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As James closes his letter to the Early Church Christians, he begins to give them instructions concerning the will of God for their lives. Remember that earlier in the letter, James has dealt with the improper uses of the tongue which were swearing, grumbling, boasting, speaking evil of others, selfish requests, evil speech, devout sounding words that are not sincere, and uncontrolled words in anger. It is the mark of a good preacher to never address what a person is doing wrong without giving them instruction on what to do right, so after labeling their spoken sins, James begins to give the Early Christians the proper uses of the tongue.

The proper response when we are suffering in a situation is to pray. Grumbling, complaining, and whining does not really help our situation because those things are a plea to try to get other people involved. When we pray, we are getting God involved in our situation. As we have seen, we have a promise from God that if we will not thirst for vengeance and try to get revenge on our own, and instead pray to God, that God will deal with those who are oppressing us. This response goes against human nature, but it shows a complete trust in God. When we pray in suffering and leave it up to God to help us through, we are showing Him in a powerful way with our actions that we trust Him absolutely. That is an expression of faith and God responds to faith.

We often talk about how that there are sins of "commission" meaning you have to take some sinful action, and sins of "omission" meaning that you sin by not doing anything when you should have acted. What about faith? There are some acts of faith that are acts of "commission" which is when we express our faith by doing something. A good example is when we make the decision to be baptized in water. Our actions show that we have faith in God's Word. But sometimes we can also express faith by "omission." That is, what we do NOT do in a situation shows that we are trusting in God. When we are suffering and we do NOT try to retaliate or get revenge, and we place it in God's hand through prayer, then what we did NOT do is an expression of our genuine faith in God.

So if we are suffering, we are to pray. If we are happy, however, the correct response is to sing songs. The word for "psalms" here does not necessarily mean the songs found in the Book of Psalms. Not all of those songs would be appropriate to sing when you are happy. It is a generic word that refers to songs sung with musical accompaniment. You certainly do not have to have a musical instrument to sing happy songs unto God, but the Bible certainly allows us to use musical accompaniment. Some churches teach that there should be no musical instruments in a church. Such teaching violates this scripture and most of the book of Psalms. It is certainly hard to obey the commandments of the 150st Psalm without musical instruments!

We are to praise God in his sanctuary and everywhere else, and we are to use musical instruments to do so! Notice that verse 2 says that we are to "praise him according to his excellent greatness." That is our praise should reflect how excellent God has been to us. If you were to judge from some people's praise, you would think that God had never done anything for them! When I think about all that God has done for me, I have no problem feeling like dancing! When I praise God according to His excellent greatness, there can be no limit to my praise!

In our companion text, Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus and also gave them instructions concerning the will of God.

Here Paul gives three different categories of songs that are acceptable to sing in the church. "Psalms" here refers to the Book of Psalms. "Hymns" are traditional songs of the church that are not scripture. "Spiritual songs" refers to any newly written songs that are spiritual in nature. I have heard some people teach that we are only to sing the Psalms in church. More often, I have heard some people teach that we are only to sing the Psalms and the traditional hymns of the church found in the songbook. That is not a teaching of scriptures and is usually a result of their personal preference. There is certainly nothing wrong with singing the old hymns and we need to do so, but there is also nothing wrong with singing a newly written spiritual song either. Human nature tends to favor the old, familiar songs and that is why scripture NEVER commands us to sing an old song. God knew that our very nature would cause us to sing older songs again and again. But the scripture very clearly commands us to sing a NEW song:

Our services need to have a mixture of older hymns and songs that we have sung for years, songs based upon exact quoting of scripture, and newly written spiritual songs that uplift the Lord!

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If a person is sick, then the proper response is for the sick person to call for the elders of the church and allow them to pray over them. The term "elders" here is the Greek presbyterous which refers to the ministry leadership of the church. When they pray, they are to anoint the person with oil and pray in the name of the Lord Jesus! Jesus, Himself, is the one who begin to teach His disciples to pray for the sick and anointing with oil (Mark 6:13) and James teaches us that we should continue this practice in the church.

There is no power in the oil itself, but throughout the Old Testament people were anointed with oil to symbolize the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them for some special purpose. For instance when God chose someone to become a King or High Priest, the common practice was to anoint them with oil to symbolize that the Holy Spirit had chosen to do a work in their life. The oil then represents and is a reminder to us that it is the Holy Spirit that desires to come and do the healing work.

