James: An Introduction (Part 1)

The Most Important Book We Forgot

April 26, 2015

By John Partridge
Scripture: James 1-5 (An Introduction)
Welcome to the beginning.
Today we begin something a little different. While normally I prepare an message each week that generally
stands alone, this week we begin a six-part sermon series on the book of James that I am giving two titles. First
is, The Most Important Book We Forgot because much of James message is directed straight toward us, the
relationship between the world and the church to which James wrote is very much like our own, and many of us
have very little idea of what James has to say. While we like to read the Gospels and are much more familiar
with the letters of Paul, James sits in the back of the New Testament often ignored and forgotten.
The second title that I am using is more descriptive of what we will find in this letter as we go along, A Study
in Practical Ethics because much of what James has to tell us is very practical instruction on how the followers
of Christ (and the church) are to live out their faith. And so today we begin by understanding the background to
this important book and by answering the questions that many of us learned to ask in English class so many
years ago, who, what, where, when, why, how, plus a little overview of what we should look for in the coming
weeks.
The answer to the first question, Who? is not as easy as you might, at first, assume. There are 6 to 7 possible
authors named James that we find in scripture. We will begin with some of the less likely and move toward
those who are the better candidates. There is the disciple, James the son of Alpheus who, other than being one
of the twelve, we dont really know much about. Second there is James who, in the Gospel of Mark, is referred
to as James the less or James the younger. Other than this reference in Mark we know little about him and
this might just be that same as James the son of Alpheus. Third, there is James the father of Judas found in
Luke 6, who also might have been known as Thaddeus. Fourth, James the brother of Judas, and in this case,
Judas is also translated as Jude and was the author of the New Testament book by the same name.
Finally, that brings us to the two best candidates, James the son of Zebedee, a disciple of Jesus Christ and the
brother of the Apostle John, and James the brother of Jesus whom we know from Pauls letter to the Galatians.
This last James, according to Paul, may or may not have been considered to be an apostle. It is difficult to tell
because although Paul attributes James with great respect and it is apparent that he has significant authority,
James and Paul seem to not have always gotten along well. Of these last two, although James the son of
Zebedee was known to be a prominent and important disciple, we are told in Acts 12 that he was martyred,
killed because of his faith, sometime between A.D. 41 and 44. The letter that we are studying which is
attributed to James was probably not written until at least ten years later so James the son of Zebedee is also
removed from contention, and that leaves us with James the brother of Jesus as the most likely candidate.
In addition, there are a few things that we know about James the brother of Jesus. We know that James was
well-known, that he was an influential figure in the 1st century church, that he was a witness to the resurrection
(even though he was not a believer before the resurrection), that he was the head of the church in Jerusalem and
that tradition says that he was the brother of Jesus. We also know that in early church literature, James is called
a bishop, and we know that he didnt get along particularly well with the Apostle Paul. In the end, this James
was martyred for his faith in Jerusalem in approximately A.D. 62, by a high priest named Ananus, just before
the first Jewish revolt against Rome.
From this, we know something about the When question. The book of James must therefore have been
written before A.D. 62 and from other clues in this writing, some scholars now believe that was probably
written between A.D. 45 and 47. During this time Christians were still meeting in Jewish synagogues and,
because the flavor or the writing is distinctly Jewish so we suspect that the church was still predominantly
Jewish. It is clear that James, in this book, favors Jewish believers over the Gentile believers that Paul was
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reaching. If this reasoning is correct, and the estimate of AD 45-47 is accurate, then James, along with Pauls
letter to the Galatians, is among the earliest of all the New Testament writings.
Where was it written? Because James was known as the bishop of Jerusalem, we can safely assume that he was
either in Jerusalem, or somewhere nearby in the region of Palestine and Syria. This assumption fits well with
the references we find within the text to autumn and spring rains which are appropriate for that region, as well
as the general political situation that was known to exist in that area.
So why did James write this letter?
After the death of Stephen, many of the followers of Jesus Christ left Jerusalem and scattered all over the
Roman world. Theirs was a time of trial, oppression and attacks on Christians by the Jewish church and others
(although full-fledged persecution would come several hundred years later). In this environment, James wrote
this letter to Christians, particularly Jewish believers, to instruct, encourage, and to share with them some of the
important messages about culture and ethics that he had been preaching about in Jerusalem.
