who accept pay or rewards or take up collections of money render themselves unclean before God. Jesus instructed his gifted apostles: “You received free, give free.”

21, 22. What do the cases of Eutychus, Epaphroditus and Trophimus show?

²¹ Take now the apostle Paul for further illustration. Once he preached till midnight and Eutychus at a window collapsed with sleep and fell from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul freed himself from any blame by restoring Eutychus to life. That was an emergency miracle on a man within the congregation who had an accident.—Acts 20:7-12.

²² But how about making other members of the congregation well? There was Epaphroditus from Philippi, about whom Paul writes: “He fell sick nearly to the point of death; but God had mercy on him, in fact, not only on him, but also on me, that I should not get grief upon grief. . . . on account of the Lord’s work he came quite near to death, exposing his soul to danger, that he might fully make up for your not being here to render private service to me.” (Phil. 2:25-30, NW) But there is not the trace of a suggestion here that Paul performed divine healing to save Epaphroditus from dying. Nor did he prevent him from getting near the gates of death, even though this fellow worker was of great help to Paul. But God blessed what means were used to bring him back to health and so God had mercy on the sick brother. Incidentally, if Epaphroditus were not to sleep in death but to go immediately to heaven at death, would sparing him for further earthly life have been a mercy to him? Besides him, there was Trophimus. In Paul’s last letter before his death at Rome he writes to tell Timothy: “I left Trophimus sick at Miletus.” (2 Tim. 4:20, NW) Why, now, did the gifted Paul leave Trophimus sick, and why had not Trophimus asked Paul to use his gift of the spirit upon him to make him well? Because miraculous power is not to be used for our personal convenience or for the relief of devoted Christians in the congregation.

23. Did Paul use or recommend divine healing for Timothy?

²³ There was another companion and fellow worker of Paul’s who was afflicted with chronic sickness, Timothy. He had stomach disorders and frequent spells of sickness. Did Paul use his gift on him and miraculously drive away his ailments beyond return? Or did he say: “Timothy, exercise faith and pray for God to intervene and put you in better physical condition for the ministry of the good news”? Listen to Paul’s prescription to Timothy: “Do not drink water any longer, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent cases of sickness.” (1 Tim. 5:23, NW) Timothy may have been a total abstainer from alcoholics; we do not know for sure. But then the drinking water may have been bad and so contributory to Timothy’s ailment. Paul told him the sensible thing to do; no, not go to a drugstore and get a pharmacist’s special wine for constitutional disorders (as prohibitionists argue), but just “use a little wine”, without specifying what kind.

24. What does Luke’s accompanying Paul argue?

²⁴ As for Paul himself, he was not an altogether well man according to various suggestions in the Scriptures. Luke describes himself as accompanying Paul on his missionary trips, from Troas, in Asia Minor, on. And what was this Luke’s profession? Paul tells us in these words: “Luke the beloved physician sends you his greetings.” (Col. 4:14, NW) Not in a spiritual sense, but in a physical medical sense Luke was a physician. The reasonable inference is that Paul had him along for the medical services he could render both Paul and his fellow missionaries. Were true Christians under obligation to restrict themselves to faith cures and divine healing, it would have been inconsistent for Luke as a Christian to practice his profession, especially upon his companions in service.

25. So from the above facts what do we conclude we may and may not do?

²⁵ From these Scriptural facts we rightly conclude that, when we fall sick or certain ailments come on us with age, we may turn to natural methods of cure, or medical remedies. We may resort to doctors of whatever school seems to us to be the best. We may go to sanatoria or to hospitals or have a surgical operation. Such curative methods are not barred to a Christian of faith. We need not delay the proper treatment or care of ourselves by praying and waiting upon miraculous divine healing. It would be wrong to pray and wait for an answer to such a prayer. Why? First, because such healing is not for believers themselves and, second, because such gift of healing by the holy spirit has passed away. To apply to faith healers would do us a spiritual injury, because these carry on their profession, not by power of God’s spirit, but by the Deceiver’s power. Their teachings and works prove they do so. If they understood the Scriptures they would not be in that business.

The Prayer of Faith During Sickness

1, 2. What shows whether James 5:13-15 speaks about spiritual sickness?

THE disciple James speaks about the prayer of faith for the sick. Does he not contradict what has been said above? Let us examine his words on this: “Is there anyone suffering evil among you? Let him carry on prayer. Is there anyone in good spirits? Let him sing psalms. Is there anyone sick among you? Let him call the older men of the congregation to him, and let them pray over him, rubbing him with oil in the name of Jehovah. And the prayer of faith will make the indisposed one well, and Jehovah will raise him up. Also if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him.”—Jas. 5:13-15, NW.

² The context makes it clear that James is here talking, not of physical, but of spiritual sickness. He first mentions suffering evil. That refers to “suffering evil for the good news according to the power of God”. It means enduring some hardships for serving as a Christian witness of God and keeping one’s integrity toward God. (2 Tim. 1:8, NW) So, if one is suffering thus, let him carry on prayer so as to be helped to continue faithful, advises James. But, James, what if anyone is in good spirits? “Let him sing psalms.” Doing so, he edifies himself and those hearing him. But what if anyone is not in good spirits? In other words, what if one is sick spiritually? The fact that James contrasts being sick with being in good spirits plainly indicates he is dealing with spiritual and not physical sickness. The course of treatment he now recommends also argues it is spiritual sickness. The older men of the congregation, who are full-grown in the faith and