The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-I, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 11."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1980. All Rights Reserved.

Question

Would you please explain James 5:14? And, is it pertinent for the church today?

Answer

"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; that they may anoint him with oil and pray over him. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Okay. Let’s look at that--James 5:14. That's a very good text, and a good question, too. I think, one of these days, we’re going to study the book of James because there’s so many good things in there. I’m trying to finish the New Testament. That’s kind of my goal. And at the rate I’m going, be sometime in the 18th millennia, but, anyway, we’re having fun while we’re doing it. James 5. I think, you have to see the context, all right? It says: “Is any sick among you? 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.”

Now, one of the things we’ve always done at Grace Church. Done it ever since I’ve been here. Is this very thing. Sunday mornings, every Sunday morning, the elders meet in the prayer room over here and we pray. And, frequently, we have folks come in and we lay our hands on them, and if they ask, we anoint them with oil, and we pray for them. So, we will respond to people who have this desire. And, very frequently, I’ve gone to hospitals and taken a little oil and a couple of the elders and we prayed. This is not an uncommon thing. We do this when people in good conscience ask us to do this based upon this scripture.

But, I think, there’s a context here that you have to understand. Now, "...any sick among you? Let him call for the elders...," and so forth..."...anointing him with oil." Now, there are two perspectives on the oil.

1. One, is that the oil is sort of a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and that when you are praying, you are sort of symbolizing the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is the healing power.

2. The other is that the oil was medicinal. That it was an oil that was used to anoint, and that what they’re really saying is that if you want the person to get well, give them a little prayer and a little medicine. And we know that the Lord was an advocate of that because he picked a very special man to be a companion of the Apostle Paul and to write the book of Acts and the gospel of Luke by the name of Luke who was a physician. So, the Lord is not anti-medicine.

So, either way, you can take it as the Holy Spirit, or you can take it as a medicinal thing, and I don’t have a problem with either one, really. It’s very difficult to know which, but, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; (now watch this part) and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Now, the assumption here is that his sickness is the result of what? Sin. Sin. And, where sickness is the result of sin, it is a chastening, right? And, I feel, that when the sin has been recognized and confessed, and the chastening has had its remedial effect, then the chastening is sufficient, right? If you’ve learned the lesson. And, at that point, when the sin is confessed and the sin is dealt with, if the illness is due to a sin and a chastening, once that sin is dealt with, and the chastening is accepted, and the confession is made, the sin is removed and, at that point, I think the affliction can be removed, too. I really think that that’s probably the best way to interpret this difficult passage. Because, you see, it says "...the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Now, does every prayer of faith save every sick person? No. It really doesn’t. So, there has to be some conditioning here. And, I think, it is the idea of someone who is ill because it is a chastening for sin.

And, you know, I think, we don’t always know that. Sometimes, we pray for someone, and they don’t get well. And, the real reason they don’t get well is because they’ve never dealt with the reason they’re sick. Now, other times, they’re sick for the glory of God, like John 9, the blind man. He hadn’t done anything. They said, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” He said, “Nobody.” But for the glory of God, he's blind. So, don’t assume that every time someone’s sick, and they don’t get well, they’re evil, and haven’t confessed it. That’s just a good place to start. And, then, you can go from there. But, I think, that’s primarily the matter that James is talking about. At this point, that’s how I would interpret it. When I get into it a little later, maybe, in a few years or so, maybe, we’ll be able to even clarify it more.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
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