<p>5:14&nbsp;<i>Is any 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- </i>There are two different words translated &quot;sick&quot; in :14 and :15 The first implies more 'weariness of mind', as if spiritual weakness is being referred to. The references to &quot;save a soul from death and... hide a multitude of sins&quot; in v.20 is in the same context of spiritual sickness. In any case, it is unlikely that James would be saying that any physical sickness could be cured, bearing in mind Paul's thorn in the flesh.</p><p>&quot;The elders of the church&quot; may be those of the Jerusalem ecclesia, as that is whom &quot;the elders&quot; often refers to in the New Testament. However, it is just as likely that they refer to the Spirit-gifted eldership of the individual ecclesias to whom this letter was sent- their anointing with oil shows their control of the use of the Spirit. This pouring out of oil not only recalls the use of the Spirit to heal the physically sick by the disciples (Mk. 6:13), but also the outpouring of the Spirit in the gift of forgiveness in Acts 2:37,38. In this case James would be emphasizing the need to respect the eldership because of their possession of the Spirit, which made them God's representatives regardless of their personal spirituality. Compare this with David's respect for apostate, Spirit-gifted Saul, and the respect Israel had to give their reprobate judges (Ps. 82:1-5). Notice that it was possible for &quot;the prayer of faith&quot; by these elders to &quot;save the sick&quot; despite their unspirituality. Similarly Paul warned an identical group at Corinth that although they had faith to move mountains through the Spirit- e.g. curing the sick- their lack of love would deprive them of salvation personally (1 Cor. 13:2). Spiritual success in any form- be it in preaching or the triumph of faith in a particular problem- can so easily tempt us to feel that therefore in all other areas our life must be acceptable with God. But not necessarily so.</p>