The Bible encourages us to pray for people when they're sick. So what should we think if their health is not restored, even after we have prayed in a heartfelt way? Are our prayers ineffective? Is our faith weak? Is God not listening?
Alistair Begg investigates the answer today on Truth for Life. He's focusing our study in James chapter 5 verse 15. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Now, obviously, the key phrase here is this prayer offered in faith, or in some translations simply the prayer of faith.
And what makes this fifteenth verse so difficult is that James clearly does not anticipate failure. It is a categorical statement, and he makes no qualification to it whatsoever. And despite the fact that the time interval between the prayer and the results of the prayer is not mentioned, nevertheless, it still appears to be a categorical statement. It doesn't say that it happens instantaneously, it doesn't say that it happens after a week or two weeks or three months or five months—it simply states that it will happen. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.
Now, obviously, this demands immediate care and consideration. There's no justification for believing that James assumed that the gift of healing was possessed by the elders in each local church. Furthermore, it's not probable to assume that James envisages that everyone who is anointed and prayed for in this way will be automatically healed. Now, the reason we say that is because when we read the rest of the Bible, when we read the rest of the New Testament, it is clear in the Scriptures that God doesn't always will the healing of the believer. We can go to a variety of passages, but probably the locus classicus is surely Paul himself in 2 Corinthians 12, when he asked the Lord three times for this thorn in the flesh to be removed from him, and the answer of God is clearly, it is not in my will, Paul, to heal you of this condition.
In fact, he tells him quite straightforwardly that his strength will be made perfect in Paul's weakness, because, as God to his servant, my grace is sufficient for you. So while clearly understanding that it is not always God's intention to heal, we also have to say with affirmation that God can and God does heal, that he chooses to do so in answer to prayer, and we might say so in relationship to this procedure that he has laid down primarily. So if we are then agreed—and I'm going to assume that you're with me on this—that what we have here is not a blanket guarantee for healing in any and every instance, then what are we to understand of this statement?
If it is not that in every instance that this is done, healing comes, how do we make sense of the verse? And there are a number of ways we can approach it. Number one, that the reference to being sick here does not refer to physical illness but to the buffettings and trials with which James began his letter. Count it all joy when you face trials of various kinds. And some commentators say that is obviously what James is referring to.
I think my answer to that would be very simple and straightforward. While the buffettings and trials of James chapter 1, the struggles of the battle, the mental anguish that is involved in it all, while that, doubtless, is contained in this, we cannot in all integrity, understanding the English language, say for a moment that this verse is limited to that. Sure, buffettings and trials may be addressed, but it is a real stretch to suggest that that is what James is mentioning here. Secondly, some say that this phrase, which is found only here in the New Testament, is simply a technical term, or, if you like, a kind of prother—that it is a proverbial statement, that since James is very much along the lines of his brother Jesus, since the Sermon on the Mount had statements that are proverbial in their nature, then say some commentators, that's probably how we ought to tackle it—that it is just a sort of proverbial, generalized statement, that we ought to view it as, if you like, a general rule of thumb.
Well, I suppose there is something to commend that notion. We're trying to understand what it means. It would seem that those who are trying to understand it in that way are not trying to wiggle their way out of what verse 15 conveys but are trying to make sense of the text. And after all, there are some clear similarities between the Proverbs, the book of Proverbs, and the statements made by James throughout this letter.
But I wouldn't go there. Thirdly, the suggestion by some is that this refers to a dimension of healing that fits the framework of the apostolic era. In Luke chapter 10, Jesus says to his servants, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.
Nothing will harm you. And some of the commentators say that this is that era, and therefore, since we are not in that era, there is therefore now no continuing application for today, and all we need to understand is that verse 15 referred to another place and another time, and then we can move quickly to verse 16 and hasten to the end of our studies. But in actual fact, the way in which James earths this statement, the way in which he associates this ministry of healing, not with an apostolic era but with the continuing authority and place of the local church leadership, the fact that James does that, I think diminishes significantly the strength of the view, which again, people in trying to understand the Bible are coming to and saying, It has to mean something, and therefore perhaps it means this. The fourth view is to say that what is referenced here is, if you like, a special enjoyment of faith. Verse 15, and the prayer offered in faith. Or the prayer of faith. In other words, it's not simply a reference to prayer per se, but it is a reference to a particular prayer that is offered up in faith in relationship to the presenting problem—namely, the sickness of the one who is called for the elders.
