James 5:14-20 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 5:12-20

This epistle now drawing to a close, the penman goes off very quickly from one thing to another: hence it is that matters so very different are insisted on in these few verses. I. The sin of swearing is cautioned against: But above all things, my brethren, swear not, etc., Jas. 5:12. Some understand this too restrictedly, as if the meaning were, ?Swear not at your persecutors, at those that reproach you and say all manner of evil of you; be not put into a passion by the injuries they do you,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

5:13-15 Is any among you in trouble? Let him pray. Is any in good spirits? Let him sing a hymn. Is any among you sick? Let him call in the elders of the Church; and let them anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and pray over him; and the believing prayer will restore to health the ailing person, and the Lord will enable him to rise from his bed; and even if he has committed sin, he will receive forgiveness. Here we have set out before us certain dominant characteristics of the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

Another great characteristic of the early church was that it was a healing Church. Here it inherited its tradition from Judaism. When a Jew was ill, it was to the Rabbi he went rather than to the doctor; and the Rabbi anointed him with oil--which Galen the Greek doctor called "the best of all medicines"--and prayed over him. Few communities can have been so devotedly attentive to their sick as the early church was. Justin Martyr writes that numberless demoniacs were healed by the Christians... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:16-18

5:16-18 Confess your sins to each other, and pray for each other, that you may be healed. The prayer of a good man, when it is set to work, is very powerful. Elijah was a man with the same emotions as ourselves, and he prayed earnestly that it should not rain, and for three years and six months no rain fell upon the earth. And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain; and the earth put forth her fruit. There are in this passage three basic ideas of Jewish religion. (i) There is the idea... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:19-20

5:19-20 My brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and if anyone turns him again to the right way, let him know that he who has turned a sinner from his wandering way will save his brothel's soul from death and will hide a multitude of his own sins. In this passage there is set down the great differentiating characteristic of Christian truth. It is something from which a man can wander. It is not only intellectual, philosophical and abstract; it is always moral truth. This... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:19-20

James finishes his letter with one of the greatest and most uplifting thoughts in the New Testament; and yet one which occurs more than once in the Bible. Suppose a man goes wrong and strays away; and suppose a fellow-Christian rescues him from the error of his ways and brings him back to the right path. That man has not only saved his brother's soul, he has covered a multitude of his own sins. In other words, to save another's soul is the surest way to save one's own. Mayor points out that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:14

Is any sick among you ?.... 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:15

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick ,.... That is, the prayer of the elders, being put up in faith by them, and in which the sick person joins by faith; such a prayer is a means of bringing down from God a blessing on the sick man, and of restoring him to his former health: and the Lord shall raise him up ; from his bed of sickness, on which he is laid, and bring him forth to praise his name, and to fear and glorify him. And if he have committed sins ; not that it is a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:16

Confess your faults one to another ,.... Which must be understood of sins committed against one another; which should be acknowledged, and repentance for them declared, in order to mutual forgiveness and reconciliation; and this is necessary at all times, and especially on beds of affliction, and when death and eternity seem near approaching: wherefore this makes nothing for auricular confession, used by the Papists; which is of all sins, whereas this is only of such by which men offend one... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:17

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are ,.... The apostle gives an instance of earnest and fervent prayer, and of the efficacy of it in Elias; who is the same with the prophet Elijah, or Elijah the Tishbite; who, by the Septuagint in Malachi 4:5 is called Elias, as here, and elsewhere, in the New Testament: of him James says, that he was a "man", contrary to the notion of some of the Jewish writers, who affirm, that Elijah was not born of a father and mother, but was an angel,... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 5:12-20

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:16-18

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:19-20

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:19-20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:14

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:15

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:17

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