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5:7-8
“The picture is that of the small farmer in Palestine … The small farmer plants his carefully saved seed and hopes for a harvest, living on short rations and suffering hunger during the last weeks. The whole livelihood, indeed the life itself, of the family depends on a good harvest: the loss of the farm, semistarvation, or death could result from a bad year. So the farmer waits for an expected future event (ekdechetai); no one but he could know how precious the grain really is …”[276] (In Constable)
5:10
One could use just about any one of the Hebrew prophets as an example of patient endurance in suffering (cf. 1:4). (Constable)
“Though [Job] showed much of impatience, yet he always returned to this, that he committed himself wholly to God, and at last showed a perfect spirit of enduring submission.”[283] (Jamieson, et al., p. 1459 in Constable)
God passeth by infirmities where the heart is upright. (Trapp in BI)
5:14
"anointing" This is an AORIST ACTIVE PARTICIPLE. The word aleiphō is not the common word for ceremonial, religious anointing (chriō or chrisma), but it is the common term for rubbing on medicine. Physical touching is always emotionally significant to the sick. This may have been a culturally expected act like Mark 6:13; 7:33; 8:23; John 9:6,11. ¶ There are several Greek terms used of anointing.
- murizō, used in Mark 14:8 for the anointing with spices for burial. It is the Hebrew root from which we get the name Messiah (an anointed one).
- aleiphō, also used of anointing with spices for burial (cf. Mark 16:1; John 12:3,7). In addition it was used for
1. anointing the sick (cf. Mark 6:13; Luke 10:34; James 5:14)
2. anointing oneself, apparently daily, as preparation for public activities (cf. Matt. 6:17)
3. the special anointing of Jesus by a sinful woman (cf. Luke 7:38,46)- chriō (chrisma), the normal term used in a religious sense often associated with the Spirit
1. anointing of Jesus (cf. Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38; Heb. 1:9)
2. anointing of believers (cf. 2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20,27)- egchriō and epichriō, used exclusively of rubbing on salve (cf. Rev. 3:18) (Utley)
It is remarkable how many Christians today, who go into the hospital, fail to send out a request to the elders of their church to come and pray for them. It is more common for them to simply send out a general request for prayer to their friends and/or fellow church members. ¶ “Prayer is the more significant of the two ministries performed by the elders. ‘Pray’ is the main verb, while ‘anoint’ is a participle. Moreover, the overall emphasis of the paragraph is on prayer. So the anointing is a secondary action.”[297] ¶ The fact that the ailing or weary person was to call for the elders gives a clue that this person’s sickness somehow connects with some spiritual condition. This proves to be the case in verse 15. Today a skilled physician normally provides the medical attention. The elders need to deal with the spiritual factors affecting the sick person, if any, since they have a responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the flock (Heb. 13:17). ¶ Some Christians believe that anointing with oil was a Jewish custom and therefore it was not meant to be perpetuated in the church.[298] However it was not just a Jewish practice, and so it seems optional for today. ¶ In this context James had in view a sickness with spiritual roots. Actually all sickness is traceable to the Fall, though not all sickness can be traceable to some specific sin (cf. John 9:3). (Constable; et al, see note links)
5:19-20
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 comes out very clearly when we go to the New Testament and look at the expressions which are used in connection with truth. Truth is something which a man must love ( 2 Thessalonians 2:10 ); it is something which a man must obey ( Galatians 5:7 ); it is something which a man must display in life ( 2 Corinthians 4:2 ); it is something which must be spoken in love ( Ephesians 4:15 ); it is something which must be witnessed to ( John 18:37 ); it is something which must be manifested in a life of love ( 1 John 3:19 ); it is something which liberates ( John 8:32 ); and it is something which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus Christ ( John 16:13-14 ). ¶ Clearest of all is the phrase in John 3:21 , he who does what is true. That is to say, Christian truth is something which must be done. It is not only the object of the search of the mind; it is always moral truth issuing in action. It is not only something to be studied but something to be done; not only something to which a man must submit only his mind but something to which he must submit his whole life. (Barclay)
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. […] ¶ This is a thought which shines forth every now and then from the pages of Scripture. Jeremiah says, “If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth” ( Jeremiah 15:19 ). Daniel writes: “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” ( Daniel 12:3 ). The advice to the young Timothy is: “Take heed to yourself, and to your teaching; for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” ( 1 Timothy 4:16 ). ¶ There is a saying of the Jewish Fathers: “Whosoever makes a man righteous, sin prevails not over him.” Clement of Alexandria says that the true Christian reckons that which benefits his neighbour his own salvation. It is told that an ultra-evangelical lady once asked Wilberforce, the liberator of the slaves, if his soul was saved. “Madame,” he answered, “I have been so busy trying to save the souls of others that I have had no time to think of my own.” It has been said that those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves; and certainly those who bring the lives of others to God cannot keep God out of their own. The highest honour God can give is bestowed upon him who leads another to God; for the man who does that does nothing less than share in the work of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of men. (Barclay)
NOTE: These are helpful resources below. However, you are responsible for proper interpretation of the Bible. You must not relinquish your responsibility to any commentator. Therefore, one must use much caution in using the resources cited below. More mistakes are made the more humans speak and write. This author has not read everything published from the cited authors’ work. Therefore, authors may be quoted at times even though they may be heretical in some of their beliefs. This author is a true believer in “eat the chicken and spit out the bones.” One must use the Scriptures alone as the authority of all doctrine.
Please click here to access the web-page for all of the works cited–save those below under the “Other Works Cited” (if any). Most of the works cited on the web-page, correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of background information and other general reference citations, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with.
Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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