Biblia

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of James 5:19

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of James 5:19

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

19. if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him ] Better, as the verb is passive, if any of you be led astray. The “truth” here is obviously not the faith which was common to Jews and Christians, but specifically “the truth as it is in Jesus,” the truth which the “brethren,” who held the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ” (ch. Jas 2:1), had received as their inheritance. To convert one who had so strayed, in thought or will, in belief or act, was to bring him back to the truth.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth – Either doctrinally and speculatively, by embracing error; or practically, by falling into sinful practices. Either of these may be called erring from the truth, because they are contrary to what the truth teaches and requires. What is here said does not appear to have any connection with what precedes, but the apostle seems to have supposed that such a case might occur; and, in the conclusion of the Epistle, he called their attention to the importance of endeavoring to save an erring brother, if such an instance should happen. The exhortation would be proper in addressing a letter to any church, or in publicly addressing any congregation.

And one convert him – This does not mean convert him as a sinner, or regenerate him, but turn him from the error of his way; bring him back from his wanderings; re-establish him in the truth, and in the practice of virtue and religion. So far as the word used here is concerned, epistrepse he who had erred from the truth, and who was to be converted, may have been a true Christian before. The word means simply to turn, sc., from his way of error. See the notes at Luk 22:32.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jam 5:19-20

If any of you do err from the truth

Heresy: an exposition and an appeal

Men may think falsely, and live virtuously; or they may live immorally, and think correctly.

The one class are intellectual sinners: the other moral transgressors. They are to be judged by different standards, and so classified as not to be swept away in one common anathema. If error proceeds from sheer intellectual inability to see as the majority see, charity should be exercised in all its power and tenderness; but if error proceeds from a putrid heart–if it is cherished because truth is too regardful of the conduct, and too restraining for the wildness of passion–their indignation may be excited, and consequences allowed to discharge their retributive fires.


I.
THE POSSIBILITY OF A TRUTH-POSSESSOR BECOMING A TRUTH-LOSER.

1. Through a daring, speculative turn of thought. We are not of those who would close the inquiring eye and bind the exploring wing; yet our duty is to warn the student that there are dangerous latitudes in every sea, and that many a gallant vessel has been shivered on the hidden rock.

2. Through want of sympathy in their intellectual difficulties. Woe unto the Church when honest thought and honest speech are repressed! When intellect is stagnant, its putrid effluvium may corrupt the hearts holiest feelings.

3. Through intellectual pride. Some men are ever in minorities through a love of singularity. They confound impertinence with candour, and mistake rudeness for originality.


II.
THE PRINCIPLE OF MUTUAL OVERSIGHT IN SPIRITUAL LIFE IS RECOGNISED. GO to the erring one with a brothers gentleness, and you may win his soul from destruction. The nearer he is to the edge of the precipice, the more caution is required on the part of those who have his interest at heart.


III.
THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL IS THE SUBLIMEST OF MORAL TRIUMPHS.

1. Christ deemed it worthy of His incarnation and sacrifice.

2. The mission of Gods Spirit is thus fulfilled.

3. The sum of moral goodness is augmented. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Wandering from the truth

Truth is the purest, the most powerful, and the most enduring thing in the universe. Truth makes God to be God, and when God came in the flesh, the brightest crown He could place upon His own head, the noblest name He could give to His personality was The Truth. All the wrongs in the universe begin by a wandering from the truth. This is so in every department of human thought, emotion, and action. It is because the sin begins in some slight departure, in the man, from that which is true, leading to a departure of the affections, which produces a departure in the outward life, that men should be strenuously anxious to know the truth, especially the truth as to their highest things, their highest connections; the truth as to God, their own nature, their relations to God, and their own character. When men talk of the valuelessness of doctrine, and say it does not matter what a man believes so that his life is right, they show their absolute ignorance of the whole subject. It is as if one should say, it is no matter what disease a man has so long as he has health. The outward life of a man is the product of his character, and his character is the product of his creed. If there be one rule without an exception this must be the rule. It certainly is the counterpart in the spiritual world of the fact in physics that no stream ever rises above its source. Now, the source of the outer life is the creed. Nay, it is something still stronger than that. A man is just what he believes, no more, no less. Neither God nor the devil can make him any more or any less. To make any change in him the good or the bad need not strive to mould his outer life, or by any other process attempt to change his character except by efforts to make a change in his creed. If he have believed error, to make him a good man he must be brought to faith in the truth; if he have such faith, to make him a bad man all that is necessary is to break the hold of his faith on the truth. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Now the phrase, thinks in his heart, is equivalent to creed, creed being compounded of two words, signifying that form of belief to which I give my heart. If any one shall object to this that there are so many who profess a good creed and lead a bad life, the reply is ready. In such a case the creed is only professed, not held. Indeed, a creed is not that which a man holds at all; it is that which holds him. When a man once comes into vital connection with the creed, he is never its master; it is always his. (C. F. Deems, D. D.)

The erring to be reclaimed

Another practical precept to conclude with: abrupt, as regards the verses immediately preceding, but embodying that thought of the duty of brotherhood which runs like a golden thread through the tissue of the Epistle. It has been treated negatively, Do the brethren no ill; repay no injuries (Jam 5:9 ff.); then positively, Minister to them, and pray with them for bodily and spiritual healing (Jam 5:14 ff.); and now, lastly, Seek them out; reclaim for Christ His lost sheep. This is the climax of love; more than brotherly, Christlike! In connection with the exhortation to prayer, this may be looked on as praying with the hands, working as Gods ministers towards the fulfilment of that has been uttered by the lips. (Dean Scott.)

He which converteth the sinner.

Converting sinners a Christian duty


I.
Inquire into THE TRUE IDEA OF A SINNER.

1. A sinner is, essentially, a moral agent, tie must be the responsible author of his own acts, in such a sense that he is not compelled irresistibly to act one way or another, otherwise than according to his own free choice. He must also have intellect, so that he can understand his own relations and apprehend his moral responsibilities. He must also have sensibility, so that he can be moved to action–so that there can be inducement to voluntary activity, and also a capacity to appropriate the motives for right of wrong action.

2. He is a selfish moral agent devoted to his own interests, making himself his own supreme end of action.

3. We have here the true idea of sin. It is, in an important sense, error. It is not a mere mistake, for mistakes are made through ignorance or incapacity. Nor is it a mere defect of constitution, attributable to its author. But it is an error in his ways. It is missing the mark in his voluntary course of conduct. It is a voluntary divergence from the line of duty.


II.
WHAT IS CONVERSION? What is it to convert the sinner from the error of his ways? It is changing the great moral end of action. It supplants selfishness and substitutes benevolence in its stead.


III.
IN WHAT SENSE DOES MAN CONVERT A SINNER? Our text reads–If any of you do err from the truth and one convert him–implying that man may convert a sinner. But in what sense can this be said and done? I answer, the change must of necessity be a voluntary one–not a change in the essence of the soul, nor in the essence of the body–not any change in the created constitutional faculties; but a change which the mind itself, acting under various influences, makes as to its own voluntary end of action. It is an intelligent change–the mind, acting intelligently and freely, changes its moral course, and does it for perceived reasons. Even God cannot convert a sinner without his own consent. He cannot, for the simple reason that the thing involves a contradiction. The being converted implies his own consent–else it is no conversion at all. God converts men, therefore, only as He persuades them to turn from the error of their selfish ways to the rightness of benevolent ways. So, also, man can convert a sinner only in the sense of presenting the reasons that induce the voluntary change and thus persuading him to repent. If he can do this, then he converts a sinner from the error of his ways. But the Bible informs us that man alone never does or can convert a sinner. It holds, however, that when man acts humbly, depending on God, God works with him and by him. Men are labourers together with God. They present reasons and God enforces those reasons on the mind.


IV.
WE MUST NEXT INQUIRE INTO THE KIND OF DEATH OF WHICH THE TEXT SPEAKS. Shall save a soul from death.

1. By the death of the soul is sometimes meant spiritual death–a state in which the mind is not influenced by truth as it should be. The man is under the dominion of sin and repels the influence of truth.

2. Or the death of the soul may be eternal death–the utter loss of the soul and its final ruin. To be always a sinner is awful enough–is a death of fearful horror; but how terribly augmented is even this when you conceive of it as heightened by everlasting punishment, far away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power!


V.
We can now consider THE IMPORTANCE OF SAVING A SOUL FROM DEATH. Our text says, he who converts a sinner saves a soul from death. Consequently he saves him from all the misery he else must have endured. So much misery is saved. And this amount is greater in the case of each sinner saved than all that has been experienced in our entire world up to this hour. Yet farther. The amount of suffering thus saved is greater not only than all that ever has been, but than all that ever will be endured in this world. Nay, more, the amount thus saved is greater than the created universe ever can endure in any finite duration. Aye, it is even greater, myriads of times greater, than all finite minds can ever conceive. But let us look at still another view of the case. He who converts a sinner not only saves more misery, but confers more happiness than all the world has yet enjoyed, or even all the created universe. You have converted a sinner, have you? Indeed! Then think what has been gained! Does any one ask, What then? Let the facts of the case give the answer. The time will come when he will say, In my experience of God and Divine things, 1 have enjoyed more than all the created universe had done up to the general judgment–more than the aggregate happiness of all creatures, during the whole duration of our world; and yet my happiness is only just begun! Onward, still onward–onward for ever rolls the deep tide of my blessedness, and evermore increasing! If these things be true, then–

1. Converting sinners is the work of the Christian life. It is the great work to which we, as Christians, are especially appointed. Who can doubt this?

2. It is the great work of life because its importance demands that it should be. It is so much beyond any other work in importance that it cannot be rationally regarded as anything other or less than the great work of life.

3. It can be made the great work of life, because Jesus Christ has made provision for it. His atonement covers the human race and lays the foundation so broad that whosoever will may come. The promise of His Spirit to aid each Christian in this work is equally broad, and was designed to open the way for each one to become a labourer together with God in this work of saving souls.

4. Benevolence can never stop short of it. Where so much good can be done and so much misery can be prevented, how is it possible that benevolence can fail to do its utmost?

5. Living to save others is the condition of saving ourselves. No man is truly converted who does not live to save others. Every truly converted man turns item selfishness to benevolence, and benevolence surely leads him to do all he can to save the souls of his fellow-man. This is the changeless law of benevolent action.

6. The self-deceived are always to be distinguished by this peculiarity–they live to save themselves. This is the chief end of all their religion. All their religious efforts and activities tend toward this sole object. If they can secure their own conversion so as to be pretty sure of it, they are satisfied. Sometimes the ties of natural sympathy embrace those who are especially near to them; but selfishness goes commonly no further, except as a good name may prompt them on.

7. Some persons take no pains to convert sinners, but act as if this were a matter of no consequence whatever. They do not labour to persuade men to be reconciled to God. (C. G. Finney.)

Converting a soul


I.
A SOUL LOST BY ERROR.

1. A safe antecedent state. What is it to be in conformity with the truth?

(1) Our conceptions in harmony with its spirit.

(2) Our life in harmony with its spirit.

2. A fearful possibility. It is implied that a soul can fall from that state, can err from that truth, can bound away from that orbit.

(1) This man can do because he is moral.

(2) This man has done.


II.
A SOUL SAVED BY MAN.

1. It is possible for man to convert a soul.

2. The man who converts a soul accomplishes immense good.

3. The immense good he accomplishes should be well considered by him. Let him know it–to cheer him amidst the discouragements of his labours, and to inspire him with persevering zeal. (D. Thomas.)

Conversion of the erring a Christian duty


I.
THE CASE SUPPOSED. How few fulfil their first promise. Where are all the baptized? Demas still forsakes the truth for the love of the present world. There are many still like the Galatians (Gal 3:1-4), and the Philippians (Php 3:18-19), and the backsliders of Sardis and Laodicea. What, then, are we to fold our hands? Are we to excuse ourselves on the ground that we are not to blame; that it is no business of ours; that though sorry we cannot help? No, there is a better way. If we saw a man nearing a precipice would we not warn him? If we found a child lost in the wilds would we not speak kindly to him and lead him home?


II.
THE REMEDY PRESCRIBED. Whom have you converted? Is there one upon earth that blesses you, as having, under God, turned him from the error of his way? Is there one in heaven who will welcome you to the everlasting habitations as the Christian friend who helped him in the hour of need, and saved his soul from death?


III.
THE GLORIOUS ISSUE.

1. Great loss averted.

2. Great good secured.

3. Great joy.

Lessons:

1. The preciousness of the soul.

2. The liability of good men to err.

3. The necessity of conversion to safety and forgiveness.

4. The obligation upon every Christian to seek the conversion of such as have gone astray. (Win. Forsyth.)

On restoring backsliders

1. The text does not apply to–

(1) the unconverted;

(2) the hypocrite;

(3) those who are intellectually wrong.

2. But to one who has been truly converted to Jesus, and yet has gone back into the world again.


I.
IT IS POSSIBLE TO BACKSLIDE. Some of the causes–

1. A false estimate of the requirements of discipleship.

2. A false estimate of ones own strength.

3. Intellectual pride.

4. Neglect of the means of grace.


II.
THE CHRISTIAN DUTY OF MUTUAL OVERSIGHT.


III.
THE RESTORATION OF THE BACKSLIDER IS ONE OF THE GRANDEST AND NOBLEST OF ALL CHRISTIAN WORKS. (A. F. Barfield.)

Human agency in the sinners conversion to God


I.
THE GREAT OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN ZEAL.

1. The conversion of the sinner, i.e., a change in the–

(1) understanding;

(2) affections;

(3) will;

(4) life.

2. The importance of conversion is seen when we remember that–

(1) Unconverted, the mans influence is evil;

(2) unconverted, he cannot enter heaven.


II.
THE MEANS BY WHICH WE MAY ACCOMPLISH HIS.

1. The force of exhortation.

2. The management of your influence.

3. The power of example.

4. The importunity of prayer.


III.
THE MOTIVES FOR ENGAGING IN THIS GREAT WORK.

1. Much evil shall be removed.

2. Much good shall be conferred.

3. Much joy shall be imparted. (Hugh McGatrie.)

Conversion of others

1. A man may convert his fellow–

(1) By planting in him some saving truth.

(2) By showing the truth embodied in a rounded and radiant life.

2. Christians ought to strive to convert those who err.

(1) It saves a soul from death.

(2) It hides a multitude of sins (Psa 51:9; Psa 32:1; Pr 1Pe 4:8).

(3) It is the grandest work.

(4) It is an enduring work.

(5) It is the most certain work.

Know. Other work may disappoint. In the early Christian Church one sold himself as a slave to a heathen family to gain access. They were converted, and freed him. Then he sold himself to the Governor of Sparta, with like result. If all Christians had that spirit! (C. F. Deems, D. D.)

The conversion of sinners, the supreme object of Christian benevolence


I.
THE PROPENSITY OF MANKIND TO ERR FROM THE TRUTH SO obviously assumed in the text.

1. Some do err from the truth after being taught it by their parents and ministers; after knowing something of its beauty and excellence; after enrolling their names among its friends, and giving some hopeful proofs of its vital and transforming power. Gradually seduced by temptations, evil companions, &c., they become at first indifferent, then reject one point after another, and at last abandon all its claims, and join the ranks of its enemies.

2. Others do err from the truth through habitual inattention to its claims, or a secret aversion to its spirit and authority, felt in youth and confirmed afterwards by indulgence in sin, and the corrupting associations of the world.

3. More still err from the truth, through a total destitution of the means of knowledge, and the influence of some system of error and delusion, instilled into the mind in youth, and identified with all their interests and associations.


II.
THE IMPORTANT CHANGE NECESSARY TO SALVATION; the conversion of a sinner from the error of his way. It is a change from ignorance of Divine things to spiritual discernment; from serious errors to the reception of saving truth; from unbelief to a cordial faith in the Son of God; from feelings and habits of impiety to the love and adoration of his Maker; from a course of vanity and sin to a life of integrity and virtue; from the mere morality of worldly prudence to all the graces of Christian piety; and from the inordinate cares and pursuits of time to a sincere and immediate preparation for eternity.


III.
THE MEANS AND AGENCY BY WHICH THIS CHANGE MAY BE EFFECTED: If one convert him. God might doubtless produce this change in a sinner by an immediate operation on the soul, without any sensible agency, or visible means whatever. But the apostle supposes, in the text, that one is converted by the instrumentality of another, and that the use of fit means for that purpose was the common concern of all who constituted the first Christian Churches. For, as in nature God effects all His purposes by second causes, and makes the elements of the physical system the means of all its changes and productions; so it has pleased Him, in the moral and spiritual world, to effect His purposes of grace by the instrumentality of His servants. The Spirit of God enlightens and improves the human spirit by reasonable means; by intelligent and self-conscious means; by means suited to its powers and responsibilities; by means which do not suspend its freedom, but lead the mind, of its own choice, to a new and efficient use of its faculties.


IV.
THE MOTIVES AND CONSIDERATIONS WHICH SHOULD INDUCE AND SUSTAIN THE ATTEMPT.

1. The magnitude of its immediate results.

2. The accordance of these means with the spirit and commands of the gospel, and the express purpose of God in the economy of redemption.

3. The promise of Divine influence in connection with human instrumentality, and the good already accomplished as a pledge of future success.

4. The subservience of the conversion of sinners to the glory of God, promoting as it does, in every instance, the manifestation of His perfections, and the triumphs of His grace, in restoring fallen man to His image and favour for ever.

5. The holy satisfaction to be found in this good work, and the gracious reward which awaits the faithful, in the blessed results of their exertions, and the grateful recollections of eternity. (T. Finch.)

Motives to Christian zeal


I.
CONVERSION TO GOD IS OF INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY.


II.
IT IS EFFECTED BY HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY.

1. The pious education of the young.

2. The circulation of the Scriptures.

3. The preaching of the gospel.


III.
IT Is THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS TO SEEK THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS. (Essex Remembrancer.)

Jewel gatherers for the Redeemers crown

These are the last words of the Epistle. From the abrupt nature of its conclusion, and from the absence of the ordinary salutation and doxology, some have supposed that the original intention was to write at greater length, but at this part of the Epistle the apostle was surprised by the tumultuous Jews, and suddenly hurried off to martyrdom. If this supposition be true, how solemnly the words stand as the last of a wise and generous spirit! With what worthier words than these parting counsels would any one wish to die? In any case, whether this supposition is true or not, there is very much instruction and encouragement couched in them which will repay our careful study.


I.
THERE IS INDIVIDUAL DANGER; THE POSSIBILITY OF ERRING FROM THE TRUTH. This danger may be either intellectual or moral; either the darkening of the understanding, or the corruption of the heart. The allusion, evidently, is to one who, having known the truth, had departed from its safe and pleasant paths, and had come under the entanglements, either of erroneous notions, or of vicious life. And this twofold danger is in existence still.

