James 5:12 - Meaning and Application

As this letter is drawing to a close, the writer moves quickly from one subject to another. That is why these few verses touch on very different matters. He first warns against the sin of swearing: “Above all things, my brothers, do not swear” (James 5:12).

Some people take this too narrowly, as if James only meant, “Do not swear when people insult you or make you angry.” It is true that this kind of angry swearing is forbidden here. But that does not let anyone off who says they only swear when provoked and cannot help it. James’s warning reaches beyond that and covers other kinds of swearing too.

Some have translated the words as “before all things,” meaning, “Do not, in ordinary speech, keep adding oaths to everything you say.” All careless, needless swearing is clearly forbidden and is condemned throughout Scripture as a serious sin. Profane swearing was very common among the Jews, and this letter is addressed broadly to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, so James may be speaking to those who did not believe. It is hard to think that swearing should mark God’s children.

Peter, when he was accused of being a disciple of Christ and wanted to deny it, cursed and swore. He was trying to prove, in the strongest way, that he was not one of Jesus’s followers, because people knew true disciples would not freely do such a thing. Still, some loose and careless people who were called Christians may also have been guilty of this sin. In later years, it has sadly become very common, even among those who claim the Christian name and privileges. James says, “Above all things, swear not,” yet many people treat this as the least important matter and hardly think twice about common swearing.

Why is swearing forbidden above all things? First, it strikes directly at God’s honor and shows open contempt for his name and authority. Second, this sin has very little real temptation behind it. People do not swear for profit, pleasure, or reputation. They do it from a kind of wicked love of sin and a needless hostility toward God. “Your enemies take your name in vain” (Psalm 139:20). This shows that people are acting as God’s enemies, even if they claim his name or sometimes show him outward respect in worship. Third, once people get used to swearing, it is very hard to stop, so it must be guarded against from the start. Fourth, if you treat God’s name carelessly at other times, how can you expect it to be a strong refuge in your trouble?

At the same time, this does not forbid lawful and necessary oaths. Rather, it supports them by protecting the proper respect due to them. The true nature of an oath is to pledge the value of something great in order to confirm something smaller that is in question. It is not simply, as many think, an appeal to God or another judge. That is why people came to swear by heaven, by earth, and by other things, as James mentions here. The Jews thought they were safe if they only avoided the highest form of oath, but they became so irreverent that they swore by created things as if those things were God. In the same way, those who habitually swear by God’s name place him on the level of ordinary things.

James then says, “Let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under condemnation” (James 5:12). That means, let it be enough for you to say yes or no as the matter requires, and make sure you keep your word. Live so truthfully that no one has reason to suspect you of lying. Then you will avoid the guilt of backing up your words with rash oaths and using God’s name to defend yourself. People turn to swearing because others doubt their honesty. If it is known that you are truthful and steady in your word, there will be no need to swear to what you say. In this way you escape the condemnation tied to the third commandment, “The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

Christians are also taught to fit themselves to the changes of God’s providence, his wise rule over life (James 5:13). “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” Our life in this world is mixed. Sometimes we are sad, and sometimes we are glad. Wisdom teaches us to accept that and to act in a way that fits both trouble and joy. God has set these conditions side by side so that we may learn the duties he calls for and use even our emotions to help our worship.

Trouble should lead us to prayer, and prosperity should lead us to praise. That does not mean prayer is only for hard times, or singing is only for happy times. But each duty is especially fitting and useful at the right season. In a day of suffering, nothing is more fitting than prayer. The person who is afflicted must pray for himself, and he should also ask others to pray for him. Times of suffering should become times of prayer. God sends affliction partly so that we will seek him early, and so that those who have ignored him at other times will begin to look for him.

In affliction, the spirit is often more humble, and the heart is softer and more tender. Prayer is especially pleasing to God when it comes from a broken and humble heart. Afflictions also naturally bring out complaints, and prayer is the right place to take them. We also need faith and hope when we suffer, and prayer is the appointed means by which God gives and strengthens these graces in us. “Is anyone afflicted? Let him pray.”

On the other hand, in a day of gladness and prosperity, singing psalms is very proper and fitting.

The word here is simply “sing,” without any added word for psalms or anything else. From early Christian writers, such as Pliny, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, we learn that Christians often sang hymns in worship, either taken from Scripture or written more privately. Some people think Paul’s words to the Colossians and Ephesians, about speaking to one another in “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19), refer only to scriptural songs. The Hebrew psalms of David were also divided by names that closely match Paul’s words.

However that may be, we can be sure of this, singing psalms is an ordinance of the gospel, a commanded practice for Christian worship, and our joy should be holy joy, set apart for God. Singing is mentioned here in a way that shows even private gladness and prosperity should be turned into praise. Holy joy belongs in families and quiet places, as well as in public worship. Our singing should make melody in our hearts to the Lord, and God will surely be pleased with this kind of worship.

