A closer look at the book of James

[imperfectchristian]

Martin Luther once called the book of James an epistle of straw. It was not until much later on that he changed his mind and accepted it.

Why such controversy?

Romans and James are addressing two different sets of people. Paul was speaking to the Roman Christians, who were under threat of death for their faith.

Romans is a systematic understanding of faith in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote primarily so they would understand just exactly what they were putting their lives on the line for so they could be encouraged in standing for the faith.

James is written to Jewish believers in general. (12 tribes scattered among the nations) We need to appreciate that these Jewish believers of the time had religious baggage that they had brought into the Christian faith with them.

Jews hated the Roman oppressive occupation. In fact the temple was destroyed after James was written because Jews (zealots) had revolted against the Roman occupation. It back fired on them however.

This book seems to me to address the results of this tension among other things. In a spirit of nationalistic pride the Jews and Jewish Christians alike were seriously compromising the precepts of their faith.

James addresses several things....

These believers wanted to say things like...well I believe in one God. As if they are trying to divorce themselves from the moral precedent in their faith to serve some other purpose (my guess would be Jewish nationalism)

Their loose tongue was addressed. Again...I automatically think of that spirit of nationalism as Jews. Be slow to become angry, quick to listen, slow to speak. What in the world were they angry about....Roman occupation! .... politics!

Concerning faith and works...the issue is very much like someone here in the U.S. .... claiming Christianity because...hey I'm American...of course I'm Christian....the same way Jews claimed faith ... because it was part of their national identity. They might go out and kill a roman soldier and say...hey I belong to God because I am a descendent of Abraham and I believe in one God....of course to us this sounds pretty ridiculous.

It seems obvious to me that James is addressing their Jewish side...their monotheism....not their faith in Christ....when he addresses faith and works....obviously this is not a treatise on the Christian faith like Romans was.

Think of the Jews being angry and enraged at the Roman government for their occupation and oppression of their homeland. Think of how it must have really caused both Jew and Christian Jew’s blood to boil.

Notice...they kill and covet...quarrel and fight...James is prescribing the same Old testament remedy to their situation that is through out the OT Scriptures, humility towards God.

Jesus is mentioned only twice in this letter and only in passing reference, first in his opening and then in chapter 2.

The Gospel message is never presented or expounded upon in this letter.

Faith in God with the fruit of works that is brought about through humility towards God is what is presented. This letter addresses faith with a characteristically monotheistic Judaist tone.

This letter addresses quite well, someone who believes in the existence of God thinking that simply believing in His existence is enough.

This letter is particularly well fitted for honest Christian nationalists (for example…members of the IRA in Northern Ireland)

I think if we have a better picture of the type of people this letter is written to and where Jews were at that time as a whole in their faith towards God, we then can better appreciate the beauty, acceptance and love it expresses.


James 4

1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

]7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

 

[pinetree]

Yup,James did have influence from his Judaism,we see that men sent from James,in the book of acts,were the ones that caused Peter to shrink back,later being opposed by Paul for that action.

When you read this part of James,It seems like he meant it literally about justification by works too.

Some say he meant it figurativley,others dont..

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

 

[AudioArtist]

Thanks for that, t1wGI - it helped me understand that book better!

I've noticed that Paul also says in various epistles that just because we're Christians, it doesn't mean we can go on walking in darkness.

 

[oneshot012]

Think context of what Luther was dealing with.

He needed to make his argument and James could have standed as a potential block. I mean they really weren't into the grammatical-historical method of exegesis. That was a much later development to really sit down and think, "What did this mean to them?"

Furthermore, many scholars question whether even James penned that epistle himself.

Scholars like Richard Bauckham suggest that is this a collection of sayings much like our proverbs or the apocrypha work of "Wisdom".

Other's think it was a sermon that James delivered and someone else penned. Therefore, I would completely agree with you about saying this is for Jews. This is how to be a Jewish Christian. How do I live out my faith now that I am converted.

However, the isse about Romans is quite interesting as to its function. The classical Reformed position is to suggest that this is a work of soteriology however, this position has been challenged recently by people such as N.T. Wright and Philip Esler. They are working from two different perspectives but the classical commentators (those who say chapters are about justification and sanctification) have a hard time with 9-11. Most of them consider it to be a paranthetical. Esler and Wright have shown in their own respective ways how 9-11 fit in the larger work and scheme.

 

[imperfectchristian]

Yup,James did have influence from his Judaism,we see that men sent from James,in the book of acts,were the ones that caused Peter to shrink back,later being opposed by Paul for that action.

When you read this part of James,It seems like he meant it literally about justification by works too.

Some say he meant it figurativley,others dont..

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

As far as James believing in a literal justification by works...I think it is better to say he believed in a "faith that works" as they say...I also think it is very difficlut to read this given it's context and not understand it as being heavily flavored from a general jewish standpoint.

People often read 1st Corinthians and think...how messed up those Christians were, but I see the problems with the Jews that James was speaking to, to be in an even worse situation in many instances.

Most people think that the Jews did not like Christians because they believed Jesus was the Messiah....that is almost entirely false. Most Jews did not like Christians, because Christians set aside the mosaic law.

