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Jam_5:15 mentions the result of the prayer conjoined with the anointing.
καὶ ἡ εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως ] That the prayer of the presbyters must proceed from faith was not asserted in the preceding, but was evidently presupposed; it is now directly characterized as such. τῆς πίστεως is gen. subj.: the prayer which faith offers; inaccurately Schneckenburger: preces fide plenae. πίστις is used here in the same signification as in chap. Jam_1:16; it is sure confidence in the Lord, in reference to the case in question. Grotius, Gomarus, Schneckenburger, Theile, and others define the prayer more closely, as that of the presbyters and of the sick man. On the other hand, Wiesinger refers ἡ εὐχὴ τ . π . to προσευξάσθωσαν , accordingly the intercession of the presbyters; so also de Wette. This is correct; it is, however, to be observed that James has certainly supposed as self-evident the prayer of the sick man who called the elders. The following words: σώσει τὸν κάμνοντα , state the effect of the prayer of the presbyters.
τὸν κάμνοντα ] takes up again ἀσθενεῖ τις . κάμνειν , in the N. T. except here only in Heb_12:3 in a figurative sense, has even with classical writers very commonly the meaning to be sick.
σώσει ] equivalent to will recover. This meaning is required by reference to τὸν κάμνοντα , and to the context generally; the word occurs in the same signification in Mat_9:22; Mar_5:23; Joh_11:12, and elsewhere.
By the following clause: καὶ ἐγερεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος , what is said is more exactly specified; the prayer of faith effects σώζειν , by which the Lord (apparently Christ) on its account helps; ἐγείρειν , to raise up from the sick-bed, see Mar_1:31, etc.; not “to raise up from sickness” (Lange; “to cause him to recover,” de Wette); the word never occurs in this meaning in the N. T.
A particular case is added to the general. κἂν ἁμαρτίας ᾖ πεποιηκώς ] κἄν is not, as is done by most expositors, but against linguistic usage,[243] to be resolved by and if, but by even if (so also Lange). By the sins here meant are such as formed the special reason of the sickness. Accordingly, the meaning is: even if he has drawn his sickness upon himself by special sins (unsatisfactorily Lange: “if his sickness has become by them very severe”). By ᾖ πεποιηκώς the effect of the sins is represented as existing.
The apodosis ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ expresses that even in this case the healing will not fail. The forgiveness of sins is here meant, which is confirmed by the removal of the special punishment produced by the particular sins. The explanation of Hammond is evidently entirely erroneous: non tarn a Deo, quam a Presbyteris, qui aegroto peccata ipsis confitenti … absolutionem dare tenentur. As regards the construction of the sentence, κἂν πεποιηκώς may be joined to what goes before, and ἀφεθήσεται considered as an asyndeton addition: and the Lord will raise him up, even if he has committed sins … (for) it will be forgiven him. But the usual construction, according to which ἀφεθήσεται is simply the apodosis to κἂν κ . τ . λ ., is to be preferred on account of the close connection of ideas; thus: even if he hath committed, sins, it will be forgiven him; by which the idea is included in ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ , that he will be healed of his sickness.
τὸ πεποιηκέναι is to be supplied from the preceding to ἀφεθήσεται (Bengel, Theile, Wiesinger).
The promise ( σώσει … ἐγερεῖ ) so positively expressed by James is founded on his confidence in the Lord, who hears believing intercession, so that it is not in vain. It is certainly surprising that James gives this assurance without any restriction. Although we cannot say, with Hottinger: si certus et constans talium precum fuisset eventus, nemo unquam mortuns esset, since the nature of the condition, on which James makes the event dependent, is not considered; on the one hand, it is self-evident that true πίστις includes the humble πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλʼ ὡς σύ (Mat_26:39); and, on the other hand, it is to be observed that although James here evidently speaks of bodily sickness and its cure, yet he uses such expressions as point beyond the sphere of the corporeal to the spiritual, so that even when the result corresponds not to the expectation in reference to the bodily sickness, yet the prayer of faith does not remain unanswered in the higher sense.[244]
[243] In no passage of the N. T., except perhaps Luk_13:9, is the καί in κἄν the simple copula uniting two sentences, but it has everywhere the meaning though, even. The N. T. usage is here in conformity with the classical; see Pape on the word κἀν .
[244] It must be designated as arbitrary when Lange understands this passage also as symbolical, and thus interprets it: “If any man as a Christian has been hurt, or become sick in his Christianity, let him seek healing from the presbyters, the kernel of the congregation. Let these pray with and for him, and anoint him with the oil of the Spirit; such a course, wherever taken, will surely restore him, and his transgressions will be forgiven him.”