Turning Back a Sinner

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My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:19–20)

James defines the wanderer from sound doctrine and godly living as a sinner—a word used in Scripture of the unregenerate (cf. Prov. 11:31; 13:6, 22; Matt. 9:13; Luke 7:37, 39; 15:7, 10; 18:13; Rom. 5:8; 1 Tim. 1:9, 15; 1 Pet. 4:18), not believers. The term sinner frequently describes hardened unbelievers, those who openly, defiantly disregard God's law; those whose evil character is apparent to everyone; those whose wickedness is common knowledge. Genesis 13:13 described the men of Sodom as “wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.” The opening verse of Psalms declares, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” (Ps. 1:1). Verse 5 of that same psalm adds, “The wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.” Sinners are defined in Psalm 51:13 as those who need to be converted to God, while Proverbs 11:31 contrasts the wicked sinner with the righteous.

In the New Testament the term sinner invariably describes those outside the kingdom of God. Jesus declared in Matthew 9:13, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Sinners are those whose repentance causes joy in heaven (Luke 15:7, 10); it was when he cried out “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” that the tax collector “went to his house justified” (Luke 18:13–14)...