STAND STRONG
STAND STRONG
7.15 - James 5, No More Than Four
As we conclude our Journey Through James, we spend time considering the consistent truth of God's Word and wrestle with verses which are difficult to understand.
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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/
Well, good morning and welcome back to the Stand Strong podcast. We are in James five today for our last episode In our journey through James. It's kind of hard to believe that we're already getting to the end of James.
Paul:Man what a wonderful study it has been. Those of y'all who are listening, I tell you, going through this with Noah and, and picking his brain and listening to what he's had to say through this is his, I have profited from it, five chapters, but you could spend five months Oh yeah. On James. So, yeah. It's kind of, kind of sad that we're on the last one, but I'm, I'm looking forward to today. We give the pick four. Which too, a piece, but,
Noah:well, you know, there's, there's a reason that I, at the beginning of the season was angling for calling it no more than four.'cause I, I realized that at some point, you know, I'm gonna run out of things to say. So yeah, with the, no more than four this time I admit I've really just got one. It's kind of a broad one. It's a, a little bit of a different kind of application or impact point for us. And so I just, I just have the one though. And so I, I guess I'll just go ahead and jump in with that and then we can get to to your thoughts on James chapter five here. But you know, we've mentioned before that James kind of is like a New Testament proverbs or a New Testament wisdom literature, very practical, very in your face sometimes, you know, just kind of down to earth. But James chapter five, as I was reading it in preparation for this no more than four episode it really was heavily reminding me of a different section of God's wisdom in God's teaching.
Paul:Mm-hmm.
Noah:And that is the Sermon on the Mount. The more I read this chapter, the more highlights I could find of the Sermon on the Mount. I mean. If you just start in the first couple verses here of James five, come now. You rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh. You have laid up treasure in the last days. I mean, when I think of riches. Rotting away. Mm-hmm. You know, I think of Matthew chapter six, layup Treasure in Heaven, where Moth and rust do not destroy. And you can work through the whole chapter this way and, and start to see these things verses four and five when it talks about the injustice. You have, you have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. Again, in Matthew six, there's this idea of the people who worship for the attention and fast for the attention they've received, their reward. It's a very similar concept here. And, and I'm not gonna drag on through all of all of the comparisons that you can make, but it really, when you get down to verse 12. He even says, but above all, my brothers do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes. Be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Well, Matthew chapter five, verse 37 ish. Mm-hmm. Jesus gives the exact same you know, instruction lets your yes. Be yes and your no be no. So I, some, I guess would say, okay, that's interesting. Connections, you know, like all the ones that I've pointed out. And there's even more if we covered the rest of the, that first part of James chapter five, but what's the point? The, the thing that struck me, I. As far as an application point for us to me this is a clear, it's a powerful reminder that God's word is intended to be taught and applied, and that's what James is doing. I mean, when he's writing this letter, yes, it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. I'm not, I'm not changing that. I'm not, I'm not trying to detract from that, but. He's teaching the things that Jesus taught and like we've talked about it being a very practical book. He's drawing application. He's, he's saying, here's the principle and here's how it ought to be lived. And that's the intention for God's word is that it to be. Taught and it be applied and the truth of it hasn't changed. These are the same principles that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. James is writing them here in his letter and we're still benefiting them from them today, you know, 2000 years later. So that was a, for me, kind of, I. A concluding thought that really struck me as I was working through this is it just is a, a good reminder of the consistency of the wisdom and the goodness of God and the truth of his teaching. It's, it's always relevant. It's always practical. It's always applicable.