In other words, it is a prayer that takes, if you like, those praying it beyond the realm of simple trust and into a realm whereby they are laying hold of something that they believe to have been revealed to them in a particular way. In other words, that we might think of it in terms of 1 Corinthians 12, where in verse 7 Paul says, Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom. To another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit. To another gifts of healing by that one Spirit.
And so on. And so the suggestion is that what James is referencing here is not the presence of a gift of healing that resides in the leadership of the church, but the presence of a gift of faith granted to the leaders in the presenting issue of the individual who calls in their sickness. Now, I think this has quite a lot to commend it, but it still doesn't fully settle things in my own mind. It helps us to realize that James is not simply referring to a formula but to a prayer which results from a Spirit-wrought conviction that it is the Lord's will to grant healing in this instance.
Now, that in itself is very difficult, because the subjective dimension that is involved in it is open to all kinds of potential pitfalls. So someone may say, I have a very strong conviction that when we pray over this individual, they are going to be healed. I believe that God has given me the faith not simply to pray, if you would like to heal this person, go ahead, but has given me the faith to pray, O God, fulfill that which you have prompted within me as I cry out to you for the healing of this individual in this instant. Now, when you take that, and indeed you take all of them and roll them all in together, you see why it is so important that we pay careful attention to the Bible, and why it is so important that the responsibility here in verse 15 is to be exercised by those who are men of prayer, who are men of wisdom, and who are men of discernment—that there is a legitimate right on the part of the congregation to believe that those who have been set apart to the task of eldership will be men of discernment and of spiritual wisdom and of insight and of prayer. That's why novices should not be made elders of the church. But it still begs the question, what if physical healing does not prove to be God's will? Can I read to you just one of the commentators that I found helpful when I read it? It's not a long quote, but it is fairly intricate. James introduces no qualification to the promise in this verse.
We've already said that. The prayer of faith will save the sick person. His sins will be forgiven. Does this mean that a prayer for healing that is offered in faith will infallibly be effectual? As we have seen, some have suggested that this is the case but have confined these miraculous cures to the apostolic age.
But there is nothing in the text to suggest such a restriction. A more helpful observation is to note James' specific reminder that the prayer must be a prayer of faith. This faith, while certainly including the notion of confidence in God's ability to answer, also involves absolute confidence in the perfection of God's will. A true prayer of faith, then, always includes within it a tacit acknowledgment of God's sovereignty in all matters—that it is God's will that must be done. And it is clear that it is by no means always God's will to heal those who are ill. Therefore, the faith that is the indispensable condition for our prayers for healing to be answered, this faith being the gift of God, can be truly present only when it is God's will to heal. In other words, that God does not prompt the spiritually mature and wise to lay hold upon his promise in this way unless he has already purposed to bring about healing according to his will.
Now, if that seems like getting your cake and eating it too, I can identify with that immediate skepticism, but I really think it is quite helpful. When you look at the balance of the verse, it doesn't actually get any easier. It is encouraging to recognize that it is the Lord who will raise him up. It is the Lord who raises them up—not the process, not the oil, not the faith, not the elders, but the Lord himself. And indeed, the word that is used here for being raised up is a very straightforward word. It is the word that is used for what happened to the mother-in-law of Simon Peter.
Remember where she was ill? They'd gone to the house, and Jesus raised her up. It is the word that is used in Acts chapter 3, where the man who has been invalided is raised up, and he went jumping up and walking and leaping and praising God. It is also the word that is used of the man who was paralyzed, whom Jesus said, Take up your mat and go up the street. So, in other words, the idea of being raised up is, again, a very categorical thing. This is not that we anticipate that the person who has some dreadful disease will manage to get up and sort of lumber and stumble around their bed.
There is nothing served by that kind of nonsense. And it cannot be that James has that in mind when he says that a prayer offered in the will of God in this way that brings about the transformation in the individual will raise them up. They will be absolutely, clearly, dramatically changed from where they were before God intervened in their lives. And, he says, if the individual has sinned, he will be forgiven. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Now, let me just say a couple of things about this. First of all, we need to set aside the notion that illness is always and immediately to be associated with sin, that there is, if you like, a one-for-one link with sickness and with sin. The idea of such a thing is, again, clearly rejected in the Bible. The whole book of Job makes that perfectly clear. It wasn't because of Job's sin as his friends so-called tried to explain, but it was for other purposes altogether. And classically, you will remember in John chapter 9 when the fellow who was blind from birth was brought to Jesus, the question of the disciples was, Who sinned?
