Sermon & Translation by Nate Wilson for Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Carbondale, IL, 2 Jan 2005, Revised for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 23 July 2023
Read my translation, starting at v. 16
“Therefore,
keep confessing your sins to one another and keep praying on behalf
of one another, so that y’all might be healed. The plea of a
righteous man has much strength when it is implemented. The man
Elijah had similar feelings to ours, and he prayed a prayer for it
not to rain, so it did not rain on the earth for three years and six
months! Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth
sprouted its fruit. My brothers, if someone among you should be made
to wander from the truth and someone should return him, he should
know that the one who returns a sinner out of his wandering way will
save a soul out of death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
This statement springs out of the situation in v.15 of a person who is “weak” and asks the elders to come pray over him or her, but the language of v.16 expands beyond the relationship of parishioners and elders to all the members of the church with one another. And these prayers can also be for healing both physically and spiritually.
“James 5:13 directs persons to pray for themselves: ‘Is any afflicted let him pray;’ [then] James 5:14 directs to seek for the prayers of ministers; and James 5:16 directs private Christians to pray one for [one] another; so that here we have all sorts of prayer (ministerial, social, and secret) recommended.” ~Matthew Henry, Commentary, 1714 AD
What I want to focus on here is what Christians can do for each other when a brother or sister in Christ is not doing well, particularly how we can use the powerful resource of prayer to God and how we can turn someone who is wandering from the truth. First...
The Greek present tense of the commands in v.16 to “confess” and “pray” indicate doing these things – not just once, but – over and over again. These are continuous disciplines of the Christian life, to confess sin/faults/trespasses to one another and pray for one another.
This may be along the lines of what Jesus instructed in Matthew 5:23, that whenever you remember that you have done something to offend somebody else, drop what you’re doing and go apologize and make it right1. (Gill)
Also note that this confession is not done to a priest, but rather to anyone in the church with whom you can build a reciprocal relationship of prayer, accountability, exhortation, and encouragement – not only are you to confess sin to them and be prayed for by them; they are also to confess their sins to you and be prayed for by you and find healing through you! This is part of healthy Christian community!
This would be a good exercise: make a list of who are the persons that you find yourself confessing sin to and praying with. And if that has not been part of your life, then make a list of the persons you would feel comfortable confessing sin to and praying with, and write down times that you could implement that regularly in your life? Do you want to be healthy or not?
The last statement in v.16 is very interesting grammatically: The effectual, fervent prayer/ plea of a righteous man has much strength/avails/can accomplish much/is powerful as it is working. I would love to theorize about the role of pollus as an accusative adjective and whether the participial form of energwmai is adjectival, adverbial, or temporal, and whether its voice should be interpreted actively, reflexively, or passively, but I will spare you the agony and jump to the practical application (and encourage those who are actually interested in the grammar to look up the endnotes in my transcript).
The middle and passive spellings of the Greek word translated “effectual/working/implemented” are identical, but if we take it as a passive verb, then the application is that our prayers don’t do anything in-and-of-themselves, rather, they are made effective by power from outside ourselves; namely from the “Lord” who “raises up” the weak. This application is consistent with the whole of what scripture teaches – it is ultimately God’s power that we are relying-on when we pray for restoration of health. But I don’t think this is James’ main point.
Another application that is there, but which I don’t think is the main point, is that it’s the petition of the man (or woman2) who is righteous that is “effective and powerful.”
Again, that is a principle taught in the Bible, for instance in Prov. 15:29 “The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer [vow] of the righteous” and in the Gospel of John 9:31 "Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.” (NKJV, cf. Psalm 66:18)
So we certainly need to be in a right relationship with God (through trusting Jesus to save us, which is how we become “righteous”) before we expect much in the way of answers to prayers, and it certainly is God who does the effective work of salvation.
But I believe that the main point of this verse is simply to encourage God’s people to just do it – to get down to the business of praying. James is clearly encouraging us to lay out our requests before God by reminding us how “much power” can be displayed if we will just get on our knees and pray about things!
