JAMES

In This Section:

JAMES 2:14-26, 4:2-4, 5:19-20

JAMES 2:14-26

Coming into chapter 2, we notice that James is referring to saved Israelites. We know they are saved because James says,

"1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory." (James 2:1)

James goes on, and teaches against the sin of having favoritism in the church assemblies. It is the discrimination that God hates. James calls it "evil thoughts," (cf. James 2:4). The way this tendency is combated, is to be humble, and live by the implanted word, (cf. James 1:18, 21). Then James makes the declaration of the eternal promise of being Once Saved In Eternal Spiritual Salvation (OSIESS) by saying,

"5 Listen, my beloved brothers: did not God elect the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" (James 2:5)

James is speaking of the poor of this world who are Christians, because only Christians love God. Only Christians are elected by God. God sovereignly elected them according to His own good, intelligent, and meaningful pleasure. This is the calming declaration that Christians are already rich in faith, and guaranteed to be inheritors of the promised kingdom. This is a statement of both the doctrines of Guaranteed Perseverance, and Eternal Security, of God's set apart ones.

Then James goes on to use the Mosaic Law as an analogous example of the fact that failure in even one little point of the Old Covenant Law is equal to transgressing the whole thing. Nevertheless, in relation to others, so that they do not show partiality, James says that the Israelite Christians do well by living by Christ's "royal law." The royal law is what all of us Christians must live by. It is the Law of the New Covenant. It is our great King's Law, where our King says,

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (James 2:8)

In James' point, to show partiality is to commit a direct violation of the Messiah-King's royal law. James calls it sin. James also calls this royal law, the "law of liberty." Then James explains that loving your neighbor as yourself is manifested in speaking and acting in mercy, (cf. James 2:12). This is how one keeps Christ's "perfect law," as James calls it in James 1:25. It is the Law of liberty because the Israelites who are saved, are no longer under the Old Covenant Mosaic Law of bondage. They are now under the more perfect New Covenant oriented Law of Christ according to all of its grace and love (for further reference, read the three musketeers of New Covenant Theology: 2 Corinthians 3; Galatians 3; Hebrews 8). The main point is that if you stumble in one point under the Mosaic Law, then you are guilty of all. It is like when someone commits a crime today. Sometimes we identify the actual crime they committed, and so we cite the crime they committed. But, usually we say something else in our day. We usually say, "He broke the law." In other words, we are saying that to commit one crime in a single area of the law, is to break "the law" as a whole status. If we do not commit crimes, then what do people say? They say, "He is a law abiding citizen." They say, "He keeps the Law." Analogously, James is using the Mosaic Law, that his Israelite audience used to be under once, to explain that if you likewise stumble in one area of the perfect royal law of love, then you are guilty of transgressing the whole perfect royal law of love--you are judged by the Law of love as a transgressor of it. So, the bottom line is that you purpose in your heart not to transgress the New Covenant liberty-law of love by your actions toward your brothers. In like manner, then, James goes on to explain a similar kind of thing with faith--particularly faith in God as Savior, provider, and keeper of His promises. He says that the mere assertion of saying that you have faith does not mean anything unless it is true. James says,

"14 What use is it, my brothers, if someone says ..." (James 2:14)

Notice that James is talking about something someone merely "says." James is talking about said faith. It is claimed faith, and so James preaches,

"14 What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works [deeds]? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?" (James 2:14-16)

Merely said-faith, or claimed faith, is not authentic faith. So James asks the hypothetical question, knowing the answer;

"Can that [claimed, said] faith save him?" (James 2:14)

No, of course not. Merely claimed, but not true faith, is not saving anyone. So, James explains that faith that someone merely "says" they have, is by itself, and faith by itself does not have deeds, so it is "dead," (James 2:17); it is "useless," (James 2:20).

What James is saying makes logical sense; but what about something like belief in God? You either say you believe in God, or you say you do not believe in God. Certainly, James says, that you do well to believe in the one true God, but believing in God is no big deal, because even the demons believe and shudder, (cf. James 2:19). What matters is belief in God as Master, Savior, provider, and keeper of His promises (particularly in Messiah). Such true faith is demonstrated in another way than merely being said faith. It is real faith so it is alive faith. Therefore, when the spotlight is on you and you try to assert your merely said faith, there is no proof that faith is really there. But, on the other hand, to show actual faith by your deeds, is the clear way to demonstrate to anyone that your confessed faith is, in fact, real, (cf. James 2:18). This is James' point. Again, merely professed faith is without deeds, and so it is not doing anyone any good, (cf. James 2:20). Clearly then, said faith without deeds is really dead (cf. James 2:26); particularly as is demonstrated in showing partiality, and not making sacrifices in helping out others who have material needs, and not putting actions to your said confession of the royal law of love in Christ, which is all the concern of the contextual flow of James' point. The point is that faith without the works of Christ's perfect law of liberty, is vacuous. James is not saying that we work for faith. He is not saying that we work to generate faith. James is not saying that we have faith plus works to get ourselves saved. James is not saying that we impress God with our works, and that we somehow earn merit with Him; then because we have earned merit with God, He will reward us with being our eternal Savior, provider, and keeper of His promises. James is not saying those things because such is the heresy of synergism, which says that Christ's work and His gift of faith to us is not enough.

Christ's faith that He imparts to His elect ones (2 Peter 1:1, Philippians 1:29) is the living faith that produces the intended work of our salvation. It is from our salvation that we produce works in accordance with our living faith. To really get the point across, James gives the illustration of the father of all Israelites. He says,

"21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works [deeds] when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?" (James 2:21)

This is an illustration from before the Old Covenant Law, and before the New Covenant in Christ. James goes on to say,

"You see, that faith was active along with his works [deeds], and faith was completed [perfected] by his works [deeds];" (James 2:22)

Wycliffe, back in 1382, translated the Greek as "his faith was filled of works." The contemporary Wycliffe translation puts "his faith was fulfilled in works," which gets James' point across in a very precise way in English.