James was right in the middle of all of this as the head of the church in Jerusalem. (Talk about drawing the short straw)

It was an uneasy relationship between the Messianic Jews and traditional Jews that Paul obviously severely aggrevated with his unapologetic teachings on the setting aside of the law. An argument that ironically, similarly still exists to this very day.

What I find to be very interesting is that God took someone (Paul) who was outside of the circle of apostles (actually an enemy of the Christian faith) to bring the message of grace to the Gentiles...even at one point with him publicly scolding and correcting the head of the Christian church (Peter).

To me that is absolutely incredible. It seems to me that Paul understood the Gospel message and it's meaning from the Jewish standpoint, even better than any of the Apostles did.

I also think God orchestrated this so that men would not become proud and begin to glorify man instead of God.

Paul was a persecutor of Christians...easily one of the most unlikely candidates in the known world at that time to be a leader in the Christian church. Yet from what we know about God throughout the OT, it was just that kind of person God would want to use to reveal His glory.

 

[imperfectchristian]

Thanks for that, t1wGI - it helped me understand that book better!

I've noticed that Paul also says in various epistles that just because we're Christians, it doesn't mean we can go on walking in darkness.

Well thank you...

At the very least...we certainly should not continue sinning as Christians.

It is vital to understand however that Paul's whole point in Romans is that trying to live good does nothing to reconcile us to God, nor does it do anything to keep us reconciled. Paul made it clear that struggling with the law, wether mosaic or gentile moral law, was an exercise in fultility that actually only served to strengthen the very thing one is fighting against. The law is not bad, the problem is that we have a sinful nature.

The only answer to living a life of victory is for the holy Spirit to actually come inside and make His dwelling within us, just as was symbollicaly done when Jesus was baptized. Jesus was our example.

We receive the Holy Spirit that Jesus received and it is through His power living through us as we embrace what He is doing in us that leads us to a life of peace and rest, free from the bondage of our own sinful nature and the bondage of the law.

We live by faith trusting in Him and following His leading trusting and believing that He will complete in us the good work that He has begun.

 

[pinetree]

Well thank you...

At the very least...we certainly should not continue sinning as Christians.

It is vital to understand however that Paul's whole point in Romans is that trying to live good does nothing to reconcile us to God, nor does it do anything to keep us reconciled. Paul made it clear that struggling with the law, wether mosaic or gentile moral law, was an exercise in fultility that actually only served to strengthen the very thing one is fighting against. The law is not bad, the problem is that we have a sinful nature.

The only answer to living a life of victory is for the holy Spirit to actually come inside and make His dwelling within us, just as was symbollicaly done when Jesus was baptized. Jesus was our example.

We receive the Holy Spirit that Jesus received and it is through His power living through us as we embrace what He is doing in us that leads us to a life of peace and rest, free from the bondage of our own sinful nature and the bondage of the law.

We live by faith trusting in Him and following His leading trusting and believing that He will complete in us the good work that He has begun.

When you read James...what is the impression you get from him,as a person?

 

[imperfectchristian]

Think context of what Luther was dealing with.

He needed to make his argument and James could have standed as a potential block. I mean they really weren't into the grammatical-historical method of exegesis. That was a much later development to really sit down and think, "What did this mean to them?"

Furthermore, many scholars question whether even James penned that epistle himself.

Scholars like Richard Bauckham suggest that is this a collection of sayings much like our proverbs or the apocrypha work of "Wisdom".

Other's think it was a sermon that James delivered and someone else penned. Therefore, I would completely agree with you about saying this is for Jews. This is how to be a Jewish Christian. How do I live out my faith now that I am converted.

However, the isse about Romans is quite interesting as to its function. The classical Reformed position is to suggest that this is a work of soteriology however, this position has been challenged recently by people such as N.T. Wright and Philip Esler. They are working from two different perspectives but the classical commentators (those who say chapters are about justification and sanctification) have a hard time with 9-11. Most of them consider it to be a paranthetical. Esler and Wright have shown in their own respective ways how 9-11 fit in the larger work and scheme.

Yes I agree...poor Martin Luther...he must have really struggled with those passages just as we struggle with them today.

I would agree that Romans 9-11 are parenthetical. The question I think that needs to be answered is: How did the content of Romans 9-11 benefit the Roman Christians....in other words...what was Paul's motive for telling the roman Christians God's dealings with the Jews?

It seems Paul was making a heart appeal to motivate the Roman Christians to a life pleasing to God out of thankfulness for what God has done for them.

 

[imperfectchristian]

When you read James...what is the impression you get from him,as a person?

Considering those he was writing to...I think he was most gracious. It was not aimed at a specific group like Paul's letters. It is kind of like..."if the sandal fits"

James did not become a believer in / follower of Jesus until after He rose from the grave. I think he was a true Messianic Jew. I believe this is why he was the head of the church in Jerusalem.

I find the book of James to be quite a beautiful letter. Even though he comes across as scolding, he still shows a tremendous amount of love and acceptance for those he is writing to and in fact teaches them gracious acceptance of each other.

I think his harshness came with the territory. Jerusalem was a really rough place to be a leader in the Christian faith. Many of the Jews were outspoken and extremely intolerant of those who differed with them in their views.

Paul was well aware of this political type hatred when he got the religious leaders fighting over wether or not there was a ressurection in Acts.