For this reason, I translated the participle at the end of verse 16 as a temporal clause (like the ESV does: “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working”). In other words, “when it is implemented.”
If you haven’t asked God for wisdom, why should you expect to see anything powerful happen? But if you’ll actually implement the resource of prayer and do the work of praying, you have every reason to expect to see answers to prayer. So, get right with God, and get to praying already!
This application fits right in with the overall message of James that true faith is active at doing the things that result from faith. Faithful folks who pray are effective.
How often do you pray? How much time are you investing in the superpower resource of prayer? Do you understand that if you don’t activate a lifestyle of prayer, you’re not going to see much happen spiritually?
God has often displayed His power to save and heal when His people put into practice the resource of prayer. For instance:
Genesis 20:17 “...Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants [from their barrenness]…” (NKJV)
Numbers 12:13 When Miriam and Aaron tried to stage a coup against Moses, God struck Miriam with leprosy. “So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, ‘Please heal her, O God, I pray!’” (NKJV) And after 7 days, she was clean!
1 Kings 13:6 When King Jeroboam tried to arrest the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, God shriveled up Jeroboam’s hand. The King suddenly got a lot more respectful toward the prophet, “So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as before.” (NKJV)
When Jesus’ disciples Peter and John prayed “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” the lame man started “walking and leaping and praising God” in Acts 3,
In Acts 9, When Peter prayed in the name of Jesus Christ for the healing of Aneas from paralysis, Aneas stood up, picked up the pallet he had been carried-in on, and walked home!
When Paul prayed in the name of Jesus Christ over the demon-possessed slave girl in Philippi, the evil spirit left her “that moment” (Acts 16).
And when Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta, and his host’s father was bedridden with dysentery, “...Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him.” (Acts 28:8, NKJV)
After all, Jesus said, “Keep asking, and it will be given to y'all. Keep searching, and y'all will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened up to you..” (Matt. 7:7, NAW)
What would have happened in all these cases if God’s people had not prayed? That’s right, nothing!
In vs. 17-18, James gives us his own scriptural example of a time when God did amazing things through one man’s prayer: the example of Elijah. When the Israelite King Ahab built a temple to Baal in the capital city, Elijah the Prophet paid King Ahab a visit and said, “...As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1, NKJV). And so a drought ensued. Then, 1 Kings 18:1 “...it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year3, saying, ‘Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.’” And by the end of the chapter, Elijah had delivered his message, the Israelites had killed the priests of Baal and confessed that Yahweh would be their God again, and it started pouring rain!
Is there anything that you would love to see turned around at work or in your family or in the church or in the world? It may just be a prayer away.
James emphasizes in v.17 that the great drought and the repentance and restoration of the nation of Israel all came about through the prayers of a normal man – “just like us.” In 1 Kings 17, we see Elijah struggling with impatience, fear, and unbelief just like we do (Gill). He felt like we do about the problems of evil all around us that seem so prevalent and so impossible to overcome. What difference could one puny person’s prayer make against so much darkness and corruption in the nation?
And yet he “prayed a prayer” – just one prayer literally, although most translators see in that grammar the implication that the prayer was “intense/earnest/fervent,” and what a marvelous result! Fire from heaven and then the end of the drought!
John Calvin commented that these great saints in the Bible weren’t “half gods or heroes, who had a special relationship with God.” No, “what they obtained from the Lord, was not due to their merits, but [merely] to the efficacy of prayer,” prayer, which is available to any of us.
God wants His people to pray – to actually implement the resource of prayer, to set up opportunities for Him to do mighty acts of salvation, healing, and restoration. The second thing that James dwells on is...
The first word in v.19 is the little word “If.” Here we are called upon to be prepared for an eventuality. This eventuality is so common that it calls for careful preparation and consideration. Don’t let it surprise you.
