The Berean Table

Companion: Full Deep Study · Summary Handout · All Line by Line studies

A narrated teaching walk through James 5:13–20 — about 47 minutes. Press Begin the lesson and the slides advance with the narration; or explore silently with the arrow buttons.

1James 5:13–20

James 5:13–20 · A Teaching Walk Through the Passage

The Prayer of Faith

In suffering, sickness, sin, and straying, the church prays in the name of the Lord who hears, heals, forgives, and restores.

2James 5:13–20

Opening Prayer

Show us Christ, our great High Priest

Almighty and gracious Father, you are the God who hears the cry of the afflicted and who delights in the praises of your people. As we open this closing word from your servant James, send your Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and to soften our hearts. Show us Christ, our great High Priest, in whose name alone we dare to pray. Where we are suffering, teach us to pray; where we are cheerful, teach us to sing; where we are sick, teach us to call upon your church; where we have sinned, grant us the grace of honest confession. Transform us into a people who seek one another’s restoration in love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

3James 5:13–20

Where we are

The end of the letter

  • James, the Lord’s brother, leader of the Jerusalem church, writes most likely around AD 44–49: one of the earliest Christian writings, breathing the air of the Sermon on the Mount.
  • Jerusalem is his city; his readers are Jewish believers of the Dispersion, scattered from Judea into congregations led by elders.
  • The letter is a chain of wisdom exhortations: trials and endurance, the tongue, a faith that acts, the double-minded heart, the poor and the rich.
  • The passage is the letter’s ending, with no farewell: a pastoral programme of prayer in every circumstance, widening from the individual to the congregation, then narrowing to one lost brother.
4James 1:1

Where we are · the Dispersion

The scattered assemblies

Map: Jerusalem, where James led the church, and the Dispersion of Jewish believers across Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Cilicia, Asia, Egypt, Cyrene, and beyond to Babylonia Jerusalem James, the Lord’s brother, leads the church here (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18) Antioch Damascus Tyre · Phoenicia Cyprus Tarsus · Cilicia Alexandria · Egypt Cyrene Ephesus · Asia to Babylonia “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” believers scattered from Judea (James 1:1; Acts 8:1; 11:19)
Relief map: Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (modern borders appear faintly). Routes and labels added.
5James 5:16

Where we are · Jerusalem

A man of prayer

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives: the Temple Mount, where James led the church and prayed for his people. Photo: brionv, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives: the Temple Mount, where James led the church and prayed for his people. Photo: brionv, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
6James 5:12–20

Where we are · the shape of James

The close of the letter

The shape of James: greeting, trials and wisdom, hearing and doing, partiality, faith and works, the tongue, two kinds of wisdom, the rich and the patient, prayer and restoration The letter in nine movements 1:1Greetinga servant, to the twelve tribes 1:2–18Trials, wisdom, new birthcount it all joy; ask in faith 1:19–27Hearing and doingthe implanted word; pure religion 2:1–13No partialitythe poor man in shabby clothing 2:14–26Faith and worksfaith without works is dead 3:1–12The tonguea small fire, a restless evil 3:13–4:12Two kinds of wisdomfrom above, or earthly; draw near 4:13–5:11The rich and the patientthe Lord’s coming is at hand the close · 5:12–20Oaths, prayer, healing, and bringing back the wanderer Wisdom from above, tested in trials, shown in works: the Sermon on the Mount preached to the scattered church (1:22; 2:8; 5:12).
7James 5:13–15

James 5:13–15 · ESV

Is anyone among you suffering?

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? 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. 15 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.

8James 5:16–18

James 5:16–18 · ESV

The prayer of a righteous person

16 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. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

9James 5:19–20

James 5:19–20 · ESV

Whoever brings back a sinner

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

10James 5:13–16

The shape of the passage

Four questions, one prayer

Four conditions and their Godward responses in James 5:13–16: suffering, pray; cheerful, sing praise; sick, call for the elders; sinning, confess to one another — all gathered under the prayer of faith offered in the name of the Lord Four questions, four Godward answers · vv. 13–16 Is anyone suffering?Let him praykeep on praying · v. 13 Is anyone cheerful?Let him sing praisesing psalms to God · v. 13 Is anyone sick?Call for the elderselders pray over him · v. 14 Has anyone sinned?Confess to one anotherpray for one another · v. 16 the prayer of faith · in the name of the Lordthe Lord will raise him up · he will be forgiven · that you may be healed The unit widens from the individual (v. 13) to the elders (vv. 14–15) to the whole congregation (v. 16), then Elijah proves the maxim (vv. 17–18), and the letter narrows to one lost brother (vv. 19–20). the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working · v. 16
11James 5:13–20