The important thing that we need to know, because many people miss this when reading James, is that in the gist of James' topical thrust, James is quoting Abraham's actions at the Mountain of the Lord that occurred in Genesis 22, where Abraham offered up his son on an alter according to God's command. This is the great illustration of the obedience from the faith that Abraham always had as is explained by the apostles throughout the whole New Testament, (cf.  Romans 4, Galatians 3:5-14, and Hebrews 6:12-15, and 11:17-19). The important thing that we need to know here is that Abraham's faith was already counted to Him as righteousness way back in his earlier days in Genesis 15. Here is what happened,

"5 And He [Jehovah God] brought him [Abram] outside and said, 'Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.' Then He [Jehovah] said to him [Abram], 'So shall your offspring be.' 6 And he believed Jehovah, and He counted it [faith] to him as righteousness." (Genesis 15:5-6)

Abraham was counted as righteous, in that his faith was counted to him as righteousness years before the deed-event of offering that James mentions in James 2:21-22. God even knew that Abraham will always be counted as righteous, and faithful, in that God foreknew that Abraham will be blessed with offspring from Isaac (see Genesis 15, and later 17). We absolutely must recognize this important detail, because it was not until many years later in Genesis 22:13-18 that Abraham's obedience was demonstrated in the work of going, binding, and raising up the knife to kill Isaac. It was obedience meant to validate, fulfill, and express Abraham's preexisting faith. It was there, that Abraham's faith was made evident by deed to His son Isaac, to God (see footnote 1 below), to His servants, and to all of God's people (including us) throughout history, because Abraham had gone forth and demonstrated the faith he always had, which is the same faith in God which God accounted to him as righteousness years beforehand. In other words, as James says,

"... faith was active along with his deeds" (James 2:22)

So, when Abraham delivered up his son, then Abraham completed, (perfected) his faith he always had; as Wycliffe puts it,

"his faith was fulfilled in works," (James 2:22 Wycliffe)

So, when it comes to James' language here, we understand that Abraham was justified by the works of Genesis 22 that came from his faith that he was already justified by, way back years before in Genesis 15. If Abraham had a merely said faith, and the time came to offer up his son, then Abraham, absent of actual, useful, living, real faith, would not have done the deed of offering up his son. His merely said faith would have been inactive along with no deeds. This is what the analogy is meant to convey. It is like saying this,

A lake without water is dead.

In fact, a lake without water, is not really a lake at all. It is only a said lake. If you want to justify the claim that Alotta Watta Lake is actually a lake, then you need to show us a lot of water in the lake that is said to be there. To really love your neighbor as yourself, in mercy through faith in the royal law that Messiah taught, and to really express the faith you claim you have in God as your Savior, provider, and keeper of His promises, you must do more than merely say to poor people in need,

"Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," (James 2:16)

Faith is made manifest in that it is working with works in that it is being active along with works, (cf. James 2:22). Such a point is similar to what John wrote in 1 John concerning love,

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18)

This is the same type of concern that James has. John is saying that there is a said love of words. It is a lot of talk, but no action. Who cares about a lot of empty talk? But, unlike merely said love, there is real love, and the real love is alive. This is the point: real live love is manifested as such, in deed and truth.

All of this seems really easy to comprehend, but James has been notorious as a difficult epistle to understand; particularly this section, and so such difficulty has led to some odd interpretations and conclusions. For example, there are some critics who think that James was teaching in direct opposition to Paul the Apostle. Much of the controversy comes from a belief that Paul's theology is different than that of James. Part of where they make this mistake is from what Paul says in Romans 4,

"1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness.'" (Romans 4:1-3)

["Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness," is a direct quote from that early event we already studied from Genesis 15:6. Paul goes on,]

"4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.' 9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness." (Romans 4:1-9)

Some people, who give this a cursory reading, think that they see an apparent contradiction of theology here between James and Paul. Nevertheless, the philosophy that surmises that James was teaching a different theology than Paul, is not necessary, is not helpful, and is blatantly wrong. We see this, when we consider that James is merely quoting more of Genesis, and he is simply pointing out that Abraham actually did something in Genesis 22 that proved his faith that he always previously had that was already counted to him as righteousness back beforehand in Genesis 15.

Of course James' point is something that Paul agrees with. Other than knowing that Abraham's "faith was credited as righteousness" early in his life in Genesis 15, Paul knew that God foreknew that Isaac would father the many nations of the promise of Genesis 15. Paul knew that God foreknew that Abraham would deliver up His son years later in Genesis 22 (see footnote 1 below), and Paul knew that God knew that He would have a ram there with horns caught in briars, etc.. Paul knows that what Abraham did later on, is what demonstrated Abraham's faith that God counted as Abraham's righteousness in the past (cf. Genesis 15:6), and so in that respect, and that respect alone, faithful Abraham was later justified by works. This leads us to three considerations concerning faith that we must recognize for a proper understanding of how it works, and where it comes from.

/1/
The first consideration is that Paul and James both also know that believing in Messiah, is in fact, a work, but, that it is a work of God, and then as a work of God worked in man, men work it. James and Paul know this fact, because Christ taught this fact. We see Jesus stating it in John 6;

"28 Therefore they [Christ's students] said to Him, 'What shall we do, so that we may work the deeds of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the deed of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." (John 6:28-29)

Savingly believing in Him, whom God has sent, is the deed of God. Belief is what people do, yet it is God who works it in those whom He elects, both to will and to work for His own good pleasure, or as the great baptist commentator of 1700's England, John Gill, states as he so eloquently expounds on John 6:28-29;

"... this is of the operation of God, which he himself works in men; it is not of themselves, it is the pure gift of God: "that ye believe on him whom he hath sent;" there are other works which are well pleasing to God, when rightly performed, but faith is the chief work, and others are only acceptable when done in the faith of Christ. This, as a principle, is purely God's work; as it is an act, or as it is exercised under the influence of divine grace, it is man's act: "that ye believe"; the object of it is Christ, as sent by the Father, as the Mediator between God and men, as appointed by him to be the Saviour and Redeemer; and believing in Christ, is believing in God that sent him."--John Gill

In this respect, then, we recognize, along with Christ and the apostles, that saving faith is a work, but it is the work of God which he himself works in those whom He has blessed. In this way, faith as a work, is not a work that man does, or can do, as a self generated work of justification, but is a work that man does as a God generated work of the effectual call.