1. There is nowadays, I need not remind you, a danger of intellectual error. If, when the apostle wrote–in the very childhood, so to speak, of Christianity–the tares sown by the enemy were so rank in their luxuriant growth that there were some who denied the divinity of Jesus, and some who allied impurity to devotion, and some who dreamed that they had had a release from the obligations to personal obedience–surely the danger of intellectual error is not the less imminent now, when every man deems himself inspired, and has some form or theory of his own. And, when we consider the almost inevitable connection between faith and practice, we cannot loin in the sentiments of those who deem it a matter of indifference as to that may be the peculiarities of creed. We cannot forget that because of his opinion the Moslem enters upon fierce wars of extermination, and that because of his opinion the Hindoo, personally merciful, defends infanticide, and mourns that widows are no longer burned nor captives immolated, as over some lost privilege. We cannot forget that in the Japanese, who, amid barbarous rites, hold festival to uproot the cross; and the Thugs, who strangle from principle, and whose great merit is in the multiplication of murders, the opinions prompt the deed. There are some among the teachers of religion who denounce creeds and denominations almost as vehemently as they denounce infidelity and sin, and whose special mission appears to be to advocate the extinction, not only of the middle walls of partition, but of those old and venerable landmarks which guard the poor mans heritage. It is a dangerous thing, believe me, to loose off from safe anchorage on matters of Christian belief, or of Christian communion, or of Divine fellowship. Search the Scriptures for yourselves, only take care that you come to the investigation stripped of pride, prejudice, and preconceived hostility–with your spirits softened into a docile trust, with your hearts humbled to the obedience of the truth, and, above all, with fervency of prayer for the guidance of the good Spirit from on high, and that Spirit shall be given to the man that shall inquire, and you shall know of the truth or doctrine whether it be of God.

2. There is danger, not only of intellectual, but of moral error. This is, I need not remind you, more imminent and more disastrous than the other. It is quite possible to hold erroneous opinions in connection with a large charity. Wood, hay, and stubble are sometimes built of as clumsy materials on the true foundation; but where the danger is not intellectual, but moral, there is, of necessity, present alienation from God, and the prospect of perpetual exile from the glory of His power. Heresy is not a trifling thing; it is to be resisted and deplored; but the deadliest heresy is sin.


II.
I turn now from the platform of individual danger to that of INDIVIDUAL EFFORT. If any of you err from the truth, and one convert him. If one convert him. There is here a distinct recognition of the influence of mind over mind, that principle of dependence and of oversight which is involved in our mutual relationship as members of one family. The minister ever his flock, the parent over his children, the master over his scholars, the scholars reflecting again upon the master, the servant upon the employer, and the employer upon the servant–all are exerting an influence. They cannot help it, and they cannot cease from it; it is the absolute and irrevocable law of their being. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him–that is, one among themselves, not separated to the holy ministry, but one of his companions; one who is engaged in the same avocations; one who does not preach in the pulpit, but who preaches in the life. It is the persuasiveness of Christian influence that is meant, rather than a public appeal; it is the duty of the individual believer, rather than the duty of the public minister of the truth. There is not a single member of a single Church in the world that is exempt from this service. All are summoned to the labour, and all -oh, infinite condescension!–may be co-workers together with God. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him. Oh, look at that! If one convert him. Not the associated force; not the single army; not the phalanx; not even the regiment; but one solitary soldier–if one convert him. See the mighty results of single-handed labour! Some one has said they are minorities of ones that do all the great works of mankind; and it is amazing how large a result will follow from one mans simple, earnest, unostentatious, prayerful labour. Your sphere is narrow, you say; your influence is small; you feel as if you can do nothing for Christ. Dont now, dont any one of you begin to undervalue your own powers. One acorn is a very insignificant thing; but that majestic oak is its development of strength. One little rippling wavelet makes no account, but it is carried to the spring-tide, and the spring-tide were not perfect without it. One raindrop is hardly noticed as it falls, but it is enough for one rose-buds life to make it blow. There is not one of you, however small and scanty and narrow your influence, who may not, by patient and prayerful toil, become wise winners of souls. Brethren, I charge you examine yourselves in this matter. Have you done your duty? Let there now be born in the heart of each of you a purpose for God. (W. M. Punshon, D. D.)

Conversion


I.
Here is a great principle involved–a very important one–that of INSTRUMENTALITY.

1. Instrumentality is not necessary with God. God can if He pleases cast the instrument aside. The mighty Maker of the world who used no angels to beat out the great mass of nature and fashion it into a round globe, He who without hammer or anvil fashioned this glorious world, can if He pleases speak, and it is done, command and it shall stand fast. He needs not instruments, though He uses them.

2. Instrumentality is very honourable to God, and not dishonourable. Suppose a workman has power and skill with his hands alone to fashion a certain article; but you put into his hands the worst of tools you can find; you know he can do it well with his hands, but these tools are so badly made that they will be the greatest impediment that you could lay in his way. Well now, I say, if a man with these bad instruments, or these poor tools–things without edges–that are broken, that are weak and frail, is able to make some beauteous fabric, he has more credit from the use of those tools than he would have had if he had done it simply with his hands, because the tools, so far from being an advantage were a disadvantage to him; so far from being a help, are on my supposition, even a detriment to him in his work. So God uses instruments to set forth His own glory, and to exalt Himself.

3. Usually God does employ instruments. I have heard of some–I remember them now–who were called like Saul, at once from heaven. We can remember the history of the brother who in the darkness of the night was called to know the Saviour by what he believed to be a vision from heaven, or some effect on his imagination. On one side he saw a black tablet of his guilt, and his soul was delighted to see Christ cast a white tablet over it; and he thought he heard a voice that said, I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. There was a man converted almost without instrumentality; but you do not meet with such a case often. Most persons have been convinced by the pious conversation of sisters, by the holy example of mothers, by the minister, by the Sabbath-school, or by the reading of tracts or perusing Scripture.

4. If God sees fit to make use of any of us for the conversion of others, we must not therefore be too sure that we are converted ourselves. It is a most solemn thought that God makes use of ungodly men as instruments for the conversion of sinners. Grace is not spoiled by the rotten wooden spouts it runs through. God did once speak by an ass to Balaam, but that did not spoil His words. So He speaks, not simply by an ass, which He often does, but by something worse than that. He can fill the mouth of ravens with food for an Elijah, and yet the raven is a raven still.

5. If God in His mercy does not make us useful to the conversion of sinners, we are not therefore to say we are sure we are not the children of God. If I testify to them the truth of God and they reject His gospel; if I faithfully preach His truth, and they scorn it, my ministry is not therefore void. It has not returned to God void, for even in the punishment of those rebels He will be glorified, even in their destruction He will get Himself honour, and if He cannot get praise from their songs, He will at last get honour from their condemnation.

6. God, by using us as instruments, confers upon us the highest honour which men can receive.


II.
THE GENERAL FACT. The choicest happiness which mortal breast can know is the happiness of benevolence–of doing good to our fellow-creatures. To save a body from death is that which gives us almost heaven on earth. Those monks on Mount St. Bernard, surely, must feel happiness when they rescue men from death. The dog comes to the door, and they know what it means: he has discovered some poor weary traveller who has lain him down to sleep in the snow, and is dying from cold and exhaustion. Up rise the monks from their cheerful fire, intent to act the good Samaritan to the lost one. At last they see him; they speak to him; but he answers not. They try to discover if there is breath in his body, and they think he is dead. They take him up, give him remedies; and hastening to their hostel, they lay him by the fire, and warm and chafe him, looking into his face with kindly anxiety, as much as to say, Poor creature! art thou dead? When, at last, they perceive some hearings of the lungs, what joy in the breasts of those brethren, as they say, His life is not extinct! Methinks if there could be happiness on earth, it would be the privilege to help to chafe one hand of that poor, almost dying man, and be the means of bringing him to life again. Or suppose another case. A house is in flames, and in it is a woman with her children, who cannot by any means escape. In vain she attempts to come downstairs; the flames prevent her. She has lost all presence of mind and knows not how to act. The strong man comes, and says, Make way! make way! I must save that woman! And, cooled by the genial streams of benevolence, he marches through the fire. Though scorched and almost stifled, he gropes his way. He ascends one staircase, then another; and though the stairs totter, he places the woman beneath his arm, takes the child on his shoulder, and down he comes, twice a giant, having more might than he ever possessed before. He has jeopardised his life, and perhaps an arm may be disabled, or a limb taken away, or a sense lost, or an injury irretrievably done to his body; yet he claps his hands, and says, I have saved lives from death! The crowd in the street hail him as a man who has been the deliverer of his fellow-creatures, honouring him more than the monarch who has stormed a city, sacked a town, and murdered myriads. But, ah! the body which was saved from death to-day may die tomorrow. Not so the soul that is saved from death: it is saved everlastingly. It is saved beyond the fear of destruction. And if there be joy in the breast of a benevolent man when he saves a body from death, how much more blessed must he be when he is made the means in the hand of God of saving a soul from death, and hiding a multitude of sins. A single word spoken may be more the means of conversion than a whole sermon. God often blesses a short, pithy expression from a friend, more than a long discourse by a minister. There was once in a village, where there had been a revival in religion, a man who was a confirmed infidel. Notwithstanding all the efforts of the minister and many Christian people, he had resisted all attempts, and appeared to be more and more confirmed in his sin. At length the people held a prayer-meeting, specially to intercede for his soul. Afterwards God put it into the heart of one of the elders of the church to spend a night in prayer in behalf of the poor infidel. In the morning the elder rose from his knees, saddled his horse, and rode down to the mans smithy. He meant to say a great deal to him, but he simply went up to him, took him by the hand, and all he could say was, Oh, sir! I am deeply concerned for your salvation. I am deeply concerned for your salvation. I have been wrestling with my God all this night for your salvation. He could say no more, his heart was too full. He then mounted on his horse and rode away again. Down went the blacksmiths hammer, and he went immediately to see his wife. She said, What is the matter with you?

Matter enough, said the man, I have been attacked with a new argument this time. There is Elder B. has been here this morning; and he said, I am concerned about your salvation. Why, now if he is concerned about my salvation, it is a strange thing that I am not concerned about it. The mans heart was clean captured by that kind word from the elder; he took his own horse and rode to the elders house. When he arrived there the elder was in his parlour, still in prayer; and they kneeled down together. God gave him a contrite spirit and a broken heart, and brought that poor sinner to the feet of the Saviour. There was a soul saved from death, and a multitude of sins covered.

2. Again, you may be the means of conversion by a letter you may write. There is your brother. He is careless and hardened. Sister, sit down and write a letter to him: when he receives it, he will perhaps smile, but he will say, Ah, well! it is Betsys letter after all! And that will have some power. I knew a gentleman whose dear sister used often to write to him concerning his soul. I used, said he, to stand with my back up against a lamp-post, with a cigar in my mouth, perhaps at two oclock in the morning, to read her letter. I always read them; and I have, said he, wept floods of tears after reading my sisters letters. Though I still kept on in the error of my ways, they always checked me; they always seemed a hand pulling me away from sin; a voice crying out, Come back! Come back! And at last a letter from her, in coujunction with a solemn providence, was the means of breaking his heart, and he sought salvation through a Saviour.

3. Again. How many have been converted by the example of true Christians. An infidel will use arguments to disprove the Bible, if you set it before him; but, if you do to others as you would that they should do to you, if you give of your bread to the poor and dispense to the needy, living like Christ, speaking words of kindness and love, and living honestly and uprightly in the world, he will say, Well, I thought the Bible was all hypocrisy; but I cannot think so now, because there is Mr. So-and-so–see how he lives. I could believe my infidelity if it were not for him. The Bible certainly has an effect upon his life, and, therefore, I must believe it.

4. And then, how many souls may be converted by what some men are privileged to write and print. I value books for the good they may do to mens souls. Much as I respect the genius of Pope, or Dryden, or Burns, give me the simple lines of Cowper, that God has owned in bringings souls to Him. Oh I to think that we may write and print books which shall reach poor sinners hearts.

5. But, after all, preaching is the ordained means for the salvation of sinners, and by this ten times as many are brought to the Saviour as by any other. Ah! my friends, to have been the means of saving souls from death by preaching–what an honour! Oh! men and women, how can ye better spend your time and wealth than in the cause of the Redeemer? What holier enterprise can ye engage in than this sacred one of saving souls from death, and hiding a multitude of sins. This is a wealth that ye can take with you–the wealth that has been acquired under God, by having saved souls from death, and covered a multitude of sins.


III.
THE APPLICATION. It is this: that he who is the means of the conversion of a sinner does, under God, save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins; but particular attention ought to be paid to backsliders; for in bringing backsliders into the Church there is as much honour to God as in bringing in sinners. Brethren, if any one of you do err from the truth, and one convert him. Alas! the poor backslider is often the most forgotten. A member of the Church has disgraced his profession; the Church excommunicated him, and he was accounted a heathen man and a publican. I know of men of good standing in the gospel ministry, who ten years ago fell into sin; and that is thrown in our teeth to this very day. Do you speak of them you are at once informed, Why, ten years ago they did so-and-so. Christian men ought to be ashamed of themselves for taking notice of such things so long afterwards. True, we may use more caution in our dealings: but to reproach a fallen brother for what he did so long ago is contrary to the spirit of John, who went after Peter, three days after he had denied his Master with oaths and curses. Recollect you would have been a backslider too if it were not for the grace of God. I advise you, whenever you see professors living in sin to be very shy of them; but if after a time you see any sign of repentance, or if you do not, go and seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel; for remember, that if one of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him remember that he who converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. Backsliders, who your misery feel, I will come after you one moment. Poor backslider, thou wast once a Christian. Dost thou hope thou wast? No, sayest thou, I believe I deceived myself and others; I was no child of God. Well, if thou didst, let me tell thee, that if thou wilt acknowledge that, God will forgive thee. Come thou, then, to His feet; cast thyself on His mercy; and though thou didst once enter His camp as a spy, He will not hang thee up for it, but will be glad to get thee anyhow as a trophy of mercy. But if thou wast a child of God, and canst say, honestly, I know I did love Him, and He loved me, I tell thee He loves thee still. If thou hast gone ever so far astray, thou art as much His child as ever. Though thou hast run away from thy Father, come back, come back, He is thy Father still. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The greatness of being instrumental to anothers conversion

St. James was speaking to those who were the true and faithful disciples of Christ; not to hirelings, who would think only of what was personal to themselves, or who could view their own interests separately from those of His Church. The true Christian is one who burns with zeal for the glory of God, and who loves his fellow-men, as children of the same Father, and redeemed by the same blood. Show him, then, what he can do to promote Gods glory, or to benefit his fellow-men, and you show him what he will eagerly seize on, as meeting his desires and deserving of his energies. He has so much of conformity to Christ, that as the blessed Redeemer pleased not Himself, but poured out His soul unto death, that He might save sinners from eternal destruction, so he thinks not of what may minister to his individual happiness, but seeks his own good in that of strangers, and even enemies. Is it nothing, then, to him, that he may be instrumental to the saving a soul from death–to the hiding a multitude of sins? The soul is that of which we are taught assuredly that it shall not die; that God hath endowed it with immortality. The death of the soul is life–eternal life–but life under the frown of the Almighty: the life of anguish; the life of remorse; the life of despair; life with all the darkness of death, but with none of its repose; the grave, but the grave for a home, with all its noisomeness felt, all its terrible chillness clasping the heart, all its unseen, its unimagined fearfulness telling on acute and ever wakeful sensibilities. Thus, when you speak of a mans losing his soul, you do not mean that the soul is taken from him; that he parts with the soul, as is ordinarily meant in speaking of anything that is lost. This were no loss; this were gain–immeasurable, unspeakable gain–to the wicked. But the soul is lost when it clings tenaciously to the body, and yet would give worlds, if it had them to give, to dissolve the union; when all its powers are lost, but the power of being wretched, or rather are all sunk in that one tremendous and ever-growing capacity. And is it nothing, then, to save a soul from death? Oh i the true Christian thrills at the mention of such a deed. No matter whose soul it is–it is the soul of a fellow-creature, the soul of one formed in the sameimage with himself; a soul too, for which the Lord Jesus died, and which, therefore, need not die; the multitude of whose sins may be hidden–hidden from the avenger of blood, because blotted out through the expiation made on Calvary. There is motive, then, enough, in the mere prospect of saving a soul from death. Not, however, that he who is instrumental to the conversion of a sinner has no more immediate, personal interest in the event, than would seem indicated by these remarks. We cannot doubt–Scripture will not suffer us to doubt–that he who converts another thereby forms for himself a new spring of happiness through eternity. What says St. Paul to the Thessalonians? What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? Now we attach peculiar worth to our text, on account of its dealing with single cases of conversion. It is not one of those passages which take a large sweep, and which, therefore, the private Christian, who is not placed in any wide sphere of duty, may consider as scarcely applying to himself. It is but one wanderer who is here spoken of as reclaimed; and it is but a single individual who is instrumental to his conversion. If the text related to conversion on a great scale, as when multitudes are acted on through the preaching of the gospel, it might have been said, that if there were encouragement in the text, it was encouragement for those only unto whom is committed the work of an evangelist. But as it is, there is not one of you who may not consider himself as the party addressed by St. James; for there is not one of you, however contracted the sphere in which he may move, unto whom there is not afforded opportunity of acting on some fellow-creature, who is living in estrangement of God, and of endeavouring to prevail on him to return to the Shepherd and Bishop of his soul. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The conversion of a sinner

These words are so plain and pointed that we can turn to them without any explanation or introduction. One fact, however, is worthy of notice. They were written by James, the direct teacher of daily duty and of Christian practice. It is a mistake to suppose that a sense of morality loosens a mans hold upon the essential doctrines of Christianity. No one will charge James with being unpractical. This letter is full of stinging, ringing sentences, in which he brands the faith that is without works as an accursed thing. Yet it is he who here sets before us the absolute necessity of repentance and conversion as the sum and substance of the whole matter.


