 I'm not sure this passage means what a lot of people think it means. In James 5 verses 13 and 19, there are some words that come up and I think it has caused a little bit of misunderstanding by a lot of people. I think it's good to go back and look at the word and see because what is stated doesn't always come true if we understand it the wrong way. Here's what I mean. In James 5 13 says, if anyone is among you sick or if anyone is among you suffering, then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the little will raise him up. And if he's committed sins, they will be forgiven him. A couple of things that we need to note. One, if this is speaking of a physical sickness, then what's stated here is that the prayer that's offered in faith, that person will be restored, will be saved, will be risen up. The problem is though, that doesn't seem to always work at least practically. We know of examples where we prayed for people and they did not get healthy, nor did they get healed. So the question is, was it our faith or our lack of faith? Well, you could probably say that maybe it's possible and there's no way to fully understand or know. But what about when it's someone like Paul? Paul did not want to heal himself. We don't know if this is a physical issue and firmly we have no idea really what it is because we're not told about this thorn in the flesh. But what we do know of is people like Trophimus or Timothy who were sick, who had an ailment that they did not get healed. Paul simply tells Timothy, just take some wine for your stomach. And so is it that Paul didn't have faith? Well, we know Paul had faith. And so it could not mean that if that's the case, then it would happen because the word is will restore him 100% of the time. But I think where we can kind of figure this out is just to go back and look at the words and let's just kind of see the different understanding. I think this is what it's saying, which is speaking spiritually sick. If anyone is among you suffering. Now the word that's used here is the Greek word for cacos or is eel, what have you. If anyone is suffering and this can refer to, by the way, either physical or spiritual emotionally, it can refer either way. So we're not totally sure just by this word, but he says, then he must pray. Prayer would be the remedy for this. That makes sense. If it is what I'm saying it is, is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praise. Is any among you sick? And here's this word, astanae, which also can mean a physical sickness, but it can also mean a spiritual sickness. An example of that would be found in Romans 14.1. And you can see that this very same word is not not referring to a physical infirmity, but something spiritually says now accepting the one in 14 verse one of Romans. Who is weak in faith. And the word for weak in faith is that very same word, astanae, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has a faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. And so the word that's weak here is still the word for weak. He's not speaking about someone who's physically weak. He's speaking of someone who is spiritually weak. And so this word can be also used to describe someone's spiritual status. Let's go back to it. And so it says in verse 14, is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders, the church of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. Now, the word that's used here for sick is the word calm, though. And we're going to look at this word in just a second, but think about what it's saying. If this means a physical sickness, in the sense that it will restore him. But if it's speaking of a spiritual sickness, in other words, maybe not saved, well, then a prayer offered in faith, that will happen. That will remedy this situation 100% of the time. If it's a physical issue, well, then we've seen examples, one in our lives, but also in the Bible, where it does not work 100% of the time. And so if this is to work 100% of the time, then it has to be referring to something spiritual. The one who is sick, if there's prayer that's offered in faith, then it will restore him. And then also look what it says to keep in mind or to kind of back up what I'm saying. And the Lord will raise him up. What do you mean, raise him up? Well, that seems to be indicative of someone's spiritual state. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven. Well, if a person is sick and you pray over the person and that person gets well, that doesn't always have anything to do with them being sick. I mean, being forgiven of sins. Now, what does cause or brings about a forgiveness of sin? Well, this prayer in faith, which is what we are talking about, this faith in Christ. And I think this is what this is speaking of. Why, again, this kind of all makes sense. This person who is sick, the Lord will raise him. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins one to another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. And so this seems to be in as far as I see this as relating to someone's spiritual state, not their physical state. And the reason why I'm bringing this up, because there's another aspect of this passage that also can kind of get a little bit muddled because it also relates to a few passages later in verse 19. In verse 19, as a matter of fact, let's go there first. It says this, my brethren, if any among you stray from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the air of his ways will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Now, the question is, is he speaking about believers? Because if he's speaking about believers, then that also proves that these believers can wander away from the truth and lose their salvation. The problem is, though a couple of things. One, he says wonders away from the truth that someone brings him back. That person is called a sinner. The Bible does not refer to believers as sinners that they may sin. The Bible doesn't call believers sinners. So he says, let you know that whoever turns this sinner back will save his soul from death. And so clearly speaking about a spiritual death. But it says, if any among you, this word, tis ein humain. So if there's any among you, it could have easily just said, if any of you, but why use the word among you? Because it's not referring to the believers. It's referring to the people that are amongst the believers. Similarly, the way that you would go to church, you'll find someone there, everyone in church is not saved. And so you kind of speak kind of as a whole to everyone knowing that there are some people there that are not saved. The same word among you is also used in verse 13. In verse 13, it says, is there anyone among you, tis ein humain? So is there anyone among you? Again, speak to the believers. If there's anyone amongst the believers who is suffering spiritually speaking, what will save them? The prayer of faith. It's the prayer of faith that will bring them salvation. And matter of fact, notice the word that's used here. We're talking about the prayer of faith and bringing about salvation. The word that's used here for restore is the word so say. This is the word for saving. This is where we get the word sotereon from. These two words are part of the same root. So here we have James saying that this prayer in faith offered up will without question, will restore this person. And the word restore is not the word to use. It is to save this person who is sick, who is weary spiritually speaking. As a matter of fact, let's look at another example of this in Hebrews 12.3 where we see for consider him who has endured such hostilities by sinners. Against himself so that you will not grow weary. And what's the word that's used here for weary? The very same word that's used for sick. It's only used a couple of times in the New Testament. Here's the other example. And this word is clearly not referring to a physical sickness. It's referring to something spiritual, a spiritual weakness. And so do not grow weary and lose heart. That's the point of our Hebrews. So clearly it's not physical. The same thing in James 5. And so I think the problem might be is the way maybe we've been taught this way. We've been led to believe this. Maybe we've had pastors that didn't actually kind of go through and actually the text didn't kind of delve in and see what the words that are being used because some of these words could be used interchangeably. Now, the way they are in English is perfectly fine. But again, if you want to get a little bit more illumination in terms of what the words mean, we would have to do what we just did. That is look at the words and see what they mean, the different nuances, how they can mean this, this or this, and then see where else have these words been used. And then look at the overall context. The overall context doesn't seem to be dealing with someone who is physically sick because a physically sick person, we're not really speaking about this person's sins being forgiven or being raised up by Jesus. But if we're talking about someone spiritually speaking, then we would necessarily have to be talking about them being raised up by Jesus and their sins be forgiven. And then we do, then we can say that if this prayer is offered in faith, then they will be saved. And so for that reason, I think a lot of people have just simply misunderstood this passage. And the danger of that is if you take this to mean that it's talking about a physical healing, well, then the problem is going to be when you pray over someone or for yourself or they pray over you and you don't get healed physically. Well, then the question might arise in your head. Am I being punished? Am I actually saved? Do I have faith? Maybe I don't have enough faith. Sometimes God is just not going to heal you. And that's okay. But it's good to know that because you're not healed does not necessarily mean that you don't have faith or you don't have faith or you're not saved. But if this is talking about a spiritual healing, now it makes more sense. So I hope this kind of clears up some things with some people. If not, I'd be interested to hear your comments, what you think about it. But in the meantime, guys, be blessed.