But someone will say: what should one do if a person is compelled to swear? We answer: the fear of God is stronger than the compulsion of the one forcing him. Another, having in mind the Old Law, will also be perplexed: if the Old Law approves of one who swears by the name of the Lord, then how does grace forbid doing this? We answer: the Old Law commanded the Jews to swear by God in order to turn them from swearing by idols, just as it commanded them to offer sacrifices to God in order to divert them from offering sacrifices to idols. But when it had sufficiently taught the Jews piety, it then abolished sacrifices as useless and began to require as a sacrifice not the slaughter of animals, but a contrite soul. What kind of soul is this? One that through humility is entirely consumed by the fire of love, like Paul, who burned most intensely when some of the faithful were caused to stumble (2 Cor. 11:29).
Jas. 5:13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Let prayer accompany suffering, so that for the one being tried the way out of trials may be easier. Then, when our agitations have been stilled through prayer and the soul has attained the state proper to it, let it sing psalms, so that its blessedness may be multiplied, for the singing of psalms, according to Basil the Great, produces a peaceful and sorrowless state of the soul. Whoever has not attained such a state, which David calls holiness, urging the saints to sing to the Lord (Ps. 30:4), the prayer of such a one long remains mere idle talk.
Jas. 5:14. Is anyone among you sick? 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.
The apostles were already doing this even when the Lord still lived among men: they anointed the sick with oil (Mark 6:13).
Jas. 5:15. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Jas. 5:16. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Jas. 5:17. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
Jas. 5:18. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
The prayer of the righteous man has great power when the one for whom he prays also assists his prayer with spiritual sorrow, for if when others pray for us we ourselves spend our time in luxury, indulgence, and intemperance, then by this we weaken the power of the prayer of the one laboring on our behalf, and the word of blessed Peter is fulfilled in us: "When one builds and another tears down, what do they gain but toil?" (Sir. 34:23).
Jas. 5:19. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
Jas. 5:20. let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Jeremiah says the same: "If you bring forth the honorable from the unworthy, you shall be as My mouth" ("and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you shall be as My mouth") (Jer. 15:19), for everyone who proclaims the words of God becomes the mouth of God. For what does He say? "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matt. 10:20). Therefore through David He also forbids the sinner to declare His ordinances (Ps. 50:16).