Was it this man, or was it his parents? And Jesus says, This isn't about sin. You go wrong if you make a one-to-one link between sickness and with sin. If that were the case, we would be spending all of our time recognizing that all of our ailments were directly related to these things. So that is the first thing to say. Secondly, we need to acknowledge, having said that, that sin, involving the misuse of our bodies, may bring illness and may bring disease.
So, two things are important. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Well, does that mean, then, that if the person is sick, it is because he has sinned?
No, not necessarily. But what James is covering is the eventuality that if there is sin involved, that forgiveness will be granted in that context. And perhaps the obvious cross-reference, when you think about this, is Paul's statement to the Corinthians, when in 1 Corinthians 11, in relationship to the issues of the Lord's Supper, he says to them, You don't want to be coming to this table without examining yourself, without paying attention, without confessing your sins, and so on.
1 Corinthians 11, 30, because whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord, eats and drinks judgment on himself. And then he says, That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. So in other words, he says, there is a direct link in certain instances between the sinfulness of the people's hearts and the sickness of their lives. So in other words, we need to be alert to both situations.
What then can we say as we draw it to a close for tonight? Well, we have to recognize that sickness may actually be a means of grace to us. To be set aside, to be unwell, to be in a situation where we need to call for this kind of intervention will produce, for most of us, a period of reflection. And in that period of reflection, an opportunity for us to examine ourselves, especially if the sickness confronts us with our mortality, especially if we are made aware of our own finitude, especially if we recognize how close we are to eternity, how only a breath or the absence of a breath separates us from the very judgment throne of God. And in that experience of illness, God may use it as a means of grace not simply to show us that our sickness is tied to our sin, but to show us in our sickness sins that we have neglected or tolerated or, worse still, cultivated and played with. And the very experience of sickness becomes an opportunity for confession and for forgiveness. We lie in that situation realizing that we will never be completely whole until we're reconciled to God. Well, next time we'll come to verse 16, but in conclusion, let us just notice. God does heal according to his sovereign will, and prayer makes a difference, and prayer is involved. God, in healing, ordains the means as well as the ends.
And God loves for his children to come to him in humble boldness. Any time that you find when you go to your Bible, when you read the works of the church fathers, when you find that your heroes are set in opposition to one another in exegeting the text so that I want desperately, perhaps, to believe what Calvin believes—but I can't, because I can't come to the conclusion that he came to, that somehow or another this was all about the apostolic era, and it is irrelevant for twenty-first-century Cleveland. He may be right.
I may be wrong. We're not both right. And as we work our way down the line, I'm teaching you a principle, and it's this. The main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things. And when things are mentioned only once, when things are cloudy and not crystal clear, then beware of a genius telling you he knows exactly what it means and trying to convince you of his or her view. And rest content that all that we need for life and for godliness, for pursuing God, for engaging in our encouragement of one another, is made perfectly plain to us in the Bible. And finally, when we've stopped seeing through a glass darkly and we see face to face, when we know even as we are known, then presumably somewhere in this new heaven and new earth, in a way that is really hard to imagine, we're going to get the chance to sit down with these people and say, Calvin, what in the world were you thinking?
And he'll say, you always wear an intellectual pygmy bag, and you should have paid attention to my commentary. And I'll say, well, that is definitely true. That is definitely true. If you're listening to Truth for Life, that is Alistair Begg with the conclusion of a message he's titled, If Anyone Is Sick. If you are a regular listener to Truth for Life, you know we teach directly from the Bible every day on this program. And that's because we know God works through the reading and the study and the teaching of his word to draw people to himself. As Alistair often says, the word of God does the work of God in the people of God through the Spirit of God. Well, today we want to recommend to you a book that will take you deeper into your study of God's word, specifically into what is perhaps the most well-known Psalm. The book is titled, The Lord of Psalm 23, Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host. Psalm 23 is relatively short, just three brief but tremendously powerful sections, beginning with the familiar words, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. As you read the Lord of Psalm 23, you'll plumb the depths behind those almost too familiar words and immerse yourself in a profound portrait of the Lord Jesus. There is so much that the author of this book, David Gibson, draws from this Psalm. He helps us more fully grasp how Jesus provides for us, protects us, restores us, comforts us, and leads us to himself for all of eternity. The book, The Lord of Psalm 23, is yours today when you donate to support the Bible teaching ministry of Truth for Life. You can give a one-time gift at truthforlife.org slash donate, or you can arrange to set up an automatic monthly donation when you visit truthforlife.org slash truthpartner. I'm Bob Lapine. When we confess our sin to God there should be more than just a breezy, whoops, sorry about that. Tomorrow we'll consider what's involved in genuine confession and prayer. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
