Oct 23 2020 - Introduction to the Letter of James

Who wrote this letter?

The author identifies himself simply as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." (1:1). There are two men named James found within the pages of the New Testament who were of sufficient reputation to need no further identification in a letter such as this one. The first was the apostle James, son of Zebedee and brother of John, but he was put to death in about 44 AD, too early to make him a likely author of this letter. The second was James the brother of the Lord mentioned in the Gospels (Matt 13:55; Mk 6:3) who became a follower of Jesus only after the resurrection (cf. 1 Cor 15:7 and John 7:5). He later became the leader of the church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal 1:19; 2:9,12). Christians have traditionally identified James the brother of the Lord as the author of this letter. 

Though James was personally loyal to the torah (the Jewish Law), and sought to maintain ties between the emerging early Christian movement and Judaism, his first loyalty was to Jesus Christ. Early sources suggest that he was stoned to death by the scribes and Pharisees in about 62 AD for refusing to renounce his allegiance to Jesus as the Christ.

Who was it written to?

This letter seems to have been written to Jewish Christians who have left their homes in Palestine and are facing economic distress, including persecution at the hands of wealthy landowners – a target audience similar to that of the letter to the Hebrews. The situation described in Acts 11:19 may provide a background to this letter.

Douglas Moo argues that the letter was probably written before James became acquainted with Paul's teaching at the Apostolic Council in AD 48 or 49 (Acts 15). He thinks that Paul's preaching in Tarsus (Acts 9:30; Gal 1:21) and in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26) had been misunderstood – maybe deliberately misunderstood – by some who heard him. These people were using the slogan 'justification by faith alone' as an excuse for neglecting a commitment to discipleship and practical Christian living. It is this distortion of Paul's preaching that James attacks in chapter two of his letter. The absence of any awareness of the controversy concerning the torah that later emerged in the early church suggests an early date for the letter – perhaps in the middle 40s, just before the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15.

What does it have to say to them and to us?

Alec Motyer provides a helpful summary of the book, saying, "James sets himself to give practical help to the people of God in the actual situations of their lives. They are not yet gathered to their eternal happiness in Christ, but are scattered in the world (1:1), subjected to many trials and temptations (1:2, 12, etc.), liable to lapse into worldly ways (2:2ff.), or into unspiritual complacency (2:14ff) and in many other ways also buffeted from outside and enticed from within (1:14). They have the great hope of a returning Lord (5:8,9), but he has not yet come, and James would establish Christ's people in a life of practical holiness in readiness for that great day."

James stresses the need for faith to be displayed in obedience and for the life of faith to be characterised by sincere prayer. Douglas Moo writes, "Basic to all that James says in his letter is his concern that his readers stop compromising with worldly values and behaviour and give themselves wholly to the Lord. Spiritual 'wholeness,' … is the central theme of this letter." This exhortation to practical holiness is equally important to our day. We also face daily pressure to become conformed to the way of life that is common to, and assumed normal by, the world around us.

Peter Misselbrook