I.
THE ERROR OF THE SINNERS WAY. There is no doubt about whom James means by the sinner. He had in view men and women who, although nominally Church members, paid no real regard to the gospel or to the commands of God. Of such people James says that their way of thought, and of feeling, and of life is an error. Now, this is not the light in which such a man regards his own way. If it were, he would change at once, and cease to be a sinner. On the contrary, it usually seems to him that he would be losing something if he changed, and that his present plan is natural, judicious, and successful. It does not occur to him that be is wandering, erring, going on the wrong road. His error lies in this, that he is not walking in the road in which God intended him to walk, and on which Gods blessing rests. To refuse to lead the life which our Maker intends us to lead is a foolish blunder, because that is the life for which we are best suited. With God, it has not been a matter of mere intention, but of action, of creation, and of endowment, if you saw a man using bank-notes to light a fire, you would be sure that he was committing an error. He might tell you that the banknotes were his own, and that he chose to use them in that way; but he would not persuade you that he was acting prudently. There is a definite value in the notes; and his error would be none the less glaring because he chose to forget their value. There was an Eastern queen, in olden times, who loved extravagance. She took costly pearls, had them ground to powder, and mixed the powder in the wine she drank. No one could interfere; but that fact did not lessen her folly. It is the same with the sinner. He turns to base uses a nature which is fitted for the highest purposes. Capable of true thoughts and pure feelings, and charitable, honourable actions, he wastes his capacity. And, just as in these cases, his choice, his wish, does not make his error less. But there is another and deeper sense in which the ways of a sinner are one great error. He is going in the wrong direction–down-wards instead of upwards, towards the dark land of death instead of towards the bright world of love. In truth, if men were cautious, if they were prudent, if they were wise–there would be no such thing as sin. It is only because we are foolish, and imprudent, and rash, that we choose the way of sin–only because we are slow to learn where our true interest and our safety lie. And yet, thank God, that constantly, every week and every day, sinners are discovering the error of their ways–discovering that they have been blundering, and growing eager to return to God. How marvellous is this steady, unseen work, this descent of the wise Spirit into our hearts–when the young and heedless become serious and earnest; when worldly men and women start, and turn, and live; when hardened sinners, whose blunders seemed to be beyond recall, grow weary of their sins, and see their folly, and stretch out desperate hands for help. It is strange that we should err so grossly; but it is stranger still that, when we confess our error, God is always ready to forgive.


II.
JAMES SPEAKS TO US HERE OF THE DEATH OF THE SINNERS SOUL–He shall save a soul from death. Even in this world there is a deadness that comes upon the soul which has long been a slave of sin. Torpor, dulness, and indifference creep over the godless heart till it becomes almost impenetrable. But the form of the words which James uses proves that he is thinking not of the souls ruin in this world, but of the Judgment Day, when sinners receive the wages of sin, which is death. It is not only from the Bible that we learn that sin will be punished beyond the grave. This is what we call a truth of natural religion–a truth which men reach by conscience and by reason, apart from revelation, Many of the most fearful descriptions of future punishment have been written by poets and philosophers who knew nothing of our Scriptures, and never heard the name of Jesus. When we turn to the Bible, two glimpses are given us of the future state of the sinner–or rather, two sets of glimpses, two kinds of view. On the one hand, we are told that it will be a time of incessant suffering and of miserable torment. It is set before us under most appalling images–as a fire that is never quenched, and a worm that never dies. If we had only these passages to guide us, we should be forced to conclude that the soul will suffer in some such way to all eternity, But in other passages of the Bible we learn that the sinful soul will be destroyed–that it will be lost, that it will die–as if only good men were immortal. There are some strange expressions which do not disclose their meaning at the first. For example, we read of everlasting destruction; that is a common Bible phrase. What does it mean? Does it simply mean that the sinner will be destroyed, never to live again? Or does it imply that the act of destruction will go on always–that the sinner will always be being-destroyed? It is hard to answer, hard to say whether the New Testament, as a whole, affirms the one of these doctrines or the other. Therefore we rather take those two views–the one that the soul suffers continually, and the other that the soul is destroyed–and, when we fail to reconcile them, we must conclude that this is a subject upon which God has not thought fit to disclose the truth to us explicitly. He has left us to the law of conscience, and to that belief in the eternal laws of righteousness and recompense which the revelation of redemption has entwined with our belief in the unity and eternity of God. He has left us to a certain fearful looking-for of judgment, and the assurance that we shall receive according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil. But beyond this He has given us a truth which underlies those divergent views, and is included in them both. At death the unrepentant sinner is separated from God, banished from His presence, cast away from His gracious sustaining power, and left alone in the vast wilderness of eternity.


III.
HE WILL HIDE A MULTITUDE OF SINS. Here we see that the word sinner is not a term invented to suit a system of theology, not a fancy figure of some heated pulpiteer, but a real description of lives that men and women actually live. It gives us a definition of a sinner; he is a man who has committed a multitude of sins. It implies not one transgression only, nor one offence, but a multitude that cannot be counted, rising, as Isaiah says, like a thick cloud between man and God. It is this infinite unmeasured character of human sin that makes it so hard to persuade men of its reality. If a man steals, or drinks, or ill-treats his wife and children, we can argue with him about his sin, we can expose him publicly or privately, we can try to convince him of his special guilt and special danger. But to go deep down into the heart and point to its pollution, to go away back with you into your past, and lay a finger upon every sin you have committed, to follow you into the watches of the night and the privacy of your homes, and then to present you with a full list of your sifts, and say to you, There, you have done all these things, all that multitude–that is not the work of man; the multitude of a single souls offences baffles knowledge. It is wonderful how God teaches this lesson–there is a mystery about it–how a man begins to feel that it dries not matter much what his neighbours think about him, and that there is a reckoning which he must make with the eternal justice. Sometimes slowly, but sometimes in a moment, it dawns upon him that every page and every line of the buck of his life must be read aloud. And then, dear friends, when that truth gets hold of us, when we see what a shabby, shameful, damning story it would be, how we should be stung with shame and filled with remorse as one secret sin after another was disclosed, how absolutely helpless we should be to justify ourselves–then we feel how blessed a thing it is to have all hidden, all that multitude hidden through Gods great mercy and the merits of our Saviour. Fellow Christians, before we close, notice the beginning of this verse. Read it: If one converteth. Read it again. We sinners may convert other sinners from the error of their way; we may save souls from death; we may hide a multitude of sins. God knows it is not easy; but if we are earnest and loving and persistent, He will help us. Remember there are sinners around us, at home, in church, and in the world, and there is no joy so deep, no reward so great as to lead one sinner on the road to God. (A. R. McEwen, D. D.)

Caring for the salvation of others

1. Brethren may err from the truth. There is no saint recorded in the Word of God, but his failings and errors are recorded. Junius before conversion was an atheist.

2. We are not only to take care of our salvation, but the salvation of others. As God hath set conscience to watch over the inward man, so for the conversation He hath set Christians to watch over one another. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you, &c. (Heb 3:12), not only in yourselves, but in any of you. So Heb 12:15-16. Members must be careful one of another; this is the communion between saints.

(1) It reproveth our neglect of this duty. Straying would have been much prevented if we had been watchful, or did we, in a Christian manner, reason together with each other; what comfort and establishment might we receive from one anothers faith and gifts I

(2) It showeth what a heinous sin it is in them that watch over eachs hurt; as the dragon for the man child (Rev 12:4), or as angry Herod sought to destroy the babes of Bethlehem, or a nipping March wind the early blossoms of the spring, so they nip and discourage the infancy and first buddings of grace by censure, reproach, carnal suggestions, and put stumbling-blocks in the way of young converts, and so destroy Christianity in the birth.

3. From that if any do err. If but one, there is none so base and contemptible in the Church but the care of their safety belongeth to all. One root of bitterness defileth many; both in point of infection and scandal we are all concerned; one spark may occasion a great burning.

4. From that and one convert him. The expression is indefinite, not as limiting it to the officers of the Church, though it be chiefly their work. Besides the public exhortations of ministers, private Christians should mutually confer for comfort and edification.

5. From that convert him; that is, reduce him from his error. We must not only exhort, but reclaim. Though it be an unthankful office, yet it must not be declined; usually carnal respects sway us, and we are loath to do that which is displeasant. Well, then, if it be our duty to admonish, it is your duty to suffer the words of exhortation, to bear a reproof patiently, otherwise you oppose your own salvation.

6. Again from that convert him? He doth not say destroy him; the work of Christians is not presently to accuse and condemn, but to counsel and convert an erroneous person. Before any rigorous course be taken, we must use all due means of information; the worst cause always is the most bloody.

7. From that let him know. To quicken ourselves in a good work, it is good we should actually consider the dignity and benefits of it.

8. From that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way. Before it was expressed by erring from the truth, and now by the error of his way. You may note that errors in doctrine usually end in sins of life and practice (Jud 1:8). We often see that impurity of religion is joined with uncleanness of body, and spiritual fornication punished with corporal Hos 4:12-13). In error there is a sinful confederacy between the rational and sensual part, and so carnal affections are gratified with carnal doctrined.

9. From that shall save. Man under God hath this honour to be a saviour. We are workers together with God (2Co 6:1). He is pleased to take us into a fellowship of His own work, and to cast the glory of His grace upon our endeavours. It is a high honour which the Lord doth us; we should learn to turn it back again to God, to whom alone it is due (1Co 15:10).

10. From that soul. Salvation is principally of the soul; the body hath its Php 3:21). But the soul is first possessed of glory, and is the chief receptacle of it, as it is of grace for the present (see 1Pe 1:9). Well, then, it teacheth us not to look for a carnal heaven, a Turkish paradise, or a place of ease and sensitive pleasure. This is the heaven of heaven, that the soul shall be filled up with God, shall understand God, love God, and be satisfied with His presence.

11. From that from death. Errors are mortal and deadly to the spirit. The wages of every sin is death, especially of sin countenanced by error, for then there is a conspiracy of the whole soul against God.

12. From that and shall hide. Justification consisteth in the covering of our sins. It is removed out of Gods sight, and the sight of our own consciences, chiefly out of Gods sight. God cannot choose but see it as omniscient, hate it as holy, but He will not punish it as just, having received satisfaction in Christ: sins are so hidden that they shall not be brought into judgment, nor hurt us when they do not please us.

13. From that a multitude of sins. Many sins do not hinder our pardon or conversion. Gods free gilt is of many offences unto justification Rom 5:16); and it is said, He will multiply to pardon (Isa 55:7). For these six thousand years God hath been multiplying pardons, and yet free grace is not tired and grown weary. The creatures owe a great debt to justice, but we have an able surety; there is no want of mercy in the creditor, nor of sufficiency in the surety. It is a folly to think that an emperors revenue will not pay a beggars debt. Free grace can show you large accounts and a long bill, cancelled by the blood of Christ. The Lord interest you in this abundant mercy, through the blood of Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit! (T. Manton.)

To Sabbath-school teachers and other soul-winners

James is preeminently practical. If he were, indeed, the James who was called The Just, I can understand how he earned the title, for that distinguishing trait in his character shows itself in his Epistle; and if he were the Lords brother, he did well to show so close a resemblance to his great relative and Master, who commenced His ministry with the practical Sermon on the Mount. The text before me is perhaps the most practical utterance of the whole Epistle. The whole Epistle burns, but this ascends in flames to heaven: it is the culmination as it is the conclusion of the letter. There is not a word to spare in it. It is like a naked sword, stripped of its jewelled scabbard, and presented to us with nothing to note but its keen edge.


I.
A SPECIAL CASE DEALT WITH. It was that of a backslider from the visible Church of God. This man had been professedly orthodox, but he turned aside from the truth on an essential point. Now, in those days the saints did not say, as the sham saints do now, We must be largely charitable, and leave this brother to his own opinion; he sees truth from a different standpoint, and has a rather different way of putting it, but his opinions are as good as our own, and we must not say that he is in error. They did not prescribe large-hearted charity towards falsehood, or hold up the errorist as a man of deep thought, whose views were refreshingly original; far less did they utter some wicked nonsense about the probability of there being more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds. They did not believe in justification by doubting as our neologians do; they set about the conversion of the erring brother; they treated him as a person who needed conversion; and viewed him as a man who, if he were not converted, would suffer the death of his soul, and be covered with a multitude of sins. O God, deliver us from this deceitful infidelity, which while it does damage to the erring man, and often prevents his being reclaimed, does yet more mischief to our own hearts by teaching us that truth is unimportant, and falsehood a trifle, and so destroys our allegiance to the God of truth, and makes us traitors instead of loyal subjects to the King of kings. It appears from our text that this man, having erred from the truth, followed the natural logical consequence of doctrinal error, and erred in his life as well. His way went wrong after his thought had gone wrong. You cannot deviate from truth without ere long, in some measure, at any rate, deviating from practical righteousness. This man had erred from right acting because he had erred from right believing. Every error has its own outgrowth, as all decay has its appropriate fungus. When truth is dominant morality and holiness are abundant; but when error comes to the front godly living retreats in shame. The point aimed at with regard to this sinner in thought and deed was his conversion–the turning of him round, the bringing him to right thinking and to right acting. Alas! I fear many professed Christians do not look upon backsliders in this light, neither do they regard them as hopeful subjects for conversion. I have known a person who has erred hunted down like a wolf. The object of some professors seems to be to amputate the limb rather than to heal it. Justice has reigned instead of mercy. In the days of James, if any erred from the truth and from holiness, there were brethren found who sought their recovery, and whose joy it was thus to save a soul from death, and to hide a multitude of sins. There is something very significant in that expression, Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth. It is akin to that other word, Considering thyself also, lest thou also be tempted, and that other exhortation, Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. The text gives us clear indications as to the persons who are to aim at the conversion of erring brethren. It says, If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him. It is the business, not of certain officers appointed by the vote of the Church thereunto, but of every member of the body of Jesus Christ, to seek the good of all the other members. Still there are certain members upon whom in any one case this may be more imperative. For instance, in the case of a young believer, his father and his mother, if they be believers, are called upon by a sevenfold obligation to seek the conversion of their backsliding child. In the case of a husband, none should be so earnest for his restoration as his wife, and the same rule holds good with regard to the wife. So also if the connection be that of friendship, he with whom you have had the most acquaintance should lie nearest to your heart, and when you perceive that he has gone aside, you should, above all others, act the shepherd towards him with kindly zeal. You are bound to do this to all your fellow Christians, but doubly bound to do it to those over whom you possess an influence, which has been gained by former intimacy, by relationship, or by any other means. Ye see your duty; do not neglect it. Brethren, it ought to cheer us to know that the attempt to convert a man who has erred from the truth is a hopeful one, it is one in which success may be looked for, and when the success comes it will be of the most joyful character. To bring in a stranger and an alien, and to adopt him as a son, suggests a festival; but the most joyous feasting and the loudest music are for the son who was always a son, but had played the prodigal, and yet after being lost was found, and after being dead was made alive again. Here I would say to any backsliders who are present, let this text cheer you if you have a desire to turn to God. Return, ye backsliding children, for the Lord has bidden His people seek you.


II.
A GENERAL FACT. This general fact is important, and we are bound to give it special attention, since it is prefaced with the words, Let him know. If any one of you has been the means of bringing back a backslider, it is said, Let him know. That is, let him think of it, be sure of it, be comforted by it, be inspirited by it. Let him know it, and never doubt it. What is it that you are to know? To know that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death. This is something worth knowing, is it not? If you have saved a soul from death you have introduced it into eternal life; by Gods good grace there will be another chorister amongst the white-robed host to sing Jehovahs praise; another hand to smite eternally the harp-strings of adoring gratitude; another sinner saved to reward the Redeemer for His passion. Oh, the happiness of having saved a soul from death! And it is added, that in such case you will have covered a multitude of sins. Now, remember your Saviour came to this world with two objects: He came to destroy death and to put away sin. If you convert a sinner from the error of his ways you are made like to Him in both these works: after your manner in the power of the Spirit of God you overcome death, by snatching a soul from the second death, and you also put away sin from the sight of God by hiding a multitude of sins beneath the propitiation of the Lord Jesus. Do observe here that the apostle offers no other inducement for soul-winners: He does not say if you convert a sinner from the error of his ways you will have honour. True philanthropy scorns such a motive. He does not say if you convert a sinner from the error of his ways you will have the respect of the Church and the love of the individual. Such will be the case, but we are moved by far nobler motives. The joy of doing good is found in the good itself: the reward of a deed of love is found in its own result. And let us recollect that the saving of souls from death honours Jesus, for there is no saving souls except through His blood. As for you and for me, what can we do in saving a soul from death? Of ourselves nothing, any more than that pen which lies upon the table could write Pilgrims Progress; yet let a Bunyan grasp the pen, and the matchless work is written. So you and I can do nothing to convert souls till Gods eternal Spirit takes us in hand; but then He can do wonders by us, and get to Himself glory by us, while it shall be joy enough to us to know that Jesus is honoured, and the Spirit magnified. Now I want you to notice particularly that all that is said by the apostle here is about the conversion of one person. If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he who converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death. Have you never wished you were a Whitfield? Have you never felt, young man, in your inmost soul, great aspirations to be another McCheyne, or Brainerd, or Moffat? Cultivate the aspiration, but at the same time be happy to bring one sinner to Jesus Christ, for he who converts one is bidden to know that no mean thing is done; he has saved a soul from death, and covered a multitude of sins.


