5:20 Let him know. As an inducement to engage in this work of love let him know how great a work has been done.
Save a soul from death. Not physical but eternal death.
Hide a multitude of sins. The sins of those forgiven are said to be covered or hidden. This passage means that all the sins of the restored sinner, though many, shall be blotted out. See Ps 32:1.
5:20 He shall save a soul - Of how much more value than the body! Jas 5:14. And hide a multitude of sins - Which shall no more, how many soever they are, be remembered to his condemnation.
5:19,20 It is no mark of a wise or holy man, to boast of being free from error, or to refuse to acknowledge an error. And there is some doctrinal mistake at the bottom of every practical mistake. There is no one habitually bad, but upon some bad principle. This is conversion; to turn a sinner from the error of his ways, not merely from one party to another, or from one notion and way of thinking to another. There is no way effectually and finally to hide sin, but forsaking it. Many sins are hindered in the party converted; many also may be so in others whom he may influence. The salvation of one soul is of infinitely greater importance than preserving the lives of multitudes, or promoting the welfare of a whole people. Let us in our several stations keep these things in mind, sparing no pains in God's service, and the event will prove that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. For six thousand years He has been multiplying pardons, and yet his free grace is not tired nor grown weary. Certainly Divine mercy is an ocean that is ever full and ever flowing. May the Lord give us a part in this abundant mercy, through the blood of Christ, and the sanctification of the Spirit.
