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Jam_5:20 forms the apodosis.
γινωσκέτω ] The τις mentioned in the second half of the preceding verse is the subject—the converter and not the converted. The remarkableness of the repetition of the subject after ὅτι disappears, when it is considered that the idea to be taken to heart is expressed as a sentence which is universally valid.[1] Calvin rightly draws attention to the fact that the tendency of the verse is to excite zeal for the conversion of the erring.
The word ἁμαρτωλόν is to be retained in its general signification, and not to be referred simply to τὸν πλανηθέντα ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ; it denotes the genus to which he that errs from the truth belongs as species.
ἐκ πλάνης ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ ] not = ex erroris vita (Schulthess); correctly Luther: “from the error of his way.” πλάνη states the nature of the way on which the ἁμαρτωλός walks, and forms the contrast to ἀλήθεια .
σώσει ψυχὴν [ αὐτοῦ ] ἐκ θανάτου ] i.e. he will save a (his) soul from the death to which otherwise it would have fallen a prey. The future is here used because James “has in view the final result of such a saving deed” (Wiesinger). On ψυχήν , comp. chap. Jam_1:21; on the reading of the Receptus Estius remarks: absolute posita emphasin habet. But probably ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ is the correct reading. θάνατος , eternal destruction, as in chap. Jam_1:15. Lange strangely explains it as “the moral dissolution of the ontological life eternally self-generating itself.”
καὶ καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν ] is to be understood not of the sins of the converter, who by his good work obtains forgiveness, whether on the part of God (Zacharias, ep. I. ad Bonifac.; Bede, Erasmus, Bouman, and others) or on the part of man (Augusti: “his own offences will not be remembered”), but of the sins of the converted (so most expositors). The words are an echo of Pro_10:12 (comp. 1Pe_4:8), although it is doubtful if James had this passage actually in view; especially καλύπτειν here does not, as a strict translation of the Hebrew ëÌÄñÌÈä ,—see Neh. 3:36 (LXX. ed. Tisch. Jam_4:6); Psa_32:1; Psa_85:3,—signify to forgive, but the figurative expression is used by James in the sense that the sins of the converted are by the converter covered or concealed from the eyes of God, i.e. their forgiveness is effected. By ΠΛῆΘΟς ἉΜΑΡΤΙῶΝ are meant not the sins which the ἉΜΑΡΤΩΛΌς would otherwise commit (Jaspar: peccata adhuc patranda), and which were now prevented by his conversion (Pott: multa futura impediet), but the multitude of sins which he committed before his conversion.[2] Lange thinks: “this restriction misapprehends the progressive nature of guilt;” but how could sins which have not been committed be forgiven?[3] That the mention here is not of human, but of divine forgiveness, the close connection of the idea with the preceding σώσει ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτου shows. Correctly Wiesinger: “ καλύψει carries on further the σώσει ψυχήν , and states the ground of this salvation.”
[1] Wiesinger: “ ὁ ἐπιστρέψας is not to be taken as equivalent to he who, in strict reference to the subject of γινωσκέτω , but expresses the general idea that every one who converts a sinner performs a great work; it is the general statement, under which he who is designated by γινωσκέτω subordinates his doing.”
[2] De Wette takes objection to the strong expression πλῆθος , as he thinks that the reference here is only to aberration, and not to a vicious life; and on this account he will consider, along with this, the sins of those who stand in reciprocal action with him who has erred, and were or might have been injured and led astray by him; but without reason; especially πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν corresponds entirely to the idea πλανηθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας , provided it be not arbitrarily weakened (so also Brückner).
[3] “In order to give prominence to the noble historical import of the Epistle, which has been only too much missed and neglected,” Lange maintains that James here, at the conclusion, invites the believing part of his people to engage in intercession and in “the work of salvation, that many individuals may be saved from death, and a multitude of sins might be atoned for.”