James - Introductory Lesson

I. Introduction to the Class

Questions for Involvement:

What are some verses/passages that are special to you in James or that you like and why?

What are some things that you know about the book of James?

Does anyone have the entire book memorized?

I have included in your handout the schedule for the class and what we plan to discuss in each class. I encourage you all to use this schedule as a reading and devotional guide for your time with the Lord. I will reiterate this at the end of our time together, but come prepared each week we meet as already having read the passage that we will be discussing. For each lesson, we will have verses in James for you all to memorize that we will go over at the beginning of each class. We will also have a time of group discussion of what was impactful for you from this week’s reading in James. Then we will walk through the passage together and see what James is trying to tell us and see how we can apply it. At the end, we will gather into our groups again, and after having talked through the passage, we will discuss within our groups how we plan to apply something that we learned that day in our lives. Then I will close us in prayer.

Today will look slightly different considering we did not have a lesson prior to this one. I will walk through some background information about James such as the author, date, and audience. Then I will talk about the major themes that are found in James, and then a brief commentary of James to show its cohesion. Then, we will actually read through the entire book of James. There are several reasons for this:

At the time that this book was written, the churches would read its entirety in one sitting. These epistles are letters. If someone writes you a letter, you generally read it in one sitting. I know that many of us will read a message on our phones, in facebook, or even watch a video that someone sent us in chunks, but generally speaking, when someone gives us a hand-written letter, we will read it in one setting. To capture the full intention behind James, it would benefit us to read the entire thing.

As a general “rule,” when studying a book of the Bible, it is good to read the whole thing in one sitting as you are able. This works well with the epistles. When you study through a book like Genesis or Acts, it is more difficult to read the entire thing. However, because of the brevity of James, it will take us about 25 minutes to read the entire book and it will set us up in the weeks to come to have a fuller picture of James as we study through this book.

After discussing the themes and the cohesion, it will benefit us to see these items in the book itself as we read the whole thing. Simply talking about it is good, but seeing them as we read through the book is better.

After we read all of James, then we will end by breaking out into groups of 4 or 5 to discuss what we learned and how we plan to apply it.

My hope in this class is that through studying James, you will learn how to work out your faith.

That when others look at your works, you are proving or showing your faith by them.

II. Introduction to the book of James

Martin Luther says this in the preface of the NT in his German Translation of the Bible about the book of James:

In a word St. John’s Gospel and his first epistle, St. Paul’s epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St. Peter’s first epistle are the books that show you Christ and teach you all that is necessary and salvatory for you to know, even if you were never to see or hear any other book or doctrine. Therefore St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.

Martin Foord, “The ‘Epistle of Straw’: Reflections on Luther and the Epistle of James,” Themelios 45.2 (2020): 292.

This is not to say that he saw the book of James as not part of the canon. He actually praised it highly in certain aspects. He also said this about it:

Themelios: Volume 45, No. 2, August 2020 1. Understanding “Epistle of Straw”

Though this epistle of St. James was rejected by the ancients, I praise it and consider it a good book, because it sets up no doctrines of men but vigorously promulgates the law of God.

The issue that Luther had with James was that in comparison to the other books that focus heavily on justification by faith and were more “gospel” oriented, he believed that it was not as prominent as those other ones.

In one sense, we can understand Luther’s concern. When we read the book of Romans and see Paul’s strict, linear progression of showing how God, as one theologian puts it, righteously righteousing the unrighteous, and then read the seemingly proverbial style of James where at first glance James is spewing out a collection of pithy sayings it can seem that James was hardly focused on the gospel. What we will see is that, while James didn’t spend the ink as Paul did to show the fine details of how we are reconciled to God based on the work of Christ, he does show how those who have been justified are to live.

James is gospel-centered in the sense that it is heavy on the application of the gospel. Paul shows us how to be justified and why we are justified, and James shows us how to continue in the “perfect law of liberty” that justifies us.

Let’s look now at the authorship and date of James.

III. Authorship & Date - James Who?

James 1:1 NKJV

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

In this first verse, we see that this James viewed himself as a bondservant (doulos) of God. This is all the information that we get from the epistle itself about James. This information does not distinguish him from any of the other Jameses in the Bible. The Bible mentions four different Jameses in the NT. Three of them are listed in Acts 1:13

Acts 1:13 NKJV

And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.

