Thursday, April 18, 2024

Larry Barkdull on Administrating to the Sick and the Forgiveness of Sins (cf. James 5:14-15)

  

ADMINISTRATION AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS

 

Consecrating a life to the Lord by means of healing is borne out in James’s instruction: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:14-15) Whether a person is healed immediately by the administration or subsequent to the administration, the resulting healing carries with it the promise of both physical and spiritual renewal. The healed person’s body becomes a sanctified receptacle where the Holy Ghost can reside. Therefore, because Zion people are those who are purified and sanctified, the ordinance of administration is essential to their salvation and their spiritual progress.

 

Perhaps for the purposes of purification and consecration, we anoint a sick person with consecrated olive oil before we seal the anointing and before the blessing is pronounced. Elder Gerald L. Lund said, “Olive oil is a symbol of the Holy Ghost and its power to provide peace and to purify.” (Lund, “Old Testament Types and Symbols,” 184-86; emphasis added) Apparently, the anointing literally infuses the sick person with the power of the Holy Ghost, who, according to President Joseph E. Faust, is the Great Physician’s agent of healing. (Faust, “He Healeth the Broken Heart,” 2-7) Elder Lund wrote, “’The olive tree from the earliest times has been the emblem of peace and purity.’ (Doctrines of Salvation, 3:180) Also, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, the wise were prepared with oil. (See Matt. 25:1-13.) Modern revelation equates that preparation (having olive oil) with taking ‘the Holy Spirit for their guide.’ (D&C 45:55-57.) To touch with oil suggests the effect of the Spirit on the same organs of living and acting that had previously been cleansed by the blood of Christ. Thus, every aspect of the candidate’s life was purified and sanctified by both the Atonement and the Holy Ghost.” (Lund, Jesus Christ, Key to the Plan of Salvation, 61)

 

Remarkably, during the healing process, the Lord restores the person both spirit and body: “and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven them.” (James 5:14-15) The Lord’s healing brings remission of sins; the entire soul is healed, both body and spirit. Symbolically, the rescued person is snatched from the grasp of Babylon and delivered into Zion. (Larry Barkdull, The Three Pillars of Zion [Orem, Utah: Pillars of Zion Publishing, 2009], 473-74)