By Angus Harley

Are Christians sinners? I’m not asking if they sin, for all decent evangelicals accept they do. I’m inquiring if the Christian, the believer, is a “sinner”. The term “sinner” is all important. Maybe to some the answer is that the Christian could never be a “sinner” (but he does sin). There seems on the face of it a reasonable argument for this view. It is a perspective predominantly taken from Paul’s theology. It might be argued, for example, that 1 Timothy 1:15 does not say Paul was a sinner as a Christian, but it refers merely to his past, when he was a Jew only. It could also be argued that the NT nowhere calls the Christian a “sinner”. The Christian was a sinner in the past, but not now. He is a new man, new creation, with a new heart. Thus, the Christian might sin, but he could never be a “sinner”, a term reserved for those not believing in Jesus Christ.

What should we think of this view? It is correct in saying Christians are new creations and that they sin, but surely it takes its own theology to an extreme, rendering null and void other biblical texts, specifically those clearly demonstrating that even the Christian can be that “sinner”. This article steers away from Paul and goes to James 5:19-20. In focusing on this text, we receive a vital pastoral insight from the apostle James in calling the believer a “sinner”, a lesson that the other view regretfully misses.

The brother-“sinner”

James 5:19-20 states:

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

In the twenty-two (22) translations I read of these verses, there were no significant translational changes. The Greek term harmatolos is translated “sinner” in all twenty-two (22) versions of v20. I am personally not aware of a commentator who disputes the following elements:

  • Paul is addressing the “brothers” (adelphos), which is the assembly;
  • James speaks about someone among (en) the brothers who might wander from the truth (tis en humin planēthē apo tēs alētheias);
  • If someone else- from the brothers- brings back that wandering brother, let the one who brought him back know (ginōsketō hoti ho epistrepasas) that he has saved a “sinner” from the error of his way (hamartōlon ek planes hodou).

As I said, every translation I read follows an identical path, and I’m not aware of any commentary that says that the wanderer is not a brother and a “sinner”. Thus, the typical interpretation of James 5:19-20 is that offered by Douglas J. Moo:

Believers who see a brother or sister wandering from the fold should seek with all their power to bring that person back. Bring back (epistrephō) can be used to describe an initial turning to God for salvation (Acts 14:15; 15:19; 26:18; 1 Thess. 1:9), but it also, as here, can refer to the turning back to the faith from which one has strayed (Mark 4:12 [= Isa. 6:10]; Luke 1:16; 22:32). In verse 20, this straying is described as the error of their way, a phrase that could be translated ‘their wandering way’, in order to show that error (planē) is cognate to wander (planaō) in verse 19. Believers who succeed in rescuing such sinners from ‘the error of their way’ should know what has thereby been accomplished: they have been saved from death and a multitude of sins has been covered over.[1] [italics is Moo’s; bold text is mine]

James’ pastoral lesson

What a special piece of pastoral advice from an apostle of the Lord, James gives to us in James 5:19-20! Why would James use the term “sinner” of a believer in the Lord, a phrase which is normally in the NT reserved for the blatantly non-Christian person? What possible reason could there be for this association? It is a genuine pastoral necessity, brothers, for James must identify the horrendous nature of the brother’s predicament and the imminent danger he is in. By removing that word “sinner” from this Christian, the exegete and student diminishes the extreme danger that a “sinner”-brother is in. Moreover, the use of the word “sinner” is a telling commentary on God’s view of this rebellion by the brother, for the sinner-brother is indistinguishable from the pagan or self-righteous Jew.

            A third reason deserves its own space. James’ language of salvation is the foil for “sinner”. We know that our salvation is secure in Christ Jesus, and that, in a Pauline sense we are saved once-for-all through faith in his death and resurrection. But brothers do turn their back on the Lord. Think of David, Peter, and others. The book of Galatians is almost entirely about that theme. There can be no doubt about it: Christians who turn their back on God flirt with the fires of divine judgment; they go right up to its flames and tempt them to lash out! This ‘back-turned’ Christian is a sinner who needs to be saved from falling headlong into the fire. It is our duty as fellow brothers to rescue and save these brother-sinners from death and a host of sins.

The lesson for reading the bible

I have caught myself reading into biblical texts, and I have also completely ignored certain texts because I’m pursuing my theological-exegetical ‘model’. This is gross negligence on my part as a ‘student’ of God’s word. All biblical texts must be accounted for and given equal voice. Thus, James 5:19-20 must be accounted for; they cannot be laid aside because of any Pauline preference or theological presuppositions. What Paul says must be harmonized with James, and vice versa. We cannot ignore what either says. Our doctrine must build on both as equally the voice of God. Plainly, a Christian turning his back on the Lord is a “sinner”. Not a potential sinner, might-be sinner, was a sinner, but a sinner in the present, as a brother. It is apparent that if the Christian is obedient, he is not a sinner; but, as soon as he does turn his back on the Lord, he is a sinner. It is our exegetical-theological model that must adapt to this information, not the biblical data change for our own presuppositions. Amen.

[1] Douglas J. Moo, James, TNTC 16, rev. ed. (Downers Grove, IL), Kindle: James 5:19-20.