James5:16

Translation

Therefore, acknowledge the sins to one another, and wish

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for one another that you all may be healed. Being active and effective, the supplication of a righteous one

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prevails much.

Paraphrase

Here are my conclusions: First, be willing to confess your sinful condition to others in your fellowship; second, ask God for the favor of physical health for all those who have repented as proof of that repentance, third, realize that God listens more carefully to the petitions of those whose lives adhere to His holy standard and responds to them, making their petitions very effective at things like restoring spiritual and physical health.

Footnotes

1: "wish"

This word means “to wish for, to desire as an act of the will.” It is sometimes rendered “to pray” but it is a weak form of pray compared to the other Greek word which means to exchange my will for God’s will. I think it refers to asking God for a favor.

2: "righteous one"

There is a healthy tension here. While none of us adhere to God’s holy standard perfectly, the Bible calls followers of Jesus “holy ones”. The point here is that God listens to those who are close to Him, and He knows who they are because He sees the heart.

THE PETITIONS OF A RIGHTEOUS ONE

This passage places a strong emphasis on the petitions of a person who is faithful and righteous. God listens to those who are close to Him, whose hearts beat right along with His heart, who feel His burdens with Him. What’s more, such a person will be more likely to discern when the cause of illness is sin and when it is not.

This reminds us of the time God told Job’s friends they needed to repent and that He would grant them forgiveness based on two things – their blood sacrifices and Job’s prayer for them (see Job 42:7-9). Then there was the time that the friends of a paralytic man tore a hole in the roof of a house to let their paralyzed friend down to Jesus, and Jesus healed him because of the faith of the friends (Mark 2:1-12).

This does not mean that the prayers of the righteous are the only thing needed to bring repentance to a sinner. It does mean that the condition of the heart of the one praying makes a difference. That is one reason the feeble person was instructed to call for the elders of the church who should be the most spiritually mature people in the local body of believers.

This is followed in verses 17 & 18 by the example of a righteous man whose prayers God listened to – Elijah.