The Central Idea of the Text is that James encourages prayer (7x) during times of suffering, and for healing, and restoration of fellowship.

People swear—or take an oath—to lend credibility to the honesty or integrity of their words (e.g. I swear to God, or as God is my judge). The idea is that the oath obligates the person to keep his promise. Oaths were permitted in Scripture, but James seems to be telling Christians not to diminish the value of an oath by means of constant or indiscriminate use. Christians are to have integrity, so the value of their words should be taken on a simple yes or no basis.

Oil was used both in a medicinal and symbolic way. It was used as an ointment to treat physical wounds (see Luke 10:33-34). Also, oil sometimes symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; Heb. 1:9). James seems to refer to the use of oil more in the symbolic sense, equating it with the healing effects that come from prayer. Prayer, not the oil, is what remedy’s the believers ailments.

In the days of Elijah, God chose to involve His prophet in His plans and to condition the stopping and starting of rain upon Elijah’s prayerful requests. James declares Elijah was a man like us (with victories and failures), but God used him to accomplish His will and He can use us to do the same. As God’s children, we should pray always (1 Thess. 5:16-17), and we should pray according to God’s will when we know it (1 John 5:14-15).

Sickness is common to mankind. Some sickness is not the fault of anyone (Job 2:7-8; John 9:1-3), but some sickness is caused by sin (Ps. 32:1-4; 1 Cor. 11:30). James seems to be addressing the latter. If left unaddressed, sin can result in divine discipline that leads to physical death (Acts 5:1-9; 1 Cor. 11:30; 1 John 5:16-17). When necessary, the sin-sick person is to offer confession to the elders of the church that he might be healed by the Lord after prayers are offered. Confession should be made only to those who matter, either to God alone (1 John 1:9), to the one offended, or to the elders of the church who can offer prayer for healing and restoration (Jam. 5:14-16). “We must never confess sin beyond the circle of that sin’s influence. Private sin requires private confession; public sin requires public confession. It is wrong for Christians to ‘hang dirty wash in public,’ for such ‘confessing’ might do more harm than the original sin.” (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, 383)

Prayer is valid when seeking healing; however, in one instance, Paul advocated for a natural solution to an illness (1 Tim. 5:23). There are cases in Scripture where God did not heal people of their sickness (Phil. 2:25-30; 2 Tim. 4:20). We do not always know how to pray for others (Rom. 8:26), as it may be God’s will to heal a sick person (Matt. 8:1-3), or it may be His will to use sickness as a means of divine discipline (1 Sam. 16:14-16; 1 Cor. 5:5; 11:27-30), to produce humility (Dan. 4:27; 2 Cor. 12:7-10), or to bring His child home to heaven (2 Kings 13:14). When God does not remove a difficult situation as we request, then He intends for us to deal with it. It’s almost always the case that we prefer God change our circumstances rather than our attitude; and yet, the biblical record is that God most often prefers to change us in order to develop the character of Christ in us. May we be understanding and wise in our prayers.