The shape of the passage

Six movements

  1. Prayer in Suffering, Song in Joy — James 5:13
  2. Call for the Elders — James 5:14
  3. The Prayer of Faith and the Lord Who Raises Up — James 5:15
  4. Confess to One Another, Pray for One Another — James 5:16
  5. Elijah, a Man with a Nature Like Ours — James 5:17–18
  6. Bringing Back the Wanderer — James 5:19–20
12James 5:13

Section 1 — Key Insight · James 5:13

Prayer in Suffering, Song in Joy

  • Two questions and two commands leave no one out: every believer is either suffering or cheerful, and each condition has a Godward response.
  • Suffering (kakopathei) is the broad hardship of the prophets (James 5:10), not sickness alone; the command is simply, keep on praying.
  • Cheerful (euthymei) is Paul’s “take heart” on the sinking ship; joy must become sung praise (psalletō) lest it curdle into self-congratulation.
  • The verse completes the letter’s teaching on the tongue: the mouth that must not swear (James 5:12) must speak to God.
  • Christ fulfils both halves: he prayed with loud cries and tears (Hebrews 5:7) and sang the Passover hymn (Matthew 26:30).
13James 5:13

Section 1 — Application · James 5:13

The reflex of the heart

  • Make prayer the reflex of hardship: take honest anguish to the right address before taking it anywhere else.
  • Make praise the reflex of gladness: keep a store of psalms and hymns, so that joy traces every good gift to the Father of lights (James 1:17).
  • Let the congregation carry both the lament of the afflicted and the songs of the glad, without silencing either (Romans 12:15).
  • A warning: the verse does not assign moods their permitted vocabulary. Sorrow does not exclude praise, and joy does not exclude petition.

Ask yourself: When hardship comes, what is your first response, and how would your day change if prayer became the reflex James describes?

14James 5:14

Section 2 — Key Insight · James 5:14

Call for the Elders

  • Sick (asthenei) here is bodily weakness serious enough to keep a person from the assembly; so the church must come to him.
  • The initiative lies with the sufferer: “let him call.” Illness is not to be hidden, and the elders are not to be presumed upon.
  • He calls the elders of the church (presbyteroi), the ordinary shepherds appointed in every congregation (Acts 14:23), not a wonder-worker.
  • Anointing with oil (aleiphō) is the everyday word for rubbing on oil, the common medicine and sign of care; it is subordinate to the prayer, and it is not a sacrament.
  • All is done in the name of the Lord: the elders are under-shepherds of the Shepherd who promised, “I will strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34:16).
15James 5:14

Section 2 — Application · James 5:14

Shepherds go to the sick sheep

  • When you are seriously ill, ask for the elders, and ask for them as elders: for prayer in Christ’s name, not only for company.
  • Elders should make praying over the sick a fixed part of their ministry, and should pray boldly for actual healing, not only for comfort.
  • The congregation should honour the office and make calling for the elders normal rather than alarming.
  • A warning: the oil is not a sacrament, confers no grace by its performance, and is not a rite for the dying. The verse sends us to our shepherds, and through them to Christ, not to a technique.

Ask yourself: When you or someone in your household is seriously ill, do you call for the elders, and if not, what keeps you from it?

16James 5:15

Section 3 — Key Insight · James 5:15

The Prayer of Faith and the Lord Who Raises Up

  • The prayer of faith (hē euchē tēs pisteōs) is prayer of undoubting trust in God’s power and goodness (James 1:6), not a prediction of the outcome.
  • “Will save” and “will raise him up” are the Gospels’ healing words; the agent is neither oil nor elders nor prayer, but the Lord.
  • “If he has committed sins”: sickness may be linked to sin (1 Corinthians 11:30), but is not always so (John 9:3); and the forgiveness is God’s.
  • The promise is general and governed by God’s will (1 John 5:14): Trophimus was left ill, and Paul’s thorn was answered with sufficient grace.
  • “Raise him up” is the verb of resurrection: every believer prayed over in faith will be raised, now or on the last day, by Christ.
17James 5:15

Section 3 — Application · James 5:15

Expectant, and submissive

  • Pray for the sick with real expectation, asking plainly for recovery in the name of the Lord.
  • Pray with submission: “your will be done” is the very shape of the prayer of faith, not a loophole in it.
  • Let sickness search the conscience honestly, without assuming that illness is always punishment.
  • A warning: healing is not guaranteed to whoever prays with enough faith; never use this verse to blame the sick or their elders when healing does not come.

Ask yourself: When you pray for someone who is seriously ill, do you actually ask God to heal them, or do you hedge the request so thoroughly that nothing is really asked?