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Along this line, we must also recognize a second consideration concerning faith; namely that faith is a gift. Paul knows that faith is a gift from God, and so Paul states it as such in Ephesians 2:8;

"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus ..." (Ephesians 2:8)

Paul is saying that the grace that saves us, the salvation itself, and the faith that we are saved through, are all three gifts from God. We give ourselves none of them; we generate none of them on our own, and none of them are a result of our own self generated works (See footnote 2 below for Greek syntax). Peter explains the same thing concerning the unique gift of saving faith as he addresses his second epistle, saying,

"To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:" (2 Peter 1:1)

Saving faith is a grant to the elect that is received from God. God does not receive self generated faith from humans. Rather, humans, who are elect to receive such faith, do receive such a faith from God. As saving faith, it is a faith of the same kind as the apostle's faith. Paul states the same fact to the Philippians,

"29 For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, [to both suffer, and] ... to believe in Him," (Philippians 1:29)

To believe in Christ, in saving faith, is granted from God. Paul is directing this to the saved Philippians because Paul knows that the faith they have in Messiah was given to them as a gift. Additionally, saving belief is not merely granted to the elect for their own sakes, but it has been granted for Christ's sake. Further, people do not grant faith to themselves. More, people do not grant faith from themselves to God. Rather, God grants faith, to those whom He elects, as His gift of unmerited favor.

/3/
This leads us to a third consideration that we must recognize concerning faith, and that is that Paul knows that faith is a law, like the law of love. Paul said in Romans 3,

"27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. [how?] By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith" (Romans 3:27)

People do not work to make, or generate, the "law of faith." The law of faith is there in the hearts of the elect; it is given by God, so the elect are justified by grace through it. No person works to make the law of faith. Rather, when saved people demonstrate their faith, they are demonstrating the law that God already made, and put in the heart by His work. Paul knows these things, and so Paul reflects the same principle as James, when he says in Galatians,

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love." (Galatians 5:6 emph. mine)

Paul, who proclaims over and over again that we are declared righteous through faith alone, by His grace alone, also declares that faith works. Faith works through the perfect law of liberty, which is love. This is how the law of faith, that is already there in believers, is made manifest. It is made manifest in the saved person in loving one's neighbor as one's self, and loving the Lord with all one's heart.

James is not done with his point, so we continue and look at James 2:26. James makes it clearer with another colorful analogy that is like saying that a lake without water is dead. It is his final clarification. He says,

"26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." (James 2:26)

It is vital that we make sure we identify the symbolism in James' analogy: the human body is the faith. Works is the spirit. When the spirit, as works, is gone, the body, as faith, is dead. One can say that the body is alive all they want to, but the spirit is gone, so the body is really dead. James is not saying that one is saved by works. James is not saying that anyone is saved by faith plus works. James is saying that true alive faith, which is not merely said dead faith, has works to back up the claim.

Next, James goes into chapter 3, giving a teaching on controlling the tongue. He says that with the tongue,

"9 ... we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be this way. 11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh." (James 3:9-12)

Only saved Israelites bless the Lord and Father. Yet, they also curse men with the same mouth. James, of course, says it "ought not to be this way," so quit it. This is the way James preaches throughout this whole letter. James is strong on what Christian conduct should be, so he urges the Israelites toward proper conduct. He does the same thing with wisdom. He says that God's wisdom produces good behavior and deeds of gentleness. On the other hand, natural, earthly, demonic wisdom, is to have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition;

"17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." (James 3:17)

This is the righteous seed of those Christians who sow in peace. It is the same theme of Christians living the royal law of love. It is the same principle of Christians putting actions to their faith. It is to show the wisdom of God by showing good behavior in deeds in the gentleness of wisdom, (James 3:13).

JAMES 4:2-4

At this point James has been preaching, and he is preaching hard as he comes into chapter 4, saying,

"What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder." (James 4:1-2 emph. mine)

Is James saying that every Christian among the 12 tribes is a murderer? No, James is using exaggerated language (hyperbole) in a broadcast to a general rhetorical "you." In other words, the pronoun, "you" is not some actual killer that James expects to get this letter. Further, murder, here, is not actual murder either. Remember, James talks about murder in relation to showing partiality and transgressing the Mosaic Law back in 2:9-11. He said;

"11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." (James 2:11)

Keep that in mind, because James is going to use the adultery part again. He uses murder here in this point in respect to envying. He says that quarrels erupt because of envy. Evidently some of the saved Israelites ask for things with wrong motives. They just want to spend it on their pleasures. So James goes on to more metaphor, and hits them hard. He says,

"4 You adulteresses, ..." (James 4:4)

This is the place that James is making an allusion again to the two commandments he mentioned in 2:10-11; A) do not murder and B) do not commit adultery. It is a strong Jewish analogy, and the 12 Tribes will readily understand it. First he calls them murderers and now female adulterers. Next, James launches with,]

"... do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us?'" (James 4:4-5)

We need to recognize that any, and all, sin is against God; but we see here a continuation of James' strongly graphic, yet metaphoric, language to make his point, and if we miss (or even deny) that it is metaphoric exaggeration, then we will not get what James is saying. Just so this point will really set in, let us quickly look at the painter's palette. We will see just how creative James (inspired by the Spirit) actually is up to this point: In 1:6, "one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." In 1:9 "a rich man is "like flowering grass." In 1:11 "the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man ..." In 1:14 lust personified carries away and entices. In 1:15 when lust has conceived, as through sex, it gives birth to sin (like a baby); and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death (like losing your life). In 1:18, "we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures." In 1:23, "if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;" In 1:26 a man does not bridle (like a horse) his tongue. In 1:27 a man should "keep oneself unstained by the world." In 2:26 we read that just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. In 3:2, a perfect man is, able to bridle (like a horse) the whole body. In 3:4-5 "Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. 5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!" If that is not enough poetic exaggeration, there is verse 6 "6 And the tongue is a fire, ... as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell." James splashes a generous amount of color in verse 8, saying, "no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison." And 3:18, "the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." In 4:1 pleasures "wage war in your members?" 4:2 "You lust and do not have; so you commit murder." And then here in our passage of concern,

