The Two Ways

One way lead us back home the other would lead us to more wandering in the mountains… at least it was a simple choice between two ways - most decisions today are seemingly between many more options… and through technology we have access to all kinds of options, many opinions, access to a variety of teachers and experts…

Just look up advice on how to parent for example!

The book of James was written by the half-brother of Jesus who became a leader in the Jerusalem church… and Because of persecution many people had left Jerusalem to live elsewhere - so you have these pockets of Jewish believers living in various cities scattered throughout the Roman Empire

Purpose / Intention: James is concerned because he knows that the day to day realities of life - living in a new environment, a different culture, and running from persecution - would test and challenge their faith - So James writes this general letter to be passed around to all the clusters of Jewish believers scattered throughout the Roman Empire. And He writes to give them wisdom and insight for continuing to live as people of genuine faith in Jesus.

But James isn’t the only person teaching wisdom from God.... In the first century many philosophers traveled from city to city publicly presenting their wisdom…in fact, A ‘grand style’ of rhetoric was characteristic of many philosophers and teachers of the day. So there were a lot of well spoken convincing sounding teachers who were teaching people about life and how to live. [chapter 6 taken from St. Paul’s Theology of Rhetorical Style: An Exammination of in Light of First Century Rhetorical. p224 ] They were highly engaging and even entertaining.

[1] Bullmore, Michael. International Scholars Publications, Bethesda, MD (1995). “An Exegetical Analysis of ”, and “Conclusions” chapter 6 taken from St. Paul’s Theology of Rhetorical Style: An Exammination of in Light of First Century Rhetorical. p224