In one meeting, a Living Grace Group leader/facilitator asked a question on behalf of one of their group participant struggling with weak faith and sin associated with their mental health challenge. This scripture and question came up with a good question.

“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

 – James 5:14-16

Question on behalf of the group participant’s thought process with this scripture:

“This scripture almost sounds like James is addressing ‘weak faith’ because it’s now asking the elders to pray for the person … as well as it might be a sin issue as the problem … So, how does this scripture relate to someone dealing with mental health difficulties or disorders?"

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but let me unpack this scripture to provide a more helpful lens that might bring some relief … hope!

1.  Suffering and Sickness are not the same thing.

In v. 13, James encourages anyone experiencing hardship, trials, or suffering to pray. However, if someone is sick, they are to inform, send word, or call the elders to provide ministry – healing.

The context suggests that the individual is immobilized by their sickness (i.e., life function and faith).

The scripture does not clarify what type of “sickness, infirmity, or disease” is associated with this – it only describes a sickness immobilizing the individual. And we all know how immobilizing depression, anxiety, and similar challenges can be!

Thus, the proper response is to have the elders go minister to the individual (“to pray over” them), and the Lord will “raise him up” (i.e., to be raised up out of the immobilized state).

We are to go to them, not make them come to us for ministry!

2.  Healing is in the context of community.

The Apostle Paul encourages us that the Body of Christ has been given various gifts to work together for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:4-7). This includes the plural “gifts of healing” to serve one another.

This passage in James displays the elders (leaders) working together, not relying on one person’s special spiritual gift.

Thus, it is the context of a community of leaders – the church – working together: “and the prayer of faith (collectively) will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” This is prayer and their gifts working together, in relation to Christ, for healing.

The research shows the community is the common denominator of mental or emotional health recovery.

3.  Is it Grace or medicine - immediate or progressive healing?

Throughout the Bible, medicinal agents, like oil and wine, are used for their healing properties or to manage sickness (cf. Isaiah 61; Luke 10:33-34). In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul encourages Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach and for being frequently sick. Maybe they had prayed for Timothy, and he wasn't seeing complete healing?

Oil was also used symbolically for blessing and healing. Thus, the disciples often used anointing oil to represent the Lord's blessing of divine healing and grace (Mark 6:13). However, oil is not always used in ministry situations involving healing.

As we see in 1 Timothy, his healing was not immediate, and he needed medicine of the day to help his condition. In this passage of James, the healing is assumed to be immediate, but it is not stated.

So, does it leave room for that healing to be progressive? Does it leave room for medicine (including therapy)?

In my experience, whether it be a life-threatening illness or some factor of debilitating mental and emotional distress, I have seen God use all of the above!

I have more on this topic in another article, “Is it okay for a Christian to take antidepressants?”

4.  Faith for healing is in relation to the leaders, not the “sick.”

One person told me they would fast and pray their mental distress away. His fasting and pressure to "Faith fight" was increasing his anxiety. I reminded him that when people were down and out, it was usually the disciples and leaders doing “all the work” for those in need, not those in need! He said, "Oh ... um, okay, I'll go eat." 

In this specific passage, I would like to point out that faith in healing is not a failure of the sick; faith in healing is about the Lord's leadership and faithfulness to raise him up. 

The failure of faith is not addressed with the one who is "sick." It is all about healing and restoring their life ... to empower them!

This brings up the question (and the next point): what if there is sin that's part of the problem? 

5.  The focus is healing. If sin is part of the problem, that also gets remedied.

Take the time to listen to someone's story. You will see different factors that may have caused their ongoing depression or anxiety … even seeing a biological or genetic history.

It’s not their fault! I think Jesus sees the story beyond it as just a “sin issue.”

But is there a sin that can cause sickness?

Sure! 

Many people with anxiety, depression, or other challenges will often self-medicate or have poor coping (trying to survive through the pain), and it can lead to physical illnesses (e.g., smoking damaging lungs and blood vessels, excessive alcohol, liver damage, etc).

However, in my opinion, associating this scripture with all mental health difficulties resulting from previous sins and suffering from God's punishment is a far-stretching assumption, and I feel it is a wrong use of the scripture.

It simply says, “If there are sins committed."

And here’s the cool part!!!!

If sins compound the sickness (e.g., drug abuse), healing will still be applied, AND those sins will be forgiven! If sins were not committed, then healing is still on the agenda.

6.  Healing is co-laboring with Christ, not a superpower to achieve.

“... and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up." - James 5:15

The heart and blessing is that the Lord wants to partner with us to restore the created! It doesn’t say it’s a superpower or some higher level of faith you have to reach. It’s simply praying in faith!

Faith is to "trust in" and "participate in" our fellowship, in and with Jesus, to see His love to do the impossible.

- Joe Padilla

We trust and participate in asking, seeking, and knocking to restore, and He is the LOVE to raise them up.  

What if I pray and don’t see healing? 

Well, then you acted and left them (and reminding yourself) with the ultimate message of all …

"God loves and cares for you – let’s see where this journey goes together.  I'll be back tomorrow with the same oil, prayer, and the love of Jesus!"

It was reassuring, a loving, caring presence and belonging in the community and in Christ!

We don’t try to focus on getting “healed vast work of healing has” but instead see the “healing process” to improve life … learning the journey of sufficient grace.

God will provide us with helpful tools, people, services, etc., to help us improve our lives … to live meaningful lives no matter if the diagnosis remains. There are times we don’t understand why a condition or diagnosis remains; however, in those times, just like God answered Paul’s desperate plea to remove his ongoing “thorn in the flesh,” God provides “sufficient grace” to learn, live, and leverage life to better days (see 2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Whatever his “thorn” was, it didn’t stop or limit Paul from fulfilling his “calling” and growing in His life in Christ!

Maybe it’s the wonder, goodness, beauty, and truth of what life can look like with a mental health condition rather than trying to get rid of it. Let’s reinvent the way we look at things!

To sum it up …

1. Community and co-laboring faithfulness … The theme and contextual flow of James’ letter is all about collective gifts and “Faith.” This is about working and partnering together in community, in Christ, to fully care for the sick, whether sin is a culprit or not.

2. Healing is about wholeness … This is about, first, the healing of the body and, second, the healing of the heart! BOTH! This is a whole-health (holistic) approach to address the care of someone’s depression, anxiety, etc. (i.e., sickness) … as immediate or progressive as the healing may be!

   And if there are “sins” compounding the issue, let us minister grace and provide the assurance of the forgiveness of sins (not judgmental fear ... "there is no fear in love, perfect love cast of out fear, because fear has to do with punishment ..." 1 John 4:18).

3. Community is for the healing journey and always being there to hold each other up … This passage signifies that we should not let anyone sick be isolated from the love and healing care of the Body. Thus, vs. 16 encourages us to be in the ongoing community for ongoing healing when we falter. This is why Jesus encouraged a collective community experience of faith in Matthew 18:20 - where two or more gather; we can experience Jesus in the context of faith and prayer to see change.

4. And if there is no immediate “healing,” maybe it’s looking at the abundance of the “sufficiency of grace” to reinvent what healing looks like throughout the journey … This passage is about ongoing community, the love of Christ to raise us up wherever we are.

What do you think about this topic?

Joe Padilla | Co-founder & CEO, The Grace Alliance

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