James 5:15

ἡ εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως : Cf. Matthew 21:22. σώσει : for this sense cf. Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:23; John 11:12. κάμνοντα : in this sense only here in the N.T., though it is used in a somewhat similar sense in Hebrews 12:3. ἐγερεῖ : it seems most natural to take this as referring to the sick man being raised up from his bed of sickness, though the use of κάμνειν in Hebrews 12:3 suggests the possibility of spiritual comfort being also included. ὁ Κύριος : this must probably refer to Christ, though the O.T. reference in the context would justify the contention that Jahwe is meant. κἂν. Cf. Mark 16:18; Luke 13:9, as showing that this does not necessarily mean “even if”. ἁμαρτίας ᾖ πεποιηκώς ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ : Cf. Sir 38:9-3, Τέκνον, ἐν ἀρρωστήματί σου μὴ παράβλεπε, ἀλλʼ εὖξαι Κυρίῳ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἰάσεταί σε · ἀπόστησον πλημμελίαν καὶ εὔθυνον χεῖρας, καὶ ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμαρτίας καθάρισον καρδίαν; The Jewish belief on this subject may be illustrated by the following: in Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Simeon, James 2:11 ff., because Simeon continued wrathful against Reuben, he says, “But the Lord restrained me, and withheld from me the power of my hands; for my right hand was half withered for seven days”; in Gad. James 5:9 ff. the patriarch confesses that owing to his hatred against Joseph God brought upon him a disease of the liver, “and had not the prayers of Jacob my father succoured me, it had hardly failed but my spirit had departed”. That sin brings disease was, likewise in the later Jewish literature, an article of faith, indeed here one finds specified what are the particular sicknesses that particular sins bring in their train. According to Rabbinical teaching there are four signs by means of which it is possible to recognise the sin of which a man has been guilty: dropsy is the sign that the sin of fornication has been committed, jaundice that of unquenchable hatred, poverty and humiliation that of pride, liver complaint (?) (אסכרה) that of back-biting. In Shabbath, 55 a, it says: “No death without sin, no chastisement without evil-doing,” and in Nedarim, 41 a it says: “No recovery without forgiveness”. Leprosy may be due to one of eleven sins, but most probably to that of an evil tongue (see Weber, Jüdische Theologie, pp. 245 f.).