19 My friends, if any of you wander away from the truth and another one brings you back again,
20 remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner's soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
James closes out his letter. Like much of the rest of this letter, he does not waste a lot of words, he just stops.
V. 19-20 - “if any of you wander away from the truth” - Look back a couple of verses. He tells us to pray for each other, and our sins will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other, and you will be healed. Committing sins is wandering away from the truth. For me, ‘wandering’ is more than an occasional ‘oops, I messed up’, but a change from following Jesus to ignoring or opposing Him.
“another one brings you back again” - This is Christians looking out for each other, helping each other, encouraging and correcting. We remind each other the path that Jesus has called us to walk. The writer of Hebrews said, “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” (Heb. 10:24-25)
“whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner's soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.” - Powerful words, here! I do not think this is saying that Christians can lose their salvation. It seems to say that, I will admit. If I am a believer and then decide to turn away, my life will not be satisfying (pleasant, happy, etc.).
James jumps from bringing a struggling Christian back to obedience, to saving sinners. Saving a Christian from judgement is totally different from saving a sinner from Hell. Actually we humans can do neither. We can bring another into the presence of Christ, and help them see that salvation and fulfillment comes only from Christ.
Forgiveness for a Christian’s errant behavior means that the believer can live empowered by the Holy Spirit. A ‘fallen’ Christian cannot not be empowered by the Holy Spirit, unless and until he confesses and repents of his sin and asks the Spirit to fill and control him. This is the same way that a non-Christian receives the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior - confessing sin, believing and accepting Jesus as Messiah and Savior given by God the Father to us. Neither Jesus nor the Holy Spirit forces themselves upon you, your soul and spirit.
I am reading a book by Eric Metaxis, “Letter to the American Church”, in which he compares the Christian church in America to the German Christian churches in pre-World War II. He notes that the German churches had taken the concept of ‘saved by faith alone’ to the point that ‘works’ were anathema. They had ‘forgotten’ that our faith must be lived out, our lives demonstrate the efficacy of our faith.
That point is what the letter by James is about - your faith is shown in how you live. The letter by James was not universally accepted by church leaders - it took a long time to be accepted into the New Testament canon. Why? Because the letter does not emphasize ‘faith alone’. It does remind us that our lives must demonstrate our faith in Christ.
End of Letter
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