The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-15, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  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.

Question

In James 5:14, it says, “Is anyone 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.” Now, if that’s a promise to the church, then should we not be doing that? Or, I guess my question is: is it a promise? Can we claim that as a church?

Answer

I don’t know why not. It’s right here in the New Testament. Let me just tell you there are two prevailing views of this, on our church staff. Right, Dick? So, I’ll give you both views. There is the first view, which is very viable, that this type of sickness being addressed here is associated with sin, so that it is a sickness that is chastening. Not all sickness is chastening, right? Remember the man born blind? Who sinned-this man or his parents? And the answer was, none of them. This is not anything to do with sin. Not all sickness is punishment for sin, but some is. And the context here, calling for the elders of the church and letting 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.” In other words, there would be the viewpoint that this is all tied in with confession of sins. If the Lord has put His hand on you in sickness, as a chastening for sin, and you confess and repent and turn from the sin, then the reason for the chastening has ended, right? So that God can remove His hand.

So, confess your sin, verse 16. If you’ll deal with the sin in your life, the sickness that comes as a result of the sin will be dealt with. Oil-some people associate with symbolism of the Holy Spirit; some people associate with some medicinal… I’m not sure; what, normally, does that view hold to-the medicinal aspect-Dick?

(Dick Mayhue: “That view could hold three different views, believe it or not. One would be the medicinal view, directly, or the medicinal view by application, that it’s medicine in pharmaceutics today. Some would talk about the rejuvenating work of the Holy Spirit. And a third view, and maybe the more general view, would be that it’s the oil of well-being. It symbolizes what it is that God promised would deliver-the kind of anointing that we talk about in Psalm 23.”)

So, that view would be that it is associated with sin.

Now, I have chosen to approach it differently. And, if you want a more detailed view, you can get the tape on that-tell them [Grace Book Shack] to give it to you and put it on my account, so you don’t have to pay for it…Or, Lance’s account-even better.

Now, let’s approach it another way. I don’t want to get into too much detail, but it also can be interpreted there that the word “sick” there doesn’t mean illness or disease in a classic definition, but “weakness”…the term is often translated “weak.” And this would be a weakness that has come about as a result of serious persecution. What you have here, in the context, is persecution. Go back to verse 6. He is indicting the rich, who have been attacking believers, condemning them and putting them to death-so these are Christians in a martyr situation. Some of them are being abused and beaten, and it even talks about how they’ve been defrauded of their proper wages and all of that. And then, in verse 7, he says, “So, be patient, like a farmer-you be patient.” Verse 8, “Strengthen your hearts…the coming of the Lord is at hand…Don’t complain.” And then verse 10, “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, and remember the endurance of Job…and remember the Lord is full of compassion, is merciful…” That whole context is about suffering and being patient and enduring, like Job and like the prophets.

And I think it’s in that same flow that he comes down into verse 13, and says, “Is anyone suffering, pray. If you’re not suffering, sing praises. And if the suffering has made you weak”-and he’s talking here about a spiritual weakness-you’ve just become weak under the onslaught of persecution and suffering. Go to the elders; why would a weak person go to the elders? Because they’re what? Strong. “Let them pray over him.” Literally, rubbing him with oil. What that means is encouraging-giving him a sort of spiritual massage in the name of the Lord…and their prayers of faith offered in strength will infuse strength into the one who is weak. And the Lord will lift him up and if he’s committed sins in his weakness, the Lord will forgive him.

I like to see it that way. I wouldn’t want to get into a debate with the other view; I think it’s viable. But, I, for my own sake, feel comfortable with this perspective, and that what he’s dealing with here is those spiritual times of dryness and weakness.

Now, I’ll give you an illustration. A student came to me at the Master’s College one day-and I’ve often said if my door is open and I’m there, you come in and if you want to pray or talk about the Lord or the Word or whatever’s on your heart, you come in. I’m always available if the door’s open, and it’s usually open because I don’t study there. And one day a man came in, and he said, “I need to share some things in my heart with you.” I said, “Go right ahead.” He said, “You know, I’m studying for the ministry, I love the school, and God’s at work in my life, but I have some things that are going on in my life that are just crushing me. I feel spiritually weak and I keep falling to the same temptations, and I can’t seem to get victory over this. I’m in despair and I’ve lost my appetite for the Word and my prayers are just kind of empty…and I just feel at a point of total weakness, spiritually. And I want you to pray for me.” I really saw that as a spiritually weak person under whatever onslaught he was under, coming to someone that he saw as spiritually strong and asking for me to hold him up.

And, I’ll never forget it: I knelt down in my chair, and as I knelt down in the chair, I said, “Kneel beside me.” And he pushed the chairs together. And, as I knelt down in the chair, he knelt down and put his arms and his head on my back. It was such a graphic indication of what was in his heart. He was leaning on me physically because that’s what he was doing in his spiritual heart as well. I prayed that God would give him strength and we prayed, and then he prayed, and I prayed again-we prayed quite at length that the Lord would restore him and that if he had committed sins in his time of weakness, the Lord would forgive him.

To me, that’s the kind of thing that I sense here. No so much disease-related as the weakness that comes in the spiritual battle and the spiritual struggle. It could be illustrated, for example, by the illustration of verses 17 and 18, which is not an illustration of healing, by the way, but an illustration of rain coming to a parched ground. A spiritually weak person is in the dry place, and desperately needs God to bring the rain that brings strength. So, that’s kind of how I would handle that, alright? Thank you.

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

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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