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It is quite wrong to say that this gift of healing gradually disappeared in century one.
As far as the Scriptures are concerned they ceased when the earthly kingdom purposes of
God were suspended at the laying aside in unbelief of the earthly kingdom people, Israel,
at Acts 28:
With all this in mind we can better understand the verses we are dealing with in
James' epistle. We have already pointed out another feature of the Acts and that is the
Lord's judging of His people for sin even to the extent of taking away their lives, for
example Ananias & Sapphira and I Cor. 11: 28-30 makes it quite clear that illness and
this death judgment had come upon many believers because of their sins in connection
with the Lord's Supper, "for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many
sleep", that is, are dead.
This is the key to the understanding of the last portion of the epistle of James. It is
noteworthy that James links together healing and the forgiveness of sins (5: 15) and it
would appear therefore that the sickness was due to failing on the part of the one who
was ill. Not only this but James also writes:
"My brethren, if any among you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him
know, that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from
death, and shall cover a multitude of sins" (5: 19, 20, R.V.).
The converting does not refer to the salvation of the unsaved, but to bring back a
believer who has erred from the truth, in other words a backslider. The word used for
`err' means to wander. The N.I.V. is to the point here:
"My brothers, if any of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring
him back, remember this: whoever turns a sinner away from his error will save him from
death and cover many sins."
The death here is the death judgment which was operative at this time and does not
refer to eternal death, which in any case would be impossible for one who was truly
saved and counted as one of the `brethren' among them. The `covering' of sins is the
same thought as is expressed by Peter in his first epistle:
"And above all things have fervent charity (love) among yourselves, for charity (love)
shall cover the multitude of sins" (I Pet. 4: 8).
True love does not expose or gloat over sins, it covers them.
The writer stresses the effectiveness of prayer when he says, "the supplication of a
righteous man availeth much in its working" (5: 16). As an illustration he cites the case
of Elijah:
"Elijah was a man of like passions with us and he prayed fervently that it might not
rain and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again
and the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit" (5: 17).
There are commentators who say that there is no reference to this in the O.T. They
have not looked far enough. On the surface this incident looked like a stupendous act of