The prayer was also to be "in the name of the Lord." This refers to the fact that the name of Jesus Christ should be spoken over the sick. The power of calling on the name of Jesus would allow His Spirit to work. But to do something in someone's name to the Jewish people meant more than just saying their name. In those days to use someone's name was to do something in their stead as if they themselves were there doing it. When the ministry prays for someone in Jesus' name, they are really standing in the stead of Jesus Christ as if Jesus Christ was bodily standing there praying for the person! They are praying on His behalf, or with His authority. This is how the church can be the "body of Christ."

I also want you to notice that the sick person was to call upon the ministry of the church. The ministry was not to find out about it later on or have to hunt the person down and volunteer to pray for them. The sick person is to call for prayer themselves. By doing so they are expressing their faith in the Word of God and the Holy Ghost that they believe that they can be healed. The sick person calling out for prayer and asking to be anointed with oil is an expression of faith. It also follows that when a person is sick and they do not call for the elders to pray and anoint them with oil, then it is a sign of disbelief. I believe that many people are not healed because they did not call for prayer themselves but had to have somebody else give a request or when the minister found out about their sickness from other sources, THEN he prayed. The persons lack of faith in not obeying this scripture kept them from a miracle that God wanted to give them.

There have been many theories to what exactly this verse means. Some have used this verse to teach that ALL sickness is a result of specific sins. While the concept of "sickness" in the world is a result of Adam's decision in the Garden of Eden, and sin can lead to physical sickness, just because a person is sick does not mean that they have sinned. Before we clarify exactly what this verse is saying, let's clarify a few phrases.

The "prayer of faith" refers not to the sense of a faith-filled prayer, but the prayer of the ministry. God certainly responds to a faith-filled prayer but in this particular verse and case of the Greek, the term means "the prayer of the ministry who have faith." It refers to obedience to verse 14. The term "raise him up" is a phrase that refers to physical healing but can also be used metaphorically to mean "bring new strength to the weary."

The interesting and controversial point of this scripture is that the word for "sick" in the Greek is not the normal word for "physical sickness." The normal word for "physical sickness in the scriptures is asthenei. It is used extensively in the Gospels to denote physical illness. In verse 14 when James writes "Is any sick among you?," he is using asthenei to mean physically sick. In verse 15, however the word for "sick" is kamnonta which is only used one other time in scripture in Hebrews 12:3 where it clearly speaks of "spiritual weariness."

Understanding the difference brings up some interesting points. First, God uses the prayer of ministry to heal and touch physical sickness. But God ALSO uses the laying on of hands and the prayer of the ministry to heal spiritual weariness. Second, the term "raise him up" can mean either a physical healing or a spiritual strengthening. Third, when a person is "spiritually sick" or weary, they need to call on the ministry to pray to enact this promise! Fourth, understanding the double meaning of this scripture helps us to correctly understand in context the last line: "and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." James' meaning is three fold: If the person has a physical sickness that is a result of a specific sin, then to pray for healing of that situation is to also pray for forgiveness of that sin and that will certainly be granted. If a person is physically sick that is not related to any specific sin, then that person should still begin their prayer by submitting themselves to God and asking for forgiveness for anything that may be there. If a person is getting prayer because of spiritual weakness, then God's mercy will be there to respond to them humbling themselves and asking for help and will strengthen them by doing whatever work is necessary to spiritually "raise them up." Basically, these two verses are testifying to the great work that God is able to do in our lives when we humble and submit ourselves to His Word and ministry.

To "confess" here means "to acknowledge." This scripture is basically summing up verses 14 and 15. Many Christians have taken this scripture out of context and used it to justify unwise and non-scriptural doctrines. The confusion comes from the implied double meanings of verse 15. It is not wise for a Christian to continually tell all of their past failures to other people, for in doing so they relive the past and tend to "glorify it." In context, this scripture is talking about making a recent situation right. If you have sinned against someone or offended someone, if you want the situation to be "healed" then you need to go confess your faults to that person and pray together. If you need a spiritual healing because of a time of weakness, it is wise to acknowledge your need for spiritual strength to the elders who are praying for you so that they can pray for the situation accurately. The Catholic church has tried to make this scripture as proof for "confession" to a priest for the forgiveness of sins, but if the intended meaning was for all church members to confess their sins to another human being in order to obtain forgiveness, then they would need to confess their sins to each other and not only to a priest. Also the priest, would need to confess his sins to the people. It is clear in light of the scriptural teaching that only God can forgive sins (Luke 5:21) and that Jesus Christ is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16), that the Catholic interpretation of this scripture is not a correct one.