And a fourth James is mentioned in Gal 1:19

Galatians 1:19 NKJV

But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

So here are our four Jameses:

Possible Jameses: James - Brother of Jesus; James - Brother of John; James - Son of Alphaeus; James - Judas’s Father

Which one is it? There is division of scholarly opinion of who this James is, but the most convincing arguments lean towards James, the brother of Jesus. James the son of Alphaeus was not as prominent in the early church as was James the brother of John and James the brother of Jesus. Neither was James, Judas’s father. If it was either one of these Jameses, they would have probably needed to give qualification for their identity. James the brother of John was martyred in Acts 12:1-2 and this was probably in A.D. 44.

Acts 12:1–2 NKJV

Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

If the author was James the brother of John, then he would have written to epistle in the early 40s or late 30s. This date is probably too early for the epistle, which makes James the brother of Jesus the most likely candidate. James the brother of Jesus died in A.D. 62 and was a prominent figure in the early church, especially in Jerusalem as we see in Acts 15.

Author - James the brother of Jesus

IV. Date - When Was it Written?

The next question that we will address is the date of the writing of James. One scholar argues that the date is most likely in the early or middle 40s because it needed to be written before the Jerusalem Council (i.e. before James and Paul meet), but after Paul’s teaching had begun. The reason for this, without getting into the weeds, is to show that James would have been aware of the teaching of Paul, without being able to discuss it with him. James would have heard the justification by faith, but also seen the same misuses of this that Paul saw and addressed in his letter to the Romans. James affirms justification by faith, but challenges those who use that as a license to sin, so goes the argument. This is the strongest position for the date. I am not entirely convinced of this argument. I think James and Paul could have discussed justification by faith before James wrote his letter. By doing this, we can have the date be anywhere between the late 40s and early 50s. The date is not overly significant except for deciding on the author, but we don’t have to fret about the uncertainty with the scholars. They are merely trying to determine the author and the date. What is significant for us is that this is Scripture and is therefore inspired by God and profitable for us and that profitability is what we are going to mine out over the next few months.

Date - Mid-40s

V. Audience - Who Was It Written To?

We actually are not going to spend much time here. One scholar put it this way:

An Introduction to the New Testament Destination/Addressees

The letter’s address gives more detailed information: “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (1:1). But this designation is so general as to be of little help in identifying the addressees.

Here is what is clear that we know of the audience:

They were facing trials

They were enduring temptations

They were showing partiality

They were showing genuine faith

They were probably struggling with their tongue and their quarrels

They were assuming upon the will and grace of God

The addressees in the text does not give us much information about who this is for. The best thing for us is to consider this a general epistle for Christians. If you’re someone who likes to have an answer, however, here is my best guess:

Audience - Jewish Christians dispersed after the death of Stephen

If you want to fight me on this, feel free because you will probably win. I’m not going to die on that hill. What I care way more about is how we apply the text to our lives today.

VI. Major Themes - What Is the Book About?

Now, the meaty topics. The book has several themes. What we are going to highlight are the major themes. There are lots of smaller themes that I am sure we could parse out, but I want us to look at the major ones. As we read through the book of James here shortly, I want you to take note of when you see these themes, and maybe even underline them or highlight them in your Bibles. Here are the major themes I see in the book of James:

Trials and Temptations

Faith and Works

Speech

Anger/Sinful Desires

Wisdom

Ministering to Others

God’s Will

The Law

There are some themes that are coupled together. The reason for this is because it seems to me that James often groups these together. These aren’t hard lines in the sand. Often these themes mingle together and relate, but these are the main ones that I see. You may see others and those are good too. I believe the main point of the book of James is about working out our faith.

Purpose of the Book - Working Out Our Faith

VII. Cohesion of the Book - How It All Fits

I mentioned earlier that the book has more cohesion in it than we may first realize. There are themes or motifs that are mentioned in the first chapter, and then picked up later in the book. There are also connections from one chapter to the next.

Starting in chapter 1, James makes a distinction between trials and temptations. We are to consider our trials as joy because of the maturity they produce in us. And if we prove to be God’s disciples by persevering in our faith, we will receive the crown of life, which God promises to those who love him. In the rest of the chapter, James speaks of speech, listening, anger, being a doer of the word, and what pure and undefiled religion looks like, and these are all related to persevering in trials and temptations.