III.
And, now, A PARTICULAR APPLICATION of this whole subject to the conversion of children. Children need to be saved; children may be saved; children are to be saved by instrumentality. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The preciousness of the soul

We cannot but be struck with the contrast between what God honours and that which man deems most honourable. God honours those that save. Man too oft, indeed generally, gives his highest honour to the man that destroys. Thus the warrior has ever been a favourite with society; and yet how terrible is his work! Another man the world honours, less highly, though he is more worthy–the statesman of far-reaching genius, who devises those measures that shall increase general intelligence and happiness, advance the public interest, and make his countrys name to be honoured and feared among the nations of the earth. Society recognises as worthy of some measure of esteem another character, more worthy than either we have named, yet less honoured. We refer to the man of benevolence, who goes forth to improve the condition of society, to raise the fallen, to give new hope to the despairing. Such a man was Howard, who sought to solve the problem, What is the greatest amount of effort a man may make in the cause of humanity? Still higher in merit than the characters named is the man whom God especially honours. He toils not only to improve mans physical, moral, and intellectual condition, but deems it his great work to save man from sin, from the pollution and corruption of his nature, from those consequences partially manifest in this life, that shall have their consummation in the life to come. He goes forth with burning, self-sacrificing zeal, to save the souls of men. How little does the world honour this class of men! But the honour and greatness of this work of saving men is indicated by the greatness of the change wrought in conversion, through which all who have sinned must pass in order to be saved. How wondrous the change in a soul converted! He was dead in trespasses and sins, lost in error, and in bondage to sin and Satan. Now, renewed in heart and life–changed in opinions, in prospects, in hopes, and associations he is free, and becomes a child of God, a brother of Christ, How marked is this change, they who have experienced it well know, and they also understand it who have witnessed the wondrous transformation in character and conduct of many they have known as sinners and as converted men. Now, the evidence of the reality of this work of conversion to any candid seeker of truth is clear and strong. The evidence to the individual renewed is manifestly and necessarily, from its nature, in his own consciousness. You may go to any community and bring forth the persons that say they have experienced this change of heart. They will tell you they have known what it is to be under the bondage of sin, in fear of the wrath to come, and in their trouble and anguish of soul they submitted to the directions of Gods Word and yielded themselves to Christ. They will affirm that in so doing they found peace; their sense of condemnation was removed, and peace and joy filled their souls. They will tell you that they have the assurance of Gods forgiveness, and the witness of the Holy Spirit that they are His children. This personal testimony will have confirmation in the change in their enjoyments, tastes, and the new rules of conduct to which they have submitted in consequence of conversion. But in this work of saving men the most important point remains for consideration. On whom rests the responsibility of this work of converting men? It is not enough to wish for this work, to feebly pray for it, to think of the obligation of the Church at large, but every single Christian must labour as he has opportunity, and use all his means of influence to secure the salvation of others. The great object of the Church, and of union with it, is not the personal happiness of believers. Happiness is the result of obedience to laws, and misery is the consequence of disobedience. We shall be happy ourselves when we strive in self-forgetfulness to make others happy. While the Church is designed to furnish instruction, assistance, and comfort to its members, it is Gods great instrumentality for the diffusion of the word of life, for proclaiming the gospel unto unregenerate men. It is sinful and absurd for any one to say, I have not the power to do anything; I cannot speak to any one on the subject of religion. What other subject is there on which men cannot speak? Will any man acknowledge himself so feeble and humble that he can never speak on business, so modest that he can never say a word on trade? Our excuse that we have not the requisite power to engage in this work is a dishonour to ourselves, and in urging it we dishonour God. When men thus speak, they talk vainly. It is on this account the Church languishes and souls perish. In conversion the human will must yield in order that the Holy Spirit may renew the heart and forgive sins. To secure this yielding of the will of the sinner to Divine grace, family, friendly, and moral influences may avail. God requires that they be sanctified to this use. Have not some of us sad thoughts as we think of those with whom we have been associated, and of our unfaithfulness? Do not scenes rise before us that cause sorrow and anguish? Has no one of our friends or families passed away relative to whose future there is a terrible doubt, nay, perhaps a fearful certainty, if we could entertain the thought? A mother wept for the death of a beloved child. Friends came to comfort her. They offered the usual sources of consolation, such as affectionate hearts yearn to give. But the mother rejected it all. Ah! said she, it is not this. It is not this. I could give up my child. I could bow with resignation over her death. But, alas! I fear she is not saved. It was a foolish diffidence that kept me from talking with her as I oft felt it my duty to do. And when she was stricken with disease, I thought the opportunity would come and I would then improve it. But, alas! delirium came. I bowed by my child. I prayed God, not so much for her life as for one hour of reason, that I might do my duty to my child. But she never recognised me, and I fear she is lost. Oh I mothers, mothers, do you love your children, and you are living with them in view of certain death, and have you done your duty to seek the conversion of their souls? But there is joy, also, in the thought of being instrumental in saving souls. A missionary sat by the dying bed of his first convert. The dying man said to him, Brother, I hear you preached a sermon about heaven last evening; I could not go to hear you preach, but I am going to heaven itself, and when I get there I shall go first to the Lord Jesus Christ and thank Him that He ever sent you to tell me of His love; and then, brother, I shall come back to the gate and sit there until you come; and when you come, I will lead you to the Saviour and say, Here, Lord, is the man that told me of Thy love. Oh! Christians, are you willing to walk the streets of heaven and have no one greet you there? Would you be willing to go yourselves inside the gates and never have a soul to greet you and say, I thank God for the kind words of sympathy and love you spoke on earth? But while this work of saving souls thus concerns the Church, shall the unconverted be indifferent to their own salvation? Remember, if Christians are unfaithful you are not excused. You know your duty, and, living amid so many privileges, your guilt for the rejection of Christ will be the greater. (Joseph Cummings, D. D.)

One soul worth a great effort

He who is privileged to lead a single soul to Christ does a work compared with which the gathering of crowds and addressing of multitudes is of small account. Let us not despise the day of small things. You have preached twenty years, and have only made one convert, was the taunt with which a man assailed a servant of the Lord. , Have I converted one? asked the minister. Yes, there is such an one, who is really converted under your ministry. Then here is twenty years more for another, said the man of God, and all eternity would endorse the wisdom of the utterance.

Be slow to despair

It is said of the late Lord Lyndhurst that his saving enlightenment came in his ninetieth year. Not till then did he really bow the knee to Jesus and pass from death to life. Those, therefore, who would be eminently successful in soul-winning must be slow to despair. This is the testimony of one who recently died in the faith of the gospel: Under God, I owe my conversion to you; not through anything special that you said, but because you never would give up hope of me. Even if inquirers should turn wholly away from us, we may reach them by the way of the throne.

Successful endeavour

The Rev. Edward Judson, of the Berean Baptist Church, New York, prints the following note at the end of a list of the services of his church
A Christian man, deeply devoted, and wise to win souls, made it a rule to speak to some one unconverted person every day on the subject of his souls salvation. One night, as he was about retiring to rest, he bethought himself that he had not fulfilled his vow that day. He immediately put on his attire, and prepared to go in quest of a soul. But where should he go? was the question. He concluded to make a visit to a grocer with whom he was in the habit of trading. He found him engaged in closing up his store. When the errand of his customer was made known he was surprised. He said all sorts of Christians traded with him–Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc.
but no one had ever spoken to him about his soul. The night visit of his customer and his earnest pleadings made such an impression upon his mind that it led to his speedy conversion. (Sword and Trowel.)

Difficulty of the work

In the Middle Ages a priest and a general were studying, during war-time, the map of a hostile country which was about to be invaded. The reverend father put his finger on sundry places dotted on the map, and remarked, This fortified town must be taken, and then this, and this. The soldier broke in, I may be allowed to remind you, Father Joseph, that fortified towns are not taken with the tip of the finger. To capture a soul for heaven is a feat upon which we must not calculate unless we are prepared to expend care and pains. (Edward Smith.)

Converting a sinner

At a time of religious awakening at Yale College the students who were decided for Christ agreed that each should visit one of their unconverted class-mates in his own room. One of the results of this action was the thorough decision of David Stoddard, afterwards the honoured missionary of the Nestorians. (Dr. J. P. Thompson.)

The mission of a tract

Some fifteen years ago a young man, a Spaniard by birth, visited Leamington from New:York, and received a tract in the Pump-room, which was given to him casually by a lady. It was one of Canon Ryles tracts, and was the means of his conversion. On returning to America, where his parents had taken up their residence, he entered one of the universities, and having been ordained by Bishop Potter, was appointed missionary to the Spanish-speaking people in New York. From thence he went to Mexico some ten years ago, and was presented by the Emperor, Maximilians successor, with one of the principal churches in the capital.
He translated the whole of Canon Ryles tracts into Spanish, and the result was that there are now 160 Protestant congregations in Mexico, whereas nine years ago there was but one, and 63,000 persons have seceded from the Church of Rome. This was the result of one tract casually given to visitor in the Pump-rooms at Leamington. The title of the tract is Are you Forgiven? (The Fireside.)

Saved alone

A telegram was sent back from England by a lady to her husband. She had left New York with all her children, and she landed, shipwrecked, in England, and sent back to him this brief telegram: Saved–alone. Ah! that last word seemed as if it took all the sweetness out of the first one. Saved–alone. May that never be what we shall have to say as we enter heaven.

How to do it

I have been told that Mr. Moodys great career as a soul-winner dates from a somewhat exhaustive study of the word grace. He had been shut up in his room for days studying this word, until his soul was so full of it that he could contain no longer; so he started out of the house and stopped the first man he met in the street and asked him if he knew anything about grace. What do you mean? said the man. I mean, replied Moody, the grace of God that bringeth salvation, and which hath appeared unto all men. And right then and there he began and poured into that strangers ear this story of Gods grace, until the man himself was overwhelmed with the greatness of love and yielded himself to God. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)

The wide blessedness of love

The phrase is one of those which St. James has in common with St. Peter (1Pe 4:8). It occurs also in the

LXX. of Psa 85:2, and in a nearly identical form in Psa 32:1. The Hebrew and English version of Pro 10:12 present a still closer parallel, but the LXX. seems to have followed a different text, and gives Friendship covers all those that are not contentious. The context leaves hardlyany room for doubt that the sins which are thought of as covered are primarily those of the man converted, and not those of the converter. There is, however, a studied generality in the form of the teaching which seems to emphasise the wide blessedness of love. In the very act of seeking to convert one for whom we care we must turn to God ourselves, and in covering the past sins of another our own also are covered. In such an act love reaches its highest point, and that love includes the faith in God which is the condition of forgiveness. (Dean Plumptre.)

The conversion of sinners

John Bunyan used to say of those places where God had greatly blessed his ministry in the conversion of sinners that he counted as if he had goodly buildings and lordships there, and that his heart was so wrapped up in the glory of this excellent work that he counted himself more blessed and honoured of God by them as his spiritual children than if God had made him emperor of the Christian world, or the lord of all the glory of the earth, without it; adding, Oh! the power of those words in Jam 5:19-20! (J. Caughey)

Tholucks personal effort for individual souls

The German Tholuck, a household name in the worlds Christian homes, standing on the borders of the grave and looking back on the fifty fruitful years of preaching, teaching, and writing, exclaimed, I value it all less than the love that seeks and follows, by which he had been inspired from the year of his conversion. Personal effort for individual souls! This is a work of which the world knows little, but of which the Lord knows much. Not only seeking, but following! Here is a single illustration: A. student at Halle was brought near to his heart by a godly mother. He fell into sin and vice. He was ofttimes visited by his loving teacher, late at night or in the early morning, after a nights debauch–sometimes in prison. Good promises were repeatedly made, and as repeatedly broken. Another sacred promise; the following day, late at night, came a card from him: Tholuck sighs; Tholuck prays; but we will have our drink out. Relying upon the co-working Spirit, still the saintly Tholuck followed. And the giddy youth became pastor of a well-known church in Berlin.

The joy of converting a soul

Archbishop Williams once said to a friend of his, I have passed through many places of honour and trust, both in Church and State, more than any of my order in England these seventy years before; yet were I but assured that by my preaching I had converted but one soul to God I should take therein more spiritual joy and comfort than in all the honours and offices which have been bestowed upon me.

The Lords converts and mans

On one occasion an Irish evangelist was brought up for creating a disturbance. How many did you convert? said the magistrate. Just two, was the reply. Were these all? Yes, sir, all I converted, and they were soon as wicked as ever; but the Lord, He converted many more. Possibly such easy conversions, unattended with much or any conviction of sin, and resting on the acceptance of a mere formula, may have not a little to do with the shallow, easygoing Christianity which is more or less common in these days.

Soul-saving

A teacher had among her pupils a young man of wicked habits. At last, when she heard that he was fast going down to ruin, she sought grace and courage from the Lord to speak to him about Jesus. The young fellow was much affected by her earliest, loving appeal, moved, as he knew she was, by love for his soul; and when he had mastered his emotion, he said to her in a tremulous voice, Had any one ever spoken to me before as you have to-night, I might have been a child of God long ago! But no one has thought me worth saving. Bishop Wilson says, We deceive ourselves if we fancy we have done our duty when we have given our people a sermon one day in seven. We must try always to gain a precious soul for Christ. May His matchless grace help us.

Sin hidden

A Welsh minister, speaking of the burial of Moses, said: In that burial not only was the body buried, but also the grave and graveyard. This is an illustration of the way in which Gods mercy buries sins, No one is at the funeral but Mercy, and if any should meet her on returning from the burial, and ask her, Mercy, where didst thou bury our sins? her answer would be, I do not remember.

Abrupt ending

The absence of any formal close to the Epistle is in many ways remarkable. In this respect it stands absolutely alone in the New Testament, the nearest approach to it being found in 1Jn 5:21. It is a possible explanation of this peculiarity that we have lost the conclusion of the Epistle. It is, however, more probable that the abruptness is that of emphasis. The writer had given utterance to a truth which he desired above all things to impress on the minds of his readers, and he could not do this more effectually than by making it the last word he wrote to them. (Dean Plumptre.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 19. Err from the truth] Stray away from the Gospel of Christ; and one convert him-reclaim him from his error, and bring him back to the fold of Christ.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The truth; the truth of God revealed in the gospel as the complete rule of faith and life: see the gospel called the truth by way of eminency, Jam 1:18; Gal 2:5,14; 3:1; 5:7; Eph 1:13; 1Pe 1:22.

And one; any one, minister or private believer, who may be an instrument in the conversion of others; though one acts by way of authority, the other by way of charity, yet both out of duty.

Convert him; viz. ministerially or instrumentally, in subordination to God. The work is his, Eph 2:10, but often is ascribed to the instruments acting under him, and using means appointed by him, and by which he works, Act 26:18.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. The blessing of reclaimingan erring sinner by the mutual consent and intercessory prayer justrecommended.

do errmore literally,”be led astray.”

the truththe Gospeldoctrine and precepts.

oneliterally, “any”;as “any” before. Everyone ought to seek thesalvation of everyone [BENGEL].

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth,…. Either from Christ, who is the truth, by departing from him, forsaking his ways, worship, and ordinances; or from the Scriptures of truth, not speaking according to them, and embracing notions that are contrary unto them; or from the Gospel, the word of truth, from the doctrine of faith, and from uprightness of life and conversation, after having made a profession of Christianity; for this is to be understood of one who has embraced the Christian religion, become a member of a church, and has walked in the path of truth and holiness, but now fallen into error, either in principle, or in practice, or both:

and one convert him; or turn him from his error, to truth again; for this designs not first conversion, or the turning of a sinner from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and from the evil of a man’s heart and ways and from a dependence on his own righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to him for righteousness, life, and salvation, which is wholly and entirely God’s work, and not man’s; but conversion after backslidings; for a restoration from a fallen condition is sometimes so called,

Ps 51:1 and which one brother may be an instrument of to another, by showing him, and setting before him, the evil of his errors, whether in principle or practice; and by instructing him in the doctrines of the Gospel, and in the duties of religion; and by reproving him in meekness, and according to the rules of Christ; which means are sometimes blessed for the gaining of such; and which may be called conversion: and also, this is sometimes done by praying for him; and which seems chiefly to be intended here; for from praying for the healing of the diseases of the body, the apostle proceeds to encourage the saints to pray for one another, for the healing of the diseases of the mind; and suggests, that if prayer avails to the one, it may to the other; and which is the most desirable, and the greatest blessing, as follows.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

If any one among you do err ( ). Third-class condition (supposed case) with and the first aorist passive subjunctive of , old verb, to go astray, to wander (Mt 18:12), figuratively (Heb 5:2).

From the truth ( ). For truth see Jas 1:18; Jas 3:14; John 8:32; 1John 1:6; 1John 3:18. It was easy then, and is now, to be led astray from Christ, who is the Truth.

And one convert him ( ). Continuation of the third-class condition with the first aorist active subjunctive of , old verb, to turn (transitive here as in Lu 1:16f., but intransitive often as Ac 9:35).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) When a brother among us errs, wanders, or is seduced from the truth, by moral departure or doctrinal heresy, a stronger brother should try and may be able to rescue him or convert him from the danger of God’s chastisement in this life, and the loss of rewards, Gal 6:1; 2Jn 1:8-9.

2) Every child of God is “his brother’s keeper” by love, fellowship, prayer, and laboring together, 1Jn 1:7; 1Co 3:9.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

A COLOSSAL WORK

Jas 5:19-20.

IT seems almost amazing that a man should have ministered in the Gospel for twenty-six long years before addressing himself to this text: all the more amazing that one who is deeply interested in soul-winning Scriptures should do so; and the wonder is in nowise reduced when you remember that I had spoken from this fifth chapter of James on occasion, and discussed almost every other verse in it before the 19th and 20th.

The only suggested defense of this conduct is in the double circumstance that the Bible is so rich a mine of truth that one who works it is compelled, in passing, to leave many of its most precious nuggets; and that the Spirit whose gracious office it is to dictate what He would have us say, has never deeply impressed me with this text until the elapse of many years.

We want, therefore, this morning to deliver to you that which we have received.

This passage involves

THE BACKSLIDDEN BROTHER

Brethren, if any of you do err from the Truth.

A brother, then, may be badly backslidden. To be converted is not to be fully sanctified. To be regenerated is not to be wholly removed from weakness, error, and sin.

There are people who trouble new converts with a doctrine of holiness, which, if it were possible at all, would be only the result of an advanced Christian experience, and unto which Gods greatest men do not seem to have consciously attained.

Old Eli was a good man, but God brought an indictment of sin against him and judged his house in righteousness. David was a man after Gods own heart, and yet he was compelled to say to the Lord, Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight (Psa 51:4).

Isaiah, Gods greatest Old Testament Prophet, said, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King (Isa 6:5).

When Peter looked upon Christ, accomplishing His miraculous work, and recognized in Him the very God, on His face, he confessed, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord (Luk 5:8).

John was easily one of the sweetest and most holy men of the New Testament, and yet John wrote, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1Jn 1:8).

I have been in the world for some years now, and have known men and women, not a few, and I say it without a moments hesitation, the most holy men I have ever met have been men who frankly confessed their infirmities, and grieved over their sins. I am compelled to agree with old Matthew Henry, who is an illustration of what I am saying, that It is no mark of the wise or holy man to boast of being free from error, or to refuse to acknowledge when he is in error.

To the most sanctified man, sin seems the most horrible. That is why Paul, consciously contending against the lusts of the flesh, admitted his carnality, saying:

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom 7:18-19; Rom 7:24).

Yes, if a man err from the Truth he may yet be a brother. A few nights since in this room a young man said to me, I have quit the church because I was inconsistent, and if you preachers did your duty you would kick out of the church every man who does not live up to his profession.

There are two answers to that. First, is it Christian to summarily dispose of one because he is weak, or should the strong bear his infirmities instead? And second, if every man who does not live up to his profession, were kicked out of the church, where is the church? Under that condition Peter would have appeared as an Apostle no more after the day of Christs arrest; and Thomas would never have been named after the day of his doubts; and even the beloved John would have been discarded, since he, after having held up perfect sanctification as the ideal of the Christian life, confesses to sin. The longer I live, the less I am disposed to severe church discipline. The weakest babe in the family has lavished upon it the most affection and care; and I know not but the weakest brother and sister in the household of faith should be the subject of the utmost concern.

The believers hold on the Truth may be broken.

If it were not so, the Psalmist would not have needed to pray so earnestly: Lead me in Thy Truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation (Psa 25:5).

If it were not so, Paul would not have needed to enjoin upon Titus to be a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers (Tit 1:8-9).

If it were not so, Paul would never have written to Timothy to, Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us (2Ti 1:13-14).

If it were not possible for the believers hold upon the Truth to be broken, Paul would never have needed to write to the Hebrew Christians: Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip (Heb 2:1).