James then gives special directions for the sick, along with a promise of healing and forgiving mercy if those directions are followed. If anyone is sick, they are to send for the elders of the church, meaning the presbyters, pastors, or ministers (James 5:14-15). Sick people have a duty to ask for a minister’s help and prayers. It is also the minister’s duty to pray over the sick when they are asked to do so.

During the time when miracles of healing were given, the sick were to be anointed with oil in the name of the Lord. Most interpreters limit this anointing to those who had the power to work miracles, and when miracles ended, this practice ended too. In Mark’s Gospel, the apostles anointed many sick people with oil and healed them (Mark 6:13). There are also reports of this being practiced in the church about two hundred years after Christ, but the gift of healing went with it. When the miraculous gift ended, the rite was set aside.

The Roman Catholics have turned this into a sacrament called extreme unction. They do not use it to heal the sick, as the apostles did. Instead, they administer it only to those who are at the point of death. The apostolic anointing was meant to heal the disease, while the Roman Catholic version is said to remove the remains of sin and to strengthen the soul, as they claim, against evil powers. Since they cannot show by any visible result that Christ still owns this practice, they say the invisible results are wonderful. It is surely better to leave out the anointing than to turn it against the clear purpose given in Scripture.

Some Protestants have thought this anointing was only permitted or approved by Christ, not instituted by him. But James’s words here make it seem that it was commanded in cases where there was faith for healing. For that reason, some Protestants have argued for its use in a limited way. It was not meant for common use, even in the apostolic age. Some have thought it should not be wholly abandoned in every age, but that where there is extraordinary faith in the one anointing and in those anointed, an extraordinary blessing may still attend it.

Even so, one thing must be carefully noted here, the healing is not ascribed to the oil, but to prayer: “The prayer of faith will save the sick” (James 5:15). So prayer for the sick must come from, and be joined with, living faith. There must be faith in the one praying and in the one being prayed for. In sickness, cold and formal prayer is not what is effective, but the prayer of faith.

We should also notice the success of prayer. “The Lord will raise him up,” that is, if he is fit to be restored, and if God still has work for him to do in this world. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. This means that if sickness has been sent as punishment for a particular sin, that sin will be pardoned, and the removal of the sickness will show it. When Christ said to the crippled man, “Go and sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (John 5:14), he showed that some specific sin may have been behind the sickness.

So the main thing we should ask God for in sickness, for ourselves and for others, is the forgiveness of sin. Sin is both the root of sickness and its sting. If sin is forgiven, then either the affliction will be removed in mercy, or we will see mercy in its continuing. When healing rests on pardon, we can say with Hezekiah, “You have, in love for my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption” (Isaiah 38:17). When you are sick and in pain, you may naturally pray, “Give me relief, restore my health.” But your deeper and chief prayer should be, “God, pardon my sins.”

Christians are also told to confess their faults to one another, and so join together in prayer for one another (James 5:16). Some interpreters connect this with James 5:14, as if sick people should then confess their faults to the ministers who pray over them. That may be fitting when someone knows that a sickness is a direct punishment for a particular sin, and when the removal of the sickness seems tied to a special plea for pardon. In that case, it may be right to tell the minister the matter plainly, so he can pray wisely and specifically.

But the confession required here is between Christians, not, as Roman Catholics claim, to a priest. If people have wronged one another, acts of injustice must be confessed to those they were done against. If people have tempted one another to sin, or joined together in the same evil deeds, they should blame themselves before one another and stir each other up to repentance. If the sin is public and has caused public harm, then the confession should also be public enough to reach all who were affected. Sometimes it is also good to confess our faults to a wise minister or praying friend, so that he may help us plead with God for mercy and forgiveness.

But James is not telling us that we must confess everything wrong in ourselves or in others. He means that we should confess so far as it helps restore peace with someone we have wronged, or so far as we need help in matters of conscience and a quiet mind. Sometimes it is also useful for Christians with close trust and friendship to share their special weaknesses and struggles with one another. In that way, they can help each other by prayer, asking God for pardon and strength against sin.

Those who confess their faults to one another should then pray with and for one another. James has already pointed to different kinds of prayer. In James 5:13, those who suffer are told to pray for themselves. In James 5:14, they are told to ask for the prayers of ministers. In James 5:16, private Christians are told to pray for one another. So all kinds of prayer are encouraged here, ministerial prayer, shared prayer, and private prayer.