Chapter 1 - Trials, Temptations, Doer of the Word, Anger, Tongue, Pure Religion

After explaining what pure and undefiled religion is, that we abstain from sin and to minister to others, he moves to not showing partiality. Our Bibles originally did not have chapter and verse divisions, so the end of chapter 1 would have flowed directly into chapter 2 and so with ministering to others, we are to not show partiality. Those who do show partiality, will be judged. The objection to this, from a Christian, is that they have faith and won’t undergo judgment. This is true, but it is only true if their faith is genuine. When someone makes the claim that because of their faith, they are free to sin, they are proving that their faith isn’t genuine. This is the same objection that Paul answers in Romans 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” And it’s the same point that James makes in the rest of chapter 2. Faith without works is dead. If we say we have faith, then it better come out in our works. We, as James says, perfect our faith when we do good works. Paul elaborates on this in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Chapter 2 - Showing Partiality When Serving Others & Faith Works

So there is cohesion between chapters 1 and 2 of James. But James doesn’t stop there. Remember that back in chapter 1, he says that the end result of considering our trials as joy and letting patience have its perfect work is so that we would be perfect. The word “perfect” is strange to our modern ears. When we think of “perfect” we think of “without fault.” Perfect, here, is better understood as being mature. After James’s explanation of what genuine faith looks like, he moves to the tongue and says that the one who can tame their tongue is a “perfect man.” This seems to suggest that there is a correlation between the trials that we face and the use of our tongue, which many of us can probably attest to. When we go through trials, one of the first things to go is our tongue, so the one who can keep their tongue is showing that they are mature. And after speaking about the maturity in keeping our tongue and the destruction that our tongues can cause, James explains what wisdom is. Those who are wise show it by their actions. This echoes those who have faith and show it by their works. And he describes wisdom with words like pure, gentle, and without partiality, which we see James talk about in chapter 2.

Chapter 3 - Tongue & Wisdom that is Pure, Gentle, Impartial, and Peaceable

After talking about how wisdom from above is peaceable and those who show that they are wise make peace, he moves to the fights and quarrels among us which are causing division and not peace. We fight because we desire and do not have. We do not have because we do not ask with the right motives. James is talking about prayer here and he already mentioned prayer in chapter 1 when talking about seeking wisdom. We fight because of our desires and so James calls us to repent and several other actions in a similar rapid-fire style that we see in chapter 1. Part of that repentance is not to judge our brother. Another way to say not to judge our brother is to not show partiality. Where have we heard that talked about in James? Chapter 2. And in telling us not to judge, he says that if we do judge, we have become a judge of the law and not a doer of it, which takes us back to chapter 1. It can seem that the end of chapter 4 is unrelated to the rest of the chapter when he is discussing those who boast about tomorrow, but he does talk about those who do not have because they do not ask at the beginning of the chapter. I think there is something similar going on at the end of chapter 4 that those who boast about tomorrow, which is assuming upon God’s grace and one’s own ability, are not asking. Saying “if the Lord wills, we will do this or that,” is a humble and prayerful attitude, which is the attitude he just told us to have earlier in chapter 4.

Chapter 4 - Fights and Quarrels that are Divisive, Judge and Not a Doer of the Law, Boasting About Tomorrow

In chapter 5, James starts with calling those who are both rich and oppress people with their riches to mourn and weep because judgment is coming. The idea here is to repent and humble themselves. These are probably the same people who were focused on making a profit instead of being focused on God’s will back in chapter 4. After speaking of the judgment of the Lord that is coming, James tells the brethren to be patient and wait for the Lord. This use of patience takes us back to chapter 1 and in our patience we should not grumble, which is chapter 2 and chapter 4, and we should not swear by anything, but to let our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” be “no,” which is chapter 3. From verses 13-18, James tells his readers how to minister to one another which practices how he defines pure and undefiled religion back in chapter 1 (all of which incorporates prayer), and in verses 19-20 he encourages us to turn people from their sin, which is what James does in this entire book. By calling us to work out our faith, we are to repent from our sins and to serve others.

Chapter 5 - Rich Oppressors, Patience, Swearing (Tongue), Minister to One Another, Turn From Sin

VIII. Reading the Book

That is a lot of information that I gave to you and I am not expecting you to remember it all. What I hope is that there was something that you caught and that you will see it in real time as we read through James together. You have your handout with the points of the cohesion in front of you. As we get to each chapter, look for those major themes, and as we get to the later chapters of the book, think back to the themes that you hear in the earlier chapters. I encourage you to note it in your Bibles with a pen or underline passages that stick out to you. After we read James, find some people around you and gather into groups of about 4 or 5. In these groups, I want you to go around and discuss something from our reading in James that stuck out to you and how you intend to apply it to your life. And after we discuss for about 5 minutes or so, I will close us in prayer. At this time, I have asked several people to read through the passages out loud for us through James. I ask those people to come up to the front at this time. In turn you will each read your assigned passage and after you read, you are free to return to your seat. Let’s begin.

James 1–5 NKJV

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

IX. Passage to Memorize

James 1:2–4 NKJV

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.