I am a member of the church at East Huntsville church of Christ in Huntsville, Alabama. As I was reading James 5:14-16, I started to wonder if an elder, or anyone, could pray for the forgiveness of my sins. I also wondered, if I had sinned for a long time, even until I was hardened to my sins, would I have to get a faithful person to rejoin me with God, or could I just pray to him in private for the forgiveness of my sins. This also made me wonder why when we go “forward” the preacher ask God to forgive us. Would God not forgive us, the erring sinner, if the preacher, or a faithful person didn’t intercede?
James 5:14-18 reads as follows:
“Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (James 5:14-18).
The type of prayer with which the context of James 5:14 forward begins is associated with miraculous healing ability that was available to the infant church of the first century. The anointing with oil in conjunction with the attendance of these miraculously endowed elders was symbolic (since olive oil would be entirely ineffective from a purely medical perspective for any number of medical maladies, then or now) and companion to the miraculous healing.
Outside of the consideration of the reference to miraculous healing, it is a New Testament teaching that Christians should pray for each other (inclusive of the elders). The text above reads “pray one for another.” By implication, the apostles of Christ in Acts 8 complied with the request of Simon (formerly the sorcerer) and prayed for him that his sins would be forgiven him.
“Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me” (Acts 8:22-24).
The James passage implies penitence upon the part of the recipient of prayer and the latter passage in Acts specifically mentions repentance. Prayer for forgiveness of sin, by one seeking forgiveness as well as by those who would pray with us for the forgiveness of sin, must be preceded by repentance.
Sins that are committed secretly should be the subject of private prayers. However, when our sins are public (known), and thereby reflect unfavorably upon the church (and those who comprise it ¾ other Christians), we sin against the church and the brethren, too. When repenting of public sins, penitent souls need to request forgiveness from fellow Christians also, who then should gladly forgive (2 Corinthians 2:6-7). Coming forward, at which time a preacher words a prayer, constitutes acknowledgement of repentance by the one coming forward and the extension of forgiveness by the brethren. All participate in the prayer, irrespective of whether the prayer is led by a preacher, an elder or someone else ¾ as in the case of all public prayers.
James 5:17-18, along with the preceding verses, emphasizes the efficiency of prayer to enlist the providence of God. Prayer is a frequent topic throughout the Bible and especially in the New Testament. Some form of the word “prayer” appears about 563 times in the Bible, besides other terms also used for prayer. Some references to these prayers are: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1). “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer should be a chief characteristic of each child of God and we should likewise covet the prayers of our brethren, too.
