The Amazing Role of Praying Elders in the Church

James chapter five has several references to praying for others, starting with the elders of the church praying. Unfortunately, countless Christians become selfish in their prayers. They pray for themselves and their families and care little about others. The moon is a lavish giver that owes all her beauty to her habit of giving. Suppose the moon should swallow up and keep to herself all the years of light which the sun gives her and should refuse to share them with us; what would the effect be? She would stop shining. The moment she stopped shining, she would lose all her beauty. All the beauty and the brilliancy of a diamond are caused by its reflecting, or giving away, the light which it receives. It is the same way with the moon. If it should stop shining, or giving away the light it gets from the sun it would hang up in the sky like a great, black, ugly-looking ball. All its brightness and beauty would be gone. Which would we rather be, as we pray: a black ugly ball in God’s sky, or a shining light, constantly giving of the light we so abundantly receive?¹ Of course, the answer is obvious and that’s why we are talking about The Amazing Role of Praying Elders in the Church on this week’s Light on Life.

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PocketCasts

Seeing God: Is It Possible to Do?

If you are sick, that is so sick that you are homebound, the instructions are to call for the elders of the church and let them pray. Share on X

Read the Notes

You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

The more we line up with the Bible, the better things work. If you are sick, the instructions are to call for the elders of the church and let them pray.

Join the Conversation

Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

Question: Do you have a healing testimony whereby God raised you up out of a sickbed? Please share what your testimony in the comments section so others can be inspired.

Episode Resources:How Jesus Style Perserverance Can Make You a Winner

We are currently teaching on the subject of Divine Healing. You can click on the links below to listen to more podcasts or read blog posts along this line.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 48 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 44 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

Subscribe to the Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

Note: Pocket Casts is available on the App Store or Google Play.

Pocket Casts

iTune s

PlayerFM

Share the Love

If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic, you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

Prayer

Well again, welcome.
Let’s pray.

Father God, thank you today. Open our eyes to behold the greatness of your Word. Give us ears to hear and hearts to understand in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Praying Elders: Three Kinds of Prayer in James Five

James 5:13–16 (ESV) — 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. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

There are three kinds of praying referenced in these four verses in James five.
First, if anyone is suffering let him pray.
That is let him do his own praying.
This is not praying for others — this is you praying for yourself.
If you’re suffering, talk to God.
The Greek word suffering means to suffer, or to undergo hardship.²
Sickness cannot be God’s idea of suffering and it is proved by this verse and the next verse James 5:14.
If you are afflicted or suffering, as this word is translated then the Bible says ‘Do your own praying’.
But if you are sick, the instructions are to call for the elders of the church and let them pray.
If you come to a hard place in your life, to get through that, the Lord said pray — that is talk to God about that.
But, in verse 14, we have a different kind of praying, that is, praying for sick people.
So if a person is undergoing hardship, he should pray.
If he is dealing with sickness, he should call for the elders of the church so they can pray.
The Greek word ‘sick’ proves this point — is any among you sick — this is the word we want to look at today and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The word ‘sick’ here means to suffer a debilitating illness.³
Another lexicon says the word means to be sick and, as a result, in a state of weakness and incapacity.⁴
Many years ago, the leading Greek scholar in the United States said that verse 14 in the original Greek literally says, “Are any beyond doing anything for themselves? Let them call for the elders of the church.”⁵
Rick Renner says this word ‘sick’ describes a person who is frail in health or one so physically weak that he is unable to travel.
It carries the idea of one who is disabled, faint, feeble, fragile, incapacitated [we’ve already seen that word] or simply in such poor health that it would be unthinkable to transport him.
This word pictures one who is shut-in or homebound.
This word does not describe one who has a cold or something minor wrong in their body.
We are talking about a person who can’t come to church because their physical condition prohibits it.
So, just think about how we normally reference this verse.
When we are in church, we say ‘is anybody sick here to day — raise your hands so we can pray for you because the Bible says is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church.
The elders of the church are in church but to fulfill this verse they should be out of the church traveling to the home or the place where the home-bound sick person is.
The elders of the church should take church to the individual member of the church where ever they are.
With that thought, here is the Question of the Day.
Here’s the question.

