I cant seem to understand this text actually, can someone please explain it to me
Can someone please explain James 5:14 for me
by preymanchis 24 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Bobcat
If you go here and click on "Constable's Notes" on the right pane and scroll down to the section that covers James 5:14-16 (under the sub " 2. The Prescription For Help") you will find some interesting background to what James was talking about.
Additional Jewish background to the practice of "anointing with oil" can be found here, although some of these references are dated a bit.
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preymanchis
In the scripture what form of sickness does the writer have in mind. Is it spiritual or physical? -
OnTheWayOut
JW's would say "Spiritual." I think the intent was that of a faith-healer. Physical sickness- have them pray and pour oil on ya, and you should get better.
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StephaneLaliberte
Physical. The greek scriptures present the christians as performing miracles using the holy spirit. So, in a day and age where that was expected, why would they use it as figurative speech?
On the other hand, JWs, freely admit that they cannot do such miracles, hance, THEY need to see it as figurative speech.
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TD
In the scripture what form of sickness does the writer have in mind. Is it spiritual or physical?
How clear could the distinction have been at a time when seizures were believed to be demon possession?
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TerryWalstrom
There is a word I encountered early in my attempts at Philosophy studies.
INSTANTIATION and the instantiation principle. Consider what it states and apply it to the scripture under examination.
Unless and until there is an actual instance of a thing--it doesn't exist.
The concept of a chair did not exist until a chair was first built.
Once there has been an instance of something, even if all further instances are destroyed, that thing has reality and will continue to do so.
What usually happens--AFTER the fact--is a thing becomes poetic or metaphorical or literary as a transformation because the actual instance of those things has become extinct.
Meaning?
Philosophically, SICKNESS continues to exist in exactly the way it did in Roman times and in the way it was back there known. If all sickness had been extinguished from our planet--we'd be free to "spiritualize" it or poeticize it.
Otherwise, it is illogical to do so. -
Wasanelder Once
Thank you Mr. Spock.
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Cold Steel
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
In the ancient church, the elders would anoint the sick with consecrated oil, then pray for him. If the person was healed as a result, the person's sins would be forgiven him (see verse 15).
Anciently, sin was often associated with illness. That's why the apostles asked Jesus, "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" The inference was that this man either sinned before he was born or that his parents sinned.
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venus
A change in the mental disposition can produce positive or negative changes in the body as shown by the Placebo Effect and we all know that a placebo could be anything with no active therapeutic effect—yet in some people it has curing effect and in some people it doesn’t have. It means prayer can work as a placebo—curing some and not curing others. Thus James 5:14 can have both applications—literal and figurative.