James next shows the great value and power of prayer. The earnest prayer of a righteous man or woman does great things, whether for self or for others, as Elijah shows in James 5:17-18. The one who prays must be righteous, not perfect in every way, because Elijah was not sinless. He must be righteous in the gospel sense, meaning he does not love sin or approve of it. As Psalm 66:18 says, if I hold on to sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

The prayer itself must also be earnest, alive, and heartfelt. It must be a real pouring out of the heart to God, and it must come from sincere faith. Such prayer is greatly useful. It helps us, it can greatly help our friends, and we can be sure it pleases God. It is a great blessing to have friends whose prayers are strong in God’s sight.

James proves this power of prayer from Elijah’s success. That should encourage us even in ordinary matters, because Elijah was a man with the same human feelings we have. He was a zealous good man, and a great prophet, yet he had weaknesses and was subject to strong feelings like other people. So in prayer we must not depend on human worth, but on God’s grace. The one thing we should copy from Elijah is that he prayed earnestly, or, as the wording means, “in prayer he prayed.” It is not enough to say words of prayer. We must truly pray while praying. Our thoughts must be focused, our desires strong, and our faith active. When we pray that way, we will find blessing in prayer.

Elijah prayed that it would not rain, and God heard him as he pleaded against an idolatrous and persecuting nation. Rain did not fall on the land for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain. Prayer is, as it were, the key that opens and shuts heaven. Revelation 11:6 seems to refer to this, where the two witnesses are said to have power to shut heaven so that it does not rain. This remarkable answer to prayer is recorded to encourage ordinary believers to be constant and earnest in prayer. God never says to any of the family of Jacob, meaning his people, “Seek my face in vain.” If Elijah could do such great things by prayer, then the prayers of no righteous person will come back empty. Even when God does not answer in such a miraculous way, he may still show the same grace.

James ends his letter by urging us to do all we can, in our place, to help others turn back and be saved, in James 5:19-20. Some think these verses are James defending himself for having spoken so plainly and sharply to the Jewish Christians about their sins and mistakes. He would indeed have a good reason, because in turning them from error he would help save souls and cover a multitude of sins. But this passage should not be limited to the apostle’s own work, or even only to the work of ministers. If anyone turns a person from error, whoever that helper may be, that person is serving as an instrument in saving a soul from death.

James still calls them brothers, yet he assumes they can go astray. It is no sign of wisdom or holiness to boast that we never err, or to refuse to admit when we are wrong. If anyone does err, no matter how important or how small he may be, we should not be afraid to show him his mistake. And no matter how weak or unimportant he may seem, we should not think it beneath us to help him grow wiser and better. If someone turns away from the truth, that is, from the gospel, which is the great rule of truth, whether in belief or in conduct, we should work to bring that person back to the rule.

Mistakes in belief and mistakes in life usually go together. Behind every practical failure, there is usually some wrong idea. No one is usually sinful without holding some sinful principle. So to convert such a person is to bring him back from error and from the evil into which he has fallen. We should not rush to accuse an erring brother, or try to bring shame and trouble on him. We should seek to restore him. And if, after all our efforts, we cannot do that, we are nowhere given authority to persecute or destroy him. If we help bring someone to repentance, we are said to convert him, even though the work belongs chiefly and ultimately to God. And if we can do no more, we can still pray that God’s grace and Spirit would turn and change him.

Those who are in any way useful in turning others back should know the blessed result. They may have great comfort in it now, and they will receive a crown at the end. The one who errs from the truth in James 5:19 is described here as straying from the right path in James 5:20. So we cannot say we have converted someone merely by changing his opinions, unless we also lead him to correct his conduct. True conversion is turning a sinner from the error of his way, not just moving him from one group to another, or from one view to another.

Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death. A soul is at stake here, and anything done toward the salvation of a soul will surely be rewarded. Since the soul is the main part of a person, James speaks of saving the soul, but that includes the whole person. The spirit will be saved from hell, the body raised from the grave, and both saved from eternal death. By such a change of heart and life, a multitude of sins will be covered. This is a very comforting passage of Scripture.

This teaches us that, though our sins are many, even a great number, they can still be hidden or forgiven. When sin is turned from and left behind, it will be hidden and never rise up against us in judgment. People may try in every way to cover or excuse their sin, but there is no real or lasting way to hide it except by forsaking it.

Some understand this verse to mean that conversion keeps a multitude of sins from happening. That is certainly true. Many sins are stopped in the person who is converted, and many more may also be prevented in others who come under that person’s influence or fellowship. So we should give ourselves with all possible care to the conversion of sinners.

This will bring happiness and salvation to the person who is converted. It will also prevent much harm, and keep sin from spreading and growing in the world. It will bring glory and honor to God, and it will greatly add to our comfort and praise on the great day. Those who turn many to righteousness, and those who help them do so, will shine like the stars forever and ever.