Jam 5:15, 20 | JFB | STEP | 15. prayer —He does not say the oil shall save: it is but the symbol. save —plainly not as Rome says, "save" the soul. but heal "the sick": as the words, "the Lord shall raise him up," prove. So the same Greek is translated, "made (thee) whole," . and if . . . sins —for not all who are sick are so because of some special sins. Here a case is supposed of one visited with sickness for special sins. have committed —literally, " be in a state of having committed sins," that is, be under the consequences of sins committed. they —rather, "it": his having committed sins shall be forgiven him. The connection of sin and sickness is implied in . The absolution of the sick, retained in the Church of England, refers to the sins which the sick man confesses ( ) and repents of, whereby outward scandal has been given to the Church and the cause of religion; not to sins in their relation to God, the only Judge.

James 5:15

15. prayer—He does not say the oil shall save: it is but the symbol.

save—plainly not as Rome says, "save" the soul. but heal "the sick": as the words, "the Lord shall raise him up," prove. So the same Greek is translated, "made (thee) whole," Mt 9:21, 22.

and if . . . sins—for not all who are sick are so because of some special sins. Here a case is supposed of one visited with sickness for special sins.

have committed—literally, "be in a state of having committed sins," that is, be under the consequences of sins committed.

they—rather, "it": his having committed sins shall be forgiven him. The connection of sin and sickness is implied in Isa 33:24; Mt 9:2-5; Joh 5:14. The absolution of the sick, retained in the Church of England, refers to the sins which the sick man confesses (Jas 5:16) and repents of, whereby outward scandal has been given to the Church and the cause of religion; not to sins in their relation to God, the only Judge.

James 5:20

20. Let him—the converted.

know—for his comfort, and the encouragement of others to do likewise.

shall save—future. The salvation of the one so converted shall be manifested hereafter.

shall hide a multitude of sins—not his own, but the sins of the converted. The Greek verb in the middle voice requires this. Pr 10:12 refers to charity "covering" the sins of others before men; James to one's effecting by the conversion of another that that other's sins be covered before God, namely, with Christ's atonement. He effects this by making the convert partaker in the Christian covenant for the remission of all sins. Though this hiding of sins was included in the previous "shall save," James expresses it to mark in detail the greatness of the blessing conferred on the penitent through the converter's instrumentality, and to incite others to the same good deed.