It is perfectly understood in this city and, for that matter, in all the land, so far as I am at all known, that I have no sympathy whatever with the conclusions of Higher Criticism, or the conduct of the higher critic; and I consent to the fearful excoriation pronounced upon them by that great statesman and scholar, B. H. Carroll, that the cuckoos of skepticism have first covertly laid their eggs in the nests of Christian colleges and seminaries; and an alien brood has been hatched out, which, in turn, openly defies and assails every vital doctrine of the Gospel.

With him I would say, No vagaries of speculation and unverified philosophy have been too extravagant for their advocacy. The inspiration of the Scriptures, the Divinity of our Lord, the whole office work of the Holy Spirit, and the very necessity for the Saviour, they have openly and scornfully denied. The Lords Sabbath, the sanctity of the home and the marriage relation, the church and its ordinances, and Gods supernatural intervention at any time, place or form, have been scouted.

With him I believe that: A wild boar making havoc in a garden of rare plants and flowers could not be more irreverent. Rending, rooting, gnashing with tusk and trampling with hoof, they revel in the destruction of most sacred things. Their effrontery is colossal and brazen. Their deification of self, and insensibility to moral considerations makes them to be properly named pachyderms!

Carrolls accusation is just: Antiochus Epiphanes, sacrificing a hog on the Jewish holy places, robbing the Temple of its sacred treasure to supply the means of their aggressions, at least did these things as a heathen outsider, and it was not so much of an insult to God as that skepticism should be arrayed in high collar and a white tie and essay to preach.

I am compelled also to believe with John, that we should not receive even into our houses those who deny the Father and the Son (2Jn 1:10), and yet I should not be surprised to find some of these brethren.

Bewitched they are, turned from the Truth to believe a lie, since it is Satans special endeavor, I fear also his successful one, to deceive the very elect. Yes, a brother may err from the Truth.

His conceptions will affect his conduct.

As he thinketh in his heart, so is he (Pro 23:7).

Deeds are only thoughts materializedopinions incarnate. David had to think wrongly before he did wrong. Esau had to plan evil before he accomplished it. The girl who proposes to transgress Gods Law must first forget the instructions of her youth. Aaron Burr did not begin life a lecherous man and a murderer; but when he was seventeen, a student at Princeton, he resisted the Spirit, decided that Christ had no claims upon him, and adopted a theology that was atheistic; and lechery, murder, treason and death resulted.

Goethe once said, Tell me with whom thou dost company, and I will tell thee who thou art. Without being a prophet, if one knew a mans thought, his inner, most intense thought, his most dominating thought, he could forecast his conduct and prophesy his coming character.

It is no slight thing to err from the Truth! The man who does that will shortly be found in an evil way, as our second verse suggests. Our brother may be so backslidden, that whatever hold upon the Truth he once had may have been broken, and his conceptions are sure to affect his conduct. What about it then?

It presents the opportunity for

THE BOTHERSOME BROTHER

If * * one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

But that work involves some things that are unpleasant for the man engaged; unpalatable to the one for whom he works. The social reformer, the personal worker, and the true prophet of God are alike unpopular. The people who walk the broad way that leads to death prefer to be let alone; but the Christians business recognizes such action as impossible.

Bothersome though he may be, two or three things the Christian should accomplish.

He should probe into his brothers opinions!

If any of you do err from the Truth, and one convert him.

There has never been a time since the morning stars sang together when men, who? know the Truth and know that they know it, should be more assiduous in correcting their fellows. These are days of fads and false philosophies, of wretched theologies. Oh, I know that as Beecher said, a man may take his opinions and put them together and construct a throne of them, and mount it, and call all the world to come to his feet and learn of him, when his message has little or no kinship to the revelation of God. I am not speaking now of those people who think your whole souls destiny turns on the question as to whether you believe in the trans-substantiation of the communion bread; I am not thinking now of those people who say we must speak with tongues or we have no evidence whatever of the baptism of the Spirit; I am not speaking now of those people who demand that you believe that Christ Jesus came in 1874 and revealed Himself in the War of 1914.

Gods Truth does not rest on minor points. It is as full and round as His globe, and it is ones business to sweep its whole circle, and it is equally his business to go after his brother who is missing it all, or at least all of its essentials.

When Martin Luther stood up against the Roman Church, he did it, not because she had gone astray at a single point, but because she had gone astray at a hundred, and had denied or contorted the major part of revealed truth; had turned people from the faith that is in Jesus to a false position of justification by works; and from the salvation wrought out on the Cross to an expectation from meaningless ceremonies. He probed his brothers opinions and found that he had erred from the Truth, and set himself to work out his conversion, and he was in line with the Divine will.

The true believer also concerns himself with his brothers conduct. Life is a social thing; relations are mutual! None of us liveth to himself. It is impossible for one to sin and others not suffer evil consequences. It is inconceivable that one should be a gross violater of the Law and the rest of us lose nothing thereby. You have all heard the story of the two Jews who had taken passage upon a great steamship. It had sprung a leak, and one of the brothers hearing of it, rushed to the stateroom crying, Oh, Ikey; this boat has a leak! But the other complacently answered, Veil, Vhat of it? Ve dont own this boat, do ve?

But if the boat went down, so would they; and your life is so linked with that of others that no mortal craft is sunken without disturbing the ones all about it and putting them in peril.

I can think of nothing that is more selfish and swinish even, than the man who cares nothing about the conduct of his fellows, for to be indifferent to these is to be indifferent to final fate. That is known to us as inhumanity, and falls a thousand miles short of Christianity. Christianity is illustrated rather in the conduct of him who, with a fellow-laborer, was sinking a shaft. It was a dangerous piece of business, for they were blasting the rock. Their custom was to cut the fuse with a knife. One man then got into the bucket and was hauled up, then it was lowered again and the other man lifted him to safety. One day the knife was forgotten and they cut the fuse with a stone. Instantly it took fire and they jumped into the bucket, but it refused to carry them both. In a moment one had leaped out, crying, Go ahead, I will be in Heaven in an instant! The bucket was hauled up. They went back and at the bottom of the mine they found that a great rock which had been loosened, was so lodged as to protect the man, and they brought him forth alive. They insisted on knowing why he had jumped out to most certain death and sent his fellow-laborer forth. He said, Because I knew that my soul was safe, for I have yielded it into the hands of Him of whom it is said, faithfulness is His girdle. I am saved; my brother was not.

That was Christian conduct. Oh, brother mine, a bother it may seem to be to probe into your brothers opinions and find out his purpose; yet his destiny is to be the issue, and with all the powers at your command, point him toward, and if necessary even pull him into, the path of right.

Strange that men object to this behavior on the part of their fellows. A thousand times have I seen a sign-board in the country telling men where they were, and pointing them the way, and never once have I heard a man object to it. Why then should they object when we remind them that they are turning from the Truth and that their feet have drifted into an evil way, and warn them against the end.

Charles Spurgeon tells the story of a stiff-necked fellow who refused to be approached by anybody wanting to address themselves to the subject of religion. He hated the very mention of the word. He answered all the appeals coarsely and by sheer rudeness he sought to intimidate those who were even tempted to name Christ in his presence.

Finally a neighbor fellow felt forced to go to him. Early in the morning he knocked at his door saying, I beg your pardon, my brother, for coming so early; but I have been thinking about you all night and I couldnt rest until I saw you. What do you want? Oh, said the other, want? If you were to die you would go down without hope. Mind your own business, was the surly reply. But I am; it is my business. My heart would break if you were to die without hope. Away with you; do not come with your cant, and the man turned away weeping. But the bearish man went to his house and calling his wife said, I can answer these fellows; I do not care for your ministers, but that neighbor of mine has been over here weeping for me, and I am undone! And he was. Out of a sort of pity for his weak brother he went to hear the preaching of the Word, and that night he was saved. Brother; be bothersome! Would God we had more bothersome brothers!

If we had we would have the last point of our text,

THE BROTHERS, BLESSED!

Look into it now,

Brethren, if my of you do err from the Truth, and one convert him;

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

There is a double blessing in every step of this; a blessing to the converted, and a blessing to the man who is his saviour.

The man who is converted has his mind righted. The man who turned him to the Truth has the sweet sense of that marvelous accomplishment. If I Were asked today what I had rather do than anything else possible to human power, I should say, second only to soul-winning, I would rather build mens minds. The greatest miracle Jesus Christ ever accomplished was not when He raised Jairus little daughter, nor by His word ended the death of the Nain widows son, nor yet when, by His command, He called Lazarusfour days deadfrom the grave; it was not the opening of the eyes of the blind; it was not the rebuke of the evil spirit; it was not the calming of the fevered child; it was not the making whole a lame man so that he leaped as an hart; it was not the cleansing of the leper: these were all physical effects. It was an infinitely greater miracle Christ wrought, in the tombs, when he cast a legion of spirits out of the man and put him into his right mind.

It is a rare opportunity the school president and the school professor enjoys, that of taking deficient minds and perfecting them by training. Oh, what a pleasure! Oh, what a wonder! It is full of inspiration. It has its matchless reward. The architect who takes his friend to the building which is the proudest product of his skillas a few days since one did a company of usshows him all its splendid appointments, calls attention to its matchless harmonies and color conceptions, and his breast beats high while he is about the business.

But I would rather have a part in building such a mind as Abraham Lincolns, and a portion in developing one such an intellect as that of Wendell Phillips, than to be the architect of the worlds most costly and beautiful cathedral or the author of the noblest piece of statuary ever carved from marble. He who converts a sinner from the error of his way, has that as a sort of first fruit of his work. Oh, what a blessing to both the converted and his saviour!

Again, his conduct is corrected. He not only converts him, but he reaches him at a time when his error from the Truth has affected an error in his way. Campbell Morgan tells of holding a meeting in the north of England, and going one day, at the request of the minister, to a miserable little hovel where a woman in faded, ragged clothes, and with shamed face, received them; but she could not seat them because there was nothing but a broken chair and rickety bed in the room. Little children fled at their approach, for they had learned to fear the face of man, and their almost lack of clothing made them not presentable, and they knew it.

They pleaded with the woman and begged her to try to bring her drunken husband to the meetings.

That night they were in the service, and Morgan poured out his soul in an appeal to the prodigal, and that night the man was redeemed. A year later Morgan was again in that same city, and his friend said to him, I want you to go and see some people, and When I asked who, he reminded me of the woman we had gone to see whose husband was converted. We found the wife neatly clothed. The bloom of beauty had returned to her cheek. The well-dressed and well-fed babies climbed at once upon the ministers knee and prattled without fear. Shortly the man came in, sober, clean, Christian and said, Sirs, we have bought this little cottage and these chairs; this carpet and other furniture, and these blooming flowers are ours. And Mr. Morgan remarked, I never heard a sweeter song than the kettle on the hob sang that evening, and I said, Oh, such a change, and only twelve months to bring it about! Only Christ could accomplish it! Oh, the results of correcting men in their conduct!

Yet this is not all; there is another blessing in which this bothersome man and blessed brother shall share.

He shall save a soul from death. Death. Oh, a strange something! Men cannot define it. They speak of it as an angel; but that is not the definition in the dictionary; and necessarily that is not the definition in Gods Word. Death! That is the blackest word in the language! Death! That is the dark angel, whose fluttering wings overpass to produce confusion! Death! That is the most malignant spirit that ever came from the pit to ply his hellish art in the midst of men! Death! That is the most terrible foe that human life has ever faced, and the most ardent enemy that ever lifted a hand against the Christ; and he will be the last foul spirit to fall before the mighty hand of God. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death! Death cannot be defined, but, oh, the sadness of its work can be felt. To save men from such an experience, and to know it; how blessed for them; how blessed for us! And yet, the end is not, for once more:

And shall hide (or cover) a multitude of sins.

Now I hold that the proper interpretation of this text means practically that he shall prevent a multitude of sins, because when a man errs from the Truth, and one convert him, it does not cover a multitude of sins at once, but the final effect of that hour a full harvest! To turn him back in the beginning is to prevent that harvest, and hence to cover a multitude of sins.

One day some time since I came into a new understanding of this text and, it has been upon my heart since. I believe it accounts for God having burned it into my heart and mind. By a mere circumstance an acquaintance was made. When my profession was understood, confidence was given and one opened the heart and said, You are a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; I can tell you what I have hid from others. Oh what a tale of sorrow! What a tale of terrible temptation! Pitfalls had been dug already; the trap had been set and the poor, fluttering bird was just ready to be entangled. In fact, a pledge had been made that looked to the wreck of all, and when the story was finished, I said, This must not be! This cannot be! This cannot be!

And then I started to unravel the meaning of it; to picture the inevitable, far-reaching, all-involving results; to paint the likeness of what would be, when destruction had done its work. Disgraced and discarded, stripped of all honor, denied all pure love, despised of God, with children suffering from a mothers misstep, and past friends holding their hands over their hearts as they remembered the one they once loved, but lost; beloved relatives hanging their heads at the mention of the name; and concluded by saying, Will you pay that sort of a price, even to extricate yourself from the untoward and intolerable and almost inexorable circumstances into which the misfortunes of life have led you? The blood was gone from the face, and the lips were dented until they would have bled had there been any blood there, and finally she said, No! You may take it into your own hands, if you will, and break this engagement; and I waited not a moment to get off that telegraph message.

When I returned from the telegraph office I found that one sitting in a corner, sobbing out her soul, yet saying between sobs, You have done right, and you have saved me.

I said, I never in my life knew the meaning of Jas 5:20 until today. She said, I am not well versed in the Scripture; tell it to me. And I quoted, Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. I am not charging you tonight with gross conduct; you are just at the beginning; you are just entering upon this wicked way; you can turn now and escape it all. But if you had not turned, death would have been the result.

But oh, what a multitude of sins are covered; you are saved and your sins are hidden!

But it has the other thought also, not only preventing the sins that might occur, but hiding those that have occurred already.

Take Valentine Burke as an illustration. He was a burglar. His gun and his kit were always at hand. His picture adorned many rogue galleries. The jobs that he had done were desperate. Twenty years of his life he had spent in prison. He was a big, strong fellow, with a hard face and a terrible tongue, and sheriffs and jailers feared him. Dwight L. Moody was then a young man. He was in St. Louis preaching and the Globe Democrat published his sermons. One of them was flung into Burkes prison cell, and when he saw the headlines of the sermonHow the jailer at Philippi got caught, the theme interested him. Philippi, he thought, thats up in Illinois; Ill read about it. But when he had started in he found out that it was a sermon, and calling it rot, he flung it to the far end of the room. But time hung heavily on his hands. The next morning he picked it up, then he threw it away. Once more he went back to it, until finally he finished the whole sermon. It was Gods arrow of conviction. It went straight to the heart. Burke found himself getting down on his knees as his mother had taught him as an infant, and the next thing he believed that God had pardoned him. When the sheriff came in Burke greeted him cordially and told him he had found the Lord through reading Moodys sermon. The sheriff suspicioned him; ordered the jailer to keep a closer watch than ever on him. Finally when his case came to trial, through a mere legal entanglement, they failed to convict him and he went free. Immediately the minions of the law began to shadow him. They followed him to Chicago; they followed him to New York; they checked up on his every movement. They expected to catch him in a new crime. But at the end of months they came back and reported that although he could not find work, and at times must have been on the point of starvation, he had not deviated from the path of rectitude by an inch. They believed he was really converted, for he was living like a Christian. So the sheriff who had suspected him sent for Burke. He went immediately to the courthouse and said, I suppose you have got some old case against me and I am guilty; tell me what it is and I will confess up. The sheriff slapped him on the back and said, No, Burke, we have not a thing against you; you have gone straight ever since you got out of jail. We believe in you now and I have got a job for you. I want to make a deputy out of you.

One day when Mr. Moody was passing through St. Louis he went to see Burke, for he had learned all about his conversion through his sermon and had come to be greatly interested in his Christian career. He found Burke in a closed room in the courthouse, guarding a big bag of diamonds that had just been recovered from thieves and were worth $60,000, and when Moody came in, calling attention to these diamonds, Burke said, Just see what the grace of God can do for a burglar. Time was when I would risk my life to steal these; now the time has come when the sheriff picks me out of his entire force to guard them. And then he sobbed like a saddened child, and yet in his sobs there were smiles of joy.

The text is true: He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Jas. 5:19. Err.Or, be led astray. Convert.Turn him round, and bring him back.

Jas. 5:20. Hide a multitude of sins.Compare LXX. on Pro. 10:12 : Friendship covers all those that are not contentious. See 1Pe. 4:8. It is clear that the sins St. James has in mind are those of the object of the action, not of the agent.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jas. 5:19-20

The Redeeming Work of the Redeemers Servants.The closing word of the epistle is especially interesting. St. James seems for a moment to stop, to think over what he has been writing. He has had in mind many failures from the Christian spirit and relations. He has thought of many who, in various ways, have erred from the truth. What shall be his last word of counsel to the Churches? What should it be but this?Dont let what I have been saying breed enmities among you. Dont let it separate you one from another. Dont let it make you suspicious of one another. Dont let it put you upon searching out your heretics, either in belief or practice. Let it bring you closer together in pitiful and sympathetic brotherliness. And if there is any one who makes you anxious, who seems to be going wrong in faith or conduct, set your heart upon his conversion, getting him turned round, and turned back to thoughts and ways of righteousness. Working for his conversion will keep you near to him in sympathy and love; and if you succeed, you will save a soul from death; when he is recovered, the sins of his lapsed time can be fully forgiven; and you will have the joy of knowing that you have been the means of hiding a multitude of sins.

I. There is a redeeming work to be done within Christs Church.St. James is not writing about the conversion of outside sinners. There are weak Christians, who slide from righteousness in their weakness. There are wilful Christians, who break out of bounds in their wilfulness. There are always some in a Christian Church who need to be recovered and redeemed; and in the anxiety for the conversion of the world, it is quite possible for us to neglect the conversion of the failing, lapsing members of the Church. Servants of the Redeemer should expect to find redeeming work in every sphere in which they move. We can always find some Christian brother who needs to be converted from the error of his ways. To redeeming work within Christs Church attention needs to be more fully directed.

II. There is a redeeming power within Christs Church.The members of a Church ought to have a most unusual and peculiar influence one upon another. That influence may properly be called redemptive. It is the continuance of the work and influence of the Churchs head and Lord. It should be a power checking lapses in their beginning, guarding against persuasions of evil, and restoring the fallen. It should be an influence securing soul-health in the community, which is the best perservation against scepticism, heresy, or unfaithfulness. Very seldom is the Churchs redeeming power upon itself considered; and this may explain why inconsistency is so often permitted to grow into apostasy. We ought to convert one anotherwithin the Christian brotherhoodfrom the error of any ways into which we may have fallen.

III. The exercise of the redeeming power is a blessing to him who exercises it, as well as to him on whom it is exercised.In the very act of seeking to convert one for whom we care, we must turn to God ourselves, and in covering the past sins of another our own also are covered. In such an act love reaches its highest point, and that love includes the faith in God which is the condition of forgiveness.

