Is any sick among you? 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
James’ instructions to anoint the sick person with oil in the name of the Lord have given rise to controversy. Some have sought to infer that James had mentioned anointing with oil as a remedy to be employed. But since this prescription is made for all kinds of sickness, oil would have to possess a miraculous healing power. Let us see what the Scriptures tell us about anointing with oil, and what sense it attaches to the two words, anointing and oil.
It was the custom of the people in the East to anoint themselves with oil when they came out of the bath. We see, also, that all those who were called to the special service of God were to be anointed with oil. Thus the oil that was used to anoint the priests and the tabernacle was looked upon as “most holy” (Exodus 30:29). Wherever the Bible speaks of anointing with oil, it is an emblem of holiness and consecration. Nowhere in the Bible do we find any proof that oil was used as a medicine.
Anointing with oil is mentioned once in connection with sickness, but its place there was evidently as a religious ceremony and not as a medicine. Sometimes man feels the need of a visible sign, appealing to his senses, that may come to his aid to sustain his faith and enable him to grasp the spiritual meaning. The anointing, therefore, should symbolize to the sick one the action of the Holy Spirit who gives the healing.
Do we then need the anointing as well as the prayer of faith? The Word of God prescribes it. In order to follow God’s Word, most of those who pray for healing receive the anointing. This is not so much because they regard it as indispensable, but to show that they are ready to submit to the Word of God in all things.
James, the head of the church of Jerusalem, faithful in preserving as far as possible the institutions of his fathers, continued the system of the Holy Spirit. And we also should regard it, not as a remedy, but as a pledge of the mighty virtue of the Holy Spirit, as a means of strengthening faith, a point of contact and of communion between the sick one and the members of the church who are called to anoint him with oil.
“I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26).