Praying for the Sick and Confession of Sins
15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. (James 5:15-16a)
Continuing on this theme of prayer and from yesterday’s emphasis of praying for the sick, James states, “The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” Now, this does not imply that if someone has some sort of capacity of faith, God will immediately heal and answer that individual’s prayer, but instead, it means that, as believers, we can have faith and confidence that the Lord hears our prayers and will respond to them according to His will and timing. Now, those who pray in faith will have two outcomes according to the verse. First, the prayers can help the individual recover from their illness.
Second, the words about forgiveness of sin imply that some illnesses can be brought about by sin due to the sick individual. As Anders writes, “In such instances the healing provided a sign that God had forgiven the sins.” What is encouraging is that there is forgiveness available, healing and restoration for those who ask of God, who heals completely.
Lea adds some more commentary: “With these promises God still retains his freedom to do his will and work things out in the ways best for the kingdom. Prayer can bring healing, but lack of healing does not show that the one praying lacks faith. Neither does it show that the prayer is somehow invalid or God is somehow incapable of healing.” God answers prayers according to His will and His timing.
Then, in the first half of verse 16, we see that James urges believers to confess their sins in prayer, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” Knowing that God does heal those that have sinned, believers should confess their sins early on. James’ challenge of confessing to other believers is to keep each other accountable in your spiritual walk. “It is confession to dedicated, trusted prayer warriors who will interceded for you with God” (Lea). As a small note, this verse has been used to justify the practice of confessing to a priest, yet this verse explicitly states to confess to other fellow believers and pray with one another.
Therefore, may we pray for the sick, knowing that God hears our prayers and will answer according to His will. May we also confess our sins, not hiding them, but bringing them to God in prayer, as well as to fellow believers, that we may keep each other accountable as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. May we not be quick to judge one another, but rather, encourage and intentionally pray for one another.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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