Page 33 - General Epistles (James through Jude) Textbook

On the sin committed by the one to be prayed for, Zane C. Hodges’ summary is worth noting. “James
then observes that in cases where sin has occurred, forgiveness as well as healing can take place. But it
is precisely the words if he has committed sins that serve as a necessary caution. Not all sickness is the
result of sin (as some teach), but some of it is (cf. 1 Cor. 11:30).” The motivation for them (and us) that
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their prayers would be answered is Elijah, who being a human being like us, his prayers got answered
when he prayed to God. To those who did not need prayers for healing because they were not sick, but
instead, they were going astray spiritually, James encouraged them to bring them back to the right path.
Grant R. Osborne summary on vv19-20 is worthy noting.

The task of the church is the restoration or reclamation of the straying sinner to Christ. Ethical sin is the
basic thrust of this letter, and it is now seen as a very serious issue, for when it takes over the life of the
erring follower, it can remove a person from the “truth,” the Christian faith. . . In light of this, James
specifies (5:20) the significance for the vigilant fellow believers. . . The results of the restoration (if
successful) will always take place in this way. While the NLT has simply “brings the sinner back,” the
Greek adds “from the error of his way,” stressing the Christian life as a pilgrimage or journey, with the
sinner in this instance straying off God’s path. . .The results of a person’s turning back to God are that a
soul is “save[d]. . . from death” and a sinner experiences “the forgiveness of many sins.”. . “‘Death’ here,
as commonly in James and almost always in the NT where sin is the issue, is ultimately ‘spiritual’ death—
the condemnation to eternal damnation that results from unforgiven sin.”.

So the path they were walking leads to ultimate destruction, but they are rescued from the eternal
wrath of God. As Romans 5:12 states, sin entered this world accompanied by death, and the final result
of sin is an enslavement that ends finally in eternal separation from God. . .The second result for the
strayed sinner (see note on 5:20) is “forgiveness of many sins” (lit., “will cover a multitude of sins”) . . .
The idea of “covering sins” is behind the Old Testament idea of atonement, picturing God placing sins
under the mercy seat so that they were “covered” by it (Lev. 17:11). When a believer strays into such
serious error . . . the “many sins” committed during that period are “covered” or “forgiven” and the soul
“saved.” The restoration ministry of a truly biblical church is a wondrously effective part of the church’s
work and is desperately needed today. James’s epistle is asking for a church that is intimately and
lovingly involved with each other, encouraging and challenging one another in the Christian life and
exercising vigilance to know when one of the flocks is straying and in danger of falling into serious error
and then into apostasy.
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God’s Purposes for Money

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