Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

speaks of someone who “labors” under a disease. Serious sickness is an occurrence
from which followers of Christ are not exempt (2 Cor. 12:7-9; Phil.
2:27). Members of the covenant community, however, who are “under the
physical gun,” or under any potentially “deadly” gun for that matter, should
not respond in hopelessness and despair, as if there is nothing that can be
done. There is something that they can do. They can pray. In fact, they must
turn to prayer. Their helplessness is the incentive to pray as their only (intermediate)
hope (Stulac, 180). Further, since as members of the covenant community
they are intertwined with their leaders and their fellow members, they
must avail themselves of both. In the later context the membership enters into
the picture, in the present context the eldership.
They must first call “the elders of the Church” (See Acts 20:28 for the
same phraseology) as the representatives and channels of God’s authority and
care (See also Gen. 20:7; 2 Chron. 16:12). In fact, they must “summon” them
(Brosend, 153). These elders are not “professional healers” (Zodhiates, III,
122; Phillips, 186). Across the board they are involved in the life of the congregation
(Acts 20:28). They are the overseers, shepherd-teachers of the local
church, given by Christ to have the pastoral oversight and provide caring rule
over the membership, channeling all the benefits of his cross and resurrection
to each believer. 366 They look after the total welfare of the church members,
which apparently includes not only incessantly and passionately guarding and
feeding them by means of the Word (Acts 20:17-35), but also physical compassion
and care. This is why they must pray over the sick as part of the discharge
of the duties of their office. This is not simply a diaconal function,
since they must also inquire into the spiritual state of the sick and take the
measure of their practical godliness. 367 In general this prayer can be accompanied
either by bodily touch (1 Ki. 17:21; 2 Ki. 4:24; Acts 20:10) or by the
laying on of hands (Mk. 16:17-18; Acts 28:8). Further, anointing with oil
must accompany the prayers of the elders as well. This phenomenon, although
only mentioned one other time in Scripture (Mk. 6:13), apparently
was a routine occurrence. Finally, all this must be done in the name of the
Lord which spells divine authority as well as human mediation (Mk. 16:7;
366 The terms elder, pastor-teacher, overseer, are used promiscuously in Scripture and all refer
to the same office. Further, “rule” and “care” are two sides of one coin, and are partly synonymous.
The Greek uses the same word for both. Still, while “to care” is not always “to
rule,” “to rule is invariably “to care.”
367 Of course, this must go hand in hand with other diaconal services, as these are needed.
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