5:14-16 Whose faith is responsible for healing here?
5:14-16 Whose faith is responsible for healing here?
It is the elder's faith that is responsible for the sick being healed here; there can be no blame attached to the sick for their lack of faith if the sickness continues.
They exercise their faith by calling for the elders to pray over them in the first place. If anyone is to blame, it is the elders who prayed for them. However, if the elders and the sick both comply with the divine order for healing outlined here, healing is assured.
That means that the sick have to call for the elders, not the elders call for the sick, as usually happens.
The elders in this context are the leaders of the New Testament church (CP Ac 20:17-21, 28; 1Ti 5:17; 1Pe 5:1-3).
This is not teaching that only the leaders of the church are authorized to pray for healing; every believer in Christ has that authority (CP Mk 16:15-18; Jn 14:12-14; 15:7; 16:23-24).
Every believer can expect God to respond affirmatively to their prayers if they pray in faith like Elijah the prophet did in the Old Testament. He closed the heavens so that no rain fell for three and a half years (CP Jas 5:17 with 1 Ki 17:1).
Elijah, by faith, spoke it into being and Jesus promised believers that they could do the same (CP Mk 11:22-24).