Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

“overrules.” But the elders can only be assured of the latter, if they know they
displayed unwavering faith! In that case, of course, they are not blameworthy.
Incidentally, the same biblical reasoning should be applied to the sick themselves.
They must show unwavering faith in the healing power of God (Mk.
5:34). When in this scenario God disposes differently, no one may blame
them, contrary to much unbiblical thinking. At the same time, when they waver,
they can and must blame themselves (Jam. 1:6)
At any rate, it may well be that only a Church in a Revival state can and
will produce the type of elders who are capable of the unwavering faith James
is talking about (Jam. 1:6; 5:15). This faith is comparable to that of David in
his conquests of ferocious beasts and ferocious men (1 Sam. 17:37), or possibly
even more apropos in this context, to that of an Elijah who twice prayed
up a storm, first a duststorm and then a rainstorm (1 Jam. 5:17; for details, see
my Commentary below). If this is the case, one general look at today’s eldership
could well “force” the Church to enter into the by now “proverbial” Recovery
mode that would return them to the “height” from which they have
historically fallen (Rev. 2: 5)!
Third, to underscore and enlarge on all this, if the faith of James 5:15 is,
indeed, the faith of James 1:6 (So Johnson, 332; Brosend, 154, 163), the ones
who pray, whether they are elders in the Church or others in the community,
may not gloss over, make light of, excuse, justify or “normalize” the absence
of such faith (Mk. 2:5; 7:29; 8:8; 9:24; Heb. 10:22). After all, it is the “unqualified”
embrace of God’s Word (Zodhiates, III, 138). Either the faith of
James 1:6 is present (See in this context especially Mk. 5:34), or the charge of
“double-mindedness” kicks in. So at times lack of faith may, indeed, be the
culprit, when no answers are forthcoming (contra Burdick, 186). Just like
other sins, unbelief (Mt. 17:17), or quenching the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19), are
not beyond either elders in particular or believers in general.
By the same token, one thing must always be remembered. While the
prayers of righteous men “accomplish much,” they apparently do not always
accomplish “everything” (Jam. 5:16). This may be due to sin in the life of the
sick (Jam. 5:15), which, then, must be dealt with immediately. It also may be
due to God’s refusal to answer prayers affirmatively. The latter does not necessarily
compromise the faith of the elders or the praying community. After
all, the last sickness is always terminal. Eventually all Christians are called
home! When this time arrives, biblical realism demands that the focus shifts
from the prayer for healing to the preparation for home-coming. Nevertheless,
“as a rule of thumb” confident prayer in the name of the Lord will be instrumental
to restore the sick, and to raise them from their sickbed. Besides, ter-
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