“If someone among you should be made to wander from the truth...” – “Wander/err/stray is a passive verb here. The world, the flesh, and the devil would all love to influence a church member to go off-course.
Warnings against this problem are many:
Matt. 24:5 “[M]any will come using my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will cause many to wander astray.” (NAW) The Apostle John called them “anti-christs,”
and the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be led astray, Bad company corrupts good manners.” (NAW)
Titus 3:3 “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived [led astray], serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” (NKJV)
2 Pet. 2:1&15 “...there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them… They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (NKJV)
Revelation 2:20 "Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce [lead astray] My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” (NKJV)
Now, to prevent wandering, it is important to keep in mind where the truth is:
I recently purchased a robot lawnmower, and a basic principle of its operation is that it has to drive back to its power station and plug itself in when its battery is running low. It is not a very smart machine, so the only way it can find its way back to its charging station is by following a wire that we have installed around the perimeter of the yard and gardens. If that wire gets unplugged, why, our little “Herbie” is lost; he has no way to find his charging station again. Sometimes he just wanders around until his battery dies, and sometimes he just gives up and shuts down. That’s what happens to us when we lose our spiritual bearings too.
In order to save us from wandering, we need to know that the truth is Jesus & Bible (especially the Gospel). God’s word is clear on this:
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life” (John 14:6); He also said that God’s “word is truth” (John 17:17),
and it is knowing the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments which will keep us from going astray: “...You have been led astray because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” said Jesus in Matt. 22:29 (NAW),
and the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Tim. 3:13-14 “...evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (NKJV)
And the Apostle John also explained that this is why he wrote his epistles: 1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we have been led astray and the truth is not in us… 2:26 It is about these things I am writing concerning the ones who are leading you astray.” (NAW)
Knowing the truth of the Holy Bible and sharing it with others will keep us from going astray and will keep others from going astray from the truth.
Now whom does the Bible say in James 5:19 should turn back someone who has wandered from the truth? God? The church elders? No, the Greek wording explicitly says, “anyone/ someone should turn him back” - it can really and truly be anyone!
How do we go about converting/bringing back someone who has strayed from the truth?
Prayer is the focus of previous verses in James 5:13-18, and that is important as a starting point,
but the example of Elijah in the James passage was not accomplished by prayer alone. Elijah prayed, but he also challenged Ahab by speaking to him. Elijah challenged the storm-god Baal by praying to God to withhold rain, then Elijah rebuked King Ahab directly for his idolatry in 1 Kings 18:17-18. When Elijah came to talk to King Ahab, Ahab greeted Elijah by saying “‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’ And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel; rather it’s you and the house of your father, by y’all’s forsaking the commandments of Yahweh, and you, sir, have gone after the Baals.’” (NAW)
In the context of Gospel ministry, the Apostle Paul made the salient point in Romans 10:14, “...how will they hear unless there is someone proclaiming it?” (NAW)
The wife of the pastor I grew up under could be pretty blunt in her confrontations, but she was always so friendly and kind that she could get away with it. Rev. and Mrs. Barker were both passionate about converting sinners. Mrs. Barker once told me the story of her confrontations with a bad boy named Tommy. He was a real “hell-raiser,” and whenever Barbara Barker saw Tommy, she would tell him, “Tommy, I am praying that God will make you so miserable that you will stop running away from God and get saved.” And Tommy would say, “Aww Mrs. Barker, my life is hard enough without you praying for it to be harder!” And she would say, “I’ll stop praying when you start following Jesus!” Well, that double-punch approach of praying and verbal witness was effective! God got a hold of Tommy Caradine’s life and saved him, and he even became an assistant pastor with Rev. Barker!
So, as we pray for the conversion of sinners and talk to them, James says there is something we should keep in mind: “Know that the one who returns a sinner out of his wandering way will save a soul [or his soul] out of death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
This is a command to be obeyed: Know this: your part in converting sinners to followers of Jesus is about making atonement for sins and saving souls from death. Will you remember this?
