James ends his epistle with instructions to believers in various conditions of need. The suffering are instructed to pray, the joyful to sing, and the sick to call for the elders who will anoint the sick and raise him up.
The three instructions match the three offices of Christ and of believers. Priests pray, kings sing and compose in the Spirit, prophets heal and judge with prayer. It’s no accident that James includes a reference to Elijah, one of the early prophets of Israel, when encouraging prayer and anointing for the sick.
If this is right, then priestly ministry corresponds to suffering; royalty is associated with joy and merriment; prophetic ministry is linked with healing the sick, and turning sickness into “christic,” anointed suffering.
This sequence might shed some light on the puzzling verses 19-20, where James promises that those who turn sinners from sin will save their souls, an apparent allusion to the prophetic task of the watchman, as described in Ezekiel 33. As the watchman warns about coming disaster, he delivers himself. Even if no one listens to him. He has fulfilled his prophetic vocation.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