Well, then what verse can we use to pray for people in the church?

Maybe this verse might work.
Well, there is several ways.
One of them is here in James five and it’s the third kind of prayer spoken of in these four verses.

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Stay in a place of humility and honesty before God.
If you sinned, say you did — do it publicly.
Now, you don’t have to supply all the physical details of the act.
But, we should stay in a place where we are dependent on the mercy of God.
Thank God for His mercy.
Thank God for His grace.

1 John 1:9 (ESV) — 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here’s a great thought to tuck away.
If you’ve ever been healed in the past, you’ve been forgiven at the same point.
Right? — That’s what James said and we have already read it.

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.

Don’t let the enemy snow you and put you into condemnation.
You know I pastored a church for many years and I know that I didn’t do everything perfect but two years after that phase of ministry ended, the Lord healed me of sleep apnea.
Well, I was forgiven of my sins at the same time — that’s what James said.
So, don’t let the devil beat you over the head.
We’re talking about methods of healing.
We’re talking calling for the elders to pray.
We’re talking about praying for one another.

Matthew 18:19–20 (ESV) — 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Calling for Praying Elders

Now let’s jump into this ‘calling for the elders of the church to pray’ piece a bit more.
The next word that adds context to this discussion is the word ‘call’ — let him ‘call’ for the elders of the church.
Well, of course this is the first century — there are no phone devices to call with so what does this word mean?
The Greek word call means to summon’ or to call to or notify in order to secure someone’s presence.⁶
So this person is home-bound with sickness and so this individual would have to send a messenger or some notification and get that into the hands of the elders of the church so they would come and pray.
Of course, the expectation of being healed is understood.
Why would call for the anybody to pray if it didn’t work.
Oh yeah — let’s call for the ministers of the church but we know nothing is going to happen when that bunch prays.
You see that can’t be the feeling among the people.
No, the sense of faith says if I call this person, he is going to come to pray and I am going to be healed.
So, notice that it’s not the elders who are asking to pray for someone in a church setting.
No, it’s the person who is sick that needs to do the calling and requesting the elders to come and pray.
That’s this method of divine healing.

What the Bible Says about Elders in the Old Testament

Now, the Bible has quite a bit to say about elders and with that thought here is the Historical Background of the Day.
Originally, the Hebrew word for ‘’elder’ meant a “bearded one,” or older member of a family, and the term is used frequently in the Bible for those who are older in years. However, the term elder most frequently refers to the ruling head of the family or clan.⁷

Exodus 3:16–18 (ESV) — 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ 18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’

Now, you can see from this passage that the elders were not the main leaders of Israel — they were sub leaders — they were underneath Moses.
Moses was the God appointed, prophet leader, of Israel.
But, God honored the elders — the older men.
And, you know that’s still a vital fact today.

Leviticus 19:32 (ESV) — 32 “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

Advanced age was seen as a sign of God’s blessing and a source of honor and dignity.

Proverbs 16:31 (ESV) — 31 Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.

Job 12:12 (ESV) — 12 Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

And with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.
This quote is from Lois Tverberg in her book ‘Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus.’

Even today, it’s an insult in the Middle East to estimate a person’s age as too young. Hasidic Jews line the cribs of their newborns with pictures of long-bearded rabbis, who are the “rock stars” of their world.⁸

I get a little weepy as I read these verses on old age since it has crept up on me.
God honored the old men of Israel by having Moses call them together to give them the Word of the Lord.
God works through older men and women of God.
Listen to them and do not cast them aside.
Treating them as irrelevant is not pleasing to the Most elder of all, God the Father.

