by Sandy » Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:28 am
Noting this text is in James 5, and not seeing anywhere else that anointing with oil is part of healing, not something that Jesus himself did, I'm wondering if James is putting a symbolic or a cultural context into this statement. I never saw it done in any of the Baptist churches I ever belonged to. I did experience it myself in a CMA church, which offers it after every service as a testimony to the fourfold gospel, one aspect of which is Jesus as healer. I tend to think of it in the same way I do washing of feet prior to communion, as more of an illustration than a requirement.
With medical skill now available, which is something I believe is a gift from God through the natural process of learning and discovery, I think the idea of faith healing in a miraculous sort of way is something that is rare, and has a specific spiritual purpose behind it. I certainly don't discount prayers when there is a need, nor divine intervention in healing. I've been healed from Cancer, with no doubt that God was behind both the medical processes and the encouragement that was so necessary during 18 weeks of chemotherapy.