Textual evidence favors (cf. p. 10) beginning v. 16 with the word “therefore.” The prime requirement for sincere faith in prayer is a clear conscience. Wrong deeds secretly done are to be confessed to God alone. Sins that involve others are to be confessed also to those who have suffered injury. A guilty conscience erects a barrier to unreserved reliance upon God and will defeat prayer.

 Gr. ischuō, “to be strong,” “to have power to accomplish [an objective].” Prayer as a means of cooperation with the will of God (see on Luke 11:9) contributes most to Christian endurance and character development when it ascends from the pure and faithful in heart.

 Prayer depends, not on talent, learning, rank, wealth, or office, but on the character of the man who prays. He is not free of all mistakes, for even Elijah (see on v. 17) was not perfect. But he is “righteous” in that he does not cling to known sin (see on Ps. 66:18). He is righteous in that he is in active fellowship and communion with God, even as Elijah was.

Gr. deēsis, “petition,” “entreaty.”

That is, earnestly exercised.

 After the sick man has confessed all sin and after he has examined his own heart to determine its singleness of faith (see on ch. 1:6), petitions for healing may then be presented to God. Not until these conditions are met is God free to grant a request for healing, if such is His plan.

Besides being a source of encouragement, fellowship in prayer enlarges our capacity for receiving blessings God would bestow upon us.

 Gr. paraptōmata, “blunders,” “trespasses.” However, textual evidence favors (cf. p. 10) the reading hamartiai, “sins” (see on 1 John 3:4). Some have suggested that paraptōmata stands for less serious offenses than hamartiai, but the difference between the two words seems rather to be essentially one of figure—a “falling” or a “missing”— rather than one of degree. However, except for its probable occurrence here, hamartiai is consistently used in the NT of offenses which only God can forgive (cf. Mark 2:7), whereas paraptōmata is used both in this sense and also of offenses that may be forgiven by one’s fellow men (cf. Mark 6:15). Here, it is the sick who are to confess their sins, and some hold that James means that they are to do so in the presence of “the elders of the church” (v. 14) who have been summoned to pray for them. Confession is to be a pre-requisite to the offering of prayer for healing. The Scriptures clearly teach that sins are to be confessed to God alone (see 1 John 1:9; etc.), and that we have but one “mediator” of sin between God and man—Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). He is our “advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1).