"4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4)

We quickly surveyed James' colorful metaphors up to this point, so that we can better understand James 4:4, and show that saved people who are friends with the world are adulteresses and enemies of God in the metaphoric sense, but not in any kind of lose salvation sense. What this means is that saved people should repent of being friends with the world, because all sin should be repented of. The reason that all sin should be repented of is because sin is transgression against God. In fact, all sin is hostility toward God. It is impossible to name just one sin that is not transgression, and hostility toward God. Just like being called "surf of the sea," which does not really mean the 12 tribes are water, (and "fading grass," which does not really mean they are plants, and "first fruits" which does not mean they are actually produce from plants, and adulteresses and murderers which does not mean they are actually females who sleep around, or being called killers) being called an enemy of God is James' exaggerated (hyperbolic) way of explaining just how seriously bad friendship with the world is. Again, James is not really saying his audience is an actual female adulterer; he is not saying his audience is an actual murderer, and he is not saying his audience is an actual God-hating-enemy. All sin is hostile action toward God. Once we realize this, then we understand that any time we sin, we are transgressing directly against our God. James' immediate point is that it is bad to be in friendship with the lost, dying, sinful world. It is sin.

Next, James goes on to practical action steps. He urges humbleness and repentance from sin. We need to particularly notice that James is going to use more metaphor by referencing hands and hearts. He says,

"Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." (James 4:8-10)

Notice that James calls Christians "sinners" here. This is a general broadcast to any Christian who is sinning. It is a strong rebuke, and an urging to repent. Double-minded Christians need to quit being double minded and become single minded. Christ has already purified their hearts from sin in initial salvation by faith (cf. Acts 15:9). Christ has purified their hearts in the miracle of regeneration, but they need to go on to cleansing their hands, and purifying their hearts in practicing their salvation. James continues. He goes on to make one of the most profound declarations of God's sovereignty to be found anywhere. He says not to presume on anything, but rather say

"If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." (James 4:15)

He ends this immensely huge point with,

"17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)

What James says in 4:17 clarifies what being a "sinner" in this particular point, means. In other words, every Christian who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, is sinning as a sinner. A sinner is one who is sinning.

James moves on to address rich people again, as he goes into chapter 5, by broadly speaking to who he calls, "you rich." James hits rich people hard throughout his whole epistle. Here he refers to them as being oppressive, and sinful. He does it in one broad sweep. He exhorts them to weep and howl because they have withheld the pay of their employees, and the Lord knows it. James gives "you rich" of the Israelites, a really strong rebuke, saying,

"5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you." (James 5:5-6)

This a biting reprimand. James, in his harsh denunciation, even accuses all of "you rich" of committing murder! With familiarity with James' affinity to like the homicide metaphor, we recognize that this is reflective of the way that James likes to use the word all throughout his epistle. Immediately, James comes back with an encouraging word. He says,

"Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is near." (James 5:7)

James can be blistering, but James is also soothing. He encourages the Israelites to endure through the trials, and be patient until the Lord comes back. James is telling his brothers that the Lord is coming soon, in their lifetimes. There are some scholars that think that this is a reference to the judgment on hard hearted lost Israel that occurred in AD 70, at the destruction of Jerusalem and the obsolete Temple, where Messiah rejecting Jewish priests, who were acting like pagans, kept using remnants of the Old Covenant Law to justify their offensive sacrificial rituals. God eliminated the last vestiges of the old system under the old age when He brought His wrath on stiff necked Israelites who rejected and executed His Son--the Messiah. It was classic Biblical destruction, where God uses other nations to bring His wrath down on others. It is the type of vengeance that we recognize God practicing all through biblical history.

From there, James encourages anyone who is sick to call for the elders of the church for prayer. The person will be restored, (sosei in the Greek) and any sins concerning the situation will be forgiven him. So, they should all confess their sins to one another, and pray for one another for healing.

JAMES 5:19-20

James 5:19-20 is the last passage from James that those who believe in the NEST misuse. James writes;

"19 My brothers, if any among you strays [wanders] from the truth and one turns him back, 20 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)

As we examine the closing remarks of James in this great epistle, we notice that the teaching that James abruptly leaves his audience with is a teaching of great importance. We see that this is serious, and most anyone who reads these closing remarks sees that this is serious; and though this be the case where we would all agree, the general concern of what James is talking about is interpreted in many different ways. There is more than one view among Christians concerning what James is talking about, or who James is actually talking about in each point--mainly in respect to sin and its consequence. To better see this, below are two quotes that reflect views according to the NEST. One spokesman who adheres to this false belief says concerning this passage;

"A believer can turn away from God and return back to sin, and by doing so, they have lost their salvation."

Another proponent of the false belief of insecure salvation states something very similar about this passage;

"If the backslider does not get corrected, his soul will perish with spiritual death."

The problem with these two statements, made by two different authors commenting on the same passage, is that they are made with details that are assumed to be in the passage, but they are not details that are really there. For example, James does not say in the passage, (as the first man I quoted) that a believer can turn away from God. What James actually says is,

"19 My brothers, if any among you strays [or wanders] from the truth ..."

