HOW ARE CHRISTIANS TO UNDERSTAND
THE USE OF THE WORD "OIL" IN
JAMES 5:14

Verse 14 of James 5 must be interpreted along with verse 15. The two verses together are, "¹⁴Is 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. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and, if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him."

If verse 14 is studied as not being modified by verse 15, the command is very clear. If a Christian is sick, he is to call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

But does verse 15 modify how this command is to be obeyed? It says the prayer of faith will save him. The consensus of Scripture teaches that salvation comes by the grace of God received through faith. The words "the prayer of faith will save him" must be understood in the light of the consensus of Scripture. Prayers are only effective in the sense that God graciously permits them to be a secondary means of saving people. The words: "the Lord will raise him up" may be understood to mean He will heal him of his sickness, or He will raise him to glory at the general resurrection of the dead, or that he will raise him to heaven when he dies. This of course follows in time the gracious act of the Lord in forgiving his sins. This understanding is in agreement with other passages of Scripture.

It is necessary to examine different ways that have been proposed for understanding these verses. Rev. David Brown quotes a commentator named Whitaker, as follows: "Let them use oil who can by their prayers obtain recovery for the sick: let those who cannot do this abstain from using the empty sign."

Whitaker takes the prayers of the elders in an absurdly narrow way. Using the consensus of Scripture we cannot possibly suppose that in praying for the sick the elders were concerned for nothing but the recovery of the sick from his physical ailment. Any elder of the church who would understand this as the only reason he prays for the sick would be unworthy of his office. No, of course he should pray that the sick person will recover from his ailment, but to suppose that is the only reason church elders pray for the sick is to demean their calling in a totally unacceptable manner. The elders of the church of course hope that the sick person recovers from his sickness, but what should be of far greater importance in their prayers is the eternal "raising up" of the object of their prayers. They pray that the object of their prayers may have his soul raised to heaven, and that his soul shall at the general resurrection of the dead rise with a glorified body.

We ought not to suppose that the oil with which the elders were commanded to anoint the sick was used as a medicine to heal the sick. Church officers are not physicians. When Paul healed the sick he prayed and laid his hands on the sick person and so healed him. Paul at times in his travels had with him Luke, the beloved physician. It is probable that Luke practiced his profession as one learned in the healing arts, and Paul was pleased that he should do so. He may even have treated Paul for the healing of some of Paul's physical ailments. Paul was not a faith healer who told people to depend entirely on faith healing. But that Paul did act as a faith healer we learn from how he healed the father of Publius (Acts 28:7-8). Paul went to the sick man, "prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him." He did not anoint him with oil. From Paul's relationship with Luke and his healing of the father of Publius and others on the Island of Malta, we learn that he on occasion could heal by reason of his holy office, and that he did not use oil, and also that he honored the skills of the physician Luke.

These facts, and other facts recorded in the Bible are supportive of the idea that James 5:14-15 teaches that church elders are commanded to pray over a sick person, ANOINTING HIM WITH OIL (emphasis added) in the name of the Lord.

The words "anointing him with oil" are emphasized to indicate that this sick person is being prepared for more than one result of the elders’ ministry to him. He may recover from his illness and will in one sense rise and go about his usual activities; he may die and the Lord will raise his spirit up to heaven, and ultimately give him a glorified body, and raise him up into an eternal state, his glorified body being united with his spirit or soul. Thus James 5:14-15 speaks of something grander than mere faith healing.

What the whole counsel of God, the consensus of Scripture, teaches is that some people are saved by the preaching of the Gospel with nothing said about their physical health. For example, the three thousand at Pentecost, (Acts 2:1-42).

Some are saved from serious illness by what can be called the charismatic gift of healing, but nothing is said of their being saved to eternal life. For example…

1. The case of the father of Publius in which the healing was accompanied with both prayer and the laying on of hands. (Acts 28: 78).

2. The case of the demon possessed girl who was healed of an unclean spirit by a simple command of Paul. (Acts 16: 16-18). In this case all that was required was a simple command to the spirit. The apostle did not lay his hands on the girl, nor did he pray to God in connection with this healing. Nothing is said of the girl's being saved to eternal life.

But James 5:14-15 teaches something that is missing in the examples given above. Here the sick person is anointed with oil in addition to being prayed for. The people to bring about this healing are elders of the church and not apostles as in the previously stated examples. The result of this act of ministry is that the prayer of faith will heal the sick, that the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven. Why is oil used and why does the Scripture say the Lord will raise him up when no mention was made of the sick man's being confined to his bed? The answer must lie in understanding that the oil shows that this is not like the previous examples. The raising up is not limited to getting a sick man up from his bed; which may not even have happened. A walking sick person may have sought healing and he is not necessarily merely healed of his disease. In fact he may die of it, but his poor diseased body will not be the end of him. As a spiritually saved person he will go to heaven and thus will be raised from sickness to celestial bliss. Eventually he will be given a glorified body and that body will be raised from the grave.

So ministers of the Gospel ought to anoint the sick with oil as they pray earnestly, understanding that by so doing they are imparting a spiritual gift. They pray that if it is God's will, the sick person may recover and be "raised" to health even if he is standing when he is anointed. The minister should include in his, not necessarily spoken prayer, but in silent prayer, that if it should be God's will that the patient dies, he "may be raised" in an entirely different way from that which the commentator Whitaker supposed was the only "raising" intended by this anointing. It is not an "empty sign" even if the patient dies. The minister who administers the rite should make clear to the sick person that he has been given the duty of anointing the patient with oil in the hope of raising him up to a longer physical life of service to God, but also of preparing him to the more glorious "raising up" spiritually to heaven if it be God's will that he die soon. As Jesus was anointed for his burial before His atoning death on the cross (Matt. 26:12); so the Lord provides by this rite that in case the sick man should die of his disease and there be no opportunity to anoint his body for burial, his body should already have been anointed for burial.

Thus Christian elders should not omit the oil when ministering to those whose sickness is considered to be critical.