1. A blessing to him who tries to convert another, because it
(1) clears his own vision of truth;
(2) makes him anxious about his own example; and
(3) brings to him the sense of Divine sympathy and approval.
2. A blessing to him on whom it is exercised.
(1) It saves a soul from death. For if the man is in sin, this will be true for himsin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. And
(2) It shall hide a multitude of sins. Because when one of His people is heart-restored to His allegiance, God can, and does, cast all his sins behind His back; they are hidden, as the harlots and riotous living of the younger son were all hidden from the home view, when the father had a penitent and restored boy back at his table again. St. Paul teaches the same duty of Church members to one another, when he says, If any of you be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Jas. 5:19-20. Heresy.

I. These words imply the possibility of a truth-possessor becoming a truth-loser.Men may err from the truth through

1. A daring, speculative turn of thought.
2. Want of sympathy in their intellectual difficulties.
3. Intellectual pride.

II. The principle of mutual oversight in spiritual life is here recognised.In him who would convert the sinner, there must be

1. Intense sympathy with Christ in the love of souls.
2. A thorough acquaintance with the hearts deceitfulness.
3. An intelligent reverence for the established truths of religion.

III. The text teaches that the salvation of the soul is the sublimest of moral triumphs.It is so because

1. Christ deemed it worthy of His incarnation and sacrifice.
2. The mission of Gods Spirit is thus fulfilled.
3. The sum of moral goodness is augmented.Dr. J. Parker.

Jas. 5:20. Hiding Sin.This is conversionto turn a sinner from the error of his ways, and not to turn him from one party to another, or merely from one notion and way of thinking to another. He who thus converteth a sinner from the error of his ways shall, save a soul from death. And by such conversion of heart and life a multitude of sins shall be hid. A most comfortable passage of Scripture is this. We learn hence that though our sins are many, even a multitude, yet they may be hid or pardoned; and that when sin is turned from or forsaken, it shall be hid, never to appear in judgment against us. Let people contrive to cover or excuse their sin as they will, there is no way effectually and finally to hide it but by forsaking it. Some make the sense of this text to be, that conversion shall prevent a multitude of sins; and it is a truth beyond dispute that many sins are prevented in the person converted, many also may be prevented in others that he may have an influence upon, or may converse with.Matthew Henry.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5

Jas. 5:19-20. One Conversion leads to Many.The conversion of a soul to God may issue in the conversion of scores more, and perhaps in the planting of various Christian Churches. It is impossible to calculate where the blessing may terminate. The visit of a travelling pedlar to the door of Richard Baxters father led to the purchase of a little book; that little book led to the conversion of Richard Baxter. Baxter wrote the Saints Rest, which was blessed to the conversion of Philip Doddridge. Doddridge penned the Rise and Progress of Religion, and that led to the conversion of Wilberforce. Wilberforces Practical View was the means of the conversion of Dr. Chalmers and Legh Richmond. How much good Chalmers did by his exalted genius, his burning piety, his sterling writings, it is impossible for any man to estimate; and I think we may safely say that the Dairymans Daughter, and other works of Legh Richmond, have been honoured by God to the salvation of thousands.

Jas. 5:20. Thank God for the many instances in which one glowing soul, all aflame with love to God, has sufficed to kindle a whole heap of dead matter, and send it leaping skyward in ruddy brightness. Alas! for the many instances in which the wet, green wood has been too strong for the little spark, and has not only obstinately resisted, but has ignominiously quenched its ineffectual fire.A. Maclaren, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(19) Brethren.My brethren, it rather ought to be. The last, and, to some, the dearest of the wise Apostles remarks, is this on conversion; and it fitly closes his loving and plain-speaking Letter.

If any of you do err . . .Better thus, If one of you be led away from the truth, and one convert him. It is not the wilful error, so much as the being seduced by others, who draw the unwary from their proper course, till in time they become of themselves wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever (Jud. 1:13). As the leading away was an act prompted by the devil, so the bringing home is the service of God, and each will have its fit reward. The sinner is riding, as it were, headlong to destruction, when a friend lays hold upon the rein, and literally converts him, i.e., turns him round; but, observe, the wanderer is still far from home, and many a weary league must he traverse, even with face turned and kept heavenward, before the end be neared.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. The reclaim of the wanderer, and its reward, 19, 20.

19. Brethren In the closing two verses our apostle completes his series of fraternal suggestions of Christian duty among themselves, in line with Jas 5:16; Jas 5:12; Jas 5:10, and many preceding points in the entire epistle. This closing suggestion is of immense importance, touching the restoration of the wandering backslider. Any one of you Bringing the point closely down to each one, as an individual duty and reward.

Err A passive verb, and rightly rendered by Alford be seduced.

From the truth Not merely from Christian doctrine, but from that word of truth (Jas 1:18) which is the life-principle of the soul, without which the man is sure to become, practically, as next verse, a sinner, and will relapse into death.

Convert him From error and sin back to the truth. A clear implication that sin and death would be the result of his apostasy.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘My brothers, if any of you err from the truth.’

Mingled with encouragement and the vision of God, the whole of James’ letter has been concentrated on bringing home ways in which ‘brothers’ may err from the truth. Now like any good teacher he applies the lesson.

Truth is a central emphasis in the New Testament (which is why James saw it as so important in Jas 5:12). It was through belief of the truth that men would be begotten by God (Jas 1:18). To be filled with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition is to lie against the truth (Jas 3:14). Thus God’s people are to be so bound by the truth that they do not need oaths (Jas 5:12). It is something that men must love (2Th 2:10), and must obey (Gal 5:7). It is something that men must demonstrate in their lives (2Co 4:2). It is something that must be spoken in love (Eph 4:15), and must be witnessed to (Joh 18:37). It is something which liberates (Joh 8:32) and must be openly revealed in a life of love (1Jn 3:19). It is central to the whole Gospel, for the Spirit Who came is the Spirit of Truth (Joh 14:17; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:13), Who will guide into all truth (Joh 16:13). That is why those who believe also ‘do what is true’ (Joh 3:21).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

‘And one convert him (cause him to turn round).’

It is to be the concern of every brother that if he sees one of his brothers straying, he be concerned to ‘turn him round’. They are to feed and tend the sheep. That was not to encourage them to be busybodies and intrusive in men’s lives, but in order to encourage them to prayerful and practical concern for the whole body of His people and their wellbeing (compare Jas 5:16). They were to watch out for each other, not critically, but prayerfully and with humility (compare Gal 6:1-2).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

A Final Word On The Importance Of The Brothers Having A Practical Concern For Each Other ( Jas 5:19-20 ).

All through his letter James has been seeking to ‘convert sinners from the errors of their ways’, leading up to his final exhortation to prayer and praise in Jas 5:13-18. Now he passes on that responsibility to ‘my brothers’. That idea had begun in Jas 5:18, and the incentive that he now gives is not that they will thereby receive a reward, but that they will be doing eternal good and helping to defeat sin. As we have seen all the way through, God (Jas 1:17; Jas 2:23; Jas 4:4; Jas 5:7), peace (Jas 3:18) and eternal life (Jas 1:12; Jas 5:20) are to be seen as their own reward (and are indeed precisely what any ‘rewards’ will be all about).

We should not see these words as just a postscript. They are a reminder in the face of all James’ advice and exhortation throughout that his final concern was that sin might be dealt with in as many as possible so that they might be ‘covered’ before God, and they themselves be ‘delivered’ (‘saved’) by God. He was concerned with their salvation, their being ‘made whole’, and his vision was fixed on the work of his Saviour, the Lord, Jesus Christ, Who was to save His people from their sins (Mat 1:21). Note also how in the face of this concern there is no suggestion anywhere for the need of ritual. It was sufficient that they be turned back to God. By this their sins will be ‘covered’. The Atonement is assumed, for he is confident that all his readers are aware of it. That is why they call themselves ‘Christians’. It is also a reminder that he has not been primarily concerned with writing about the way of salvation for the lost, but about the need for those who professed to be ‘saved’ to genuinely experience that salvation. His words were not so much directed at outsiders as at insiders, ‘the twelve tribes of Israel’, the new people of God (Gal 6:16; Eph 2:13-22).

Analysis.

My brothers, if any among you err from the truth (Jas 5:19 a),

And one convert him (Jas 5:19 b),

Let him know, that he who converts a sinner from the error of his way (Jas 5:20 a).

Will save a soul from death (Jas 5:20 b).

And will cover a multitude of sins (Jas 5:20 c).

Note that in ‘a’ men err from the truth, and in the parallel a multitude of sins are ‘covered’. In ‘b’ one causes another to turn round, and in the parallel he saves a human being from death. And centrally in ‘c’ comes the vital purpose of turning men from the error of their ways.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Conclusion: Appeal for Compassion Towards One Another James concludes his epistle to these Jewish congregations in Jas 5:19-20 by exhorting them to have compassion for one another by showing other brethren how to overcome in faith as they have overcome, so that none of them stray from their faith in God. This epistle has given two paths to choose from for each trial faced. Thus, those who hear and do God’s Word are now equipped to show the erring brother how to convert and walk in the path of life. The brother who errs can be shown to face the temptation of showing partiality by refusing to judge others and showing mercy to the poor (Jas 2:1-26). He can be shown how to overcome an unbridled tongue through meekness of wisdom (Jas 3:1-18). He can be shown how to overcome strife by submitting himself unto God and resisting the Devil (Jas 4:1-12). He can be shown how to overcome boasting by committing his ways unto God (Jas 4:13 to Jas 5:6). Finally, he can be exhorted to patience and prayer through the examples of Job and Elijah (Jas 5:7-18).

Watching Over the Brethren Jas 5:19-20 provides the concluding remarks to the epistle of James. We see within these final verses a charge to watch over one another. The word “brother” is used twenty-one times throughout the epistle of James (Jas 1:2; Jas 1:9; Jas 1:16; Jas 1:19; Jas 2:1; Jas 2:5; Jas 2:14-15; Jas 3:1; Jas 3:10; Jas 3:12; Jas 4:11; Jas 5:7; Jas 5:9-10; Jas 5:12; Jas 5:19). So, why did he not include the term “and sisters”? Perhaps in the Jewish Diaspora these synagogues were led by men, and served as a brotherhood of Jewish believers. The women and children simply followed the men in the faith. James is concluding his epistle to these congregations by exhorting them to look out for one another in the faith, so that they do not stray from the group.

Jas 5:19  Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

Jas 5:19 Comments – We are to pursue the word of truth, which is able to save our souls (See Jas 1:18-21).

Jas 5:20  Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Jas 5:20 Comments – James concludes his epistle by focusing upon the life of a sinner again, not on a one-time experience of sin in a believer’s life, but from a lifestyle of rebellion and turning away from God’s Word. Christians who backslide and live a lifestyle against God’s Word will receive death. This is what James means by “a multitude of sins.” One occasion will not condemn a Christian, but a turning away from God back to a life of sin will do so. If a backslider does return, his sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, which is what James means by “shall hide a multitude of sins.”

Jas 5:19-20 describes the efforts of church members helping one another through this Christian life, converting those who err back into the fold, and thus, saving a soul from death. Jas 5:19 makes it clear that this sinner refers to a “brethren” who can now be damned, if not converted back to faith in God by saying, “if any of you do err from the truth.” Thus, we sometimes need other believers for help to strengthen ourselves.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Jam 5:19. If any of you do err from the truth, The Christian revelation is often called truth, as containing themost important truths, such as lead men to holiness and happiness. That manner of life which the gospel prescribes, is here compared to a plain path; and such as departed from it into the crooked paths of unholiness or vice, were carefully to be brought under the power of Divine grace into the right way again, by the friendly admonitions and good example of those who had not wandered out of the way. See Gal 6:1. 2Ti 2:24-25.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Jas 5:19-20 . To the exhortation to mutual confession and intercession is annexed “the reference to an important matter the reclaiming of an erring soul” (Wiesinger). Jas 5:19 forms the supposition; this is expressed in two co-ordinate sentences, of which the first is subordinate in thought to the second: “if any convert one who has erred from the truth.”

] the passive aorist here, as frequently in the signification of the middle.

] With this is meant not a single practical aberration, but an alienation from the Christian principle of life, an inward apostasy from the by which the Christian is begotten (Jas 1:18 ), disclosing itself in a sinful course of life (so also Wiesinger, Brckner, Lange [248] ).

] sc. ; comp. Luk 1:16-17 .

[248] Arbitrarily, Lange defines the aberration more precisely “as an aberration into Judaistic and chiliastic doings and fanatical and seditious lusts.”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2378
CONVERSION OF A SINNER A GREAT BENEFIT

Jam 5:19-20. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one couvert him.; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

IN the apostolic age, the power of working miracles was vouchsafed to many; and was much coveted, not only on account of the benefit which it enabled its possessor to impart, but on account of the honour which it brought to him that exercised it. That power has long since been withdrawn, it being no longer necessary for the support and credit of the Christian cause. Nor need we regret its discontinuance; since there is yet communicated to every true Christian a power of infinitely greater value; namely, a power to instruct and save the souls of men. We cannot any longer by the prayer of faith save the sick, and raise him up from the bed of sickness, and remove the judgments that have been inflicted on him on account of his sins [Note: ver. 14, 15.]: but by instructing a sinner, and turning him from the error of his sins, we can now, no less than in the apostolic age, save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins. The miraculous power was in the hands of few, even of the elders of the Church; but this spiritual power, as my text intimates, is common to all, and is to be exercised by all.

From hence we see,

I.

Our duty towards our erring brethren

There are still, as formerly, many, who, whilst they are called Christians, do materially err from the truth
[No one can read this epistle without seeing that very awful errors obtained in the Church, both in relation to faith and practice: and no one can know any thing of the Christian world, and not know, that Christianity amongst them is little more than a name. The very way of salvation, simple as it is, is very little understood. There is scarcely any one who is not expecting to be saved in whole, or in part, by some works of his own. The generality imagine that their repentance and reformation are to recommend them to God: and even those who acknowledge their obligations to the Lord Jesus Christ for what he has done and suffered for them, yet hope to obtain an interest in Him by their good works, or acceptance on account of their works through him. The simple life of faith is but little known: and frequently but little experienced, even where in terms the necessity of it is acknowledged.

The same may be said of mens practice also. Look at the life and conduct of the whole Christian world, and say, what resemblance you see in it to the life of Christ. Christians are said to be epistles of Christ, known and read of all men. But what more would you learn of the mind and will of Christ, from what you see in the Christian world, than from what you might find in the better sort of heathens? In the Lord Jesus Christ there was an entire superiority to the world: but in his professed followers you see an entire subjection to it. In the Lord Jesus Christ you find that it was his meat and drink to do the will of his heavenly Father: but in his professed followers you will see no such effort, no such determination to serve and honour God. Let all of you, who are here present, look at their own principles, and their own practice, and see whether they are founded altogether upon Gods revealed will, and altogether conformed to the pattern set before them in the Scriptures. The more candidly these matters be inquired into, the more clearly will you see, that the great mass of nominal Christians are erring from the truth, and need to be converted from the error of their ways.]

Towards these our duty is to use all possible means for their conversion
[We are not all called to take upon us the ministerial office: but we all in our respective circles should exert ourselves for the edification of those around us. No man is at liberty to put his light under a bed, or under a bushel: no man is at liberty to ask, Am I my brothers keeper? Would any man, who should see a house on fire, be justified in saying, It is no concern of mine? or, if the inhabitants were burnt to death through his unconcern, would there be a creature upon earth that would not execrate him for his inhumanity? Much more therefore, if we see immortal souls erring from the truth, and hastening to destruction, should we be inexcusable, if we neglected to warn them of their danger, and to shew them how their souls might be saved alive. We should warn those who are living in a wilful neglect of God: we should declare to them their guilt and danger: we should set before them what the Scriptures have spoken respecting the death of the soul, and should entreat them to flee from the wrath to come. In particular, we should, as far as our capacity admits of it, open to them the truth as it is in Jesus. We should make known to them the wonders of redeeming love: we should set the Lord Jesus Christ before them in all his endearing qualities; and shew them how able, and willing, he is to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. We should encourage them to believe in him; and, by the holy violence of argument and entreaty, should compel them to accept his gracious invitations, and to sit down as guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb. In a word, we should do our utmost to enlighten, convert, and save their souls.]
That we may the more readily engage in this duty, let us consider,

II.

Our encouragement to perform it

We may doubtless find much of our labour to be in vain. But, if in any single instance we succeed,

1.

We shall save a soul from death

[Unconverted sinners, whatever they may imagine, are hastening to death: for the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; and the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And let not any one imagine, that this death consists in a mere annihilation: no; the soul, as to its existence, shall never die: but it will endure a misery of which we can form no conception, a torment in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is called in Scripture the second death. From this however, if we are made the happy instruments of converting a soul to God, we deliver it. What a wonderful thought is this! to deliver a soul from everlasting burnings! If we laboured throughout our whole lives, and succeeded but in one instance to accomplish our desire, how richly should we be recompensed! What if the great mass of those whose welfare we had sought, had derided us as weak enthusiasts? the thought of saving one soul from everlasting perdition would compensate all the obloquy that ever could be cast upon us. The truth is, we can form no idea what it must be to spend eternity in weeping and wailing and gnashing our teeth in the regions of despair, and under the wrath of an offended God. But, if we could form any conception of it, we should need no other inducement to labour day and night in endeavours to guide men into the way of truth, and to save their souls alive.]

2.

We shall hide a multitude of sins

[Who can ever count the sins of an unconverted soul? Yet shall they all be hidden, hidden from the sight of Almighty God, out of the book of whose remembrance they shall be blotted, and from before whose face they shall pass away as a morning cloud: yea, God himself will cast them behind his back into the very depths of the sea, and will remember them against the sinner no more. Hear the declaration of God upon this subject: The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve [Note: Jer 50:20.].

Now consider this: consider an immortal soul laden with iniquities more numerous and weighty than the sands upon the sea-shore; and liberated from its burthen through your offices of love! Methinks, the most distant hope of conferring such a benefit is enough to turn you all into heralds and ambassadors of the Most High God. Yet let me not be misunderstood. It is not to the office of public instructors that I would call you; for that should be undertaken by none but those who are called to it by God himself: but to the office of private instructors, I would invite you; and would urge you with all importunity to engage in it: for it is not of ministers that the Apostle speaks in my text, but of private Christians; every one of whom he encourages to engage in this labour of love, saying, Let him know, whoever he be that converts a sinner from the error of his ways, let him know, that he saves a soul from death, and hides a multitude of sins.]

See then, beloved,
1.

