Yǎgèshū 5:14

14 Nǐmen zhōngjiān yǒu bìng le de ne , tā jiù gāi qǐng jiàohuì de zhǎnglǎo lái . tāmen kĕyǐ fèng zhǔ de míng yòng yóu mǒ tā , wèi tā dǎogào .

Yǎgèshū 5:14 Meaning and Commentary

James 5:14

Is any sick among you?
&c.] Which is often the case; the bodies of the saints, as well as others, are liable to a variety of diseases; they are sick, and sometimes nigh unto death, as Epaphroditus was: and then,

let him call for the elders of the church;
in allusion to the elders of the congregation of Israel, ( Leviticus 4:15 ) . By these may be meant, either the elder members of the church, men of gravity and soundness in the faith, persons of long standing and experience; who have the gift and grace of prayer, and are not only capable of performing that duty, but of giving a word of counsel and advice to the sick. It was a kind of proverbial saying of Aristophanes the grammarian;

``the works of young men, the counsels of middle aged persons, and (eucai gerontwn) , "the prayers of ancient men" ^F26:''

or rather officers of churches are meant, particularly pastors, who are so called in Scripture; these should be sent for in times of sickness, as well as physicians; and rather than they, since their prayers may be the means of healing both soul and body: so in former times, the prophets of God were sent to in times of sickness, for advice and assistance. It is a saying of R. Phinehas ben Chama ^F1 that

``whoever has a sick person in his house, let him go to a wise man, and he will seek mercy for him.''

And it follows here,

and let them pray over him;
or for him, for the recovery of his health:

anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord;
which some think was only done in a common medicinal way, oil being used much in the eastern countries for most disorders; and so these elders used ordinary medicine, as well as prayer: or rather this refers to an extraordinary gift, which some elders had of healing diseases, as sometimes by touching, and by laying on of hands, or by expressing some words, and so by anointing with oil; see ( Mark 6:13 ) which extraordinary gifts being now ceased, the rite or ceremony of anointing with oil ceases in course: however, this passage gives no countenance to the extreme unction of the Papists; that of theirs being attended with many customs and ceremonies, which are not here made mention of; that being used, as is pretended, for the healing of the souls of men, whereas this was used for corporeal healing; that is only performed when life is despaired of, and persons are just going out of the world; whereas this was made use of to restore men to health, and that they might continue longer in it, as follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Apud Harpocratian. Lex. p. 125.
F1 T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 116. 1.

Yǎgèshū 5:14 In-Context

12 Wǒde dìxiōng men , zuì yàojǐn de shì bùkĕ qǐshì . bùkĕ zhǐ zhe tiān qǐshì , yĕ bùkĕ zhǐ zhe dì qǐshì , wúlùn hé shì dōu bùkĕ qǐ . nǐmen shuōhuà , shì jiù shuō shì , bú shì jiù shuō bú shì , miǎndé nǐmen luò zaì shĕnpàn zhī xià .

13 Nǐmen zhōngjiān yǒu shòu kǔ de ne , tā jiù gāi dǎogào . yǒu xǐlè de ne , tā jiù gāi gēsòng .

14 Nǐmen zhōngjiān yǒu bìng le de ne , tā jiù gāi qǐng jiàohuì de zhǎnglǎo lái . tāmen kĕyǐ fèng zhǔ de míng yòng yóu mǒ tā , wèi tā dǎogào .

15 Chūyú xìnxīn de qídǎo , yào jiù nà bìngrén , zhǔ bì jiào tā qǐlai . tā ruò fàn le zuì , yĕ bì méng shèmiǎn .

16 Suǒyǐ nǐmen yào bǐcǐ rèn zuì , hùxiāng daì qiú , shǐ nǐmen kĕyǐ dé yīzhì . yì rén qídǎo suǒ fā de lìliang , shì dà yǒu gōngxiào de .