In James 5:19-20, we come to these parting words, “My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” In every way, James is coming full circle to where he started this letter. What causes a person (even good church people) to stray from the truth? James’ concept of evil is James 1:14-15: “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.”
What most threatens our spiritual well-being isn’t something external—it’s something internal—something common to all of us. We’re first led astray by our own evil desires. And once that desire conceives it produces sin. And when sin doesn’t stay contained, it spreads. And if it’s left alone, it kills!
Now there is no doubt that sin in a legal and moral infraction against “God”, our Lawgiver and Judge. It’s also an infraction against ourselves—what James calls the “Law of Freedom.” And an infraction against others—James’ "the Law of Love.” “Sin isn’t just a violation of God’s law. It’s a violation of how we were made to live. It enslaves us. And it wounds everyone it touches. When we sin, we do real harm in the world—and that harm escalates even unto death. For this reason, sin is to be aggressively eradicated from our lives, from our communities of faith, from our world. Look at the gravity of concern: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will “save his soul from death” and cover a multitude of sins.
The world scoffs at the notion that our souls need to be saved from sin and death. This past week I spent time studying a debate between William Lane Craig and an Atheist. The Atheist scoffs at how “the whole point of Christianity (so it is imagined), is to safeguard the eternal well-being of human souls.” But this is exactly what James is suggesting. Because of the gravity of sin, we have a special obligation to safeguard ourselves and one another!
Also, in the Atheist’s mind, suffering in the world (and death in particular) is evidence God must be either powerless or uncaring. But the problem isn’t that God is somehow dead, it’s that sin is so active and alive! The power of sin and death manifests itself “within us”, and “among us”, and “all around us”, and “throughout the world.” And death affects 100% of every single one of us. Yet upon whose shoulders does culpability lay? God is not the author of death but of life… it’s humanity who opened the door through which sin and death entered the world. And it’s God who is loving enough to intervene and powerful to save!
God’s first intervention was, He Sent Forth his Spoken Word. In time, all that was spoken was captured in our Bible. An example is God’s warning to Cain, as he plotted his brother’s death, Genesis 4:17, “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Whether it is the grand narratives of Scripture, the Law of Moses, the Writings of the Prophets, the Poetic Literature… God has not left us unaware or unwarned about the nature of sin and death.
Psalm 119 is a full-throated celebration of the power of God’s Word to save. How happy, blessed, delighted, refreshed, protected when we trust God’s word! Psalm 119:81, “Lord, I long for your salvation, I put my hope in your word.” Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, and a light on my path.” Psalm 119:107, “I am severely afflicted; Lord, give me life according to your word.”
For James, faith walks hand in hand with the Truth. The Word of God is Truth. It’s a mirror God’s given that reveals the truth about our soul. The Word is God’s gift, a gift that comes down from the Father of lights to us living in darkness. The Word—if trusted—is powerful to save our souls. The Word is a seed that gives new birth, new life. It’s powerful to cleanse and remove all the filth and the evil so prevalent among us. It’s a bridle that can tame the most untamable of beasts—the human tongue. It’s a pilot that guides us through life’s fiercest storms. The Word nourishes the soul and causes our tree to flourish. The Word keeps us from stumbling. The Word is a plumbline against which we can assess and realign our most wayward, selfish ambitions, our most subtle desires. The word is powerful to eradicate every kind of evil practice and disorder within and among us. The Word can revive the soul of dead faith and dead works. The Word can rescue the suffering, the sick, the cheerful from jaws of death… the sinner from deception, the wayward from error. The Word is the perfect gift that descended from above.
God’s deepest intervention of course, was God Sent Forth His Living Word. Hebrews 1:1-3, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The charge that God is impotent or evil or both; the charge that God can “do nothing” or “doesn’t care” are simply unfounded.
God’s Intervention in Christ is profoundly expressed in Colossians 1:15-23, “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.”
“19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him— 23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.”
As Christians we have a particular obligation to not only look after our own spiritual well-being, but that of others. Why? Because of the gravity of sin. Because death and hell crouches at the door haunting all humanity. God’s continual invitation is that we’d walk not just according to the Word, but with Jesus. Matthew 16:24, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.'" John 8:12, "Jesus spoke to them again: 'I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.'" 1 John 2:6, "The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked." Colossians 2:6, “So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him.”
And all of this brings us to a third and final intervention God has made. God hasn’t just sent forth his spoken word, and his precious Son… God Has Sent Us, His Church! James 5:19-20, “My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”
How do we see our role in regard to the spiritual wellbeing of others? James speaks of our role in the starkest of terms: If someone is straying, and you turn them back, and in so doing… you will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. In love, God has appointed us to be one another’s Watchmen! And he has appointed us to be his ambassadors in the world!
When I read James 5:19-20 my mind went to something God said to Ezekiel the Prophet. Ezekiel 3:17-21, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me.” And then God paints several scenarios for Ezekiel. “18 If I say to the wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him—you don’t speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life—that wicked person will die for his iniquity.” Can you think of any greater stakes? Sin is a matter of life and death. We’d have to be pretty callous to never hold out Christ, and his words of life to our fellow man!
But God says something even more provocative. If you fail to warn the one who sins… “I will hold you responsible for his blood.” And then verse 21, positively, “ But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have rescued yourself.” This thing we call church isn’t just about our own spiritual well-being, it’s also about others. Gravity of sin, the reality of death (prospect of hell), ought to compel us to join God’s loving intervention!
James himself has modeled what it looks like to be watchman. If we really believe sin leads to death, then loving people means refusing to stay silent while they walk toward it.
Let’s make this personal:
• Who in your life is drifting right now?
• Who have you noticed pulling away—but maybe you’ve said nothing?
• Who have you labeled ‘not my place’… when deep down you know it is?
• Say a name to yourself.
• Who is that one lost sheep… one lost coin… that one prodigal son or brother?
If sin leads to death—and James says it does—then silence is not love.
This isn’t about judging people—James says we should judge ourselves! it’s about loving them enough to not let them walk toward destruction alone. A church that refuses to speak is not protecting people… it’s abandoning them.
So, the question isn’t whether we care. The question is whether we care enough to step in… and to do so before it’s too late…