We notice that turning from God is not mentioned at all. The reason why this is important is because to say that someone turned from God has the implication that they have rejected God like an atheist would do, or that they turn from God to believe and follow idols, like pagans do. So, it is important to recognize that James does not say this. Clearly James speaks of someone among the Israelite Christians wandering from the truth. At this point, let's consider some details in the second quote above. Something called "the backslider," is mentioned. The usage of the word backslider is popular among contemporary Christians to describe a Christian whose life is generally characterized by spiritual despondency and sin, but just like the injected terminology of the first quote above, this one also, is not language that James uses in the text. In fact, the term backslider is not found anywhere in the New Testament. Many Christians who use the term think that it is a Biblical description of sinning Christians, but it is not. Actually, the term is used once in the Bible. It is used in an Old Testament Proverb, in Proverbs 14:14, as backslider in heart;

"14 The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied with his." Proverbs 14:14

The mistake that the author, quoted above, made is bolstered by the use of the word backslider in the first place. Part of the problem of calling someone a backslider is that the word typically takes on way too many broad and arbitrary definitions. Since it is not a term defined and used by New Testament writers, it has become a term for personal, subjective evaluations of a Christian's so-called level of carnality. But that particular term is not the only problem. Again, here is the second quote;

"If the backslider does not get corrected, his soul will perish with spiritual death."

Notice that another term has been introduced. It is spiritual death. But James does not use such language either. James really says,

"20 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."

Saving a soul from death and covering a multitude of sins is a different statement than

"If the backslider does not get corrected, his soul will perish with spiritual death."

As usual, to recognize the real point that James is making, we need to look at the recorded details of what is actually there. One of those details is what the word soul refers to. This word will be analyzed later, but, the first thing we must recognize as we examine this passage, is that James is talking to Christians. Notice that James starts out this last section with,

"19 My brothers, ..."

James is talking to Christians as the family of God. As James proceeds we see that the concern has to do with any among you, and the you, are the Christian brothers of James,

"19 My brothers, if any among you [Christian brothers] strays [or wanders] from the truth ..." (James 5:19)

It is clear that Christians among the dispersed Israelite churches can wander from the truth. The truth that James is talking about is anything that is God's truth. James does not say that salvation is what is wandered away from. James does not say that God Himself is what is wandered away from. James clearly says that it is the truth that is wandered away from. This leads us to recognize that Christians can actually do this. In fact, all throughout history, Christians have done this. In our day, Christians wander from the truth all the time. The honest and humble Christian recognizes the fact that if anyone is a perfect man, then he would never wander away from the truth, and along with that recognition, they would recognize that they are not perfect, and in their imperfection, they have not always been completely believing things that are the truth, or acting according to the truth 100% of the time. Any time a Christian believes a lie, then they have wandered away from the truth. Any time a Christian sins in any way, then they have wandered away from the truth, which is the truth of obey God and don't sin. Anytime a Christian lies against the truth, or attempts to redefine it to change its meaning into something else, then they have wandered away from it. People who believe in the false doctrines of insecurity in Christ, also known as conditional security, or conditional election, and the Not Eternally Saved Theory, is a Christian who has wondered away from the truth. By the way, the truth is easy to define by considering what the truth is not. The truth is anything that is not wrong, or false, or a lie. James uses the same term earlier, and there James gives an example of sinning in respect to lying against the truth;

"13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior; his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, [The greek word for natural here is soulish] demonic." James 3:13-15

The truth, in James' first usage of the term, is where one has bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in one's heart. Christians can lie against it. They can also wander away from it. Whenever a Christian begins living out philosophies about what God's truth is supposed to be, but they are wrong, or whenever they run after false doctrines that feed the flesh, (like the health, wealth, and prosperity doctrines) or, whenever they deny critical doctrines for Christian living, like the necessity to pray, or the necessity to evangelize, or the necessity to sanctify one's self from worldliness, or the necessity to be involved, committed, and plugged into a biblical local Christian church fellowship, then they have wandered away from the truth. The point is that though we are to live out our Christianity in belief backed by believer's behavior, Christians have, Christians do, and Christians will stray from the truth. Next, James explains what does James want the churches to do about it at this point;

"... if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way ..." (James 5:19-20)

The task that James wants Christian brothers to be concerned with is the task of turning sinners (someone in the act of sinning), who are among them, from the error of their way. This reflects the instruction of Paul to the Galatians in 6:1. There, Paul starts out his instruction the same way as James by saying brothers,

"Brothers, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)

This leads us to look at the result that James says is guaranteed to occur when we are able to turn a sinner from the error of his way,

"20 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 5:20)

Staying with the fact that this is a difficult passage that is often misinterpreted as a warning of how to keep someone from losing their salvation, we will examine some of the elements involved that tend to drive improper interpretations of verse 20:

A) The first is James' use of the word, death. This death that James is talking about is wrongly considered by some people to refer to eternal spiritual death.

B) The second word that tends to drive a wrong understanding of what James is saying has to do with the word, soul.

C) The third word that tends to drive a wrong understanding of this passage, is the word save in the passage. The reason is because save in the passage is wrongly thought to be associated with spiritual salvation.

Examining those three words will enable us to learn some tools for properly understanding what James means in the text. (They have been listed in reverse order from what they are in the text)