Paul:Yeah. I, I think those excellent points to see how scripture harmonizes with other scripture and what Jesus had to teach and to say is very closely related to wisdom and truth that we, what we see here in. In the book of James. Mm-hmm. You know, so you've been staying in the first part of chapter five. There was something, we talked about it briefly last podcast, but I wanna go back kind of as a word guy I, words or vehicles by which we communicate something and based upon what. Was going on. And when James was writing, there's two words. He uses Noah in chapter five in the earlier sections. He uses the word patient like in verse seven and eight. Be patient. Be patient. Mm-hmm. Patience in verse 10. But then he uses the word the new King James in verse 11. We count them blessed who endure. I think that Inga standard has endure as well. Let's see in verse 11. Remains steadfast. Remains steadfast. All right? Mm-hmm. So you've got the word patient or patience, and then you've got the word endure or steadfast. Mm-hmm. Those are two different Greek terms. So the word he uses, the Greek term that's translated by the English word patient, I think has to do with, this, this with regards to people has its application with people.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:And then the Endure steadfast has its application with regards to the trials.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:And so what we need of the Lord when people are making life hard, what we need of the Lord when trials. That we have to undergo our making life hard.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:And that's his point there. And as he's talked about that, then he just asks a question in verse 13, is anyone among you suffering? Well, that word there for suffer or suffering. Has to do with hardships and troubles and trials.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:So what does he say to do when life is very difficult for you as a result of the hardships and the difficulties that you're going through? He had already said, be patient, be steadfast. Mm-hmm. Now he says, take it to the Lord in prayer. Now he says, pray about it. Mm-hmm. And so in the context of a discussion about prayer, then James says some things in verses 14, 15 and 16 then, in my estimation, are three of the most difficult passages in the entire
Noah:book. Yes. Now, real quick, before we get to those verses, I just want to call out another one since we, since you touched on it, I have an excuse to say this. So we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. It. That's another sermon on the Mount reference in my mind. Mm-hmm. Blessed. Same word by the way. Same, same Greek word to my understanding, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you and others revile you and persecute you and under all kinds of evil against you. That's just another callback to the Sermon on the Mount. We consider them blessed who? Remains steadfast. Yeah. Those who are steadfast through trial anyway. Okay. No, I like
Paul:it. We're getting notes for the margins here, if y'all are writing that down. That's good. So the subject of prayer, and then James is gonna say some things. Now let me say this before, I'm gonna read verses 14, 15, and 16. I'm actually gonna read it from the new King James. Then Noah, I'm gonna let you read it from the English standard. Okay? I don't know, I didn't check this to see if it reads a little bit differently, but I wanna make this point. Remember, Bible Study 1 0 1, this was told to me years ago, and it is, it has stayed with me. We're reading somebody else's mail. I'm not saying the Bible is not relevant to us and applicable to us in 2025, and if the Lord lets us live and this world continue, it is gonna still be applicable till, till he comes back. Right. But the point is there are some things and, and most everybody who's, who's really dug into a text, looked at it in its context, realizes context is everything. And also you need to appreciate that there are some things that are being said that. Had a special application to an audience. At the time that it was written.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:Okay. So anyway, I'm gonna read from the New King James. We're looking at 14, 15, and 16. So this was my pick one or two ish because I didn't want to push past this. And again, I don't have this grand delusion that I'm gonna unpack. Verses 14, 15, 16, and everybody's gonna be like, you know what? I agree with what he's saying because there are really smart people and good people that I've been in class with here at Cedar Park. I've taught James, others have taught James, and there's been disagreement. Yeah. And, and I'm not upset by that because this is, this is a rich passage. All right. New King James. Let's begin in verse 14. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them the elders pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith. We will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Verse 16, confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. All right, Noah, how does the ESV read?
Noah:There is anyone among you sick? Verse 14. Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Paul:Okay, very, very similar. A little bit of difference in verse 16. So, you know, here's the question and, and again, word studies are helpful. Mm-hmm. I'm a word guy. I can appreciate word studies, but if we get tripped up by a word study. To the point that we missed the context in my opinion, that we, we, we, we might miss what was really being said.
Noah:Yeah,
Paul:but to be fair, so that word, that Greek word in verse 14, is anyone among you sick, that Greek word. Well, when you look at that Greek word here, here's, here's the challenge there. That word can and is used to refer to both physical sickness and spiritual sickness, right? So everybody's like, okay, now, well, which one is it? Well, let's just read the passage again. Is anyone among you Sick call for the OS of the church? Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith. Verse 15 will save the sick. The prayer of faith will save the sick different Greek word there in verse 15 for sick. And the Greek word in verse 15 for six is used at times to, to refer to someone who is weary. I mean, they're just, they've just been beat down. Yeah. By the difficulties of life contextually, could that fit James five? A hundred percent it could.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:But what else could also fit the context of James five? And you know, so again, I wanna put my cards on the table. I think the context, and again, I. I just, y'all heard me say word studies are important. Do the word studies. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm putting my cards on the table, on my position. So when he talks about the sickness in verse 14, and he says, call for the elders. And he says, have the elders anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer faith will save the sick. I think he's dealing with primarily a physical sickness. Hmm. Now, if I were pressed to a point. I would say, but I can see it also having its application to spiritual sickness. Yeah, but why do I primarily think the context is the physical sickness? Because then he says at the end of verse 15, and, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So you, you've got the anointing with oil in the name of the Lord and you've got the prayer of faith that is, that is being mentioned there, and the Lord's gonna raise him up. Is gonna deliver him from that physical ailment or sickness, and if he's committed sins, they will be forgiven. Mm-hmm. So I, as I understand the context, first of all, what's under discussion here is primarily a physical sickness. And in that result, again, context first century when James is riding, this is not somebody that had the sniffles. Or a, or a headache. Yeah. And okay. This is somebody who's obviously bedridden to a point this, this is a life or death situation. They can, I mean, they can't go to the elders. The elders have to come to them.
Noah:Hmm.
