Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

necessarily preclude the use of means (Ex. 15:25; 2 Ki. 20:7; Is. 38:4-5; Col.
4:14; 1 Tim. 5:23).
Eighth, it is not the oil, or the anointing, or the believing prayer that is
the healing power. No, it is the Lord who will raise the sick! Only He can
raise them back to health.
Ninth, sickness is not necessarily a result of specific sins (John 9:1-5),
even if it is always the consequence of sin-in-general. At times its presence
simply serves the purposes of God, to learn humility (2 Cor. 12:7-10; Gal.
4:13-15) or to promote his glory (Job 1-2; John 9:3). However, it is clear from
James 5:15b that sin may well play a role, in fact, be a contributing cause of
sickness. In that case “sickness and distress are (either) a direct result of sin”
(Johnson, 333; see also 2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 32:5; 38:3; 139:23-24; 1 Cor.
11:29-30; Jam. 5:5b-16), or an indirect consequence of factors such as demonic
influence, a questionable way of life, substance abuse or otherwise
(Nystrom, 310). This certainly should not be ruled out by definition, since
Scripture is replete with examples to that effect (Deut. 28:21ff; Ps. 38:1-8;
Ezek. 18:1-29; Mt. 9:2; Mk. 2:5ff; John 5:14; 1 Cor. 11:30). Of course, it can
be concluded from all this that certain sicknesses can be prevented by the assimilation
of God’s Word (Prov. 4:20-22; Am. 8:11), a life of selfexamination
(1 Cor. 11:30), a healthy lifestyle (Prov. 19:2; Is. 28:16: 1 Cor.
9:25), or otherwise. If preventable sicknesses strike anyway, God’s people, as
we shall see further below, may have to humble themselves (Lev. 26:41; 2
Chron. 7:14; Ps. 119:75; Heb. 12:11), confess their sins (Ps. 32:5; 51:4-5;
Prov. 28:13; Jer. 3:13; 1 John 1:9), either privately (2 Sam. 12:13; Mt. 5:24),
or publicly (Lev. 16:21; Neh. 9:3; Mt. 3:16; Acts 19:18), and in holiness of
life (Gen. 32:26; Prov. 21:27; Hos. 12:4; Lk. 11:8; John 9:31; Heb. 11:4) pray
fervently for individual and corporate healing (2 Chron. 7:14; Jam. 5:13,16).
At any rate, in the present context James is not speaking of man’s sinful
condition in general, such as expressed by Proverbs 20:9, “Who can say, I
have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” No, he has specific sins
in mind that got God’s attention in a tangible way, possibly the various sins
James has already condemned, such ill treatment of the poor, favoritism, failure
to do good, etc. (Manton, 454)! Of course, it is understood that one man’s
faith can only lead to another man’s healing, when through the prayer of the
one the heart of the other breaks as an intermediate step (Manton, 454).
Tenth, there is no doubt that in the larger context of Scripture the significance
of the faith of the sick is emphasized as well (Mt. 9:22; Mk. 6:56; Acts
3:16). But this is not James’ focus at this juncture. Nevertheless, suffice it to
say that whether it pertains to the faith of the elders or of the sick, God delights
in believers according to the faith they possess (and display). This is
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