This book is an open letter to Jewish Christians who live outside of Judea.

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The book of James will make more sense if we keep that in mind. James assumes that his readers are Jews familiar with the Old Testament. This letter shares some similarities with Jewish wisdom literature like the book of Proverbs. It’s a very practical book. We’ll notice how he emphasizes what we would call “practicing what you preach.”

This type of letter is called a “General Epistle” because it’s not written to one specific church or individual.

🤓 So an Epistle is a letter?

Yes.

🤓 I thought the Epistles were the Apostles’ wives.

😑

👴🏽 Back in the old days, Sonny, waaaay back in the 1900’s, we used to write messages on something called paper. We put the paper message inside another piece of paper called an envelope, and we sent it through the mail to the person who was to receive the message.

🤓 So… like an email? But in IRL?

👴🏽 I don’t care about your e-mail and I don’t know what IRL is. I know about the IRS.

🤓 Oh. IRL just means In Real Life. That means the experience is physical and not virtual.

👴🏽 Then why don’t you just say so? You kids and your abbreviations. You don’t speak normal English. You tappy-tap-tap your abbreviated messages on your phones all day. Don’t know what an epistle is. You live in make-believe land so much you have to have letters to designate when something is “in real life.” (Continues muttering indistinctly…)

🤓 So an epistle is an email on paper. Got it.

The writer is James, the (half) brother of Jesus. We just read in Acts 12 how Herod Agrippa had James the Son of Zebedee killed.

Even though James grew up in the same household as Jesus, he never boasts about that or plays the “I’m-Jesus’-younger-brother” card. Instead, he calls himself “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

😐 That’s gotta be proof that Jesus is alive.

How so?

😐 No younger brother would call himself the servant of his older brother unless his older brother was Divine.

Fair point.

The epistle of James may have been the first inspired writing since the close of the Old Testament. Because none of the New Testament books come with a date stamped on them, there are debates about when they were written. Here is one possible list:

Even though we’ve read through the Gospels and are currently reading Acts, they were actually written down later after several epistles had been written. So the first inspired writings of the NT were epistles.

Some lists put the Gospel of Mark first and put James later. You’ll find different arrangements out there. Most agree on the letters to Timothy and Titus being the end of Paul’s writings and of John’s work being the last of the NT.

So what is this letter for?

What we have seen so far in Acts is that the Jews who believe on Jesus are persecuted by the Jews who do not believe. And this new way of knowing God through Jesus is very different for the Jews who have always related to God through 3 T’s:

• Tradition
• Temple
• Torah

This letter is to encourage them in this new way of relating to God and to call out some problem behaviors.

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James 1

There are 2 main sections in this chapter:

• Having your faith tested
• Hearing and doing the word

Imagine being a first century Jew who has been baptized into Jesus. You might be kicked out of the synagogue. Some zealous Pharisee like Saul might throw you in jail. You could be stoned like Stephen. Perhaps people quit doing with business with you and your income suffers. Perhaps it causes your family is torn apart.

James says that these things are testing their faith. And that if they are tempted to sin- perhaps to give up and deny Jesus- that is not coming from God but from their own desires.

Following Jesus isn’t something we can just give lip-service to. In modern slang James might’ve said, “Put your money where your mouth is.” Or, “Put up or shut up.” In Texas, a fella who talks big but doesn’t deliver might be said to be “All hat and no cattle.” If we really believe, it ought to show up in what we do.

James 2

Showing (or not) your faith: Example 1, The Sin of Partiality

I’m partial to chocolate. 🍫🍩

Perhaps you are partial to dogs 🐶 more than cats.🐱

To be partial is to have a preference. And there’s nothing wrong with having preferences as long as our preferences aren’t causing us to show favoritism or ignore injustice.

We are in a culture saturated with preferences toward the extremes of the social spectrum. The rich, powerful, and famous get preferential treatment and we all act as if that’s as it should be. And the vulnerable (or those who claim to be victims) also tend to get preferred treatment. Some people think that victimhood (or perceived victimhood) puts them above the law. I’ve never seen so many victims in my life as we have today. I think some people would rather be a victim than a victor.

You can tell by what James wrote that the trend in his time was to favor the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the poor. In our wrestling-with-Marxism-culture, we’re just as likely to need James 2:2-4 flipped on its head like this:

“For if a racial minority wearing flea market clothing comes into your assembly, and a rich man in nice clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the shabby clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the rich man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet and apologize for your privilege,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭2-4 (The “Reversed Version”)

It’s not right to favor the rich; to turn a blind eye when they break the law. But it’s equally wrong to favor the poor and turn a blind eye when they break the law. Partiality in EITHER direction is wrong.

I once played the part of a statue of Lady Justice in a school play. I was wrapped in a white sheet and my face painted to look like marble. I held a paper scroll in one hand instead of scales. Thankfully I got to sit. But my whole schtick was to not move for the entire performance. It was a trial even for someone like me who likes stillness and has no trouble waiting. I recall my nose itching dreadfully and not being able to scratch it. Back to James…

We read quite a bit through the OT and the Gospels about the wicked leaders of Israel. Many of them could have spouted scripture verses all day long and then turn around and be a cruel tyrant.

James is letting his Jewish brethren know, that to follow Jesus they can’t be like the wicked leaders. Real faith produces righteous action. Conduct matters.

This is only one side of the equation, however. It’s not the whole revelation. Paul will soon unpack the other side of the equation. Faith without works might be dead, but works without faith can never make us right with God.