Download discussion questions: James 5:13-20
If you have ever written a lengthy letter, how did you decide how to end it? How would you end a letter that included tender expressions of affection along with harsh criticisms? If you began a letter with the potentially unwelcoming command to “Welcome trouble,” what would be the best way to end? This final discussion looks at how James concluded his letter.
From Trials to Wandering
One of the repeated themes woven throughout this letter has been steadfastness in suffering. The beginning of the letter realistically expresses the expectation of “trials – difficult circumstances we face (James 1:2). The letter ends (quite abruptly in the opinion of at least one member of our group) with an encouragement to bring back those who “wander” (James 5:19-20).
One suggestion in our discussion was that this final paragraph could relate back to everything else James had written. The group recalled several topics over the last three months:
- Trials
- The tongue and speech
- Partiality
- Inaction (failure to help those in need)
- Sin
- Being doers and not just hearers
- Conflicts and wars
These and many other issues that James addressed could be difficult, and when things get difficult, some people are more likely to “wander from the truth.” Perhaps James anticipated that possibility and explicitly exhorted his readers to pursue the wanderer, to bring him or her back, to restore them to the fellowship.
Someone asked another question, “Is that ‘wanderer” a believer?” The person is called a “sinner” rather than a brother, and the desired outcome is to “save his soul from death” (v. 20). It could be that James was particularly concerned about those who were marginally connected with the church, who would be the most likely to wander or give up during the trials he knew they were facing. Another member of our group mentioned a statement made much later by the apostle John: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). Those “wanderers” may not have been genuine believers. Since we cannot have absolute certainty of the state of another person’s soul, “bringing back” a wanderer (or at least making a sincere effort to pursue them) is a part of our commitment to each other in the Body of Christ.
Effective Prayer
Before James got to his closing paragraph in verses 19-20, he had one final topic to cover. Our group agreed that verses 13-18 are about prayer, notwithstanding the potentially controversial topics of healing and sickness resulting from sin. As one person observed, some form of the word “pray” or “prayer” occurs seven times in those six verses. Note also that this is the first time in the letter that James explicitly mentions “prayer.” Previously he had described “asking” (James 1:5-6 and 4:2-3). That observation came after our group, so we did not have the opportunity to discuss what, if any, significance it might have.[1]
Two questions about prayer dominated this part of our discussion: absolute answers to prayer and sickness resulting from sin.
Absolute Answers
James makes what sounds like an unconditional assurance: “The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick” (5:15). C. S. Lewis, writing about the many similar statements in the New Testament, asked,
How is this astonishing promise to be reconciled (a) With the observed facts? and (b) With the prayer in Gethsemane, and (as a result of that prayer) the universally accepted view that we should ask everything with a reservation (“ if it be Thy will”)?[2]
Lewis alluded to the qualification that Jesus included in His own (Matthew 26:39, 42). James himself mentioned the necessity of our constant submission to God’s will in all that we do (James 4:15). That qualification should be inherent in all we ask of God. The prayer and the anointing by the elders in James 5:14 is “in the name of the Lord.” Surely when we ask in Jesus’ name, we would ask as He did in Gethsemane.
Another suggestion from our group pointed to the end of that sentence in verse 15, “and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” The suggestion was that the entire scenario of the sick person calling the elders is in the context of sickness caused by sin. As one person commented in our group, the sickness could be a direct discipline from God, or it could be the stress-related result of guilt and fear of discovery. If indeed the sickness is the result of sin, calling for the elders (and perhaps the implied repentance) would result in the relief from the burden and recovery of the person.
Admittedly, there is not as neat and tidy a solution to the perplexing promise as we would like (and certainly not in our limited, hour-long discussion). The clear and agreed upon conclusion was, to quote one member, “Prayer – just do it!”
Sickness from Sin
Our discussion also attempted to deal with the relationship between sickness and sin. Several of us have known friends who were convinced that some undiscovered sin was the cause of their sickness.
The grammar of the passage makes it clear that James is not advocating that kind of direct, universal connection between all sickness and sin.
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
James 5:15, emphasis added.
Greek provides several forms of “conditional” statements, statements that are usually translated as “If…Then” in English versions.
One form, called the “simple” or “first-class” condition, “was used when one wished to assume or to seem to assume the reality of his premise.”[3] The speaker or writer wants the “if” part to be assumed to be true. For example, “If you are led by the Spirit…” (Galatians 5:18). Paul assumes that his believing readers are indeed truly led by the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, the “third-class condition” uses a distinctly different grammatical form and indicates an indefinite condition: “Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that” (James 4:15). The whole point of James’ argument is that we don’t presume to know God’s will. He may will what we are contemplating, and then we will certainly do it. But (the indefinite condition), He may not will it, so it won’t happen.
James uses that same indefinite grammatical construction concerning the sickness resulting from sin:
The second half of the sentence forms a third-class condition which counters the assumption that there must be some sin, or lack of faith, that needs God’s forgiveness (recall the recurring errant counsel of Job’s friends). … The third-class condition…precludes the allegation that all sickness results from personal sin.[4]
James is clearly not attributing all sickness or suffering to sin. Jesus in Gethsemane and Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7) are clear examples of earnest, yet unanswered, prayer about conditions that were not the result of sin.
Intercession and Intervention
James has written to believers who were facing trials, financial difficulties, temptations, internal strife, backbiting, partiality, confusion over faith and works, loose tongues, false ideas of wisdom, the attraction of the world, slandering one another, arrogant presumption, oppression by outsiders – all of which are just as relevant to the church in the twenty-first century. One writer gives a concise summary of the end of the letter of James:
Christians should deal with suffering, sickness, and sin by intercession with God and intervention in the lives of fellow believers.[5]
May our study in the letter of James help us to grow in passionate intercession and in patient intervention to help each other become more steadfast through trials.
[1] Further study could explore the use of “ask” (αἰτείτω, aiteitō) and the three different words used for “pray” – προσευχῇ (proseuchē, prayer, v. 13, 14, 17); εὐχὴ (euchē petition, v. 15, 16); and δέησις (deēsis, entreaty, v. 16b);
cf. https://biblehub.com/interlinear/james/5.htm
[2] C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012), 58.
[3] H.E. Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto: The MacMillan Company, 1955), 289.
[4] Craig L. Blomberg, Mariam J. Kamell, James, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2008), 244, 245; original emphasis.
[5] Craig L. Blomberg, Mariam J. Kamell, James, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2008), 239.