Paul:And so he says, this is what the elders will do when they come, they will anoint with oil. I'll say a little bit about that in a minute, but I'm gonna toss it to you if you got something. But they're gonna, they're gonna anoint with oil in the name of the Lord and they're gonna pray. Now, the healing perhaps in, in its specific application at the time that James was writing elders. Perhaps had miraculous abilities that would've been, wouldn't have been without question, you know, out of the, sure. That was a bit a possibility. And so these elders in the first century with miraculous ability could go and pray over this person who was sick, anoint him in the oil, and this person would be raised up. Now who's raising them up? The Lord. Right. What is ultimately. Healing them from this life-threatening illness. It's not the oil. Yeah, and it's not the elders, it's the prayer of faith. It's the power of God. As it connects to the prayer of faith, faith in these elders, and the miraculous ability in these elders. So that's, that's a little bit of my position here. Now, not saying I'm right, but the question I was gonna toss to you or you can talk, feel free to talk about anything in here. You want to. But the thing I was gonna toss back to you is why call for the elders?
Noah:Mm. Yeah.
Paul:Call for the doctor, right? Or why, why call for the elders?
Noah:Yeah. You know? So to me this, this makes sense to call for the elders and, and it, to me it makes sense regardless of whether or not you take this as a physical a physical healing or a spiritual healing, which to put my cards on the table. Well, let me say this first. This is one of those passages that. I, every time I read it, I think, you know what, I need to, I need to re-study that because, because I feel like every time I come back to it. I have I have to grapple with it again. And so that being said, this is, this is something I want to continue working through. I tend to be inclined towards thinking of it as, as a spiritual healing as opposed to a physical healing. But regardless of which way you take it, calling for the elders makes sense because in the, the way we see the New Testament church the, the way we see it described as a, as a body and as a family. The elders being the shepherds or the overseers of a local church, it, to me it makes sense whether you are fighting a, a serious ailment, you know, a life threatening ailment or a soul threatening spiritual ailment. The people that you're gonna want, there are those who are supposed to be looking out for you and watching over your souls. I, I think sometimes we oversize. The, the elders role there's no doubt that the elders are, the elders are described in the New Testament as looking out for your souls. Mm-hmm. But if we limit the influence and the oversight of the elders to simply that. The, what we would consider spiritual things, then we lose out on the richness of the relationship that we ought to be having with our shepherds and the way that we ought to be sharing life with them. And so to me it makes sense whether this is a physical or a spiritual ailment, that the people you'd want to be there with you and the people you'd want praying over, you are the people that are invested in you as shepherds. Of you and your family and, and your souls.
Paul:Right? Right. And I think those, those are very, very good points. Sometimes Noah, you know, somebody's, somebody's reading that says, Hey, I've got my Bible and I understand the Bible is the way that God speaks to us today. And it's his word. There is truth. And so I'm, I'm reading in my Bible about an elder coming and praying over this person who has a, a sickness. And anointing them with oil in this person is healed. Mm-hmm. And why, why, why aren't we doing that today? Mm-hmm. Why aren't we doing that today? It's, it's interesting. There's, there's two Greek words for anointing and that that's a rich study. But the one that James is using here in, in my opinion, what, what we've got here is a special situation in the first century that has special application to a Jewish audience. And at a time where they had miraculous abilities. Even if you take the miraculous out of it and just look at the oil and say, well, you know, it was, was for medicinal purposes or it was symbolic. I, I, I, I understand that, that that could be there. In Mark's gospel, chapter six in verse 13 you know, in, in Jesus' day they were casting out devils and anointing with all many who were sick and, and healing them. I I, is that happening today? Well, you talk to some people and say, yes, we still have those powers today. I don't believe that.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:But it could be some, take the position that, you know, this is, this is simply a medicinal quality that was in these oils. I mean, think about the good Samaritan that, that we read in Luke 10. There, there were healing properties in these oils. And so some take that position, whatever position you take, the, the, the. The difficulty sometimes for some people is, look, I have some money that I deeply love and they're seriously sick. Why won't you do this? And what's going on here? It's the prayer of faith of a person who's brought the oil and anointed with the oil, calling upon God to do what only God can do. Now, if someone takes the position that in the 21st century, this anointing with oil does not have its application in the 21st century, like it did the first century, then you're asking them to come do something that they cannot in good conscience do.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:You know, in, in faith, it doesn't mean they don't care. It doesn't mean that they discounted all the power of God to heal the, to physically sick. Absolutely. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man has power in his working availeth much there, there's power in prayer because the prayer is connected to God. God, if you will, I know it's possible for you to heal this person of this physical sickness. I can pray that prayer in faith, but for me personally, to bring the oil. And anoint with all I. I can't in good conscience because I don't take the position that in the 21st century, that's what this passage means to us today.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:Does that make sense? I'm, I hope I'm making sense.