Evangelism and exhortation are not about getting people to conform their lifestyle to yours so that you all look the same; it’s about salvation from sin and death.
It is not about peripheral traditions of Christian piety; it’s about foundational doctrines of atonement and salvation.
It is not about getting social media followers and showing off how many people you can save; it’s about sinners being rescued from death.
By the same token, this is about participating in the most important work in the world: the salvation of souls! This is about laboring alongside God Himself, doing what God loves to do! This is about the spectacular power of God to eradicate sin and give eternal life! James wants us to be excited about how momentously-significant the ministry of reconciliation is so that we will want to engage in it ourselves and become people who turn back others from destruction and hell.
Is that exciting to you? Do you want to be “one who turns”?
That is technically where we get the word “revolutionary” – one who turns things over, although that word nowadays connotes the tearing down of good things previously established by Christians, so maybe it’s not the best term to use any more,
but in its pristine sense, Jesus was a revolutionary, because His life was characterized by turning other people’s lives around. 1 Peter 2:24-25: “He Himself ‘carried our sins’ in His body upon the tree, in order that we might live in His righteousness after dying to our sins, of Whom [it was written] ‘by His stripes y'all were healed.’ For y'all were being ‘like wandering sheep,’ but now y'all have been returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (NAW)
Not all will “turn” when you speak to them, but we can still try to speak to them and turn them. 1 John 4:6 “...the one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us...” (NAW)
V. 20 reads ambiguously in some translations as though the one who is converting the sinners saves himself by doing this ministry4, but the Greek language signals who the subject is by using the nominative case, and here, the nominative is the participle “the one who turns,” so “the one who turns” is the subject of the verbs “shall save” and “shall cover.” “Sinner” and “soul5” are spelled in the Greek accusative case, indicating the person who is saved and covered through the ministry of the one who does the converting.
Now, what is the sinner “saved” from?
“from death” – This refers back to what James said in chapter 1, verses 15-16, “...after the lust has conceived, it bears sin, and the sin, after it has been accomplished, gives birth to death. My dear brothers, no longer be led astray!” Stop the sin, and you stop the train to death that they are wandering-off on.
This is not merely physical death; it is the “second death” – hell, which is the consequence of un-covered/un-forgiven sin.
In Matthew 18:15, Jesus sheds a little more light on this process: “Now, if your brother happens to sin in regards to you, go on and lay out a case to him between you and him alone. If he happens to heed you, you gained your brother.” (NAW) James seems to be expanding this principle to include a sin which may not have been committed against you.
Paul further elaborates in Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore6 such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” (NKJV) That “spirit of gentleness” is very important, because we all know folks who just like to get other folks in trouble and seem to take a self-righteous delight in shaming people for their sin. The attitude James recommends, however, is one of seeking to “cover” sin and to “restore” someone who is dying of it.
This isn’t about covering-up sin, however. (It is not going to help anybody to assist them in hiding and ignoring their sin – James said that will just lead to their death.) This is about how conversion from being anti-truth to following Jesus “covers the multitude of sins” committed by that sinner.
And the one who “covers” sins is Jesus. He atoned for our sins with His own blood. We merely exhort sinners to turn from their sin to trust in Jesus, and Jesus does the saving. Romans 4:25 “Our Lord Jesus… was delivered up on account of our trespasses, and was raised on account of our justification.” (NAW)
King David, after his rebuke from the Prophet Nathan for sin with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, wrote Psalm 32:5 “My sin I acknowledge to You, and my iniquity I do not cover over; I talk; I hand against myself my transgressions to You, Yahweh, and You will lift away the iniquity of my sin.” (NAW) You see, it’s Yahweh, the LORD who covers or removes our sin.
