James 5:14 (aleifw)
Ronald L. Geib
rongeib at ptd.net
Mon Nov 25 00:40:30 EST 2002
Thank you Maurice for your reply.
I appreciate you presenting the reference to Josephus. I recognize that
the use of oil for healing purposes is documented both bibilically and
extra-biblically. Because of this, I have believed that James considered
the oil (along with prayer) to be an organic, efficacious part of the
healing process that is prescribed in James 5:14.
However, in preparation for a Sunday-School class, I read Peter Davids'
commentary on James (A Good News Commentary by Harper & Row, 1983). On
pp. 103-104 Davids says "The oil (olive oil) is not the medicinal oil of
Isa. 1:6 or Jer. 8:22 or other Jewish and Greek sources, . . . It is an
important part of the rite of healing, as water is of baptism, and thus
has been retained to this day in the more formalized rites of healing of
the more liturgical churches . . . ".
I find that many people I have encountered in evangelical churches in the
U.S. also view the oil of anointing prescribed by James as primarily
symbolic; figurative of a healing power or sanctification conferred to the
person (or object) anointed. They have removed from it any organic,
efficacious role in the healing process.
If James had in mind a figurative or sacramental use of the oil rather
than viewing it as an organic part of the healing process, wouldn't CRIW
have been the more probable word for him to use? From my reseasrch thus
far, it seems that documentation to support an interpretation of ALEIFW as
figurative is quite limited. (TDNT refers to Ignatius Eph., 17, 1; T.
Flavius Clemens Alexandrinus's Paedagogus II, 8, 61; and Act. Thom.)
Thanks,
Ron Geib
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