What is the true end of the ministry

[The whole world is out of course: all are erring from the fold of Christ, and wandering like sheep that know not how or whither to return. That they may not irremediably perish, God has appointed ministers, to go forth, as under shepherds, to search out the wandering sheep, and to bring them back to his fold. This is the one object of our lives; to shew you how far you have erred from the truth; to convert you from the error of your ways; and thus eventually to save your souls. In our execution of this office we perhaps appear to some to be uncharitable and harsh. But if we do believe that death, even the death of your immortal souls, will be the end of your wanderings, does it not become us to lift up our voice like a trumpet, and to shew to the house of Israel their sins with all fidelity? Suppose a person taking the soundings of a ship in full sail, were to find, on a sudden, that the ship were running upon rocks or shoals, and would speedily, if the helm were not instantly turned, be irremediably lost; would he not feel it his duty to apprise the pilot of his danger? or would the passengers, whose lives were in such imminent peril, be offended with him, if he spake as one who believed what he said, and as one who had the safety of the crew at heart? Methinks, if there were somewhat of vehemence in his words and manner, all would readily excuse it; and not excuse it only, but applaud it also, as the proper effect of fidelity and love. Then consider us as placed in that situation by Almighty God. You are all embarked on board the vessel, and we are appointed by God to take the soundings: and we do declare unto you, that, unless your course be changed, you must inevitably and eternally perish. If you doubt it, take the line in your own hands, and examine the chart by which you are to steer. We do not wish you to take our word, but to see and judge for yourselves: and, if our testimony be true according to the written word, then be thankful for our labours; and, instead of being offended at our fidelity, adore your God, who has appoined us to watch for your souls, and has connected our welfare with yours: for it is only by a faithful discharge of our duty to you that we can save ourselves, or them that hear us [Note: 1Ti 4:16.].]

2.

What should be your view in attending on the ordinances of the Gospel

[You should not come to be amused, but to be instructed and edified. You should come desirous of knowing wherein you have erred, and how you may get safely into the way of truth. Your minds should he open to conviction. You should be aware of the danger of self-deception. You should beg of God to instruct his ministers how to speak most to your edification; and should entreat him to accompany the word with power from on high, and to render it effectual for the salvation of your souls. You should bear in mind, that, though Paul should plant, and Apollos water, it is God alone that can give the increase; and you should judge of your profiting, not by the pleasure with which you heard, but by the insight which you have gained into the evils of your own heart, and the ability that has been imparted to rectify your errors. As God in the appointment of ordinances seeks the conversion of your souls, so should you in attending on them; receiving with meekness the engrafted word, and praying that, as it is able, so also it may be effectual, to save your souls alive [Note: Jam 1:21.].]

3.

What should be the one object of your whole lives

[What is there of any importance, compared with the salvation of the soul? I do not hesitate to say, that the care of the soul is the one thing needful. If there were no future state, men might go on in their own ways without much concern. But, when there is an eternity awaiting us,an eternity, either of happiness in heaven, or of misery in hell; when our destination to the one or other of these depends entirely on our conduct in this present life; and when no man knows that he has another day to live; I see not how any doubt can exist in the mind of a rational being, that the care of his soul should infinitely outweigh all the concerns of time and sense. True it is, that when men act according to this truth, they are derided as enthusiasts: but there is no man who, in his deliberate judgment, does not see, that the fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom. Regard not then the scoffs of foolish and ungodly men; all of whom, if not in this life, yet in the next at least, will applaud your wisdom. As for the angels, they, though in the very presence of their God, will not be so occupied with the glories of heaven, but they will have their joys augmented when they shall behold you turning into wisdoms ways. I pray you then to be in earnest about the salvation of your souls. If God has appointed an order of men on purpose to promote your welfare, and has suspended their salvation on their fidelity to you, and has taught them to consider success in one single instance as a rich recompence for the labour of their whole lives, surely it does not become you to be careless and indifferent. I pray you, awake to a sense of your condition: think how great a work you have to do, and how short and uncertain is the time wherein you have to do it: and now, ere it be too late, turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

Ver. 19. If any do err from, &c. ] Err about fundamentals, fall into deadly heresy, damnable, Peter calleth it, 2Pe 2:1 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

19, 20 .] The importance and blessing of reclaiming an erring brother . This is very nearly connected with the foregoing; the duty of mutual advice and correction, with that of mutual confession and prayer.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

19 .] Brethren, if any among you be seduced (lit. passive; and there is no reason why the passive signification should not be kept, especially when we remember our Lord’s warning, ) from the truth (not merely truth practical, of moral conduct, but that which is the subject of the whereby our regeneration took place, ch. Jam 1:18 the doctrine of Christ, spiritual and practical), and one convert him (turn him back to the truth, reff.),

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Jas 5:19 . : “The passive aorist is used with a middle force in classical writers, as well as in the LXX, Deu 32:1 ; Psa 119:176 ; Eze 34:4 ” (Mayor). : Cf. Mar 12:14 , , this seems to be the way in which is here used, cf. Joh 3:21 ; Joh 5:33 ; Joh 8:32 . : excepting here (and in the next verse) and Luk 1:16-17 this word is always used intransitively in the N.T. ( cf. however Act 26:18 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jas 5:19-20

19My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Jas 5:19 “my brethren” See notes at Jas 1:2; Jas 1:9.

“if” This is a third class conditional contingent on two actions: (1) one believer strays and (2) another believer is willing to help.

“strays from the truth” The straying has both doctrinal and moral aspects (cf. Heb 5:2; 2Pe 2:2). The term “strays” comes from a Greek word from which we get the English “planet.” As the ancients watched and mapped the night sky, they saw that certain “stars” did not follow a regular orbit. We know these today as our solar system’s planets. They called them “the wanderers.”

The grammatical form of the verb is aorist passive subjunctive. The AORIST speaks of wandering. The passive voice is used to assert that the subject is being acted upon. Most translations translate it as a middle or active (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, TEV, NJB, and NIV). The passive idea is found in The Twentieth Century New Testament and the translation by Henry Alford. The passive voice was replacing the middle voice in Koine Greek (cf. A. T. Robertson’s Studies in the Epistle of James p. 196 (footnote #6). This may explain Jas 4:7; Jas 4:10 as well.

Believers wander (1) by willfulness; (2) by the trickery of false teachers (cf. Eph 4:14); and (3) under the influence of the demonic (cf. Eph 4:14). The exact cause is not the issue, but the need for confession, repentance, prayer, and the help of other believers.

“one turns him back” Believers have a responsibility to help one another (cf. 2Co 2:7;Gal 6:1; Eph 4:32; 2Th 3:15).

Jas 5:20

NASB, NKJV”let him know”

NRSV”you should know”

TEV”remember this”

NJB”he may be sure”

This is a present active imperative. It is an idiom for confidence in the following statement.

“turns” It is significant that the Greek word epistreph is used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew term for “repentance” (shuv). Since Israel was considered the people of God, this “turning” was viewed as “turning back” to God or the renewing of a previous relationship. That same sense is reflected in this text in James.

“he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death.” In context this refers to (1) the supposed connection between sin and sickness in Jas 5:15 or (2) the message of the whole book about warnings related to covenant responsibilities.

Our systematic theology tends to interpret passages like this (i.e., Jas 5:19-20) in “acceptable” ways. The fact remains this is a shocking warning written to Christians. Sin causes death, physical death, spiritual death, eternal death. Unconfessed sin is a powerful and beguiling enemy. Flee from it. Confess it!

There is an interesting and insightful footnote in Hard Sayings of the Bible, published by IVP:

“Neither James nor the rest of the New Testament is concerned to answer the speculative question ‘How could a Christian who had eternal life lose it?’ All of the theological answers given are based on various theological assumptions and either deny the meaning of the various texts (such as ‘The Christian does not really die eternally, but simply loses his or her reward’) or explain the texts according to their theological beliefs (such as the Calvinist ‘They appeared to be Christian, but their lack of perseverance shows that they were not really regenerate,’ or the Arminian ‘Yes, people can fall away from the faith and be lost’). James, like all New Testament writers, is not interested in theological neatness, but in pastoral concern. He simply sees the situation (a Christian on the wrong way), recognizes the danger (death) and goes to the rescue, rather than ask how it fits into his theology. So while theological responses are appropriate in their place, we ought not to expect a New Testament writer to select among them” (p. 708).

“cover a multitude of sins” This refers to the forgiving of the wanderer’s sins! Possibly this is related to Psa 32:1; Psa 85:2; Pro 10:12; 1Pe 4:8 (a Semitic truism or proverb) or 1Co 13:7 where love refuses to see faults in others. Christians love wounded Christians. The spiritual battle has casualties, but also reclamations.

At this point let us discuss the application of this context to today. It appears from Jas 5:15 that James expected physical restoration. Does that imply that all of the early Jewish believers were healed? If so, how did they die? Jas 5:19-20 may have been the theological assurance that even those who died had their sins forgiven and possessed eternal life.

Bible-believing believers believe in God’s miraculous presence, care, provision, and healing! The mystery is when, where, how, and who is to be involved and why physical healing often does not occur. Our biblical world-view asserts God’s love, power, and sovereignty even amidst suffering, sickness, persecution, and death. Faith lives even when the body dies. Let us keep on praying, believing, confessing, anointing, encouraging, and loving each other.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

if. App-118.

of = among. App-104.

from. App-104.

one = any one, as Jam 5:12.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

19, 20.] The importance and blessing of reclaiming an erring brother. This is very nearly connected with the foregoing; the duty of mutual advice and correction, with that of mutual confession and prayer.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Jam 5:19. , brethren) James, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, avoiding a multitude of words, brings the Epistle to an end. I, he says in this Epistle, seek your salvation; let every one face to face [not absent as I] seek the salvation of his neighbour. Comp. Heb 13:22.-, , any one, any one) Every one ought to seek the salvation of every one.-, shall be led aside) through sin.-, any one) whoever it shall be [that converts him], that [soul so converted] shall be his gain. An appropriate ending of the Epistle.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

err: Psa 119:21, Psa 119:118, Pro 19:27, Isa 3:12, 1Ti 6:10, 1Ti 6:21, 2Ti 2:18, 2Pe 3:17, Jud 1:11

and one: Jam 5:20, Eze 34:4, Eze 34:16, Mat 18:15, Luk 22:32, Gal 6:1, Heb 12:12, Heb 12:13, Jud 1:22, Jud 1:23

Reciprocal: Deu 22:1 – Thou shalt Psa 51:13 – converted Eze 3:18 – to save Dan 12:3 – turn Mal 2:6 – and did Mat 18:3 – Except Luk 17:3 – rebuke Joh 4:36 – he that reapeth receiveth Joh 12:40 – and be Act 3:19 – be 1Co 5:5 – that 1Co 7:16 – O wife 1Co 9:19 – that 2Th 3:15 – admonish 1Ti 3:1 – desireth Phm 1:19 – how thou 1Pe 3:1 – won

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

HUMAN AGENCY IN THE SINNERS CONVERSION TO GOD

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Jam 5:19-20

The text suggests for us the great object of Christian zeal, the means of its accomplishment, and presents us with some motives to engage in it.

I.The great object of Christian zeal is the conversion of the sinner.This implies, in general, a turning of the sinner from his sins to God. It must not be forgotten that the one great qualification for engaging in this work is a clear consciousness of our own acceptance with God. Thus we have it in David, Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. But more particularly the conversion of the sinner implies

(a) A change in the understanding;

(b) A change in the affections;

(c) A change in the will;

(d) A change in the life.

It is not mending, not reformation, but regeneration men need. And Scriptural conversion is being created anew in Christ Jesus.

II. The means by which this may be accomplished.

(a) The force of exhortation.The power of speech is wonderful. The man who addresses men attacks at once the eye, the ear, the memory, the understanding, the conscience, the heart. To him, as to the lightning, all things are accessible.

(b) The management of your influence.Every human being possesses over a certain number of his fellow-creatures an influence peculiarly his own, and for which he is responsible to God. And to every earnest Christian a thousand nameless opportunities will occur of saving souls from death by the right use of his influence.

(c) The power of example.A holy life is a living, walking Biblea living epistle read and known of all men. If you live consistently and die triumphantly others will take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and may be constrained to follow your example.

(d) The importunity of prayer.It is probable that this was the principal thought in the mind of St. James when he penned these words. And here is a most powerful instrument of good always within your reach. Time would fail to tell the wonders prayer has wrought.

III. The motives presented in the text for engaging in this great work.Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. The work is Divine, the instrumentality is human. He converts the soul only as the instrument which the Holy Ghost employs. He hides the sins only as leading the sinner to Christ, the Lamb of God Which taketh away the sins of the world. He saves the soul from death only as securing his acceptance of the gospel of Christ, which alone is the power of God unto salvation.

(a) Much evil shall be removed.He shall hide a multitude of sins. The word rendered hide has a twofold meaning, viz. to withdraw from sight and to withhold from sightto hide by covering and to hide by prevention. Think what sins are withdrawn from sight, blotted out so that Divine justice sees them no more, when any sinner is converted.

(b) Much good shall be conferred.He shall save a soul from death. Think of a human soul. Think of the Divinity of its origin, the price of its redemption, its eternal duration, the extent of its powers, and capability of pleasure or pain even in this world, and above all think of its everlasting growththe power of endless progressive life within it!

(c) Much joy shall be imparted.Let him know for his comfort, his joy, his present and future bliss. Living, praying, giving, working for souls, itself gives great pleasure. But when the effort is crowned with success the pleasure is unspeakable; a pleasure such as only they who enjoy it know. Every soul you are instrumental in saving is a new spring of joy to you for ever. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy (1Th 2:19-20).

Illustrations

(1) The Rev. Rowland Hill once introduced Dr. Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, to a nobleman in these terms: Allow me to present to your lordship my friend, Dr. Jenner, who has lately been the means of saving more lives than any other man. Dr. Jenner bowed, and said with great earnestness, Ah! would, like you, I could say souls!

(2) If one convert him. There is here a distinct recognition of the influence of mind over mind, that principle of dependence and of oversight which is involved in our mutual relationship as members of one family. Not the least of the endowments which make up our solemn stewardship is this mysterious and inseparable power of influence, one of the most important talents entrusted to us, and of which we shall have to give account at the judgment-seat of God. It is of universal bestowment; we are none of us without it. Your sphere is narrow, you say; your influence is small; you can do nothing for Christ. One acorn is a very insignificant thing, but the majestic oak is its development of strength; one little rippling wavelet makes no account, but it is carried to the springtide, and the springtide were not perfect without it; one raindrop is hardly noticed as it falls, but it is enough for one rosebuds life to make it blow. There is not one of you, however small and scanty and narrow your influence, who may not, by patient and prayerful toil, become a wise winner of souls.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Jas 5:19. To err from the truth means to wander to one side according to the comments at chapter 1:16. To convert such a person means to induce him to turn and reenter the pathway of truth, since the word convert literally means to reverse a direction.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jas 5:19. We have in these two last verses the conclusion of the Epistle; and certainly the words form a summary of its nature, its contents, and its design. Its sole purpose was to correct the errors of the Jewish Christians, and to restore them to the truth of the Gospel.

Brethren, if any of you do err, literally, be seduced, from the truth, the truth of the Gospel, that word of truth by which they were begotten (Jas 1:18). Here the reference is not to a single defection, but to an alienation of the heart from the truth. The error includes false doctrine as well as false practice, although it is chiefly with the latter that this Epistle is concerned.

and one convert himis the instrument in the hand of God of his restoration.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our apostle concludes his epistle with an exhortation to the duty of fraternal correction and Christian admonition: “If, says he, any one among you, who hath made an outward profession of Christianity, shall, for fear of persecution, or otherwise turn aside from the rule of the gospel, whether in matters of faith or practice, such a person, either Minister or private Christian, as shall be instrumental, by prayer, reproof, or counsel to recover him out of that wandering and backsliding condition, shall have the honour to save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins; that is, he shall be a means of bringing him to a sight of his sins, and to seek a pardon of them, which is the only true and happy way of hiding and of covering of them.”

Learn hence, 1. It is not sufficient that every one takes care of his own soul, but he must also watch over the souls of others; there is no brother so mean in the Christian church, but the care of his salvation belongeth to all in the Christian communion.

Learn, 2. What great honour God puts upon the creature, in calling him a Saviour to a restored and converted brother, he shall save a soul from death: but when God puts the glory of his own work upon the head of the creature, what cause has he to lay the crown of his excellency at the foot of God? When the honour of the supreme Cause is put upon the instrument, the instrument ought to ascribe all the efficacy and efficiency to the first cause, saying, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the praise. Amen.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Restoring the Erring

It is obvious James believed one could err from the truth. Yet, how can one wander from something in which he has not been? So, Christians can fall from grace (See also Gal 5:2-4 ; 2Ti 2:16-18 ). To turn a man back is to cause him to change course. By causing him to change course, we can save his soul from death. This would not be physical death, as all men are appointed to die once ( Heb 9:27 ), but the second death described by John in Rev 20:13-15 . By causing him to seek forgiveness, his brethren are assured by James God will hide his sins so they will be seen, or remembered, no more ( Jas 5:19-20 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Jas 5:19-20. Brethren As if he had said, I have now warned you of those things to which you are most liable. And in all these respects watch, not only over yourselves, but every one over his brother also. Labour, in particular, to recover those that are fallen. For if any of you do err from the truth From the right way in which he ought to walk, if he be seduced by any means from the doctrine and practice of the gospel; and one Any one; convert him Be a means of bringing him back into that way from which he had wandered; let him know Who has been enabled to effect so good a work; that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way From the false doctrine and bad practice to which he had turned aside, shall produce a much happier effect than any miraculous cure of the body; for he shall save a precious immortal soul from spiritual and eternal death, and shall hide a multitude of sins Namely, the sins of the persons thus converted, which shall no more, how many soever they are, be remembered to his condemnation. The covering of sin is a phrase which often occurs in the Old Testament, and always signifies the pardoning of sin. Nor has it any other meaning here. For surely it cannot be the apostles intention to tell us, that the turning of a sinner from the error of his way will conceal from the eye of Gods justice a multitude of sins committed by the person who does this charitable office, if he continueth in them. Such a person needs himself to be turned from the error of his way, in order that his own soul may be saved from death. St. Peter has a similar expression, (1Pe 4:8,) love covereth a multitude of sins; not, however, in the person who is possessed of love, but in the person who is the object of his love. Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

ARGUMENT 17

APOSTASY AND RECLAMATION

19, 20. Here James warns his sainted brethren against apostasy, exhorting them to convert the apostate, and assuring them of rich reward. He is surely of the Apostolic brethren before he errs from the truth. Afterward James calls him a sinner and earnestly pleads for his conversion, assuring the benefactor that he will save a soul from death. In this plain statement you see clearly the possibility of a real Christian erring from the truth and becoming a sinner. At the same time we are assured that he may be converted again and eternally saved. This epistle is infinitely valuable in the elucidation of practical Christianity in its sundry phases.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Jas 5:19 f. These concluding words return to the thought of Jas 5:16. How great a thing it is to bring back to the truth one who has strayed from it! Understand [see mg.] that he who has brought a sinner back when he has lost his way will save a life out of death, and cover a multitude of sins (Pro 10:12). It is true to Jamess whole view of belief and conduct; to lose the truthwhat is genuine in belief (see on Jas 5:13)endangers the ethical power of that truth. Truth, if held with heart as well as head, is an anchor to keep the ship from drifting down the rapids into the abyss of wrong-doing (cf. Heb 2:1). Many have strangely thought the teachers own life intended. Jesus teaches us that we can only save our lives by losing them; it is only when self-forgetfulness is complete that self-preservation is assured. It is very unlike James and the NT to assert that successful preaching can atone for the preachers sins; contrast 1Co 9:27.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

No, this is not speaking of eternal security as many try to make out. It is speaking of what we have already spoken of, chastisement unto death due to rebellion against God. If you through action or prayer keep someone from continuing on in their refusal to follow God, then you will save them from death – physical. “To hinder the knowledge of a thing” is one way of putting the meaning of the term “hide” which James mentions.

