaching that true faith stands close beside presumption and must not be turned into demanding healing, refusing all remedies, or leaving a health institute to prove faith, but healing must be asked in submission to God's will with Not our will but Thine be done, for His glory and the good of the sick, with petition and endeavor joined together by using water, air, sunshine, and the healing herbs God made to grow for man as His healing agents in harmony with faith. Answered prayer under this direction does not make the one who prays a miracle-worker, for Christ alone is the great miracle-worker and to Him belongs all the glory, and requiring miracles as a sign of divine guidance is dangerous deception because the enemy will deceive through seeming miracles and lying wonders.

Praying for the sick is right but is not all that is required, and those who pray for the sick are not the only ones who have faith, for the faith of Jesus takes in the whole life and divine character of Christ. Believers must not be exclusive about this work by making everything of the few who have a leading to pray for the sick and counting others of little account or influence because they are not as zealous in it, and must not lean on one person's judgment and feelings or go by feeling. The sick may place themselves before God in prayer for healing and such prayer can bring healing in some cases, but faith does not mean neglecting methods of recovery that accord with nature's laws. It is presumption to expect healing through prayer while neglecting sensible care of health, a health institution is not a place where every sick person can expect to be cured by prayer, and the sick also need wise counsel, rational treatment, and instruction in healthful living including lessons in diet and self-denial so that prayer does not become presumption or lead them to reject practical care.

True faith stands close beside presumption and must not demand healing, but healing is to be asked in submission to God's will, for His glory and the good of the sick. Others are to pray for the sick and do all they can while being thankful if God raises them up, without giving false assurances about recovery, with physicians speaking truthfully about a grave or hopeless condition. Prayer for the sick is to be offered in calm faith, not emotional excitement, as an earnest request for healing and not a demand, seeking recovery only if it accords with God's will and will honor Him, since God knows the person's past and future including whether restored health would lead to a life that glorifies Him or to backsliding. Faith remains firm while accepting God's will and trusting His wisdom even when He does not grant recovery or answer in the way or at the time desired, and if the sick are not healed God may give grace to comfort and His presence to sustain them in suffering, which may bring a precious sense of His presence and blessing though physical suffering continues. Hope of healing should not keep people from preparing for death, putting affairs in order, counseling family and friends, or using health measures that may aid recovery, and doing these things does not deny faith, for faith in Jesus as the source of healing power remains firm while accepting God's time and way, though looking to other means for help instead of Christ can hinder a person from exercising faith for healing.