Later on, the sons of Korah also showed a clear understanding of the theology of forgiveness of sin in Psalm 85:1-7 “... O Lord... Thou hast forgiven thy people their transgressions; thou has covered all their sins... Thou has caused all thy wrath to cease: thou hast turned from thy fierce anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and turn thy anger away from us... O God, thou wilt turn and quicken us; and thy people shall rejoice in thee. Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.” (Brenton)
“[T]hose who are covered therewith are ‘all fair,’ ‘without fault and unreproveable’ in the sight of God; and ‘though their sins are many,’ even a multitude, they are ‘blotted out’ ‘as a thick cloud,’ and are ‘abundantly pardoned;’ yea, all their sins are ‘covered,’ be they ever so many, for God ‘forgives all trespasses, for Christ's sake;’ and ‘the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin,’ and his righteousness ‘justifies from all:’ and whoever is an instrument of bringing a backslider to... such repentance... may be said to be the instrument of this also.” ~John Gill, Exposition of the Bible, 1766 AD
Conversion can be brought to non-Christians (Matthew 18:3; Acts 3:19), but here, James is applying it particularly to people inside the church. One example of how that works is how my parents turned me away from an error back in 1992. My wife and I had given birth to our first child the year before, so we were pretty “green” as parents. When our little boy would do something wrong, we would swat him with our hand. My parents saw us doing that while were staying at their house, and they pulled us aside and showed us a bunch of Bible verses about using a rod instead of your hand to discipline a child (as well as more Bible verses about child-training). That was revolutionary to our parenting. It turned us around. And it is still bearing fruit, as we have passed on to our children what my parents taught us about Biblical child-rearing. If my parents had not spoken up all those years ago, where would we be? I don’t know.
Daniel 12:3 "Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness7 Like the stars forever and ever.” (NKJV)
Remember, nothing happens if prayer is not implemented, so get down to the business of prayer in order to see God bring healing and salvation to others.
You need a healthy Christian community where there are people confessing their sins to you and you praying for them and to whom you can confess your sins and they will pray for you.
Keep in mind where your source of truth and power are so that you don’t get led astray. Stay close to Jesus in prayer and read His word!
Talk to people about the ways you’ve noticed them straying from the truth. Don’t be afraid to confront them about things that clearly violate Scripture. But do it with a heart that loves them enough to desire their restoration and with a heart that believes God can save.
Don’t be discouraged if they don’t straighten up immediately. Keep praying!
“Nothing is better or more desirable than to deliver a soul from eternal death; and this is what he does who restores an erring brother to the right way: therefore a work so excellent ought by no means to be neglected.” ~John Calvin, Commentaries on the General Epistles, 1551 AD
“When we come to die, as we shall soon, it will give us more pleasure to be able to recollect that we have been the means of saving one soul from death, than to have enjoyed all the pleasures which sense can furnish, or to have gained all the honor and wealth which the world can give.” ~Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, 1885 AD
ByzantineB |
NAW |
KJVC |
Vulgate |
PeshittaD |
16 ἐξομολογεῖσθεE ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματαF, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰαθῆτε· πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένηG. |
16 Therefore, keep confessing your sins to one another and keep praying on behalf of one another, so that y’all might be healed. The plea of a righteous man has much strength when it is implemented. |
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual [fervent] prayer of a righteous man availeth much. |
16
confitemini ergo alterutrum peccata [vestra] et orate pro invicem
ut salvemini multum enim valet
deprecatio iusti |
16
|
17 ᾿Ηλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴςH ἡμῖν, καὶ προσευχῇI προσηύξατο τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι, καὶ οὐκ ἔβρεξεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐνιαυτοὺς τρεῖς καὶ μῆνας ἕξ· |
17 The man Elijah had similar feelings to ours, and he prayed a prayer for it not to rain, so it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months! |
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth [by the space of] three years and six months. |
17 Helias homo erat similis nobis passibilis et oratione oravit ut non plueret super terram et non pluit annos tres et menses sex |
17 Elijah also was a man of sensations like us, and he prayed X that rain might not descend upon the earth; and it descended not, for three years and six months. |
