James Chapter 5

vs 11

When Kyle's parents told him the story of Job in South Park, it highlighted the fact that in our modern world, people just cannot accept that there can exist both an all powerful, all loving God, and suffering. This dilemma is one of the single most troublesome issues for Christian apologetics, and books like Job, if not explained properly, often bite us in the ass, especially at the grassroots level (people who know enough to argue at more informed levels about such things usually have different, equally difficult problems).

All James tells us here is that we consider those who have persevered as being blessed. Then he says that we know the endgame story of Job, and how it shows how compassionate and merciful God is. If I were trying to prove God's compassion and mercy to unbelievers, I wouldn't use Job. But James isn't writing to non-Christians.

vs 12

Christians shouldn't really need to take oaths. Everything we say should be the equivalent of an oath. We should do everything we say. If we say yes, then it should be something we're going to do. If we say no, then we should stick to that too. If we vascillate, then people will think we're confused about what we think is important - and that's probably true.

Don't think that this entraps you into sticking with a bad decision just because you said yes. If you realise that you should have said no, then say no! James would thoroughly agree with me here, because this book is a practical book.

vs 13

Is any of you in any given situation? Be involved in some sort of prayer accordingly. Basically, if you're alive, pray. Hard to do, much harder for us than for our predecessors. And I have no idea why. Perhaps because we have lost our structured prayer times socially. Perhaps we undervalue any prayer that isn't straight from the heart and made up on the spot (which means we undervalue the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms, and any other prayer that was done formally).

vs 14

This verse is one of the verses which led to the sacrament of extreme unction. Protestants don't follow it anymore, certainly not as a sacrament. But I've never seen anyone anointed with oil either. Oil was a useful thing back in a time where you didn't have plumbing into your house unless you were hella rich. You used oil to bathe - put the oil on, scrape it off with a scraper. You used it as a perfume (because you didn't bathe all that much) and because it feels good to have on you in a middle eastern climate. But an anointing with oil could mean a couple of things. You will remember that Israelite kings were anointed with oil. But also, anyone who was a guest in your house got anointed with oil. So it had a lot of different meanings. What does it mean here?

vs 15

It really doesn't matter, because James makes the point in the very next verse that the prayers are the things that will make sick people well, not the oil. There is also a link between sickness and sin here, but it is not a causal link! If the person sinned, he will be forgiven. But if he's just sick, then he'll be made well.

vs 16

James obviously takes this sin forgiving seriously, because he refers to it again with confession, and also weaves in healing again. And we have that great verse about prayer, which of course is limited a little because of its context, but is still a great verse.

vs 17-18

This is not prescriptive - just because we are men like Elijah, doesn't mean that if we pray it will stop raining for a few years. Perhaps someone prayed already here in Australia? The point being that Elijah, while a normal man, was a national figure, and so when God used him, everyone could trace it to him and hence get the message that was from God. This is just an illustration about the power of prayer, and why we can trust in it - because it's God powered.

vs 19-20

You read verse 19, and you think "Oooh, is there a big shiny prize for doing this stuff?" The answer is no. We seem to think in that method of do something, get reward/payment/something. But James already broke that a couple of chapters ago. No, if you turn a sinner away from sin, then you save them from death. Now of course it's God who really saved them, I mean he did the dying on the cross through Christ. But we can take ownership in that part we played. Of course, this doesn't bring out the Woohoo!s if we don't value the lives of other people. But if we are plugged in to the attitudes of God instead of the attitudes of our society, then we would value that. And we'd be like "WOW! Are you saying that if I can help someone who's straying from Christianity, then I have played a little part in them having their sins covered and being saved from death? That's awesome!"

And that's the end of the story. No greetings, no "bring my cloaks", just that last verse.