James wants the sick believer to know he does not have to face illness alone. The afflicted person in James 5:13 is told to pray himself. The sick person is told to "call for the elders of the church" so that others will pray over him. Gill notes that "the bodies of the saints, as well as others, are liable to a variety of diseases." Being a believer does not make anyone immune to sickness. The question gathers the church around its weakest members.

James answers in the same verse: "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" (James 5:14). He adds a promise: "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" (James 5:15). Then he widens the call to every believer: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed" (James 5:16).

The "elders" (Greek presbuteroi, older men or elders) were the leaders of local congregations. Paul and Barnabas "ordained them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), and at Jerusalem Paul went in to James, "and all the elders were present" (Acts 21:18). Barnes takes them as "the ordinary religious teachers of the congregation," not the apostles. Oil was a familiar remedy. Barnes notes that the custom of anointing the sick with oil "still prevails in the East" because it was believed to have healing properties. The Good Samaritan poured "oil and wine" into a wounded man's wounds (Luke 10:34), and when Jesus sent out the twelve, they "anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them" (Mark 6:13).

Commentators read the oil differently. Barnes sees it as an ordinary means of healing used together with prayer. Gill notes that some take it as ordinary medicine, but he prefers to see it as "an extraordinary gift, which some elders had of healing diseases," and Matthew Henry notes that expositors generally limited this anointing to those who had the power of working miracles, while he puts the weight on the prayer of faith. Barnes also points out that James speaks of anointing in hope of recovery, unlike the later practice of "extreme unction," which was given only when a person was past hope.

This question shows that God cares about the body as well as the soul. The healing James describes does not come from the elders or the oil. "The Lord shall raise him up" (James 5:15). The elders pray, and the Lord answers. Barnes reads the promise as depending on the will of God, so the prayer of faith is a prayer that trusts Him with the outcome.

James also ties bodily and spiritual healing together. The same verse that promises the sick will be raised up adds, "if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James 5:15), and James immediately calls believers to confess and pray for one another (James 5:16). The note is conditional ("if"), so James does not say every sickness comes from sin. But he pictures a church where people carry one another's burdens, both in body and in soul, before a God who hears.