Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

James 5:20

James 5:20. Let him know, as an inducement to attempt the work of restoring the erring, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way restores him to the truth

shall save a soul from death. Here, evidently, eternal death is meant, the punishment of the condemned, the death of the soul; a death compared with which the death of the body is but a trifle; thus intimating in the strongest manner the infinite importance of the restoration of the erring.

and shall hide a multitude of sins; that is, the sins not of the person who converts, but of the person who is converted; the multitude of his sins are blotted out; his actual sins, not the possible sins which the sinner might have committed, but of which his conversion has prevented the commission. The covering of sins is a common phrase for their remission. Thus David says: ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered' (Psalms 32:1). And certainly to aim at the conversion of our fellow-men is a far more generous motive presented to us, than if the apostle had appealed to the personal good which such a work would confer upon ourselves in promoting our own holiness, or even to the glorious reward in a future life promised to those who have turned many unto righteousness (Daniel 12:3).

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

James 5:20

Old Testament

New Testament