Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 5:15

"and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him." — James 5:15 (ASV)

The assurance is given that prayer “will make the sick person well.” In the final analysis, this is what effects the healing. In answer to “the prayer offered in faith,” God uses the medicine to cure the malady. The statement “the Lord will raise him up” means that the sick man will be enabled to get up from his sick bed. If it was sin that occasioned his sickness, “he will be forgiven.” This suggests the possibility that, because of persistence in sin, God sent sickness as a disciplinary agent (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:30). The conditional “if he has sinned,” however, makes it clear that not all sickness is the result of sin.