James is concerned about the political situation in the world and even at the time of this writing he can already
see the tensions rising that will eventually lead to the first Jewish revolt against Rome. But James is also
concerned that too much of the culture of the world was getting into the culture of the church. The church does
whatever the rich donors want and is indifferent to the needs of the poor. Church members speak critically of
one another and suffer from unspiritual envy and selfish ambition. And finally he sees an arrogance within the
church and what he calls a double-mindedness about God.
Because James is a letter that was written to many people in widely dispersed churches, it is not like many of
the other letters in the New Testament. It is not a real letter that was written to individual churches in that it
does not include any personal reflections, or stories, and nor does it address any specific issues or situations, or
people in a local church. Instead, James is a literary letter that is written in an established literary form. It is
similar to a letter and written in the form of a letter, but is, in reality, more like a proclamation or a synagogue
sermon.
James appears at the end of the New Testament with a few other letters that are also categorized as catholic or
universal letters that are intended for the whole church. The Greek that appears in this letter is excellent and
is so good, that some scholars initially doubted that it could have been written by a Galilean Jew. For that
reason, and others, James was among the last books of the Bible to be accepted as authentic and was finally
accepted by both the Eastern and Western churches as scripture in the 4th century. James was never rejected
by the church but was, for many years, neglected by the church. This is often the case today as well.
Also contributing to the late acceptance of James were the Jewish revolts in AD 66 (which led to the destruction
of the Temple in AD 70) and AD 132. These revolts, and the corresponding counter attacks by the Roman
government, also caused the end of most churches in the region of Palestine and Syria. Since these were the
most likely churches to have received James letter, their destruction probably contributed to slowing the
distribution and acceptance of this book by the growing international church.
Some scholars have argued that James was written much later by someone else using James as a pen name
(which is known as a pseudopigrapha). But while this sort of writing was common in the first centuries of the
church, that early church was also well-practiced in identifying and rejecting the writings of authors. The
simple fact that this book was maintained and copied tells us that the earliest recipients (and those afterward)
felt that this was genuine.
During the next five weeks we will discover a number of themes and characteristics that are included in this
book. James emphasizes a vital Christianity that links together faith and works because for him, genuine faith
must be accompanied by a consistent lifestyle. In many places you can see similarities between James and
Jesus Sermon on the Mount that is found in Matthew. Much like the book of Esther never actually mentions
God, this letter from James is unusual in that it is not oriented around the person of Jesus and doesnt have
much to say about Jesus at all, but James is writing to established churches and probably assumes that the
people there know those things already. Instead, James wants to address a failure to put faith into practice,
preach against divided loyalties between God and the world, and talk about things like faith, works, prayer, sin,
perfection, wisdom, poverty, and wealth. Be sure to watch and listen for all of these themes over the coming
weeks.
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But because of James emphasis on the interconnection of faith and works, he stands in stark contrast to the
writings of Paul who said that we are justified by faith and not by works. Perhaps because there was
historically some political tension between James and Paul, some people have tried to say that these positions
are opposites and thus contradict one another. But Paul was addressing a Jewish dependency on the Law of
Moses which overemphasized obedience to the law and led to a belief in works only. James, on the other hand,
is addressing a tendency of the church to underemphasize works and rest upon doctrine or knowledge alone.
As we will see in the next few weeks, James addresses a church very much like ours. It is a church that is
distracted by the world around it and the political upheaval that they see every day. James writes to a people
who are tempted to be like the culture of the world and to have the values of the world, but at the same time
who are trying to live the in the culture of the church and live out the values of the church. This is what James
describes as being double-minded or having a double soul. As we read the teaching and instruction that James
directed to an international church two thousand years ago, we will, very often, see our world, our church, and
our own lives mirrored in those who lived so long ago. Just as they did, we must take a hard look at the mirror
that James is holding and see the places where we need to do better.
It is my hope, and my prayer, that James would no longer be a forgotten book, but one that will shape and
transform our lives, and the life of the church, in the years to come.

 You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first
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