What the Bible Says about Elders in the New Testament

This elder ‘concept’ of course navigated it’s way into the New Testament.
So, the scripture says, ‘let the one who is so sick that he can’t get to church, call for the elders of the church to come and pray.
And with that thought, here is the Question of the Day.
Here is the question.

Who are these elders that James refers to?

Well, we can start out by looking at the Greek definition for the word ‘elder.’
The Greek word ‘elder’ is the word ‘presbyteros’ and it pertains to an individual who is relatively advanced in age in contrast to the younger generation.⁹
Synonyms for the word ‘elder’ are words like old or older.
It’s just like the same word in the Old Testament.
So in the body of Christ today, we have ministry gifts that the Lord has appointed.

Ephesians 4:11–12 (ESV) — 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Ministry gifts take time to develop.
Apostles take time to develop their calling.
Prophets and evangelists take time to develop.
Pastors take time to develop.
God has a plan for these individuals to step into these offices.
But, no one is able to do that as new born child of God.
An individual gets saved — they give their heart to Jesus.
We understand them to be born-again Blood washed children of God.
And they are exactly all these things the very moment they said ‘yes’ to the Lordship of Jesus.
God’s eternal plan for a pastor includes shepherding His people, as Paul describes, but a calling doesn’t automatically qualify someone for the role.
No, all believers have to grow and develop into their calling.

1 Timothy 3:2–6 (ESV) — 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

An overseer is a church leader.
Look at the qualifications for this church leader: above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive.
You see, people must grow into all of these traits.
They do that by walking with God, by getting into their Bibles and renewing their minds with God’s Word.
There must be some growth — there must be some development.
Look at the last qualification: not a recent convert.
The Greek definition for ‘recent convert’ is one who is newly converted.
Armed with this information, think about the Early Church — think about the Day of Pentecost.
Three thousand people got saved on that day.
Whose going to lead them?
Whose going to pastor and shepherd them?
All three thousand obviously fit the definition of being recent converts.
But none of them would qualify.
So, the church is 3000 strong on day one of the Spirits outpouring but all of this has to be organized.
House churches were set up.
There weren’t any stand alone local church buildings for several hundred years.
These house churches could only accommodate a few people.
The wealthiest people of that day might be able to have 50 people in their home.
Ninety percent of the people weren’t wealthy.
So we’re talking dozens upon dozens upon dozens of small house churches?
Well, who is going to lead these small churches?
I mean it’s going to take some time for these three thousand believers to grow up in God — to mature.
A short while later 5000 people were added to the church [that’s in Acts 4]— oh my goodness — now you have 8000 fresh out of the can believers.
There are no mention of church elders in the book Acts until you get to chapter eleven.

Acts 11:29–30 (ESV) — 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

That’s over ten years since the Day of Pentecost.
Now, we come to Acts fourteen.

Acts 14:21–23 (ESV) — 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Note how Paul referenced these church leaders.
He didn’t call them pastors or shepherds — he called them elders.
It seems that to start out, the Early Church picked older men — elders — grey-beards — mature individuals — ‘presbyteros’ to lead the church UNTIL the ministry gifts could develop and ‘ministry gift’ pastors could step forward and shepherd the flock of God.

Elders and the New Testament Timeline

Now, this idea fits in with the timeline of the New Testament.
James, the half-brother of Jesus died in 62 AD.
That’s a historical fact.
The scribes and Pharisees placed him on the pinnacle of the Temple and pushed him off.
When the fall didn’t kill him, they finished him off by stoning him.
So, we know that this letter had to be written before 62 AD.
The majority of scholars put the date of the writing of his epistle around 45 AD, give or take.
That’s about 15 years after the Day of Pentecost which fits the Early Churches use of elders in place of pastors.

