Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored 170+ books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).

James 5:20 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

²⁰let 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.

Christians can save another person’s soul by turning them away from a sinful course that would have cost them their eternal life had they not turned around and repented. The individual helping the sinner in this way will also “cover a multitude of sins.”

Some Textual Issues

NTTC JAMES 5:20a “let him know that” or “you know that”

James 5:20 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

²⁰let 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.

TR NU GENTI γινωσκέτω ὅτι
“let him know that”
א A P 1739 Maj it syr^p

Variant 1/WH γινωσκετε οτι
“you know that”
B 69 1505 syr

Variant 2 οτι
“that”
Ψ

Variant 3 omit
𝔓⁷⁴ cop^sa

The first two words of 5:20, the third-person imperative and the demonstrative pronoun (γινωσκέτω ὅτι ginōsketō hoti) would seem to be the original reading and were altered to the second-person plural imperative (γινώσκετε ginōskete). This reading then (“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”) is referring to the person who would bring back a sinner from his wandering, saving his soul [the sinner’s soul] from death, covering a multitude of sins. It would seem that the scribal change (Variant 1/WH) was trying to bring the second-person plural, “you know that” in agreement with the plural address (ἀδελφοί μου adelphoi mou) “my brothers and sisters,” in the previous verse, James 5:19. Other scribes went even further in variants 2 and 3, shortening the reading so that it would fit with 5:19.

Roger L. Omanson and Bruce Manning Metzger also observe, “Or γινωσκέτω may have been changed to γινώσκετε in order to avoid the ambiguity of whether the subject of the verb is the person who converts someone or the person who is converted.”[1] Many translations KJV NKJV RSV NRSV ESV NASB NIV NEB NJB NAB HCSB NET and the UASV follow the reading TR NU GENTI “let him know that.” Others follow variant 1/WH, such as TNIV REB NJBmg NLT.

NTTC JAMES 5:20b “his soul” or “a soul”? Whose soul is saved? And whose sins are covered?

James 5:20 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

²⁰let 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.

WH NU GENTI σώσει ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐκ θανάτου
“he will save his soul from death”
א A P 048 33 1739 syr

Variant 1 σωσει ψυχην εκ θανατου αυτου
“he will save a soul from death itself” (or, “he will save his soul from death”)
𝔓74 B

Variant 2/TR σωσει ψυχην εκ θανατου
“he will save a soul from death”
Ψ Maj copsa

It is likely that the WH NU GENTI reading (σώσει ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐκ θανάτου) “he will save his soul from death” was the original reading (PE), and so Variant 2/TR (σωσει ψυχην εκ θανατου) “he will save a soul from death” was an attempt by the scribe to remove the confusion as to who was being spoken of here, the one converting or the person being converted. So, we have scribes simply removing the problem by removing αυτου (“his”). This became the predominant reading, which we then find in the majority of the manuscripts, which we find in the KJV and is still retained in the NKJV. However, we find other copyists moving the pronoun αὐτοῦ so that it comes after ἐκ θανάτου (“from death itself”). There is the slight possibility that Variant 1 could have been the original reading as well, with some scribes choosing to delete it and others transferring it.

Roger L. Omanson and Bruce Manning Metzger,

5:20 αὐτοῦ ἐκ θανάτου (of him from death)

The reading that seems best able to account for the origin of the other readings is ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐκ θανάτου (his soul from death), which is well supported by important manuscripts. Copyists were perplexed, not knowing whether ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ (his soul) referred to the soul of the person converted or to the soul of the person who converted someone else. In order to remove this ambiguity, some copyists moved the pronoun αὐτοῦ to follow ἐκ θανάτου (“from death itself”) and others omitted the pronoun entirely.

Many translations maintain the ambiguity of the Greek text. Others, such as NRSV, reflect a clear exegetical choice in the translation: “whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death” (similarly TEV). Since the author probably did not intend his statement to be ambiguous, it may be best to place one interpretation in the text and the other in a footnote. TEV, for example, places the following alternate rendering in a footnote: “or his own soul.”[2]

NTTC JAMES 5:20c “Amen” or No “Amen”

All four of the main critical editions (TR WH NU GENTI) that we use do not have αμην (“Amen”) closing out verse 20 of chapter 5. (BRD) This has the following manuscript support of A B C 048 33 Maj cop, and it is what we find in all English versions. Nonetheless, as would be expected by some scribes, they refused to accept such an idea and, therefore, added αμην (“Amen”) at the end of James’ epistle (so 614 1505 1852 syr^h). We only have three epistles (Romans, Galatians, Jude) that have a genuine “amen” as the last word of their book. In the other letters of the New Testament, it looks evident that scribes added an “amen” for conventional designs. When we consider the weighty textual evidence, it is utterly undeniable that “amen” was a scribal interpolation (addition) at the end of James.

Bruce Metzger writes,

5:20 ἁμαρτιῶν.

After ἁμαρτιῶν several of the later witnesses (181 378 614 1518 1765 1898 syr^h) add ἀμήν, and one (330) adds ὅτι αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν.[3]

[1] Roger L. Omanson and Bruce Manning Metzger, A Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament: An Adaptation of Bruce M. Metzger’s Textual Commentary for the Needs of Translators (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006), 479.

[2] Roger L. Omanson and Bruce Manning Metzger, A Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament: An Adaptation of Bruce M. Metzger’s Textual Commentary for the Needs of Translators (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006), 479–480.

[3] Bruce Manning Metzger, United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 615.