ELDERS, OIL, AND HEALING

Peter Barnes

There is a passage of Scripture that we often skip over when it comes to sickness and healing. The book of James asks whether any of us are sick, then says,'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.' Then there is the promise that the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and his sins will be forgiven (James 5:14-15). What are we to make of that? Only once in my life have I been involved in such a procedure. I will only venture a few comments, as I do not have very settled views on the subject.

1. The sick person is to call the elders. 1t is primarily the decision of the sick person to ask for this ministry.
2. The elders are to pray. This is not some extraordinary healing ministry, but one which is entrusted to the day-to-day leaders in the local church. There is no call to fly to the Philippines in search of some faith healer.
3. The elders are to anoint the sick person with oil. Some commentators regard the oil as medicinal. It was used in the parable of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:34), and the second-century physician Galen recommended oil as 'the best of all remedies for paralysis'. Some therefore believe that James was saying that the sick person should be treated with all available spiritual and scientific resources. That is a sensible procedure, but it seems to me that the oil is probably used as a kind of 'visible word'. This is not the Roman Catholic sacrament of extreme unction because the sick person is expected to recover, not to die. Anointing with oil symbolizes consecration to God.
4. The emphasis is on prayer and forgiveness of sins, not oil and physical healing. There is no promise in Scripture that God must heal us if we pray to Him. Paul prayed in faith three times that his thorn in the flesh would be removed, but the Lord refused his prayer (2 Cor. 12:7- 10). But God must hear the prayer of faith for forgiveness. We are to pray for healing, and believe that God is all-powerful and able to heal. But to conclude that He is committed to healing in every case is to go beyond the promises of Scripture.

All in all, this passage in James has been much neglected in some circles and much misunderstood in others. I am not sure that I have too much to contribute to the discussion. But it seems to me that in times of sickness, anointing with oil by the eiders is a practice that is quite biblical and one we should be resurrecting.