/1/
The first consideration is James' use of "death." James uses it throughout his epistle as being metaphoric exaggeration, also called hyperbole. Considering what all James has said in his epistle up to this point about death, Plus how much poetic metaphor, how many artistically magnified statements, and how much exaggeration James has used concerning any subject he has brought up in his epistle, is important. The letter is chocked full of this way of communicating the truth. James is like a conductor of a loud dramatic symphony. He raises his conductor's hand, and out comes the horn section: It booms forth; the one who doubts is like the surf, waves, tide of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. James waves his other hand, and up comes the staccato strings--rhythmic, and intense; The rich man is like flowering grass which will pass away; rich men are like organic weeds that bloom. The sun scorches and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed, and so it is the same way with the rich man who in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. Then comes the pounding of the drums; If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body like a horse. Then there is fire. Tongues can set a forest on fire. The tongue sets on fire the course of one's life, and is set on fire by hell. And the drum section continues on in pounding orchestration. The rhythm relentlessly picks up with crashing symbols--No one can tame the tongue; like a wild animal, it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. James moves back and forth. He is inspired by the Holy Spirit. He is intentionally, artistically, and expertly using metaphor, poetry, exaggeration, color, tone, texture, pain, and even pleasure; The source of quarrels and conflicts among them is their pleasures that wage war in their members. The audience is told that they lust and do not have; so they commit murder. They are envious and cannot obtain; so they fight and quarrel. They are adulteresses, where friendship with the world is hostility toward God. Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Their lives are just a vapor-like puff of smoke in terms of their life spans. The riches of the rich have rotted, and their garments have become moth-eaten. Their gold and silver has tarnished. Their tarnish will be a witness against them and will consume their flesh like fire. They have fattened their hearts in a day of slaughter. These are all dramatic ways that James, by God's Holy Spirit, has expressed various truths by using exaggerated language, and most of the exaggerated language describes various ways that Christians who are eternally spiritually saved wander away from the truth while remaining eternally spiritually saved. The main point is that James uses exaggerated language, and to further this point, it is vital to focus in on what James says when he uses the word death. James uses death in an exaggerated sense in another place. In James 1:15, James writes about lust that conceives like in sexual reproduction, and then it gives birth to sin. Then finally when sin is mature, it brings forth the ultimate end of the life cycle metaphor, which is death. Death is a poetic, and extreme word that James likes to use to explain the dead end road of sinfulness. Even faith without works is dead. Likewise, James' typical use of exaggerated language, when one Christian turns another Christian sinner from his error, (see footnote 3 below; re. Christian sinner) the Christian turner is guaranteed to save the Christian sinner from death. If someone argues that James is not using poetic exaggerated language, and James is talking about real physical death, then it appears as if people would not die when someone helps them repent from sin, or when they are discipled to turn from general error concerning the truth. But people die all the time who repent. People die all the time who turn from general error to the truth. Further, if James is not using exaggerated language, and James is talking about some kind of spiritual death, then a person's salvation is dependent upon someone else's ability to be an effectual turner who turns that person from the error of their way. But, it is impossible for anyone to save a soul from spiritual death other than God. Also, it is not anyone else's fault if another person rejects the gospel. But if James is using exaggerated language where he is saying the same thing as he said back in 1:15, where the sinner sins because his lustful desire conceives like in sexual reproduction, and then it gives birth to sin, and when sin is mature, it brings forth the ultimate end of the life cycle metaphor, which is death, then this makes perfect sense.

This leads to the second and third considerations. It is something else that helps bring clarity to our understanding of James' beautiful language;

"20 ... save his soul from death ..."

It is the two words, save, and soul. When a Christian turns another Christian who is sinning through ministerial action, from the error of his way, then the ministering Christian has been instrumental in saving the sinning Christian's soul from the end of the life cycle of sin. There is no argument against this fact. But the question is; What is his soul that can be saved from death by turning him from his error? Further, What does it mean to save it?

In contemporary culture, when English speaking Christians think of the word save, they usually anachronistically think that just about every single time save is used in the New Covenant writings, it must be associated with getting saved in spiritual salvation. Unfortunately this is an error. For example, in Hebrews, we read, that Jesus,

"In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save [sozo in the Gk.] Him from death," Hebrews 5:7

Jesus did not need to be spiritually saved. Saving Jesus from physical death, is what the Father was able to save Him from. The same Greek word, sozo, for save, is used of being healed from sickness in Mark 6:56. It is used in the same way in Matthew 9:21, Mark 5:23, and 5:28 of being healed from a disease. Sozo is translated as "made well" in 11 other verses of the NASB. It is translated as Lazarus recovering in John 11:12. It is used in Matthew 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23 where people were wondering if Jesus would be saved from the cross. Sozo is used of saving a life as opposed to killing one on the sabbath day in Mark 3:4, and Luke 6:9. It is used of saving the life of a slave in Luke 7:3. Paul used the Greek word sozo to speak of being saved from the ocean storm in Acts 27:20; 31. Sozo is used of God saving people out of Egypt in Jude 1:5. Jesus asks God to save (sozo) Him from His hour of intense physical anguish and mental anxiety in the point of death experience in the garden, (John 12:27), which is the same reference as Hebrews 5:7. Sozo is used of women being saved through the bearing of children in 1 Timothy 2:15. And finally, when we look at how James uses this word just a couple of verses before he uses it here in 5:19, we see exactly what James wants sozo to mean in his own letter;

"... the prayer offered in faith will restore [sozo, ie. save] the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up," James 5:15

We recognize that all throughout the Bible, and also in a few verses before our passage under study, in James 5:15, sozo-save is not a word that always has to do with spiritual salvation, like from believing the gospel in spiritual rebirth and living forever in glory.

The word soul also complicates the wrong interpretive tendency that some have. There are English speaking Christians who typically think of the soul as always being something like a ghostly spirit being part of us, or, at least, something mystically similar. Truncated, or overly simplistic definitions of the word only add to the confusion. One dictionary of theological words bolsters this trend by stating;

"Soul: the immaterial part of a person, especially the emotional center, the 'heart.' Sometimes the term is used synonymously with spirit." (Zondervan Dictionary of Bible and Theological Words)

The above definition is the only one the book gives for soul, (which may be a good definition in a few respects), but such a simplistic and narrowed definition leads to problems because there is really much more to this word. To understand what James means, it is important to examine how soul, (which is Psuche in the Greek) is often used in the fullness of scripture as that which represents the whole being that is alive (the person) and not just one isolated aspect of our being. This is so important because if one tries to go through the New Testament and extract only a few sentences that use psuche-soul, and then attempts to define soul's meaning based on those couple of sentences alone, then that person is going to run into huge problems.

When most people think about their life, they think about their one self. They do not typically dissect their being into different categories. But, when they look at the Bible, they sometimes see that people are described as having a type of composite nature to their existence. For example, Paul describes human lives as having three parts in one self. In 1 Thessalonians Paul says,

"... may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless ..." 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Apparently, this seems to be the description of a nice neat package of three things (a trichotomy), which would be the one person. Even if one wants to look at what Paul says like some people of the reformed tradition do--where they say that what Paul really means is that people are probably only soul and body and no more (a dichotomy), this still implies that those two parts are needed for a complete package. The same type of thing is found in Hebrews 4:12;

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of

[1] soul and of

[2] spirit, of

[3] joints and of

[4] marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of

[5] the heart." Hebrews 4:12

If this is to be taken literally, it appears as if there is a handful of distinct aspects to any one person. Nevertheless, these things really are not so simple to understand. For example, some theologians will describe the spirit (pnumea in the Greek) as that aspect of people that is miraculously regenerated in salvation. It is sometimes referred to as the inner man. The soul (psuche) is often described as the mind and emotions. It is also often called the inner man. Sometimes people will refer to the soul as the seat of the personality. The body, (sarx in the Greek) is the flesh. Joint and marrow might possibly fall into this category--the flesh. The heart part is not easy to categorize. The heart can be a part of the body that pumps blood, or it could be the bowels, like the Greeks typically meant when referring to the heart. But, the heart can also be interpreted to be the spirit. Or, the heart can be interpreted to be the soul. It depends on who is talking, and what point they are trying to make. Generally, it is a good and safe practice to refer to the spirit, certain usage's of the word soul, and certain usage's of the word, heart, as falling under the general category of being called the inner man; for example, Paul says,

"22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, Romans 7:22

"16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16

"16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man," Ephesians 3:16

All of these things are important considerations, yet the questions remain of whether James is talking about the inner man when he uses the word, soul, and whether James means that the soul is also the spirit.

Considering these things, James may be using soul the same way Jesus used it in Matthew 10:28. Jesus says,

"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

It could be that James might be meaning the same thing that Jesus does in Matthew 10. Jesus could be talking about the mind and emotions in this warning when he talks about the soul. Jesus could be talking about the seat of the personality. Jesus could mean that the soul is really the spirit. Or, Jesus could be referring to that aspect of one's whole being that remains alive after the body expires, like for example, the inner man. Obviously, this is not an easy issue. For more examples we can consider what Jesus says in Matthew 10:28 about the soul. Taking what Jesus says, it can be compared through the lens of what James says in his epistle concerning something called the spirit. James says,

"the body without the spirit is dead," James 2:26

Notice that James does not mention a soul here in addition to the body, but, Jesus mentioned the soul in addition to the body in his teaching in Matthew 10:28. Alternately, James mentions the spirit, in James 2:26 which Jesus does not mention in Matthew 10:28. Further, it is important to recognize that James says that when one's body does not have the spirit, then the body is dead. Obviously, this can get confusing. But, there is more to this point; When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, Mark states,

"4 And He said to them, 'Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a soul or to kill?' But they kept silent." Mark 3:4

Here, Jesus is saying that a soul can actually be killed. This is an important that must be kept in mind. Again--a soul can be killed. Luke records the same event but uses the word destroy instead of kill. Luke says,

"9 And Jesus said to them, 'I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a soul or to destroy it?'" Luke 6:9

A soul can be saved from being killed, and a soul can be saved from being destroyed, (which is James' point in 5:19-20 passage).

The passages looked at so far, clearly demonstrate that one must be careful when interpreting what James means by soul. It is not so easy to just look at the word soul, and think it should be instantly figured out in every instance it is used, and then try to make a broad brush stroke rule for its usage. Nevertheless, it is actually very easy to determine exactly what James means. Earlier it was mentioned that the soul-psuche is often used in Scripture to refer to the life of the entire being, which is the person. This particular recognition is of vital importance. We find it, for example, in what Paul says in Romans 13:1,

"1 Every person ["person" here is soul-psuche] is to be in subjection to the governing authorities ..." (Romans 13:1)

When Paul refers to the person, clearly Paul is talking about the whole entire being. Paul is not merely talking about one distinct part of two, three or four other parts of a person. Paul calls the whole person the soul. Paul also does this in 1 Corinthians, where he says,

"So also it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living being' ["being" here is soul-psuche] The last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:45)

Paul is expressing the fact that Adam, as a man, is a whole living being. Paul is not saying that only one aspect of Adam was alive, (which is something that some people might want to refer to as a mystical soul) yet the word for soul is exactly the word that Paul is using. In Acts 3, Peter preached, saying,

"And it shall be that every soul who [psuche] does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people." (Acts 3:23)

Peter is talking about every man (which is the way John Wycliffe translated this same passage in the Wycliffe Bible). Wycliffe recognized that Peter said that every man shall be destroyed from the people. In the New American Standard Bible, it is a who, yet it is the word soul. The same thing is found used by the same apostle Peter in 1 Peter, where he describes the people on Noah's ark,

"... God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, [psuche-souls] were brought safely through the water." (1 Peter 3:20)

The eight persons are eight souls as eight whole and entire living beings. Jesus uses the word in an even more amazing way while suffering anguish in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said to His disciples,

"My soul [psuche] is deeply grieved, to the point of death;" Matthew 26:38," (Mark 14:34)

Jesus was not saying that His soul was deeply grieved to the point of spiritual death, (Spiritual death would be the same wrong definition that the one commentator eisegetically inserted into James's point as quoted in the beginning of this section above). Rather, Jesus was talking about His human life. The physical symptoms of this were that He sweat blood, and needed to be strengthened, (cf. Luke 22:42-44). The remedy was that an angel came down and strengthened Him. The same language is used in Revelation,

"The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living soul [psuche] in the sea died" (Revelation 16:3)

Every living soul in the sea is every whole being in its entirety that previously lived in the sea. Finally, the word, psuche-souls is used in Revelation 18:13 to refer to,

"... human lives. [psuche]" (Revelation 18:13)

Clearly souls is a word used for lives in respect to the whole entire being--the person, and not necessarily confined to some kind of esoteric mystical ghost like part of humans. So in interpreting what James says, it makes sense to see it this way,

My brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, (which is the doctrine and precepts of God according to New Covenant teachings), and another brother in Christ turns him back, let any brother in Christ know that he who turns a sinner, (which is a Christian who is in the act of sinning by wandering from the truth), from the error of his way, will save, (which means, rescue), his soul (which means his life as his whole entire being as the person), from the metaphoric life cycle of sin, (which is bad state paramount to the horribleness of death) and will cover a multitude of sins in being turned back toward the truth of God's word.

