“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective — the exhortation to mutual confession (exhomologeō, openly acknowledge) and prayer establishes communal accountability and intercession as means to healing. The assertion that the prayer of a righteous one (dikaiou) has 'much power' (ischyei poly) and is 'effective' (energeō, works/is operative) establishes the spiritual efficacy of the righteous person's prayer.
Church Fathers on James 5:16
But since God, Who makes poor and makes rich, Who kills and makes alive; Who makes and transforms all things; Who turns night into day, Amos 5:8 winter into spring, storm into calm, drought into abundance of rain; and often for the sake of the prayers 1 Kings 18:42 of one righteous man James 5:16-17 sorely persecuted; Who lifts up the meek on high, and brings the ungodly down to the ground; since God said to Himself, I have surely seen the affliction of Israel; Exodus 3:7 and…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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