18 καὶ πάλιν προσηύξατο, καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ὑετὸν ἔδωκε καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐβλάστησε τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς. |
18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth sprouted its fruit. |
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. |
18
et rursum oravit et caelum dedit pluviam et terra |
18 And again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth gave forth its fruit[s]. |
19 ᾿Αδελφοί J, ἐάν τις ἐν ὑμῖν πλανηθῇ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἐπιστρέψῃ τις αὐτόν, |
19 My brothers, if someone among you should be made to wander from the truth and someone should return him, |
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; |
19 fratres mei si quis ex vobis erraverit a veritate et converterit quis eum |
19 My brethren, if one of you err from the [way of] truth, and [any] one convert him [from his error]; |
20 γινωσκέτωK ὅτι ὁ ἐπιστρέψας ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐκ πλάνης ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ σώσει ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτουL καὶ καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶνM. |
20 he should know that the one who returns a sinner out of his wandering way will save a soul out of death and will cover a multitude of sins. |
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. |
20 scire [debet quoniam] qui converti [fecerit] peccatorem ab errore viae suae salvabit animam eius a morte et operit multitudinem peccatorum |
20 let him know, that he who turneth the sinner from the error of his way, will resuscitate his soul from death, and will cover the multitude of [his] sins. |
1“If therefore, you are lifting your gift upon the altar, and there you happen to remember that your brother has something against you, 24 let go of your gift right there in front of the altar and start climbing down; first be reconciled to your brother, and then, when you come [back], start offering your gift.” (NAW)
2The Greek word is masculine, but the grammar doesn’t seem to be gender-exclusive here.
3James is going off of Jesus’ reckoning of the time as 3 years and 6 months as per Luke 4:25. (Gill)
4“The
Roman Catholics... take it of the sins of the converter, who thus
saves himself by saving others. The language here will allow that,
but not New Testament teaching in general...” ~A.T. Robertson,
Word Pictures, 1933.
Moo
(Pillar
Commentary) noted
some scriptures in support of the
former: Ezek. 3:21, 1
Tim. 4:16, Matt. 6:14-15, 18:23-35, Jas. 2:12-13, but thought it
more probable that the soul saved from death was that of the
converted person.
5There are two major traditions among the Greek manuscripts, one which reads “a soul,” and one which reads “his soul.” See endnotes for discussion on that, but the case structure of the sentence described above limits these variants from meaning anything significantly different; both must refer to the third party saved and covered.
6The Greek word behind this (καταρτίζετε) is a synonym to the word “turn back” in James (ἐπιστρέψῃ).
7The phrase “turns to righteousness” is a translation of the one Hiphil participle מַצְדִּיקֵי (“he who justifies”).
AWhen
a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I
put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a
wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my
opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek
word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text,
I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word
which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at
the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English
translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the
reader see correlations between the various editions and versions
when there are more than two different translations of a given word.
NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies
of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online
edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.
BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era as a break from the traditional Greek Bible by compiling just a few of the oldest-known manuscripts, but even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain.
DJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org
E11 Greek manuscripts, including the three oldest-known, insert oun (“therefore”), and this extra word is in all the ancient versions (Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic), so it is in the modern critical editions of the GNT. It doesn’t change the meaning of the text, since it is already a concluding statement.
FFourteen Greek manuscripts (including the three oldest-known) vary from the majority of Greek manuscripts by reading “the sins” (taV amartiaV) instead of “the trespasses.” The Vulgate supports the minority, and the Peshitta seems to support the majority. Thankfully, they effectively mean the same thing. Also, half a dozen manuscripts add “your (plural),” so the definite article should probably be translated pronomially.
