Quote:
Originally Posted by Lafon
Oops! You failed to note the course of action the one who is "afflicted" must take - "Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray." ( James 5:13)
Why must the one who is "afflicted" pray for his healing, when one who is "sick" are commanded to "call for the elders of the church" to come and pray for their healing?
What's the difference between an "affliction" and a "sickness"? And why the difference in their response for remedy? |
A very good question and one which points to the accuracy of the Biblical text and the specificity of the Greek language. The one who is "afflicted" is instructed to turn to God in prayer and the "sick" to call for the Elders. Why? Because each is dealing with very different situations. There is indeed, as you note a distinction between affliction and sickness.
A simple and quick search of a very common resource will suffice for our discussion. The
Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries
can be found in the back of the
Strong's Concordance, a staple of most Bible libraries. It defines "afflicted as;
G2553 κακοπαθέω kakopatheo (kak-op-ath-eh'-o) v.
1. to undergo hardship [from a compound of G2556 and G3806]
KJV: be afflicted, endure afflictions (hardness), suffer trouble
Root(s): G2556, G3806
See also: G2552
While "sick" is defined as:
G770 ἀσθενέω astheneo (as-then-eh'-o) v.
1. to be feeble (in any sense) [from G772]
KJV: be diseased, impotent folk (man), (be) sick, (be, be made) weak
Root(s): G772
We are promised by Jesus in the Parable of the Sower (Mt 13,
Mk 4,
Lk 8), that affliction and persecution will come because of the Word. ("for the word's sake."
Mk 4). It is just one of the tools in satan's arsenal designed to steal the Word out of our hearts. The believer is to pray for strength to endure and bear up under the affliction or hardship. We are NEVER told that physical illness is either to be expected or tolerated by the believer.
A common teaching is that God gives us sickness to make us holy or "spiritual." This is not true (sickness usually brings out the worst in most). God does allow his people to suffer, but they should suffer for
doing right or for the name of Jesus, not through sickness (
1 Peter 4:12-17). In
2 Corinthians 11:23-27, Paul listed all the ways he had suffered for Jesus, but
he never counted sickness as part of his suffering for the gospel. Jesus never refused to heal someone because God had made them sick to improve their character.
James 5:13-14 therefore, distinguishes clearly between suffering and sickness and gives different responses. If anyone is in trouble, he should pray, but if he is sick, he should call the elders. Trouble and sickness have different causes, so they require different responses. Biblical suffering does not include sickness.