Epistle of Straw?
Notes
Transcript
Epistle of Straw… or the Proverbs of the New Testament
Epistle of Straw
Epistle of Straw
A few weeks ago I mentioned in passing that Martin Luther had called James an epistle of straw. While Luther was a fascinating individual, he was wrong on a lot… which shouldn’t be surprising for me to say since this is a baptist church. However, his statement concerning James is much more interesting than it sounds. When he said that it was an epistle of straw he was comparing it to other books of the New Testament.
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,11 compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it. But more of this in the other prefaces.
Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)
In short, compared to the works of Peter, Paul and John it was an “epistle of straw” - his reason for this it that it did not compare anything about the nature of the Gospel. Because James does not mention the death and resurrection of Christ. He also struggled with how the letter seemingly contradicted justification by faith… it doesn’t but we’ll get there later. At one point Luther stated that he wished to throw “little jimmy into the fire.” It seems to me that Luther likely misunderstood much about about the book of James: The author, the audience and the intent. And I wont spend but a few moments on this - but in the interest of picking on Luther, I also hope that it will aid all of us in understanding the background of the Epistle.
The Author
The Author
The author of the book is James - as we see in verse 1. But which James? There’s 5 in the New Testament. 2 of which are only mentioned once, and not significant to the overall biblical narrative. So that leaves 3.
James the disciple, brother of John son of Zebedee. But he was martyred in Acts 12 - which does not match up with the necessary timeline of this book. So he’s out.
James the son of Alphaeus - another of Jesus’ disciples. But nothing is stated about him after Acts 1:13
James the brother of Jesus. Leader of the church in Jerusalem.
Luther knowing that it wasn’t one of the disciples struggled with whether or not this book had an apostle as an author. However, when we read about James in Acts, in Galatians, in 1 Cor 15:7, we see that James was a witness to the resurrected Christ, highly esteemed among early believers and an elder in the church of Jerusalem.
The other issue that Luther had with this letter is not whether or not it belonged in the Bible. He had never removed it from his compiled New Testament - and he had removed the apocrypha - or at least separated it from the other the rest of the Biblical books. But he did not see that it spoke to matters of the gospel.
The Intent
The Intent
He thought that it confused law and gospel. I think this can be resolved by understanding the intent of James’ epistle. This is not an evangelical letter - James is not writing to convert people. James is writing this letter to Christians to instruct them how to live wisely.
The Audience
The Audience
This is somewhat different than Paul’s letters which are often written to a specific occasion - Corinthians about the man who had taken his step mom as his wife, or Galatians who had allowed the Judaizers to have significant influence and teach a false gospel, or Colossians where Paul is correcting the heretical beliefs about Jesus. James instead seems to be writing a letter that is intended to be passed around the local churches to teach them about Wise Christian living.
So unlike Luther had once suggested let us not think of than thinking of this as “The Epistle of Straw” but instead let us see this as the “Proverbs of the New Testament.”
Proverbs of the New Testament
Proverbs of the New Testament
The book of James is a tough though very practical letter for what it looks like to live as a Christian.
Though religion has often become a seemingly bad word in our day and age. Though James, instead shows us what good, true and pure religion looks like.
This letter teaches us how to suffer well, the importance of taming the tongues, and how our works flow out of saving faith.
And in these first 6 verses, James sets up three different examples. The first is to seek joy in all circumstances, the second to ask for wisdom from a generous God, and the third is to be stable.
Seek Joy
Seek Joy
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Consider it all joy…
Some have mistaken this to mean that Christians should be happy al the time. This isn’t saying that you should be happy when you suffer. Happiness and joy are not the same Happiness is an emotion, whereas joy refers to a state of being.
Trusting in God regardless of the circumstances… have this mind of contentment about your when suffering of any sort comes. Whatever may come maintain trust in God. This is a key idea coming from James considering that he is probably writing this somewhere around 49ad. The suffering persecution that the church will face in the coming years following
In the midst of suffering, verses like this can be frustrating. It can be easy to think that James doesn’t know your situation, or that he didn’t have it as bad as you.
When your child dies, or your spouse dies, or your lose your job, the checkbook wont balance, when you cannot make ends meet, you get THAT call from your doctor… But when this is set in your mind before hand you are prepared for how to handle suffering.
Yet, it is also all encompassing. Consider it all joy… be filled and overflowing with contentment, and faith that God is good - and all satisfying - regardless of what difficulties come your way.
Which is a remarkable exhortation as it is - and yet he doesn’t stop there. He continues to give us a reason for why we ought to do this.
Our suffering, our trials, our hardships are working in us. And the key to suffering well is to seek joy even when your at your wits end.
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Through our trials God is testing us… God is proving us… God is producing something in us. Even if that manufacturing of endurance in us is painful - it is not absent from the work of God’s divine hand.
Take heart and be joyful even on the hardest day of your life - when your patience is running thin, and your faith seems to be running out because God is working in that to produce endurance.
And when this endurance comes to its completion, or full effect, then you will be complete. God is working in each of us for endurance that we might be complete. The ultimate goal is not endurance though - the goal is maturity.
Endurance brings about maturity.
“Maturity in the Christian life comes fundamentally through suffering.” (Burk Parsons, pastor, Ligonier video)
I think James would agree with that here. Being made whole, or complete is - being made mature - and that is why James teaches the Christian to rejoice here. When you face trials of many kinds you will gain endurance, and maturity.
There’s a lot more wisdom and maturity that comes from those who have been through a lot, and clung to Jesus in the midst of that than those who haven’t experienced anything.
