Translation
And the prayer of the faithful
Go to footnote number[elder] will deliver
Go to footnote numberthe one who is weary and sick, and the LORD will raise him up;
Go to footnote numbereven though
Go to footnote numberhe has committed sins, it will be forgiven him.
Paraphrase
and the prayer of the grandfather who is faithfully living for God’s glory will be used by God so that the person who is sick and worn out will be delivered from his condition of physical weakness as proof that he has been delivered from his condition of spiritual weakness, and THE SOVEREIGN RULER OF ALL THINGS will raise him from a condition that is undesirable spiritually and physically to a desirable condition, and forgive his sins.
Footnotes
1: "faithful"
The word for “faith” comes from a root word meaning “persuaded, convinced.” It can and often does mean “faithful, loyal, persistent”, as well as “faith, belief.” Here I think it is best to render it “faithful” for the following reasons. It is used as a noun, not an adjective. It does not have the form of an adjective, nor does it agree grammatically with anything else in the sentence as a Greek adjective must do. It has an article as both nouns and some adjectives do in Greek. But as a singular noun with an article it must mean “the faithful one,” referring to “the faithful elder”. Someone who is faithful is close to God and can tell when God is speaking to him. He knows the mind and heart of God, at least to some degree, and thus he knows if this person is genuine in their repentance and he knows if God wants to heal him from his physical infirmities.
2: "deliver"
This is the word “save” which can also mean “to rescue or deliver”. This gives this passage a spiritual element. But only God can save so I have chosen to use “deliver” instead of “save” in this context.
3: "raise him up"
Notice the text does not use the word heal but rather raise him up. It may mean, “raise him up from his sick bed,” but it is also a picture of things that are not physical sickness. Many have translated it “restore” which is acceptable and which also points to a variety of possibilities, not just restoring to good health physically.
4: "even though"
The little Greek word used here can mean “if” or it can mean “even though”. I think the latter fits the context best, which shall be seen more fully in the next verse
THREE WAYS TO INTERPRET THIS PASSAGE
The first way is to assume that praying for sick people to get well is true prayer and will always be answered with a “Yes”. But the text does not use words like “sick” and “heal” but rather words like “feeble”, “deliver” and “restore”. This method stubbornly holds to an interpretation which flies in the face of other parts of Scripture (see I Cor 12:9-10 and James 4:3), as well as life’s experiences. Like most other passages about prayer, this passage includes the phrase, “in the name of the Lord”. The fact that it is attached to anointing the sick with oil rather than directly attached to praying, is of no consequence, it still permeates the entire passage with the need for agreement with the will of God, which in the case of the sick is not known to us, unless the sickness was caused by sin and the person is repenting of that sin; then the outcome is more clear to us.
The second way is to assume this passage is intended to convey general truths that are often true even though it sounds like it is making absolute statements that are always true. It should therefore be understood as saying that God will usually, or often, deliver and restore the sick to good health. But there is nothing in the text itself to commend this method to us. This interpretation says, “here is what the text says, but it cannot be true, therefore I choose another way to interpret it.” This is dangerous because it makes each of us the arbiter of truth and we can make the text say whatever we want it to say, which leaves open the possibility of any interpretation being valid.
The third way to interpret this passage is to focus on the way the text brings in spiritual elements such as the need for forgiveness from sin and the qualities of righteousness and faithfulness in the lives of the elders. It then takes the next step which is implied but not stated clearly, namely that the person suffering from exceptional weakness is in that condition because of his own sinful actions.
Notice the condition in view is described in verse 14 as “feeble, frail, having no strength”. Does that mean “physically sick” or “spiritually weak” or both? Probably both. Sickness is not always caused by sins, but in this passage there is a strong connection between the spiritual and the physical conditions. I have read ten commentaries on this verse and several of them feel strongly that sin is the cause of the sickness, but all ten of them acknowledge the possibility that such is the intended meaning. Therefore, it is quite likely that this is a picture of a person whose life is characterized by spiritual, physical, emotional and relational weakness because he is living in continued, unconfessed sin. He pretends to be a believer and has joined the meetings of believers, but he is not enjoying the wholeness that should come from following Jesus with full commitment (unless God has chosen to send him sickness for some reason other than his sin – but usually such teaching moments only last as long as it takes for us to learn the lesson).
The spiritual overtones of this passage become perfectly clear in verse 15 for there are several factors that point to the spiritual side of things.
The restoration of physical health is a proof that the person has finally repented and has been restored to spiritual health and closeness to God.
I Cor 11:30 is another case in which people were suffering long term illnesses due to a condition of unrepented sin in their lives. Paul specifically said that their sin was the reason that some of them were “weak and sick”. Here Paul uses the same word, “weak”, that we find in James 5:14.
It may seem odd that this text mentions only the prayer of the faithful elders, not the prayer of the repentant man; it is actually both that brings restoration, the role of repentance and confession being obvious and assumed.