If you assist someone, you hide a multitude of sins, or prevent them from coming to knowledge. I assume that by going to someone that is sick, praying, anointing, and counseling, there is a change in the person’s heart, then they will be raised up, won’t die, and their sin will not come to light of day – WILL THEY? That is a distinct command to the elders to keep their mouths shut about the whole situation, especially the sins of the person.

There is no reason for anyone to reveal anyone else’s sin. The sin is between the person and God in this situation and should stay that way. If the person’s sin has come to public knowledge then other steps should be taken, but if the sin is private, then it should stay private.

James seems to want this to be public knowledge, it is assumed, because we should be touching each others lives by challenging one another to purity of life. Again, when is the last time anyone in your church challenged you to purity? Maybe a preacher has made your toes feel uncomfortable, but has anyone really challenged the way you live your life in a way that you were convicted, and you changed your way of life.

It must be admitted that to challenge anyones purity today in the church is to ask to have your head handed to you in your hand. There must be proper teaching and preaching for a time before we can really expect to be able to do this today.

Teaching that purity is the expected standard, teaching that we are to challenge and disciple one another in the area of purity, and quite possibly some teaching about the consequences of not leading a pure life.

Purity is not a popular topic to discuss. One of the forums where I read and post occasionally is not very conservative. There are a lot of opportunities to challenge to purity, to challenge from the Word, but when someone does so, they are either totally ignored, or they are ridiculed for being unbiblical. People are not interested in purity, they are interested in their own little world that they have created, and that they feel is adequate for their life. No matter there might be something unbiblical, no matter there might be something they do that is against God’s wishes. They are okay in their own eyes and there is no need for further discussion.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

5:19 {12} Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one {k} convert him;

(12) The taking away of an objection: all rebukes are not condemned, seeing that on the contrary there is nothing more acceptable to God than to call into the holy way, a brother that was wandering out of the way.

(k) Has called him back from his way.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

VII. THE WAY BACK TO LIVING BY FAITH 5:19-20

James concluded this major section and his entire epistle by explaining how a brother who had erred could return to fellowship with God and could resume living by faith. These instructions apply directly to what James just explained in chapter 5. However they also show the way back to any who may have stumbled in the other errors James dealt with in this book.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

This verse also ties in with what James just said about the privilege and duty of prayer. Any believer, not just the elders, can help a brother back into the right way (Jas 5:14; cf. Eze 33:1-9).

"It was easy then, and is now, to be led astray from Christ, who is the Truth." [Note: Robertson, 6:67.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 29

THE WORK OF CONVERTING SINNERS;

ITS CONDITIONS AND REWARDS.

Jam 5:19-20

ST. JAMES has just been speaking of the case of a man who is sick, and needs the prayers of others for his healing, both in body and soul; for it may be that the sick man has sins to be repented of as well as ailments to be cured. This leads naturally enough to the common ease of those who, whether sick in, body or not, feel their consciences burdened by sin. They are to make known their trouble to one or more of the brethren, in order that efficacious prayers may be offered to God on their behalf. But these cases do not by any means cover the whole ground. Besides those who feel and make known their bodily sickness, and those who feel and make known their spiritual sickness, in order that their fellow-Christians may pray to God for their healing, there is the common case of those who either do not feel, or if they feel do not confess, that their souls are sick unto death. There are many who have left the path of life, and are going steadily, and perhaps rapidly, to destruction, Who are ignorant of their piteous condition; and there are others who are aware of their peril, but are either too hardened to desire any serious change, or too proud to own their condition to others and ask their help towards recovery. Are such unhappy persons to be left to themselves, and allowed to go on their way to perdition, for want of the aid which they are too insensate or too haughty to ask?

Certainly not, says the writer of this Epistle. The reclaiming of such sinners is one of the noblest tasks which a Christian can undertake; and the successful accomplishment of it is fraught with incalculable blessings, the thought of which ought to move us to undertake such work. To save one immortal soul from eternal death is worth the labor of a lifetime. If to lead one soul astray is to share the devils work and incur guilt to which a violent death would be preferable, {Mat 18:6; Mar 9:42; Luk 17:2} to lead one soul back from death is to share Christs work {2Co 6:1} by blotting out from Gods sight the sins which cry for punishment.

We shall obtain a clearer view of the meaning of St. James in these concluding verses of his Epistle if we begin with the last words of the passage, and from them work back to what precedes.

“Shall cover a multitude of sins.” Whose sins? Not the sins of him who converts the erring brother. This view, which is perhaps the one which most readily occurs to those who merely listen to the passage as it is read in Church, but have never studied it, may safely be rejected, although it has the sanction of Erasmus and to some extent also of the Venerable Bede. There are two reasons, each of which would suffice to condemn this explanation, and which taken together are almost unanswerable.

1. Nowhere else in Scripture do we find any such doctrine, that a man may cover his own sins by inducing another sinner to repent. On the contrary, it is one of the terrible possibilities which attend the work of the ministry that a man may preach successfully to others, and yet himself be a castaway, {1Co 9:27} and may move many hearts, while his own remains as hard as the nether millstone. It is altogether misleading to Mat 6:14 in connection with this passage. There Christ, says, “If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” What has that to do with converting sinners from their sins? Is “Forgive that ye may be forgiven,” even parallel to “Convert that ye may be forgiven”? It is very far indeed from being equivalent to it. The exact parallel would be, “Convert, that ye may be converted” and where in either the Old or the New Testament do we find any such teaching as that? Who we do find is the converse of it: “Be converted that ye may convert. Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye”. {Mat 7:5} And this brings us to the other reason why this interpretation ought to be set aside.

2. We cannot suppose that St. James would contemplate, not merely as a possible case, but as the normal condition of things, that a Christian would undertake the task of converting others while his own conscience was burdened with a multitude of sins. He no doubt assumed, and meant his readers to assume, that before taking this very glorious, but also very difficult work upon themselves, Christians would at least have repented of their own sins, and thus have won the assurance that they were covered and forgiven. As we have seen, St. James shows an intimate personal knowledge of the teaching of Christ, and especially of that portion of it which is contained in the Sermon on the Mount. It is difficult to believe that any one who was acquainted with the fundamental principle involved in the saying just quoted, about the mote and the beam, would end his exhortations to the Church with a declaration which, according to the view of Erasmus and others, would mean that it is precisely those who have a beam in their own eye who should endeavor to convert sinners from the error of their ways, for in this way they may get the beam removed, or at least overlooked.

It is the sins of the converted sinner that are covered when a brother has had the happiness of converting him. The saying “cover sins” is a proverbial one, and seems to have been common among the Jews. St. Peter also makes use of it; {1Pe 4:8} and this is one of the points which make some persons think that the writer of this Epistle had seen that of St. Peter, and others that St. Peter had seen this one. The source of the saying appears to be Pro 10:12, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all transgressions.” It is, however, by no means certain that St. James is consciously quoting this saying, although his evident fondness for the sapiential books of Scripture would incline us to think that he is doing so. But the Septuagint of the passage in Proverbs has a different reading: “Friendship shall cover those who love not strife.” A similar expression to the one before us occurs twice in the Psalms: “Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people; Thou hast covered all their sin”: {Psa 135:2} “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered”. {Psa 32:1} The fact that the phrase occurs so frequently renders it impossible for us to determine the precise passage which suggested the use of the words in this place.

The statement that the converted sinner had “a multitude of sins” which are covered by his returning from “the error of his way” shows us plainly what is meant by “the error of his way” and by his “erring” or “being led astray from the truth.” St. James is evidently not thinking of purely dogmatic error, about which his Epistle is almost, if not entirely, silent. It is conviction as expressed in conduct with which he deals throughout. As we have seen again and again, the evils which he denounces are those of a sinful life: with the evils of erratic speculation he does not deal at all. Quite in harmony, therefore, with the practical character of the Epistle, we find that with him to “err from the truth” means the apostasy that is involved in a life of sin. “Of His own will God brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures”; {Jam 1:18} and those who allow themselves to be seduced into sinful courses dishonor their Divine parentage and desert their Fathers home. To recover such from the path of destruction is the blessed work to which St. James wishes to incite and encourage his readers.

It is important to recognize the fact that it is the lives of notorious sinners, and not the views of those who differ from us, that we are urged to correct. The latter interpretation is not an uncommon one. The expression “err from the truth” seems at first sight to countenance it; and to many of us the work of winning over others to accept our religious opinions is much more congenial employment than that of endeavoring to reclaim the profligate. But the duty to which St. James here exhorts us is one of universal obligation. It is one which every Christian must recognize, and according to his opportunities perform; and it is one which every one, however ignorant, simple, and insignificant he may be, is able in some measure to fulfill. But comparatively few of us are qualified to deal with the erroneous opinions of others. Not infrequently those which we think to be erroneous are nearer the truth than those which we hold ourselves. Even where this is not the case, the errors may be much less hurtful than we suppose, because, with happy inconsistency, men allow the goodness of their hearts to direct their conduct, rather than the erratic convictions of their heads. And again, our efforts to change the erroneous opinions of others may do more harm than good, for it is much more easy to unsettle than to establish. We may take away a plank without being able to supply an ark; and an inadequate or even faulty principle is better than no principle at all. The man who endeavors to act up to erroneous convictions is in a much healthier state than the man who has lost all convictions whatever. And this is the danger which always lies before us when we attempt to win others over from sincere and steadfast beliefs which seem to us to be untrue. We may succeed in shaking these beliefs; but it by no means follows that we shall be equally successful in giving them better beliefs in exchange for them. We may accomplish no more than the miserable result of having convinced them that in religion everything is uncertain.

Of course there are times when it is our duty to do what we can to bring others over to opinions which we are persuaded are much sounder and safer than those which they at present hold; but such times are very much less frequent than many of us are inclined to believe. It is obviously our duty to undertake this difficult task when other people consult us as to their religious convictions; but the mere fact that we know what their convictions are, and that we hold them to be perilously unsound, does not establish a right on our part to attempt to change, them. And as regards the passage before us, it is quite clear, both from the context and from the tenor of the whole Epistle, that the rare occasions on which we are under the obligation of endeavoring to convert others to our own ways of thinking are not the occasions to which St. James refers in these concluding sentences of his letter.

The duty of reclaiming the lost grows out of the condition of brotherhood which is assumed all through the Epistle as being the relation which exists between those who are addressed. This is manifestly the case here. “My brethren, if any among you do err from the truth.” If it be right to clothe and feed the naked and hungry brother, to pray for the sick brother, and for those who confess their faults to us, much more must it be right to do all that is possible to bring back from the way of death those who are walking in it, to convert them, turn them right round, and induce them to go in the opposite direction. To believe in God, to believe that we are His children, and yet to act as if the bodies and souls of others, who are equally His children, are in no degree in our keeping, and that their condition is no concern of ours-this is indeed to have that faith which, being apart from works, is dead.

How is the conversion of the erring brother to be effected? St. James gives no explicit directions, but leaves all matters of detail to the discretion of the worker. Yet he does not leave us altogether without guidance as to what are the best methods. One of these is intimated by what immediately precedes, and the other by the general import of the letter. These two efficacious means for the conversion of sinners are not rebuke or remonstrance, not exhortation or advice, not anger or contempt, but-prayer and good example. It is by prayer that the sick may be restored to health; it is by prayer that sinners who confess their sins may be healed; and it is by prayer that sinners, who as yet will not confess and repent, may be won over to do so. And here the appropriateness of the example of Elijah becomes evident. Elijah was a prophet, and he knew that when he prayed for drought and for rain he was praying for what was in accordance with the will of God; and it is such prayers that are sure of fulfillment. We are not prophets, and when we pray for changes of weather we cannot be sure that what we ask is in accordance with Gods will. All that we can do is to submit humbly to His will, and to beg that, so far as they are in harmony with it, our desires may be granted. But when we pray for the conversion of sinners we are in the same position as Elijah. We know from the outset that we are praying for something which it is His will to grant, if only the rebellious wills of impenitent sinners do not prove insuperable; for He forces no one to be converted; He will have voluntary service, or none at all. When, therefore, we ask him for the assistance of His Holy Spirit in bringing back sinners from the error of their ways, we may have the greatest confidence that we are desiring that which He would have us desire, and are uniting our wills to His. This, then, is one great instrument for the conversion of our erring brethren-the prayer of faith, which can remove mountains of sin out of Gods sight, by bringing the sinner, who has piled them up during years of sinning, to confess, and repent, and be forgiven.

The case of St. Monica, praying for the conversion of her sinful and heretical son Augustine, will occur to many as a beautiful illustration of the principle here indicated. He himself tells us of it in his immortal “Confessions” (III 11, 12:20, 21); how that for years, especially from his nineteenth to his twenty-eighth year, he went on seduced and seducing, deceived and deceiving, in various lusts; and how his mother continued to pray for him. “And her prayers entered into Thy presence; and yet Thou didst leave me to wallow deeper and deeper in that darkness.” Then she went to a certain bishop and entreated him to reason with her son; but he declined, saying that the time for that had not yet come. “Leave him alone for a time; only pray to God for him.” But she was not satisfied, and continued to implore him with tears that he would go and see Augustine, and try to move him. At which he somewhat lost patience, and sent her away, saying, “Go, leave me, and a blessing go with thee: it is impossible that the son of such tears should perish.” Which answer, as she often told her son afterwards, she accepted as if it were a voice from heaven; and all Christendom knows how her prayer was heard. He himself attributed all that was good in him to his mothers tears and prayers.

The other great instrument in accomplishing this blessed work is a good example. A holy life is the best sermon, the most effectual remonstrance, the strongest incentive, the most powerful plea. Without it words are of little avail; with it words are scarcely necessary. This is the instrument which St. James throughout this Epistle commends. Not words, but works; not professions, but deeds, not fair speeches, but kind acts. {Jam 1:19; Jam 1:22; Jam 1:27; Jam 2:1; Jam 2:15-16; Jam 2:26; Jam 3:13; Jam 4:17} Nothing that we can say will ever make such impression upon others as what we do and what we are. Eloquence, reasoning, incisiveness, pathos, persuasiveness, all have their uses, and may be of real service in the work of winning back sinners from the error of their ways, but they are as nothing compared with holiness. It is-when deep calls to deep, when life calls to life, when the life of manifest devotion at once shames and attracts the life of flagrant sin, that spirits are moved, that the loathing for vice and the longing for virtue are excited. The man whose own habitual conduct most often makes other men ashamed of themselves is the man who not only has the best of all qualifications for winning souls to God, but is actually accomplishing this work, even when he is not consciously attempting it. And such a one, when he does attempt it, will have a large measure of the requisite wisdom. The earnestness of his own life will have given him a knowledge of his own heart, and that is the best of all keys to a knowledge of the hearts of others.

There is something fatally wrong about us if we have no strong desire to bring back sinners to God. We cannot be Christs disciples without having it. The man who would go to heaven alone is already off the road thither. The man whose one consuming thought is to save his own soul has not yet found out the best means of saving it. The surest road to personal happiness is to devote oneself to promoting the happiness of others, and the best way to secure ones own salvation is to devote oneself to the Divine work of helping forward the salvation of others. Let the fear of giving scandal to others keep us from sin; let the hope of being a help to others encourage us in well-doing; and let our prayers be more for others than for ourselves. As Calvin says, on this passage, “We must take heed lest souls perish through our sloth whose salvation God puts in a manner in our hands. Not that we can bestow salvation on them, but that God by our ministry delivers and saves those who Seem otherwise to be nigh destruction.”

What is the reward which St. James holds out to us to induce us to undertake the work of converting a sinner? He offers nothing; he promises nothing. The work itself is its own reward. To win back an erring brother is a thing so blessed, so glorious, so rich in incalculable results, that to have been enabled to accomplish it is reward enough – it is a prize sufficient to induce any true-hearted Christian to work for it. It is no less than the “saving of a soul from death”; and who can estimate what that means? It is “the covering of a multitude of sins.”

There is no need to make this last phrase include the sins which the man would otherwise have committed had he not been converted. Sins not committed cannot be covered. It is quite true that by conversion a man is saved from sins into which he would certainly have fallen; and this is a very happy result, but it is not the result pointed out by St. James. The sins which have been committed during the daily walk towards destruction are what he has in his mind; and they are not one or two, here and there, but a multitude. To aid a brother to get rid of these by confession and repentance is an end that amply repays all the trouble that we can take in attaining to it.

“But the number of renegades is so enormous; the multitude of impenitent sinners is so overwhelming: how is it possible to convert them?” St. James says nothing about converting multitudes; he speaks only of converting one. “If any ( ) among you do err from the truth, and one convert him.” To bring over one soul from eternal death to eternal life may be within the power of any one earnest Christian. Is each one of us making the attempt? Are we making our lives as beneficent, as sympathetic, as unselfish as our opportunities admit of? Do we give a generous, or even a: moderate share of encouragement to the numerous agencies which are at work to lessen the temptations and increase the means of grace for those who are living in sin, and to help and encourage those who, in however feeble a way, are making a fight against it?

“Know ye, that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.” With these words St. James abruptly takes leave of those whom he addresses. The letter has no formal conclusion; not because it is unfinished, or because the conclusion has been lost, but because St. James wishes by means of a sudden close to leave his last words ringing in the hearts of his readers. In this respect the Epistle reminds us of the First Epistle of St. John. “Guard yourselves from the idols” is the only farewell which the last of the Apostles has for his “little children”; and a very summary statement of what the conversion of one sinner means is the farewell of St. James to his “brethren.” In both cases it is the abruptness of emphasis, as if the writer said, “If all else that I have written be forgotten, at least remember this.”

How beautiful to find one noble soul, and enter into frequent communion with it! how happy to be the means of preserving it from defilement! but most blessed of all to be instrumental in rescuing it from degradation and destruction! “I say unto you, That there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, which need no repentance.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary