Comment is made on pp.478, 480 and 481 on the two Greek words for “sick”, and the interpretation of the passage given in the article depends heavily on the distinction drawn between the two words. It is claimed that “sick” in James 5:15 “relates particularly to the mental state of the sick person” (p.480), and a meaning is given to the passage which is not its obvious meaning on face value. Not of course that we should refrain from looking beneath the surface of words to ascertain the meaning accurately, but if this distinction is to be sustained against the more obvious meaning of the passage it must be clear and unequivocal in the original language.
The Logos article says astheneo “signifies a state of weakness, feebleness, lacking strength” (p.478). On p.481 it is equated to “physical or moral weakness”. Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th Edition, gives “to be weak, feeble, sickly”, and in the aorist “fall sick” among other meanings. Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 4th Edition, gives “be sick, suffer (from diseases)” among other meanings. Hence whatever other meanings it may have had it was an ordinary Greek word for “to be sick” (literally). This is the word used in James 5:14.
It is then claimed that “kamno”, the word for “sick” in Jas. 5:15 “relates particularly to the mental state of the sick person” (p.480) , because Strong renders it as “tire”, “faint” and it is elsewhere rendered as “wearied”. On p.478 it is asserted that kamno “relates to a weariness of mind, a state of depression”, and similarly on p.481. The purpose of the elders gathering around the sick one is then deduced to be “to induce in him a strengthening of faith which would result in such prayers as could save him out of his depression of mind”.
But does this word, kamno, relate particularly to the mental state of the sick person? The AV, RSV, NEB, Moffatt and Phillips translations all render the word here as “sick”, “sick man” without giving any hint as to whether he was depressed or otherwise.
The two other NT occurrences are in Heb. 12:4 and Rev. 2:3 translated “be wearied”, “faint”. Both of these are obviously metaphorical from context. In the first the words “in your minds” are added to make the idea of mental weariness perfectly clear (and that in a context where mental weariness might have been inferred without “in your minds”. How much more then, on the Logos hypothesis, would we have expected such a qualification in James 5:15 where, as will be shown below, the natural inference is one of physical illness). At Rev. 2:3 the reading of the more ancient manuscripts is not kamno but kopiao, a verb which also means “to become weary, to toil”. So, there is really only one other use of the word in the NT, i.e. Heb. 12:4. Yet kamno was a familiar enough word in Greek from earliest times until well after NT times. So, it is essential to look outside the NT to determine its full range of meanings. Any thorough lexicon gives adequate reference, and the lexicons of Liddell and Scott, and Arndt and Gingrich have been used here. The original and basic meaning of the word is “to work, to toil” (literally). Thence its derived meaning of “to be weary, fatigued, distressed”, and this had both physical and mental application. The word is used in the sense of physically weary in the Septuagint at 4 Maccabees 3:8 where David is spoken of, coming from a day of battle with the Philistines, “sweating and very weary (kamno)”. Again, when weariness of mind is involved the qualification “in my mind” is added in Job 10:1 as in Heb. 12:4.
There is, however, another extensive use of the word meaning “to be sick, to be suffering, to be ill”. This certainly applies to physical sickness as there are references to people being sick (kamno) in body, in the eyes, in the ears, from disease, as a result of wounds, with gout, etc., and of being sick (kamno) and then dying. This use of the term was still applicable in NT times. It is the normal Greek term for a doctor’s patients and is so used by the great physician Hippocrates. There is an interesting reference in Demosthenes, On The Crown, 243, where the two words for sick which occur in James 5 are used together, and in the same order. A physician comes to sick people (astheneo) and then does not give a proper treatment to his patients (kamno) as a result of which one of them dies. There is no hint of mental distress. Commenting on this passage, W. W. Goodwin, an eminent Greek scholar, says of kamno in its participial form “the general term for patients, not merely while they are ill (astheneo) but even after they are dead.”
The only conclusion possible then is that kamno as used in James 5:15 is a normal Greek word for a “patient”, a “sick person” suffering from a physical ailment, and that should weariness of mind have been intended by James in this context some qualifying expression such as in Heb. 12:4 (in mind, tei psychei) was essential. It is submitted therefore that far from the Logos interpretation of this word being correct, or even a possible alternative, it is inadmissible on a close examination of the language in context. Bro. N. Smart in his book The Epistle of James makes no comment whatever on any difference between the words for sick. J. B. Mayor in his commentary on James (the Greek text) states on p.171, “I see no grounds for the distinction made by some between astheneo and kamno”.