Elders and Praying for the Sick

These elders are the ones that God used to heal the sick among the people.
Again, the ministry gifts hadn’t fully developed yet but God’s heart of compassion wanted people well — wanted people healed.
So, He used who was available.
God can do that because it’s not your power — it’s His.
So what about today?
Well today, the ministry gifts are available in the body of Christ.
They are the ones that you should call — the ministers of the Church.
These ministers don’t have to have grey beards.
They don’t have to be old men.
Just anointed men.
They have to be called men.
Now, we are talking about a particular method of healing.
Calling for the ministers of the local church to come and pray for you if you are not able to get to church.
God wants you well.
Now if you drop down to verse 16, you have another method of healing.

James 5:16 (ESV) — 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Here it’s not an elder or a minister praying, it’s a righteous person.
This describes every person in the body of Christ.
You are the righteousness of God in Christ.
Get in there and start praying for people.
Pray for one another that you may be healed.
So in verse 15, it’s the elders praying for the home-bound sick person and in verse 16, it’s the members praying for one another.
God wants people well and He has provided multiple methods to that end.
The Lord says, ‘Confess your sins to one another.’
What is all that about?
It’s about keeping the healing pipleine free from obstructions.
Have you ever been in a traffic jam on a highway.
Cars move really slow.
You can’t get where you need to go in a timely fashion.
Sin is like a car accident that jams up the freeway.
These faults you are confessing one another is not some sin against God that you committed out on your own.
You don’t need to share all of that.
No, the sins you are to confess to one another are the ones you committed against one another.
For example, if you lost patience with your spouse, and I don’t know about you, but I have have, go to him or her and ask them to forgive you.
Then when I confess my sin to her, now I can be healed because the path is clear.
Paul said.

Acts 24:16 (ESV) — 16 So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

Keep your conscience clear — it keeps the highway clear.
In the ancient mind sin and sickness went together, and so confession of sin was necessary if prayer for the sick was to be effective. The confession is to be not only to the elders (or other ministers) but to one another, that is, probably to those they have wronged.¹⁰

Doing the Word: Praying Elders Lessons

Now, you know what to do.
You know that if you are unable to get to church, you can and should call for ministers to come pray for you.
Also, you know that you should be praying for one another so that healing can manifest both for yourself and the person you are praying for.
Believe the Word.
Act like it’s true.

Now Father God, thank you for your goodness and your mercy — your healing mercy specifically. You are good and right — thank you for the healing power of God manifesting in our bodies all to your glory and praise in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The Amazing Role of Praying Elders in the Church.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

More on Praising God: Why the Hour Is Here

__________
References:

AMG Bible Illustrations, Bible Illustrations Series (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2000). ↩
Ceslas Spicq and James D. Ernest, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 238. ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 142. ↩
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 269. ↩
Bible Healing Study Course, Kenneth Hagin, Location 743 ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 881. ↩
G. R. Osborne, “Elder,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, ed. Joel B. Green and Scot McKnight (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 201. ↩
Tverberg, Lois. Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 862. ↩
James B. Adamson, The Epistle of James, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 199. ↩

emeryhorvath.com

Equipping people to pursue God's glory

The Amazing Role of Praying Elders in the Church

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Twenty-Four

by Emery Horvath

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PocketCasts

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:How Jesus Style Perserverance Can Make You a Winner

We are currently teaching on the subject of Divine Healing. You can click on the links below to listen to more podcasts or read blog posts along this line.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Praying Elders: Three Kinds of Prayer in James Five

Calling for Praying Elders

What the Bible Says about Elders in the Old Testament

What the Bible Says about Elders in the New Testament

Elders and the New Testament Timeline

Elders and Praying for the Sick

Doing the Word: Praying Elders Lessons

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PocketCasts

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:How Jesus Style Perserverance Can Make You a Winner

We are currently teaching on the subject of Divine Healing. You can click on the links below to listen to more podcasts or read blog posts along this line.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Praying Elders: Three Kinds of Prayer in James Five

Calling for Praying Elders

What the Bible Says about Elders in the Old Testament

What the Bible Says about Elders in the New Testament

Elders and the New Testament Timeline

Elders and Praying for the Sick

Doing the Word: Praying Elders Lessons

Related posts: