But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. (13) Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. (14) 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: (15) And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. (16) Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (17) Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. (18) And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (19) Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; (20) Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
I include the whole of these verses under one reading, for shortness sake. The things here spoken of are too plain to need much observation. Prayer is here held forth in its own strong features. For that prayer which is awakened by grace, cannot fail to be answered in mercy. What the Apostle calls effectual, fervent prayer, means, in the original, in wrought prayer. And it is in wrought by the Great Author and Enditer of prayer, the Holy Ghost. Moreover, it is it! direct correspondence to the will of God, our Father, Romans 8:26-27. And no less in perfect harmony with the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ, John 16:24; John 16:24. The righteous man here alluded to, can be no other than Christ, who is, as John saith, our Advocate, 1 John 2:2. Elias, that is, Elijah, is spoken of by name, in proof how far the efficacy of inwrought prayer will reach. But, that the answer to his prayers, arose not from any merit in himself, but wholly from being accepted in Christ, is evident from what is said of him, a man subject to like passions as we are; that is, born in the Adam-nature of the same fallen seed, of whom it is truly said, there is none that doeth good, no not one, Romans 3:12. See the history of the success of Elias' prayer, 1 Kings 17:1 and 1 Kings 18:41 to the end.
I beg the Reader to attend, with some degree of earnestness, to the two last verses in this Chapter, in order for the right apprehension. By the sinner here said to be converted from error, cannot be supposed is meant one that was before unregenerate, for the Apostle calls them brethren, and saith to them, if any of you do err. And though the Lord is pleased, sometimes in the first awakenings from sin, to use instruments for this purpose, yet, nowhere is it said, that these instruments convert. This is the Lord's sole work. Creating-work, and renewing-work, are both the Lord's. It should seem to imply no more than this, that if a child of God hath backslidden from the Lord, absented himself from ordinances, neglected the means of grace, brought reproach upon the cause of the Lord Christ, by his behaviour, and, for a while, seemeth to have gone back into the world; and if the Lord, so disposing, sends one of his faithful ones, whether a minister, or any other, after him, and under the Lord's blessing he is brought back to the footsteps of the flock, tell him, saith the Apostle, that he shall save a soul from death, that is, the dead and dying state into which he had fallen, and shall be instrumental in the Lord's hand, to hide a multitude of sins; that is, not his sins whom the Lord employs in this service, but the other's, whose sins lay before open and uncovered to every observer's view. That this must be the real sense of the passage, is evident from the plainest truths of God's Holy Word. The saving a soul from death, can belong to none but God. Neither can salvation be found, but in Christ, Acts 4:12. And the conversion of the heart to God, at the first, and the recovery of the soul in all the after-falls and deadenings of it, belong only to the province of the Holy Ghost. But what a very sweet and gracious encouragement is this scripture to the Church at large, and especially to those who labor in the word and doctrine, to search, and seek out, as Jesus saith he will, and as Jesus certainly doth, by his Holy Spirit, the sheep of Christ's fold, in all places whither they are scattered, in the dark and cloudy day. Precious Lord! do as thou hast said! Ezekiel 34:12.