James 5:14

ἀσθενεῖ … προσκαλεσάσθω, etc.: Cf. Sir 38:14, καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ Κυρίου δεηθήσονται, ἵνα εὐοδώσῃ αὐτοῖς ἀνάπαυσιν καὶ ἴασιν χάριν ἐμβιώσεως. In regard to the practice of primitive Christianity in the matter of caring for the sick Harnack says: “Even from the fragments of our extant literature, although that literature was not written with any such intention, we can still recognise the careful attention paid to works of mercy. At the outset we meet with directions everywhere to care for sick people, 1 Thessalonians 5:14.… In the prayer of the Church, preserved in the first epistle of Clement, supplications are expressly offered for those who are sick in soul and body (1 Clem. 59, τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς ἴασαι … ἐξανάστησον τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας, παρακάλεσον τοὺς ὀλιγοψυχοῦντας).… Epistle of Polycarp, 6:1; Justin Martyr, lxvii.…”; he also quotes Lactantius, Div. Inst., vi. 12: “Aegros quoque quibus defuerit qui adsistat, curandos fovendosque suscipere summae humanitatis et magnae operationis est” (Expansion … i. 147 f. first English ed.). A like care was characteristic of the Rabbis, who declared it to be a duty incumbent upon every Jew to visit and relieve the sick whether they were Jews or Gentiles (Git., 61 a, Soṭah, 14 a); “the Ḥaberim, or Ḥasidic associations, made the performance of this duty a special obligation” (Jewish Encycl., xi. 327). τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τῆς ἐκκλησίας : both the words “presbyters” (= “priest”) and “ecclesia” were taken over from the Jews, being the Greek equivalents for זקנים and קהל. While, however, the word πρεσβύτερος was, without question, in the Christian Church taken over from the זקן in the Jewish Church, it is well to recall the extended use which attached to it according to the evidence of the papyri. The phrase ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῆς κώμης occurs on a papyrus belonging to the time of the Ptolemies, and is evidently an official title of some kind; οἱ πρεσβύτεροι is found together with ἱερεῖς of an idolatrous worship (100:40 B.C.); and in the second century A.D. οἱ πρεσβύτεροι occurs in reference to “elders” of villages in Egypt. The Septuagint translators were therefore probably using in this case a word which had a well-known technical sense. Deissmann believes it possible, therefore, that the Christian congregations of Asia Minor got the title of πρεσβύτερος from the minor officials who were so called, and not necessarily from the Jewish prototype (Op. cit., pp. 153 f.). This might well be the case in various centres, though not all (as for example, Babylonia), of the Diaspora, but not in Palestine. It is, of course, an open question as to whether our Epistle was written from Palestine or not; see, further, Deissmann (Neue Bibelst. pp. 60 ff.). As regards ἐκκλησία, Harnack remarks that “originally it was beyond question a collective term (i.e., קהל); it was the most solemn expression of the Jews for their worship as a collective body, and as such it was taken over by the Christians. But ere long it was applied to the individual communities, and then again to the general meeting for worship.… Its acquisition rendered the capture of the term ‘synagogue' a superfluity, and once the inner cleavage had taken place, the very neglect of the latter title served to distinguish Christians sharply from Judaism and its religious gatherings even in terminology.… Most important of all, however, was the fact that ἐκκλησία was conceived of, in the first instance, not simply as an earthly but as a heavenly and transcendental entity” (op. cit., pp. 11 ff.); “ קהל (usually rendered ἐκκλησία in LXX) denotes the community in relation to God, and consequently is more sacred than the profaner עדה (regularly translated by συναγωγή in the LXX).… Among the Jews ἐκκλησία lagged far behind συναγωγή in practical use, and this was all in favour of the Christians and their adoption of the term” (ibid.). In the verse before us it is the combination of these two terms, οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τῆς ἐκκλησίας which points to a developed organisation among the communities of the Diaspora, and therefore to a late date for this part of the Epistle. ἀλείψαντες ἐλαίῳ : a common Jewish usage, see Isaiah 1:6; Mark 6:13; Luke 10:34. As oil was believed to have the effect of curing bodily sickness, so it became customary to use it preparatory to Baptism, possibly with the idea of its healing, sacramentally, the disease of sin; that it was joined to Baptism as an integral part of the sacrament is certain. Prayer was, of course, an indispensable accompaniment. ἐν ὀνόματι …: Cf. Mark 16:17; Luke 10:17; Acts 3:6; Acts 3:16; Acts 4:10; Acts 16:18; and on the formula, the note above, James 2:17.