18James 5:16

Section 4 — Key Insight · James 5:16

Confess to One Another, Pray for One Another

  • “Therefore” (oun) extends the sickroom’s confession and prayer into the ongoing habit of the whole congregation.
  • Confess “to one another” is mutual and continual, not confession to a priest; every believer is both confessor and hearer (Psalm 32:3–5).
  • “That you may be healed” (iathēte) reaches body and conscience alike; it is the word of Isaiah 53:5, “with his wounds we are healed.”
  • The righteous person (dikaios) is not the sinless saint but the justified believer whose life is not at war with his prayers (Psalm 66:18); such prayer prevails.
  • Behind every righteous intercessor stands Jesus Christ the righteous, who always lives to make intercession (Hebrews 7:25).
19James 5:16

Section 4 — Application · James 5:16

A confessing, interceding church

  • Practise confession as a habit, not an emergency measure: let at least one trusted believer know your besetting sins and pray for you.
  • Receive confession well: keep confidences, and answer with prayer and the gospel rather than shock or lecture (Galatians 6:1).
  • Take up intercession as real labour, keeping short accounts with God so that cherished sin does not stop your prayers.
  • A warning: mutual confession is not a return to the confessional. No believer holds the keys to another’s forgiveness, and prayer has “great power” because God answers it, not because we command him.

Ask yourself: Is there any believer who knows your besetting sins and prays for you about them, and if not, what step could you take this week?

20James 5:17–18

Section 5 — Key Insight · James 5:17–18

Elijah, a Man with a Nature Like Ours

  • James’s first word about Elijah is not that he was great but that he was like us (homoiopathēs): the prophet of Carmel is the prophet of the broom tree (1 Kings 19:4).
  • “He prayed with prayer” (proseuchē prosēuxato) is a Hebrew idiom of intensity: face between his knees, his servant sent seven times to look toward the sea.
  • The drought was a covenant sanction (Deuteronomy 11:17), and the rain came after Israel confessed, “The LORD, he is God”: the very sequence of verses 15–16.
  • Three years and six months is the reckoning Jesus also used (Luke 4:25); it became the apocalyptic figure for a limited season of judgment.
  • Christ is the greater Elijah: heaven torn open at his baptism, and his Spirit poured out like rain at Pentecost, so that his people bear fruit.
21James 5:17–18

Section 5 — Elijah’s two prayers · James 5:17–18

Sin shut heaven; prayer opened it

Elijah’s two prayers in James 5:17–18: he prayed and heaven was shut for three years and six months; Israel confessed on Carmel; he prayed again and heaven gave rain. Beneath, the covenant pattern shared by Israel in 1 Kings 18 and the church in James 5:15–16: sin, heaven shut, confession, prayer, rain; sickness, prayer, confession, forgiveness, healing Elijah’s two prayers · vv. 17–18 three years and six months · heaven shut He prayed fervently “neither dew nor rain” · 1 Kings 17:1 Carmel: the people confess “The LORD, he is God” · 1 Kings 18:39 He prayed again face between his knees · 1 Kings 18:42 the covenant threat · Deuteronomy 11:17 Solomon’s prayer answered · 1 Kings 8:35–36 rain, and the earth bore fruit · v. 18 the covenant pattern behind both stories Israel, 1 Kings 18 sin heaven shut confession prayer rain the church, vv. 15–16 sickness prayer confession forgiveness healing “A man with a nature like ours”: the prophet of Carmel is the prophet of the broom tree (1 Kings 19:4). Christ, the greater Elijah: heaven torn open (Mark 1:10), the Spirit poured out like rain (Acts 2:33).
22James 5:17–18

Section 5 — Application · James 5:17–18

Weak believers, a strong God

  • Stop excusing prayerlessness by ordinariness: the God who heard a weak prophet hears weak believers.
  • Pray fervently, with the persistence Jesus commended in the widow who would not stop asking (Luke 18:1).
  • Pray according to God’s Word, asking for what he has promised, so that confidence rests on his promise and not on ours.
  • A warning: Elijah’s example does not authorise us to call down judgments, control the weather, or bend God to our purposes. It teaches the power of a righteous person’s prayer, not the power of a person over God.

Ask yourself: What excuse do you most often give for not praying earnestly, and how does Elijah’s example answer it?

23James 5:19–20

Section 6 — Key Insight · James 5:19–20

Bringing Back the Wanderer

  • The letter ends not with a farewell but with a rescue, addressed tenderly to “my brothers” for the last time.
  • Wanders from the truth (planēthē) is a sheep straying from the gospel and its way of life: the double-minded man of James 1:8 in his final stage.
  • “Someone brings him back” (epistrepsē) lays restoration on any believer, in the word Jesus spoke to Peter, “when you have turned again” (Luke 22:32).
  • The restorer saves a soul from death, the death that sin brings forth (James 1:15), and is the instrument of God’s covering forgiveness (Proverbs 10:12).
  • The passage completes Ezekiel 34: Christ the Good Shepherd seeks the strayed and covers a multitude of sins with his own blood.
24James 5:19–20

