*The rest of the chapter addresses prayer in times of trouble and sickness. James claims that prayer plus faith equals forgiveness of sins and physical healing. Here we see the ancient assumption that illness is associated with, or a result of, "sin." Illness was once considered a spiritual condition manifesting itself in physical symptoms. Some of this thinking persists today, in spite of advances in medical knowledge.
* James says a sick person should have the elders of the church pray over them and anoint them with oil. I don't know that the oil was any more effective than the prayer, depending on the physical cause of the illness. I guess it served the same purpose by making them feel like they were doing something to help. You might look at the word church here and say it is proof that this was a christian letter. However, the greek word is ecclesia which means "called out." It is a greek word for an assembly and did not originally refer to the christian church, though it eventually came to mean that. In fact, in Matthew 18:17, Jesus refers to "the church." Presuming Jesus actually said that, he was speaking to Jews about Jews. He would have been speaking about a Jewish assembly, perhaps in a synagogue. There was no christian church at the time.
*Elijah is given as an example of a righteous man who prayed and got exactly what he asked for. Notice that all the human examples and role models in this book are from the Old Testament. We have had Abraham, Rahab, Job, and now Elijah. There is no mention of the actions of Jesus or the disciples.
*Last of all, James encourages his fellow Jews in the diaspora to bring back anyone who has "wandered from the truth" in order to save them from death. Which truth? Judaism or Christianity?
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