James makes a transition stating that part of endurance’s full effect is that we ought to lack nothing - and then he connects to something that many seem to lack… wisdom.
So James ties together verses 5-8 with verse 1-6. Though generally speaking we often look at James, and treat it like the proverbs, and lacking context - it is very structure.
To refer back to Luther again, he said that it was chaotically thrown together. And once again, Luther was wrong about James.
Maturity and wisdom are connected though different.
The book of Proverbs teaches us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Whereas maturity, I would argue, is becoming more conformed to the image of Christ. You cannot have biblical maturity without biblical wisdom.
Seek Wisdom
Seek Wisdom
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James instructs us that we ought to ask for wisdom when we are lacking. This on the one hand out to lead us to the Word of God. If the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord - and the word of God leads us to love, fear and honor him more. Thus God giving us wisdom is him opening his word to us.
But Biblical wisdom is also not an acquisition of knowledge. But a lived out expression of what one believes.
Wisdom is knowing how we ought to live out the word of God, and the commandments of God in the midst of life.
James’ further instruction is ask God and God will give it generously.
God is not stingy with wisdom. He grants it to those who ask him sincerely. God also will not chastise the one asking for wisdom.
The Lord Jesus teaches us of the Father’s generosity in response to the Lord’s prayer in Luke 11:11-13.
11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
The Father loves to give gift to his children. But verse 6, follows up to this with a caution. This leads us to our next point
Seek Stability
Seek Stability
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James uses similar language to that of Paul in Eph 4:14
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
In Ephesians, Paul is also speaking of those who are spiritually mature, but also how God has given the church certain offices to guide them. Yet I want to point out that this idea of being tossed by the wind is used to convey spiritually immaturity. The one who is pushed either way by each passing wind of doctrine, human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. These two kinds of people are not all that different.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
This sounds like a pretty intimidating verse if we isolate it. I’m not going to ask for a show of hands, but I’m sure I can assume that most if not all of us have our doubts at times. But that’s not really what James means by no doubting.
James is not describing that one have perfect faith. But rather than one does not doubt the character of God. One does not doubt that “God gives generously to all without reproach.” If you ask these things of the Lord anticipating that he will leave you high and dry then you are the one that James is warning against here.
When you ask of the Lord for wisdom - do not do so like a child at a Walmart who knows his mom isn’t going to buy him a toy but is asking just in case. The caution here is against the attitude “well I know that God wont do this - but just in case I should ask.” And we do this often with our prayers… how often do we pray to God asking for healing and expect the person not to get healed? We should always be submissive to God’s will - but that attitude of he wont but he might should not carry over into asking for wisdom. And that ultimately isn’t faith that is exactly the kind of double minded person what James is describing here in verse 6-8.
James will later in chapter 4 tell the reader you have no because you ask not - but here he states that the double minded man ought not to expect for God to receive anything from the Lord. So according to James your prayers are not answered because you don’t ask or you don’t believe. Now that’s not always why prayers are not answered - so we should always be praying “Not my will, but your will be done.”
Let us also not turn this into some sort of spiritual recipe for getting what we want from God. It is not, if I REALLY believe that God will give me these things then I will get whatever I want. This is not about you upgrading your faith to manifest whatever spiritual reality you wish. If we are reminded that this text is ultimately about wisdom and spiritual maturity then we should also avoid falling into the pitfall of believing this text becomes
James describes that person as unstable.
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The double minded man is the one who is like the Scribes or Pharisees from last weeks text who thinks that he will believe if only he is given another sign - but yet will always need another sign. If only God answers this prayer - then I will really believe. The person who is half heartedly following Jesus, holding on to their own world - and Jesus is their backup plan. Their instability is not isolated to their prayers - but it is indicative of their entire lives. This is why James states that this one is unstable in all of his ways.
Repent…
If you feel faith in God is described as unstable… if you ask for things in prayer with no expectation that God will be true to his nature, if you find yourself blown about by waves of the sea and wind in doubt, carried away to different doctrines, or schemes of man,
Pray to God sincerely for wisdom… But also
Look to Christ… unbelief is a sin. (Hebrews 3:12)
Suffering points us to Christ…
At the beginning of this text we see James teaching us how we ought to endure in suffering. And the ultimate picture of perfect suffering is found in Christ. In the wilderness he faces temptation and yet he endures - and remains spotless.
James’ epistle instructs us how to live lives as Christians and the best example of how to live our joy in hardship is to look to Christ. From the text that we looked last week we learn that Jesus is one greater than Solomon. The man who was given all sorts of wisdom from the Lord - and yet Jesus is greater than Solomon.
Sometimes we will doubt, sometimes we will ask for things of the Lord imperfectly. We are still sinful creatures. Even in those moments look to Jesus.
God gives wisdom generously, and at the cross of Christ we find that sinners are also given generous forgiveness.
Just a few weeks ago Jim preached to us from Hebrews 12:1-2 and to return to that verse - we learn more about the endurance of Christ in the midst of trial.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
We look to Jesus as we run the race of endurance. Christ endured the Cross. Christ is our example… but Christ is also our savior. The only aspirations that we have for maturity
Consider it all joy… maturity
or be unstable in all your ways… immaturity.
Conclusion
The letter of James is certainly not an epistle of straw and we would be remiss to throw it in the fire, either literally, or metaphorically. Though it is an epistle that does not mention the death or resurrection of our Lord Jesus - it does aid us in how we ought to live our lives as those who have been saved by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. How does a Christian live a life of wisdom and maturity in Christ? Through endurance in the midst of suffering.