Section 6 — The wanderer brought back · James 5:19–20

From the truth, and home again

The wanderer of James 5:19–20: from the truth, away into wandering, and brought back home by someone who goes after him; the result is a soul saved from death and a multitude of sins covered, the Shepherd’s own work of Ezekiel 34 The wanderer brought back · vv. 19–20 among you · the truthBorn by the word of truththe gospel and its way of life (1:18)a brother “among you” · v. 19 awayWandering from the truththe double-minded man (1:8; 4:8)the road that ends in death (1:15) wanders (planēthē) · v. 19 brought back (epistrepsē) · v. 19 let him know · v. 20 will save his soul from death will cover a multitude of sins The Shepherd’s own work: “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed” (Ezekiel 34:16). Every sin covered is covered by the Shepherd’s blood (Proverbs 10:12; Psalm 32:1; 1 Peter 4:8).
25James 5:19–20

Section 6 — Application · James 5:19–20

Someone must go

  • Go after the wanderers in your church and family instead of letting them drift (Matthew 18:15).
  • Go gently and humbly, as a sinner seeking a sinner, with the gospel rather than a verdict (Galatians 6:1).
  • Value the work rightly: one conversation, one visit, one persistent prayer may be the means by which God saves a soul.
  • A warning: bringing back a wanderer is not policing the church for the impure, and the doctrine of perseverance must never become a reason to leave a wanderer alone.

Ask yourself: Who in your church or family has wandered from the truth, and what would it cost you to go and bring them back?

26James 5:13–20

The throughline

One Lord behind every prayer

The Christological throughline of James 5:13–20: Christ prayed and sang; his is the name the elders invoke; he is the Lord who raises up and forgives; the Righteous One who intercedes; the greater Elijah who opened heaven; the Good Shepherd who brings back the strayed and covers sins One Lord behind every prayer · the throughline v. 13He prayed, and he sangloud cries and tears; the Passover hymn v. 14The name the elders invoke“in the name of the Lord” (Acts 3:6) v. 15The Lord who raises upheals and forgives (Mark 2:9–11) v. 16The Righteous One who intercedesalways lives to plead (Hebrews 7:25) vv. 17–18The greater Elijahheaven torn open; the Spirit as rain vv. 19–20The Good Shepherdseeks the strayed, covers their sins the Lord who hears, heals, forgives, and restoresJesus Christ, the righteous intercessor whose prayer opened heaven The righteous person’s prayer prevails because the Righteous One’s prayer has already prevailed (John 11:42).
27James 5:13–14

For discussion

Questions for the table

  1. When hardship comes, what is your first response, and how would your day change if prayer became the reflex James describes?
  2. Do you sing to God when things go well, or do you enjoy his gifts without turning them into praise?
  3. When you or someone in your household is seriously ill, do you call for the elders, and if not, what keeps you from it?
  4. If you are an elder, or may one day be, how does this verse define the shape of the office?
28James 5:15–16

For discussion

Questions for the table

  1. When you pray for someone who is seriously ill, do you actually ask God to heal them, or do you hedge the request so thoroughly that nothing is really asked?
  2. How should you respond when you have prayed in faith for healing and it has not come?
  3. Is there any believer who knows your besetting sins and prays for you about them, and if not, what step could you take this week?
  4. How do you respond when a brother or sister confesses sin to you, and do you make yourself a safe person for such confession?
29James 5:17–20

For discussion

Questions for the table

  1. What excuse do you most often give for not praying earnestly, and how does Elijah’s example answer it?
  2. How would your prayers change if, like Elijah, you prayed the promises and warnings of God’s Word back to him?
  3. Who in your church or family has wandered from the truth, and what would it cost you to go and bring them back?
  4. If you have ever been brought back from wandering, what did the person who came for you do well, and how can you do the same for another?
30James 5:13–20

Closing Prayer

Let heaven give rain upon our dry hearts

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the truth set before us in these closing words of your servant James. You have shown us that there is no season of life in which you do not invite us to yourself, no sickness beyond the reach of your hand, no sin too great for your forgiveness, and no wanderer too far for your seeking love. Forgive us, for Christ’s sake, and cover our multitude of sins with his precious blood. Grant us grace to pray in every trouble, to sing in every joy, to call upon the elders in every weakness, and to confess our sins with humble honesty. Make us a people who go after the wanderer. In the name of the Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.

31James 5:16

James 5:13–20

The prayer of a righteous person has great power

The Lord who hears every prayer, raises up the sick, forgives the confessing, and brings back the wanderer is Jesus Christ, the righteous intercessor whose prayer opened heaven and whose blood covers a multitude of sins.

The full study, the summary handout, and more passages are at thebereantable.com — examine the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11).

About 47 minutes, narrated · open without narration
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Keyboard: ← → slides · space play/pause · T transcript. Scripture quotations are from the ESV®.