James 5:14

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church The rule is full of meaning. (1) As regards the functions of the Elders of the Church. Over and above special gifts of prophecy or teaching, they were to visit the sick, not merely for spiritual comfort and counsel, but as possessing "gifts of healing" (1 Corinthians 12:9). (2) The use of the term "Elders" exactly agrees with the account of the Jewish Church in Acts 11:30; Acts 15:6; Acts 21:18. In the Gentile Churches the Greek title of Bishop (Episcopos= overseer) came into use as a synonym for "Elder" (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1; Titus 1:5; Titus 1:7), but within the limits of the New Testament the Church of Jerusalem has only "Apostles and Elders." It may fairly be inferred from the position which he occupies in Acts 15 that St James himself was reckoned as belonging to the first of the two classes. St Paul's way of mentioning him naturally, though not necessarily, implies the same fact (Galatians 1:19).

anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord The context shews that this was done as a means of healing. It had been the practice of the Twelve during part, at least, of our Lord's ministry (Mark 6:13). The Parable of the good Samaritan gives one example of the medical use of oil (Luke 10:34), another is found in Isaiah 1:6. Friction with olive oil was prescribed by Celsus for fever. Herod the Great used oil-baths (Joseph. Ant.xvii. 6. § 5). The principle implied in the use of oil instead of the direct exercise of supernatural gifts without any medium at all, was probably, in part, analogous to our Lord's employment of like mediain the case of the blind and deaf (Mark 7:33; Mark 8:23; John 9:6). It served as a help to the faith of the person healed; perhaps also, in the case of the Apostles, to that of the healer. The position of the disciples was not that of men trusting in charms or spells and boasting of their powers, but rather that of those who used simple natural means of healing in dependence on God's blessing. A sanction was implicitly given to the use of all outward means as not inconsistent with faith in the power of prayer, to the prayer of faith as not excluding the use of any natural means. "The Lord" in whose Name this was to be done is here, without doubt, definitely the Lord Jesus. Comp. Matthew 18:5; Mark 9:39; Luke 9:49; Acts 3:16; Acts 4:10; Acts 4:18; Acts 4:30. The subsequent history of the practice is not without interest. It does not seem to have been ever entirely dropped either in the West or East. In the latter, though miraculous gifts of healing no longer accompanied it, it was, and still is, employed ostensibly as a means of healing, and the term "extremeunction" has been carefully rejected. Stress is laid on the words of St James as pointing to the collective action of the elders, not to that of a single elder, and the legitimate number ranges from three as a minimum to seven. It is evident that here the idea of united prayer working with natural means has, in theory at least, survived. In the West, on the other hand, a new theory grew up with the growth of Scholasticism. If bodily healing no longer followed, it was because the anointing had become the sign and sacrament of a spiritual healing, and the special grace which it conveyed was thought of as being specifically different from that which came through other channels, adapted to the needs of the soul in its last struggles. So the term "Extreme Unction" came into use in the twelfth century, and the Council of Trent (Catech.vi. 2. 9) limited its use to those who were manifestly drawing near unto death, and gave it the title of "sacramentum exeuntium." In the First Prayer Book of Edward vi. the rite was retained, partly, it would seem, by way of compromise ("if the sick person desire to be anointed"), partly, as the language of the prayer that was to accompany the act seems to indicate ("our heavenly Father vouchsafe for His great mercy (if it be His blessed will) to restore to thee thy bodily health"), with a faint hope of reviving the original idea. In the Prayer Book of 1552, the "unction" disappeared, and has never since been revived.