Book of James

Sometimes called “the Proverbs of the New Testament,” the book of James practically and faithfully reminds Christians how to live. From perseverance to true faith to controlling one’s tongue, submitting to God’s will, and having patience, this book aids readers in living authentically and wisely for Christ. Many have claimed that James and the apostle Paul differed on the question of faith versus works, but in reality the spiritual fruit that James talks about simply demonstrates the true faith of which Paul wrote. Their writings are complementary rather than contradictory.

The book of James places a unique emphasis on humility before and obedience to a holy God, rendered as works of righteousness, in the context of faith. The targets of the letter’s critiques include the arrogant, those with selfish ambition, those who have the form of godliness without the power (who merely “hear” without “doing”; who have a false “faith” that produces no good works), those who have untamed tongues, and rich oppressors.

This is why I would argue the letter of James being extremely important to the church today for these reasons:

The first point to note is that it was written to a church under pressure. Christians were not being martyred, but they were suffering economic persecution and oppression and the church was breaking under the pressure.

There are two ways in which church members may respond to extreme pressure. They can either pull together and help each other or they can compromise with the world and split apart into bickering factions.

James wanted his readers to do the former but it was the latter that was actually happening as people struggled to ‘get ahead’ in the world.

These problems make the letter very relevant for the church today.

Secondly, the letter is filled with the teaching of Jesus. No other letter of the NT has as many references to the teaching of Jesus per page as this one does. It is not that James quotes Jesus directly, although he sometimes does (which we will see in Chapter 5), but he normally simply uses phrases and ideas which come from Jesus. His readers would have memorized much of the Lord’s teaching, so they would recognize the source. Most of these phrases come from the teaching of Jesus, in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount or Luke’s Sermon on the Plain

Good ol Martin Luther may not have been a huge fan of the Book of James because it doesn’t drive home his majr concern of Salvation by Grace. He actually called the Book of James a “right strawy epistle.” Strawy like actual straw, like a hey stack. Former missionary and author Dr. J Ronald Blue would say “it is only “strawy” to the degree it is “sticky.” That “there are enough needles in this haystack to prick the conscience of every dull, defeated, and degenerated Christian in the world. Here is a “right stirring epistle” designed to exhort and encourage, to challenge and convict, to rebuke and revive, to describe practical holiness and drive believers toward the goal of a faith that works. James is severely ethical and refreshingly practical.

One might say There is no better example in the NT of a church leader taking the Lord’s teaching and applying it to church problems. The letter of James, then, becomes a model for the modern church on how to apply the teaching of Jesus.

I won’t go into how we know that James the brother of Jesus wrote this vs the other 3 James mentioned in the bible. That’s a whole study in itself. Fun fact though. James was a very common name in biblical days.

The name “James” is based upon the Greek transliteration (Iakobos) of the Hebrew, would better translate to “Jacob.” Or even “Jake”. How english translations decided to go with “James” is still unknown.

Of all the persons named James in the New Testament (James, son of Zebedee: Matt 4:21; James, son of Alphaeus: Matt 10:3; James the father of the apostle Judas [not Iscariot]: Luke 6:16; James the Less the son of Mary: Mark 15:40), no one is as crucial to the development of the early church as James, the Lord’s brother.

So what do we know about James…

James name only appears 8 times in the NT bible.

His name is first mentioned in Mark 6:3

The Gospel of John states that the brothers of Jesus do not believe in Him (John 7:5), meaning that this James does not at first believe in His brother’s messianic claims. Paul seems to imply James’ belief was a result of a resurrection appearance (1 Cor 15:7). I love this message from Paul: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

There is no indication that he followed Jesus at all during Jesus ministry per-say. James was called an Apostle in Gal 1:19 but he was not one of the twelve.

James was the leader of the Jerusalem church in the the middle of the first century AD, a participant in the Jerusalem council, most likely saw the risen Jesus, and was highly esteemed by Jewish Christians of the second century AD and beyond. In early church writings, at times he is referred to as James “the Just” because of his deep respect for the law.

James actually never left Jerusalem.

We know James was more than likely martyred by being stoned, but this comes from early 4th century writing by Hegesippus which accounts the 2nd to 3rd century. His death would be dated approx AD 62.

The Book of James is more than likely the first book written in the NT. We know this due to a few things. We know James was part of the apostolic council in Jerusalem which was approx AD 48-49. James renders the decision of the Jerusalem Council about gentile circumcision, that gentile believers will not be required to undergo circumcision but must keep other Mosaic customs. Paul wrote Galatians and due to Pauls writing being unique in the sense that He writes the church of Galatia due to false teachers trying to push how gentiles need to become jew and follow outward ceremonies of the mosaic law. Specifically being circumcised. Paul doesn’t say anything about the Jerusalem Council which pits his letter to Galatia just before or around and since James speaks to Pauls teaching in the Book of James, we can say it was more than likely written around AD 40-50. Probably more so towards the early 40’s.

The reason I share these things is because what you hold is historically accurate! So much so archaeologists use the bible for people, places and events to support their digs! And not one dig has ever disproved a person, place or event of the bible! These are secular archaeologists! 63,779 cross-references in the bible from Gen - Rev. 40 different authors, over 1,500 years, and 3 different languages. If you know anything about statistics, that’s down right impossible. Unless, it’s God breathed!