* A. F. W. Ingram, Inlo the Fighting Line, 229.
The Prayer of a Righteous Man.
13
Literature.
Abbott (E. A.), Cambridge Sermons, 95.
Banks (L, A.), The Great Promises of the Bible, 34.
Boyd (A. K. H.), The Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson, 162.
Cook (F, C), Church Doctrine and Spiritual Life, 89.
Cornaby (W. A.), In Touch with Reality, 265.
Garcia (Q. H. R.), Memoir and Sermons, 201.
Harris (J. R.), Memoranda Sacra, 111.
Kuyper (A.), The Work of the Holy Spirit, 643.
Lock (W.), in Sermons preached before the University of Oxford, 383.
McGarvey (J. W.), Sermons in Louisville, 315.
Murray (A.), The Ministry of Intercession, 55.
Swann (N. E. E.), New Lights on the Old Faith, 125.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), ix. No. 785.
Church Pulpit Year Book, i. (1904) 127.
The Prayer of a Righteous Man.
The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.— Jas. V. i6.
1. There is one writer in the New Testament who strikes us as being very modern. His great characteristic is robust common- sense. He descends from the mountain of theology to deal with very practical matters on the plain of everyday life. The epithet might be applied to him which was applied to Charles Kingsley. He seems to be an " ordained layman." And his name is James.
" You are very orthodox," he says, " and so is the devil. . . . You have heard of a Pentecostal tongue of fire ; I will tell you of another — a tongue of fire lit from the pit. Some praise God in a very pious manner, then lose their temper and scold. Some regard themselves as true Christians, and say to their relatives : ' Be comfortable, be warmed and filled,' while they sit down to their dinner alone. Shams, all of them ! Let us get to practical matters. You talk of faith. Show me your deeds ! "
Speaking of sacred things, he does so in an unconventional manner. He starts congratulating his readers on their difficulties, for although the world has its ups and downs — some poor getting rich, and some rich getting poor — yet with character in view as the ultimate possession of a man, he shows that difficulties call forth endurance, and that the power of bearing up under trials is a grand means towards the attainment of a crowned life.
The whole Epistle is anything but the writing of an un- practical dreamer. James is an intensely practical man who "means business." And when he says, "The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working," it sounds like an utterance as practical as any of his previous ones.^
2. The translation of the text is not easy. In the Authorized
^ W. A. Cornaby, In Touch with Reality, 265.
i6 THE PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN
Version we have it thus : " The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." This is manifestly tautological, as well as far from literal, for if a prayer is " effectual " of course it " availeth much." Nor is the rendering of the Eevised Version, "The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working," quite satisfactory. " Supplication " is preferred to " prayer " simply because the Greek word in this verse is different from the word translated prayer in verse 15 ; it introduces no new meaning. The prayer of which St. James speaks is prayer for others, but "supplication" is not specially applicable to inter- cessory prayer. The words " in its working," however, are feeble and probably inaccurate. They are feeble, because they stand for one word which, coming at the end of the sentence, is emphatic ; and they are probably inaccurate, for it is now accepted by the best scholars (Abbott, Mayor, Armitage Eobinson) that the form is passive. A literal translation would be : " Of great force is the praying of a righteous man (when it is) energized," or " the energized prayer of a righteous man is of great force."
But what does " energized " mean ? Armitage Eobinson suggests "set in operation" by Divine agency. "Eeal prayer," says Eendel Harris, "is connected in a most intimate manner with the influences of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this is what is meant by the word rendered by us 'energized,' but 'effectual and fervent ' in the English Version. Certainly in almost every case where the word occurs it has reference to the operation of God or the devil. And if this be so, the prayer must be a possessed prayer, and the praying man a possessed person, and so again we are brought face to face with the foundations of mighty prayer lying in a holy life. And what else is taught by the Apostle when he says, " The Spirit maketh intercession in the saints according to the will of God " ? ^
^ It is interesting to note that in the early Church those who were " acted or worked on by an evil spirit " bore the name of
Energiimsni.
We have thus three progressive steps — I. The Force of Prayer.
II. The Force of the Prayer of a Eighteous Man. III. The Force of a Eighteous Man's Prayer energized. * J. E. Harris, Memoranda Sacra, 119.