The Supreme Human Achievement
James finishes his letter with one of the greatest and most uplifting thoughts in the New Testament; and yet one which occurs more than once in the Bible. Suppose a man goes wrong and strays away; and suppose a fellow-Christian rescues him from the error of his ways and brings him back to the right path. That man has not only saved his brother's soul, he has covered a multitude of his own sins. In other words, to save another's soul is the surest way to save one's own.
Mayor points out that Origen has a wonderful passage in one of his Homilies in which he indicates these six ways in which a man may gain forgiveness of his sins--by baptism, by martyrdom, by almsgiving ( Luke 11:41 ), by the forgiveness of others ( Matthew 6:14 ), by love ( Luke 7:47 ), and by converting a sinner from the evil of his ways. God will forgive much to the man who has been the means of leading another brother back to him.
This is a thought which shines forth every now and then from the pages of Scripture. Jeremiah says, "If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth" ( Jeremiah 15:19 ). Daniel writes: "And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever" ( Daniel 12:3 ). The advice to the young Timothy is: "Take heed to yourself, and to your teaching; for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers" ( 1 Timothy 4:16 ).
There is a saying of the Jewish Fathers: "Whosoever makes a man righteous, sin prevails not over him." Clement of Alexandria says that the true Christian reckons that which benefits his neighbour his own salvation. It is told that an ultra-evangelical lady once asked Wilberforce, the liberator of the slaves, if his soul was saved. "Madame," he answered, "I have been so busy trying to save the souls of others that I have had no time to think of my own." It has been said that those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves; and certainly those who bring the lives of others to God cannot keep God out of their own. The highest honour God can give is bestowed upon him who leads another to God; for the man who does that does nothing less than share in the work of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of men.
-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
FURTHER READING
James
E. C. Blackman, The Epistle of St. James (Tch; E)
J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James (MmC G)
C. L. Mitton, The Epistle of St. James
J. Moffatt, The General Epistles: James, Peter and Jude (MC E)
J. H. Ropes, St. James (ICC G)
Abbreviations
ICC: International Critical Commentary
MC: Moffatt Commentary
MmC: Macmillan Commentary
Tch: Torch Commentary
E: English Text
G: Greek Text
-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
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