It is disturbing that so much should be made of a Greek word and such categorical denunciations should be based thereon, when the great majority of brothers and sisters will have no way of checking the meanings. It is even more disturbing to find such slipshod and misleading scholarship from a magazine which holds itself out as a paragon of scholarship.
On p.480 comment is made on the anointing with oil. Let us be clear firstly as to what is being said. Quite literally the passage reads, “let them pray over (epi) him having anointed with oil in the name of the Lord”. What is meant by the anointing with oil? It occurs without comment both here and in its one other similar application in Mark 6:13.
There is a possibility, and it is not put forward with any dogmatism, that the anointing with oil was purely for its medicinal value. This use of oil was well understood by both the Jewish and Gentile world. In Luke 10:34 the Good Samaritan binds up the wounds of the victim and applies oil and wine. Herod’s physicians recommended a bath of oil in his last sickness (Josephus, Jewish Wars, i,33.5). In our antiseptic, detergent ridden society we lose sight of just how widely olive oil was used throughout the whole of the ancient world. It was used for fuel in lamps, for cooking, for medicinal purposes both internally and externally, as a toiletry applied after a bath and, among the Greeks, it even replaced a bath, the body being rubbed down with oil which was then scraped off removing the dirt. Its ritual use for consecration is obvious in the OT, but it was also used among the Gentiles in a similar way; as well as on festive occasions such as feasts (New Bible Dictionary, p.906). It is a symbol of rejoicing in Isa. 61:3.
So we have two actions the elders are here called upon to do. To pray over (possibly with hands outstretched over or even upon, but the meaning of the Greek preposition translated “over” here has one of the widest spans of meaning of any Greek preposition) the sick one and to anoint him with oil. If we are honest, there are many possibilities of interpretation. Elders is a rather general term in the NT. Exactly who the elders are is not specified. Sometimes they seem to be what the AV terms “bishops”. At others they seem to embrace a wider class. Whether the laying on of hands, or stretching out of hands is involved is not certain. What the oil meant is a matter for speculation. Some (including Bro. Smart) say it symbolises the Holy Spirit. Some say it a symbol of consecration or joy. It could be simply saying use what medicinal aid is available and commit all to God. But the only real operative element, as pointed out by Bro. Smart, is “the prayer of faith”. It is this that will save the sick, and let there be no mistake about the word “save”. It is a quite natural word for the recovery from physical ailment. (N. Smart, p.183).
In the end no amount of fanciful scholarship will resolve this rather enigmatic passage one way or another. It is only our own belief and experience that can do this. For those who have placed their trust in God in this matter there is an answer to prayer.
On p.477 it is stated that the “past tense” is used in Jas. 5:3, 6, and this is used to support the idea that James is only referring to the “last days of those times (Jas. 5:3, 6) and therefore is not predicting something that yet has to come to pass”.
The use of tense in such a rigid fashion is open to serious question, both on the face of the passage as we have it in English translation, but especially when we examine the Greek underlying it.
It is obvious that the passage did have application in James’ day, as pointed out in the Logos article and as recognised by other commentators, notably Bro. Smart, (p.159). It is not sound scholarship, however, to use the fact that the “past tense” is employed in the passage to limit the application to the past, especially as the Greek tenses involved cannot be applied in such a rigid way.
The need for the wider application is recognised by Bro. Smart who favours interpreting the phrase “the last days” as “the Christian dispensation” (p.163) rather than the narrower meaning of “the last days of Judah’s Commonwealth”. Likewise of the “coming of the Lord” he says: “in the fullest sense this phrase points to the appearing of the Lord in glory to judge and rule over the earth” (p.173, 174). Of course, he recognises the application of the whale passage to the “coming” in AD 70, as any intelligent reader must.
The regrettable aspect of the Logos article is not so much the view there advanced, as the rather facile use of a point of grammar to support that view when there is really no support from this quarter.
The words of Bro. Smart on this passage, whether we agree with them or not, warrant sober reflection. “Again, although men are not now endowed with the Spirit gift of healing, yet it is well for a brother in sickness to call for the elders of his church that they may pray over him; for the principle to which James is shortly to give expression remains as true today as ever: “The fervent supplication of a righteous man availeth much”. The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, and though we do not live in an age of open miracles, yet not a few earnest believers can point to instances where communal prayer has been followed by healing in desperate cases; and in any event the access of spiritual exaltation that comes to all who take part in such prayer, reverently undertaken, is in itself an experience of infinite value and of lasting moment.” (p.192).
Is Pentecost Happening Today? (Part 7) – Tongues Shall Cease