The "effectual fervent prayer" is a reference to praying with passion and meaning. A person can pray words to God but, if they are not heartfelt and from the heart, the prayer is powerless. Certainly prayers that are learned and repeated as a ritual lose their passion with familiarity. For example in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught "after this manner pray ye." (Matthew 6:9) The Lord's Prayer was not a word for word prayer to be quoted but a guideline teaching us the principles of prayer. Never again did Jesus Christ pray these exact words and never can we find the disciples praying them. They followed the guidelines but their prayers were heartfelt and pertinent to the situation. Prayer is no good if it is not the result of a passion in one's heart to have a relationship with God. (see Matthew 6:7 Mark 12:40). The "righteous" are simply those who have acted upon their faith in Christ Jesus (see II Corinthians 5:21). The scripture is stating that God responds to the prayers of His children when they pray sincerely and fervently with passion.

"Elias" is a Greek transliteration of Elijah. Because the prophet Elijah did not die and was carried into heaven by a chariot of fire and we do not know much about his birth, some scholars have tried to teach that Elijah was an angelic being and not a human being. This scripture clearly contradicts that view stating that Elijah was a normal human being with normal desires and "passions" as we have.

That James brings this up is very important. Even today, we as Christians tend to view people such as the prophet Elijah and others of whom we have a scriptural record of great miracles and works as extraordinary, "super-human" people. In fact, Elijah was a normal human being with an extraordinary faith in God. If you and I will trust God in the same extraordinary way, we can also see terrific results!

Elijah, who was an ordinary human being, prayed earnestly that the rain would stop as a sign to the idolatrous Israel and King Ahab that God was displeased with their actions. God answered his prayer and there was a great drought in the land for 3 and a half years! Then Elijah prayed again and the rain began again. The point is that an ordinary man who was serving and trusting God prayed earnestly and God responded with physical results. If we as children of God will pray earnestly, God will likewise respond with a physical miracle, whether it be healing, spiritual strength, or anything else that is in God's perfect will.

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James ends his letter with an emphasis on restoring those who have fallen. Verse 19 is written in such a way in the Greek to emphasize that which is probable. Even in the Early Church, some people had fallen away from the truth and left the church. If under the leadership of Peter and the disciples, there were people who left truth choosing to embrace false doctrines and live a life of rebellion and sin, then we can expect it to happen today as well. Eventually, though, those people are going to become lonely and disinheartened with sin and it is possible that they may begin to search for a relationship with God again. When this happens, we as a church are to take them back and love them.

In some churches there is a tendency to "kill" a Christian who stumbles and falls into sin. The "spiritual" response, however, is to restore, forgive, and love that person. We must be merciful to those who fall in sin and help them to get back up and continue to living for God.

The wording in James, though, is more than just when someone slips and falls into sin. It denotes someone who "errs from the truth." That is someone who rejects the basic doctrinal truths of scripture and turns from living accordingly. James offers encouragement to those who are able to reach such a person and "convert" or "turn back" such a person to truth. James is giving encouragement because such people who choose to reject truth are difficult to reach. It can sometimes be very frustrating and painful to deal with such people. But James reminds us that when you reach someone who has erred, you are saving their souls from a spiritual death and hell. In other words, despite whatever hurt and frustration that we must go through, the end result of seeing someone saved is worth it.

There is nothing in creation worth more than the human soul. Sin left to itself will destroy the human soul and doom it to everlasting torment in the lake of fire. The Word of God and the Blood of Jesus can destroy the work of sin in a person's life and place them on a road to everlasting life! There is nothing more important than reaching someone. Jude wrote about this importance in his book:

Even if we have to pull people out of a lifestyle so hellish that they are literally "in the fire," there is no extreme not worth going for people to be saved. God has chosen you and I to be the ones to reach this world with the truth of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. We would do well to take that responsibility seriously!

Of all the ways that James could have ended his letter, he chose to end with refocusing the church on winning others. James was saying "remember that the reason for all of this instruction, for all of this correction, and all of this teaching is so that you might be better equipped to reach this world." After the work of salvation, then God begins to change us to better suit His will so that we can more effectively reach the lost. If in the growth process you ever become disillusioned, remember: God is breaking and molding you so that you will be better equipped to reach someone else. James was telling the Early Church that was enduring extreme persecution that the end result, saving others, was worth all of the pain and pressure! We must win others at all costs!

Even though the book of James is small in comparison with other New Testament books, the practical lessons that it contains are well worth the application to our lives. It gives sound, Godly advice to growing Christians. These principles are important to remember as we grow in God ourselves!