A KEY IN JAMES PRIOR USAGE:

To further demonstrate this, it must be recognized that James essentially said the same thing earlier in chapter 1. Looking there, save and soul, is seen used in this same consistent way by James. The contextual setup is that James is preaching to his Christian brothers just as he says in 5:19; meaning they are saved brothers, as in, they are saved already. James talks to the saved brothers about receiving the word that is already implanted in them, which is able to save their souls. Starting back in 1:14 there are important details that can be seen which show the uncanny parallel,

"14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away ...

[This parallels wander from the truth, over to the error of sin]

... and enticed by his own lust ... and when sin is mature, ...

[This parallels, sinner]

... it brings forth death.

[This parallels, save him from this death]

... 19 This you know, my beloved brothers. ...

[Meaning, they are already saved people]

But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness,

[This parallels turning from the error of their ways]

... in humility receive the implanted word, ...

[This parallels, the truth]

... which is able to save ...

[sozo in the Gk., a parallel]

... your souls ..." ." James 1:19-21

[psuche in the Gk., a parallel]

This makes sense when it is recognized that save and souls and death are all contextual words that James uses in his way of speaking of the harshness of sin and its consequences for the wandering Christian sinner. Notice that James also speaks of the implanted word here. The implanted word is synonymous with the truth of our James 5:19-20 passage at the end of the epistle. Earlier in 1:19-21, James preaches that Christians are to work throughout their saved lives by the same word implanted to avoid that other progression he just warned about of lust giving birth to sin, and finally maturing to death, of James 1:14-15. The rescuing effect comes from being effectual doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude yourselves. Taking this parallel over to the 5:19-20 passage, it is evident that James is talking about the same progression of sin, which is the progression that is found in the context of his own letter. It is the poetic way that James preaches. The important fact of the matter is that people do not really die each time they sin. The fact that Christians are alive proves this foundational truth in a tangible way. James, (writing an early epistle to the Israelite Christians of the dispersion) is reflecting Old Testament language--language that the Israelites will readily understand--language as is found in Proverbs 28:18 and 19:16;

"18 Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, but he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall." Proverbs 28:18 NKJV

"He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of conduct will die." Proverbs 19:16

What has been demonstrated in this exegesis, is that the death of James 1, and James 5, is not actually real physical death, but the death is a descriptive metaphor meant to be the strongest language possible to convey the sorrowful result of a life of sin. James has been making the same point throughout the whole epistle, but as a skillful fine artist, he has been making the point in different ways, including at the end of his sermon.

With all of these considerations in mind, and in agreement with the rest of the New Covenant scriptures, we recognize that there is no place in the whole epistle of James, where James states that anyone can lose one's eternal salvation that one already has in Christ, gain salvation by self generated effort, or maintain keeping it secure by self generated effort.

_________
FOOTNOES:
(1) God said "for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Genesis 22:12 but of course, to speculate that God did not know that Abraham would offer up his son beforehand, is: A) an eisegetical fallacy, applied to the apparent statement, which is governed by the rules of logic, and additionally it is, B) the heresy of Open Theism, which is belief in the supposed attributes of a false god. Looking at A) we realize that simply because a declaration is made of now knowing something, there is no statement within the declaration that what is now known was not previously known. Such a point in logic is magnified in respect to our supernatural God who knows all things, 1 John 3:20. Additionally, what God now knows, in respect to the subject at hand, is the demonstrative event, which had previously not occurred. The demonstration is of Abraham's fear of God and the actualization in time of not withholding Isaac. So, in respect to His conversation with Abraham as the angel of the LORD, God now knows the now actualized demonstration of what He foreknew beforehand. Of course this is only something that can be said of God. Christ, as God manifested in the third person of the Trinity, expressed this same thing to his disciples on the way to Jerusalem, where He described His rejection, death, and resurrection to the smallest detail. Christ foreknew what would happen--even prophesied it in the Old Testament prophets--but He only actually experienced it when the event happened in time later on. Now Christ knows experientially what He always knew as God in omniscience. Concerning B) when we recognize the myriad scriptures that declare that God knows the future, then we recognize that such scriptures must govern our understanding of A) above. A classically simple and easy to understand example is when Christ declared to Peter that Peter would indeed deny Christ that very night of Christ's betrayal, and Peter would deny Him three times; and deny Him before the cock crowed three times. Of course, we realize that Jesus wasn't merely making an educated guess or manipulating Peter's mind to 1) sin, 2) to first reject Him, and additionally 3) at precisely the right time to make His prophecy come true. When Christ finally "fixed His gaze," upon Peter at the moment after Peter fulfilled experientially what Christ already knew in perfect foreknowledge, we understand that Christ now knew it as having been accomplished.

(2) Greek scholar Dr. E. Campbell words this very well in his commentary on Ephesians,

"With reference to the statement, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith,' Paul says, 'And this is not of you.' Both of the Greek words rendered 'grace' (cariti) and 'faith' (pistews) are in the feminine gender, but the Greek pronoun translated 'this' (touto) is in the neuter gender. If this pronoun refers back to the words 'grace' and 'faith,' as we have suggested, why isn't it in the feminine gender? The answer is in the latter part of this verse, where Paul considers both the grace and faith as a 'gift' (dwron), a Greek noun which is in the neuter gender, and as such, is the antecedent of the pronoun 'this' (touto). In other words, looking at the two essential ingredients involved in God's saving of sinners, Paul refers to the same as a gift which is 'not out of you' (ouk ex umwn). This verse clearly teaches that neither the grace nor the faith are of human origin, they are not out of nor from those being saved (cf. v. 5; 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5) but are from an outside Divine source." pp. 70-71

(3) Christian sinner, according to 4:9, and 1 Timothy 1:15--with the addition of considering that James starts out this pericope with "My brothers."