James 5

But true fellowship involves more than attending meetings. To have true fellowship means that we confess [our] sins to each other. It means that we know each other, and love each other. It means that we trust each other, and pray for each other. Every one of us has sins; every one of us has something to confess. We must not hide things from one another.

Therefore, let us confess our sins to each other, and then let us pray for each other. When we do this, we shall all receive spiritual healing. And, at the same time, our fellowship will grow all the more close and joyful.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Who is the righteous man? We are the “righteous man.” Through faith in Christ, we have been declared righteous in God’s sight. Our prayers, then, are powerful and effective. Therefore, let us pray continually (1 Thes-salonians 5:17).

17-18 The Old Testament prophet Elijah was a man just like us. His prayers were certainly powerful and effective! He prayed, and no rain fell on Israel for three and a half years. Then he prayed again, and the rain came. Elijah is an example for us (1 Kings 17:1; 18:1,41-45).

19-20 James here addresses Christian brothers. If a brother should wander from the truth, he is in danger of death (verse 20). Therefore, let us always try to bring him back. Only God can save, but He uses us to turn a sinning brother from the error of his way. If the sinning brother turns back from his error—that is, if he repents—all of his sins will be “covered over,” forgiven, erased. Only through repentance can our sins be “covered over,” or forgiven; there is no other way.

¹ Hebrew was the main language of the Jews. It was almost the same as Aramaic, which was the language spoken by most common people of the Middle East, including Jesus.

² Greek was the language of Greece, an important country in southern Europe. In New Testament times most educated people in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea spoke Greek. The New Testament was originally written in Greek.

³ It is not necessary to stop being a Jew in order to become a Christian. Christ Himself was a Jew. It is only necessary that a Jew stop putting his trust in the law and in his own works; he must put his trust in Christ alone.

⁴ There are also special supernatural gifts of wisdom and knowledge, which are gifts of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:8 and comment). However, James is not talking about these special gifts of the Spirit in this verse. He is talking about wisdom in a general sense.

⁵ He must not take pride in himself, but rather in God. He has not obtained his high (spiritual) position because of his own worthiness; he has received it by God’s grace alone.

⁶ Trials, in this sense, are not only bad things that happen to us; they can also be pleasant things. Such pleasant things can be called “trials” because they test our faith and obedience just as much as painful trials do. In this verse, then, the word trial means “test of faith.”

⁷ It is important to remember throughout this discussion of faith that faith itself does not save us. We are saved by grace; it is God who saves us (see Ephesians 2:8-9 and comment).

⁸ Love and obedience always go together; to obey is to love, and to love is to obey (see John 14:15). In the same way, faith and deeds always go together; you can’t have one without the other.

⁹ In these verses, the word cursing and curse (verse 9) refer not only to cursing itself but also to critical talk in general.

¹⁰ There are things, of course, about which we must not talk. (We must not talk about the faults of others, for example.) But our silence must never be for the purpose of deceiving other people.

¹¹ It is not certain what the exact translation of these words should be; different versions of the Bible give different translations. It is not certain whether the spirit mentioned here is the Holy Spirit or man’s spirit. Whichever translation is chosen, the general meaning of the passage seems to be that God looks on us with jealous longing, and when we begin to love the world more than Him, He becomes very upset with us.

¹² Paul has also written of future things as if they had already happened (see Romans 8:30 and comment).

¹³ In place of the words Lord Almighty, some translations of the Bible say “Lord of hosts.” The meaning is the same. The “hosts” are armies of angels.

¹⁴ In the Greek text of this verse, the word anoint which James uses refers to the application of medicine. It does not refer to sacramental anointing; for that, a different Greek word is used.

¹⁵ However, oil can also mean the Holy Spirit; oil is a sign of the Holy Spirit. Both meanings of oil are possible here, and they both fit together. Because even when we use medicine to heal a person, it is actually the Holy Spirit who does the healing.

¹⁶ Christ heals through the Holy Spirit.