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Scott's Reference Library
James 5:13 through James 5:20 (NIV)
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him
sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the
church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And
the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise
him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to
each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a
righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and
it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and
the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should
bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his
way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 12-18
The sin of swearing is condemned; but how many make light of common profane
swearing! Such swearing expressly throws contempt upon God’s name and authority.
This sin brings neither gain, nor pleasure, nor reputation, but is showing
enmity to God without occasion and without advantage It shows a man to be an
enemy to God, however he pretends to call himself by his name, or sometimes
joins in acts of worship. But the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain. In a day of affliction nothing is more seasonable than prayer.
The spirit is then most humble, and the heart is broken and tender. It is
necessary to exercise faith and hope under afflictions; and prayer is the
appointed means for obtaining and increasing these graces. Observe, that the
saving of the sick is not ascribed to the anointing with oil, but to prayer. In
a time of sickness it is not cold and formal prayer that is effectual, but the
prayer of faith. The great thing we should beg of God for ourselves and others
in the time of sickness is, the pardon of sin. Let nothing be done to encourage
any to delay, under the mistaken fancy that a confession, a prayer, a minister’s
absolution and exhortation, or the sacrament, will set all right at last, where
the duties of a godly life have been disregarded. To acknowledge our faults to
each other, will tend greatly to peace and brotherly love. And when a righteous
person, a true believer, justified in Christ, and by his grace walking before
God in holy obedience, presents an effectual fervent prayer, wrought in his
heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, raising holy affections and believing
expectations and so leading earnestly to plead the promises of God at his
mercy-seat, it avails much. The power of prayer is proved from the history of
Elijah. In prayer we must not look to the merit of man, but to the grace of God.
It is not enough to say a prayer, but we must pray in prayer. Thoughts must be
fixed, desires must be firm and ardent, and graces exercised. This instance of
the power of prayer, encourages every Christian to be earnest in prayer. God
never says to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek my face in vain. Where there may
not be so much of miracle in God’s answering our prayers, yet there may be as
much of grace.
VERSES 19-20
It is no mark of a wise or holy man, to boast of being free from error, or to
refuse to acknowledge an error. And there is some doctrinal mistake at the
bottom of every practical mistake. There is no one habitually bad, but upon some
bad principle. This is conversion; to turn a sinner from the error of his ways,
not merely from one party to another, or from one notion and way of thinking to
another. There is no way effectually and finally to hide sin, but forsaking it.
Many sins are hindered in the party converted; many also may be so in others
whom he may influence. The salvation of one soul is of infinitely greater
importance than preserving the lives of multitudes, or promoting the welfare of
a whole people. Let us in our several stations keep these things in mind,
sparing no pains in God’s service, and the event will prove that our labour is
not in vain in the Lord. For six thousand years He has been multiplying pardons,
and yet his free grace is not tired nor grown weary. Certainly Divine mercy is
an ocean that is ever full and ever flowing. May the Lord give us a part in this
abundant mercy, through the blood of Christ, and the sanctification of the
Spirit.