GThis participle has a wide range of possible interpretation. Its root meaning is “energizing/working/effecting,” but the middle/passive spelling can be ignored (which is what all the standard English versions do), or it could be interpreted reflexively “working itself out/making itself effective,” or passively “being made effective.” The Greek grammar leaves it up to the interpreter to figure that out from context. Additionally, since this is a participle, the Greek grammar allows for it to be interpreted as an adjective modifying “prayer/request” (as the KJV and NASB read: “the effective/effectual prayer”), or as an adverbial temporal clause (as the ESV reads “as it is working,” following the RSV and Alford and Moule: “in its working” – which was essentially Vincent’s and A.T. Robertson’s position “when it works.” Mayor translated it passively “when it is exercised”), or as a conjunction to the main verb (as the NIV reads: “it is powerful and effective”). Thayer’s lexicon says it isn’t an adjective but is instead a causal participle “due to the fact that it exhibits its activity,” but Danker and Arndt & Gingrich, in their respective lexicons, translated it adjectivally as “effectively” (and Pershbacher as “earnest”). Wallace did not comment on it in his grammar. Milligan commented on it in his Proleg. p. 156, ExpT xxvi. p. 381 ff. Several commentators criticized the adjectival interpretation because it effectively creates a meaningless tautology (i.e. “an effective prayer is very effective”).
HThe only other scriptural occurrence of this verb is Acts 14:15 “...We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God...” (NKJV)
I
This is the third Greek word for prayer employed by James in this
chapter: v.15 εὐχὴ = vow-prayer, v.16 δέησις =
plea/petition, v.17 προσευχῇ = prayer.
Some
scholars, including Alford, have called James’ accuracy into
question, since the O.T. does not record any such prayer by Elijah
for the rain to stop, but it is implied in 1 Kings 17:1 “As the
Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be
dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” John Gill commented,
“[I]t is a common saying with the Jews, ‘There is no standing
ever mentioned, but prayer is intended.’” Moo added that Jewish
tradition associates Elijah praying with the onset of the drought in
Sirach 48:2-3 and 2 Esdras 7:109.
J The word “my” is not in the majority of Greek manuscripts (and therefore not in the Greek Orthodox or Textus Receptus editions of the GNT), but it is in 20 manuscripts (including all four of the oldest-known ones dated older than the 9th century), therefore it is in the Latin and Syriac versions and in the modern critical editions of the GNT. This variant is not significantly different in meaning because nobody calls a group of people “brothers” if they are somebody else’s brothers and not their own as well.
KOn the basis of one ancient manuscript which was different from all other Greek manuscripts, Westcott & Hort spelled this word instead as an indicative γινωσκετε, but the Alands have wisely returned later critical GNT editions to the majority spelling which is imperative.
L The majority of Greek manuscripts read “a soul from death” (which is what the Greek Orthodox and Textus Receptus editions of the GNT read – and therefore the Geneva and KJV English versions) but 10 manuscripts dispute that:
Two manuscripts from the 9th and 11th century insert “the” before “soul” (which could be translated “his soul”).
Seven manuscripts (including two of the oldest-known) insert αυτου after ψυχην to read “his soul” (followed by the Vulgate, Peshitta, Ethiopic, Arabic, and modern critical versions).
And six manuscripts (including two of the oldest-known) insert αυτου after θανατου to read “shall save a soul from his death.” (Because of the incompatibility of genders, it can’t be translated “save a soul from its death.”)
Ancient Lectionaries, Commentaries by Origen, and Coptic versions all go both ways between “a soul from death” and “his soul from death.” These two variants can mean the same thing.
M cf. 1 Peter 4:7-10 “...the end of all things has drawn near, therefore y'all be reasonable and alert for the purpose of prayers, holding before all things extensive love toward yourselves (because love will cover over a lot of sins... serving up grace... just as each has received it, like good administrators of the diverse grace of God.” (NAW) Although the underlined phrase is exactly the same as James 5:10, the context seems to be different and clearly the subject is different, so it is unclear whether these two passages are actually closely related.