JAME 5
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? 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. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. – James 5:12-16
JAMES 5 CONFESS YOUR SINS TO ONE ANOTHER
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
The body of Christ is a family of believers united in Him
We ought to confess to each other when we sin
By doing so, we account for each other’s spiritual growth
We show love for one another when we build each other up
This is how we truly manifest our love to our Father in heaven:
We confess our sins to each other as a sign of staying humble.
In this letter, James reminds the church to never make oaths or vows to another person or even to God. Why do you think James tells them that yes and no are the only answers they need to give out? In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus teaches them on the topic of oaths. He said 33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.Isn’t this an interesting topic? Don’t people like to say “maybe” or “I think” or “I don’t know” instead of a plain yes or no.We usually don’t think that anything other than yes or no comes from evil, do we? But Jesus explained it very clearly in his sermon in the mount about this.
James talks about the importance of praying fervently and also to go to the elders when they are sick to be anointed with oil. But the prayer of faith is the one that will heal the person with the illness. It just goes to show that not all physical illnesses are just in the body, but it may be because of sin. So, the act of going to be prayed over by those God has given authority over us, can actually heal those illnesses.
There is one more instruction that James gave the church that an unbeliever would cringe upon. He asked them to confess their sins to one another. By doing so, we remove the shame and hiding the sin and expose it to the light of truth. It also holds us accountable to each other to grow our faith in Christ.
REFLECTION
- Do you confess your sins to your sisters and brothers in Christ? Why or why not?
