James 5:19-20
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
The other two arguments are the wanderer is either a professing Christian, whose faith is not genuine or a sinning Christian, who needs to be restored. For the former, the death spoken of in vs. 20 is the "second death"; (Revelation 21:8) for the latter, it is "physical death" (1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 11:29-32; 1 John 5:16).
Now lets break down what James is saying here;
1) Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth
James is saying here that if any of our fellow brothers and sisters turns away from the faith back to a sinful lifestyle..
*Notice - Brethren, if anyone
"among" you wanders from the truth..turns a
"sinner" from the error of his way.. Some would argue that James says this one who turned from the truth was a
"sinner," and was
"among" but
"not of" the Brethren, so he wasn’t previously saved. That fits 1 John 2:19 - They went out
"from" us, but they were
"not of" us.. Also, 1 John 3:9 says that
no one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he
cannot sin, because he is born of God. So how can one practice sin and lose their salvation if they are born of God, do not practice sin and cannot?
2) Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death
James here is saying if we turn that brother or sister from their sinful ways back to the Lord we will save their soul from the second death in the lake of fire.......
IF this person was a genuine believer, yet how do you know for sure this is the second death in the lake of fire? In Matthew 26:38, Jesus said: "My
soul [psuche] is deeply grieved, to the point of death." Jesus was not saying that His soul was deeply grieved to the point of spiritual death, Rather, Jesus was talking about his
human life. In Revelation 16:3, "The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living
soul [psuche] in the sea died". In 1 Peter 3:20 "... God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons,
[psuche-souls] were brought safely
(saved from drowning, physical death) through the water" by the ark (Hebrews 11:7). "Soul" is rendered from the Greek word "psuche" and is also translated as "life". The word "psuche" is never translated as "spirit." In 1 Corinthians 5:5, we read - I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of his flesh, (physical death) so that his
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus
(no second death).
3) cover a multitude of sins.
By showing love to another and turning them back to the Lord, will lead them to repent of those sinful ways they turned to and receive remission for them and therefore covered by the Lords blood.
IF these "sinners" were never saved to begin with. Jesus covered our sins in one way (Romans 4:7) by bringing forgiveness for all believers, yet sins can also be covered in a different way. In Proverbs 10:12, we read: Hatred stirs up strife, But
love covers all sins. In 1 Peter 4:8, we read: And above all things have fervent love for one another, for
"love will cover a multitude of sins." Where there is strife, there is hatred and unless love prevails, the strife will get worse. Love covers offenses and sins when a believer turns back from error.