Noah:I'm, I think I'm following you. Yeah, I, I do.
Paul:Now look, there, there are several things about this context with the anointing of oil and, and. And what application, you know, there are, there are some religious folks some that, that I have been very close to in my life that, that take the position. It's, it's kind of similar to the Catholic position of extreme unction. And, and think that this is a passage that supports that, you know, you, you, you call for, well, in their position they would be looking to a priest. Mm-hmm. Not necessarily an elder. Right. And so what the priest is doing is anointing those in preparation of death. And James is talking about anointing those who are sick with all. Yeah. So, but I, I'm just stating that because I want people to realize that there are people who are, who, who would take a passage out of its context to make it say what it was never intended to say. Yeah. In the 21st century again, we've talked about the difference between the spiritual sickness and, and, and the physical sickness or the weariness of heart. Right. You know, what exact is exactly going on. I wanna read from this. I, I, I think a very scholarly, in fact, I have some of his writings in my library, and I've, I've learned a lot over the years. I mean, this is one man's position. Yeah. You know, and just like I gave my position, but he wrote this about James chapter five here. It seems quite clear. He says, from all the facts in the case that the elders contemplating here contemplated here were miraculously endowed. And were thus enabled to participate in miraculous healing in the manner described here in James chapter five, concerning the anointing. He says it appears quite clear here that the use of oil was symbolic and not medicinal, and thus served as a token of the power of God by which healing was accomplished. Hmm. There's a merit there. In my mind there's merit there. Now let me read you another one. I have some of his writings and, and, and just as scholarly as the next guy. Well, his position was that, that he, here's what he says. There is nothing in this passage that indicates the need for miraculous powers on the part of elders in performing their duty. The example which James. It gives points out the fact that the elders of the church were expected to visit those in need and administer to their needs, either physically or spiritually. Oil. Oil was normally used for medicine and would not indicate a miracle in any sense here.
Noah:So very different,
Paul:completely different. Now, why, why did I choose those two? I choose those two, or I chose those two because if I gave you the names, most everybody listening would be like, yeah, I respect him. I respect him. They, they've both gone on to be with the Lord, but I, I, I'm reading those two because they're completely two different views. These are good godly men serving the Lord that, that look at a text and say. It's saying this and somebody says, no, it's saying this. Has anything about that changed? No.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:Yeah. Yeah. So I just, I, I, I'm trying to get people to appreciate that not everybody's at the same place in this context. And if you're asking somebody to come do what they conscientiously in faith cannot do. You see?
Noah:Yeah. Yeah. Then that's, that's gonna be a, it's gonna become a source of, of difficulty if, if that's persisted. Yeah, for sure. Well, I'm looking at the time and I realize that we may have ended up making this one of the longer episodes of the season, but what a way to go out. Right, uhoh, go, go a little bit long. That's, that's not a problem. Go
Paul:longer or go home.
Noah:It's okay. Well I've really enjoyed James, the whole, the whole book has just been so beneficial to me. You were saying at the beginning, Paul, that you've enjoyed getting to hear my thoughts. Well, let me just say I've enjoyed getting to hear yours. It's been very, very beneficial for me. It's challenged me to see. C-sections of James in a way that I haven't seen them before and, and has challenged me to grow and I've really enjoyed that.
Paul:Yeah, I have too. I, I, I want to end, I want to end our James journey. I. One of the most profound things that has its application to all of us, whether it's Noah and I who are leading in the podcast, or those who are listening. I love what James says as just a reminder, because we're, we're calling our podcast Stand Strong.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:James tells us very early on in the book, in chapter one, be doers of the word, not hearers only. Mm-hmm. So why do we take a journey through any book of the Bible? We want to hear from God. We wanna learn from God. All right. What's the text saying to us about God? And now what does this text say to us about ourselves, where we make application?'cause we don't wanna just have a podcast and talk about these things. We don't wanna just sit and read the word and do nothing about what the word is telling us to be strong. We have to be doers and not hearers only.
Noah:Mm-hmm. That's a good reminder and a, and a good way to wrap up the book is as we come to a conclusion here for all those who have been joining us this season. Thank you for coming on this journey through James with us. Thank you for being a part of this study. We'd love to hear from you. The, the feedback survey and the question and answer form are always. Available. The links are in the description of every episode, so we encourage you if you followed with us this far reach out and let us know if there's something you'd like us to cover. We're looking forward to next season. We should be back next week with another study. We'll let you know next week. With that will be, we're gonna keep it close to our chests for the moment, but we're looking forward to another opportunity to dive into the word of God. To learn from the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, the words of the Holy Spirit and, and the very real ways that we can apply those today because we know that the, the better we understand God's word, the better we'll be able to do his word. The closer we'll grow to him, and the closer we grow to him, the more we will be able to stand strong.
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