Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
James 5:15 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 15. 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse joins the prayer of faith, saving or healing the sick, the Lord's raising, and conditional forgiveness.
Read It With
- James 5:13–18
Read James 5:15 with 5:13–18. This verse joins the prayer of faith, saving or healing the sick, the Lord's raising, and conditional forgiveness. The complete unit establishes this movement: Every condition is brought before God: sufferers pray, the cheerful praise, the sick call elders for prayer and anointing, the community confesses and prays for healing, and Elijah shows that effective prayer comes from a person sharing ordinary human weakness.
Why This Verse Appears Here
James ends not with isolated endurance but with practices through which the community carries suffering, joy, sickness, sin, and hope together before God. Within that movement, this verse joins the prayer of faith, saving or healing the sick, the Lord's raising, and conditional forgiveness.
Read James 5:13–18 together
Why these verses belong together: Suffering, joy, sickness, anointing, conditional forgiveness, confession, healing, and Elijah are held in communal prayer.
Verse 13. 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Verse 14. 14 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:
Verse 15. 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Verse 16. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Verse 17. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
Verse 18. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
Follow the Context
- A sufferer should pray.
- A cheerful person should sing praise.
- A sick person should call the church's elders.
- The elders pray over and anoint the sick person in the Lord's name.
- The prayer of faith will save/heal the sick person, and the Lord will raise that person.
- If sins have been committed, forgiveness is promised.
- The community confesses sins to one another and prays for one another toward healing.
- A righteous person's prayer is powerfully effective.
- Elijah is emphasized as a human like the readers.
- His prayers frame drought and renewed rain leading to earth's fruit.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“if he have committed sins”
In plain language: Forgiveness is conditional; sickness is not automatically evidence of sin.
joins the prayer of faith, saving or healing the sick, the Lord's raising, and conditional forgiveness. The Lord's care holds bodily weakness, hope, forgiveness, and final life together.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk that requires the full unit and its stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The promise does not give leaders control over healing, guarantee immediate recovery or survival, or blame sickness on sin.
What Remains True
The Lord's care holds bodily weakness, hope, forgiveness, and final life together.
How It Can Shape Life
- Pray hopefully without guaranteeing cure, and reject any claim that a poor outcome proves deficient faith.
Teach It Back
Explain James 5:15's contribution to James 5:13–18: joins the prayer of faith, saving or healing the sick, the Lord's raising, and conditional forgiveness. Include what the surrounding verses add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read James 5:13–18 — Suffering, Joy, Sickness, Confession, and Rain Are Brought to PrayerSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Save and raise can include healing, restoration, salvation, and resurrection; traditions differ on how the strong promise operates.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: James 5:13–18, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, and base text for original-language discussion.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Jas.txt, 5:13–18
Open the James Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — James with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual alternatives, and interpretive notes.
Exact location: NET Bible official six-page James PDF, 5:13–18 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET James PDF ↗