James: 1
Before we get to the text let’s spend a little time surveying the social-historical background. In terms of authorship, conservative scholars maintain that it’s the step-brother of Jesus (cf. Matt 13:54-55), largely, I think, b/c the James refers to himself only as a “bond-servant” of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jas 1:1); the idea being that b/c James didn’t believe Jesus during the days of his earthly ministry he has since adopted this lowly, unassuming manner: a bond-servant rather than an Apostle. Another option is a disciple of that James writing in the name/spirit of James. If it was the former then the approx. date of the letter would be some time in the 40s AD, prior to the Jerusalem Council (in Acts 15). If the letter was pseudonymous then it would date to the last quarter of the 1st century (between 75 and 90). The audience was most likely Jewish Christians based on: the letter’s favourable discussion of the Law, the use of “synagogue” to describe where believers meet, and the designation of the audience as “the 12 tribes.” In terms of genre the text is a mix of letter, homily (or sermon), and Jewish wisdom literature. As for the occasion: James is trying to help his community deal with matters of suffering, the meaning of justification by faith for Jewish believers, and interpersonal conflict.
The outline of letter would be something like this: trials and maturity (1:1-18), faith and works (1:19-2:26), interpersonal conflict (3:1-4:12), implications of a Christian worldview (4:13-5:11), and concluding exhortations (5:12-20). So let’s see if we can follow the flow of the letter.
1 of the themes of James is perseverance or endurance: he begins and ends his letter with this theme. In the opening section (1:1-12) he talks about how God uses suffering ultimately to produce spiritual maturity. This is precisely why believers can rejoice in/through trials (Jas 1:2): b/c of what God will accomplish in our lives. God accomplishes spiritual maturity by first producing “endurance” or “perseverance” (Jas 1:3). The idea behind the Greek word for “endurance” is to “remain intact under pressure”; in other words God wants to produce in his children a faith that might bend during hard times but won’t break. A faith that endures ultimately results in “perfection” (Jas 1:4), which is “NT-ese” for spiritual maturity.
If someone’s struggling with this whole endurance thing, then just ask God for wisdom and he’ll help you (Jas 1:5). James then offers 2 examples of the kind of wisdom God gives during trials: the trial/temptation (seem Greek word) of poverty and the trial of wealth (1:9-11). Question: Why do you think James chooses these 2 trials in particular? Wisdom teaches the poor person tempted to yearn for wealth that s/he is rich in Christ! Wisdom teaches the rich person tempted to glory in his/her wealth to take the posture/attitude of a servant.
Jas 1:12 concludes this section. Its meaning is essentially this: to everyone who perseveres through trials, God will complete or fulfil his/her salvation. I believe this verse is James’s version of Paul’s take in Phil 3:12-14. In other words, God has “saved” us (past tense) from the penalty of sin, in order to “save” us (present tense) from the power of sin in our lives; and as he saves us from sin’s power and as we make it our goal to live morally victorious lives, God “will save” us (future tense) from the presence of sin: when we live with God forever in heaven. Question: Is then the fulfilment/completion of our salvation conditional?
Having introduced the idea of temptation (remember: “temptation” is the same Greek word as “trial”), James talks a little bit about the mechanics of temptation in 1:13-18. He basically says that God cannot be tempted nor does he tempt others (Jas 1:13). Rather, temptations and sins arise from our own inner lusts (Jas 1:14-15). Paul spoke a lot about how our sinful thoughts and actions proceed from our sinful nature (e.g., Rom 7:14-21; Gal 5:16-17)—something we all picked up from Adam when he sinned in the Garden.
1:19-2:26 focuses on how real faith should be expressed. Faith results in doing. Thus, faith does God’s word (Jas 1:22-25). It cares inclusively for the socially marginalized (1:26-27). It does not allow a believer to give undo preference to someone b/c of their high social status (2:1-13).
2:14-26 kind of sums up what James has been saying in 1:19-2:13. His exposition of the relationship between faith and works gave the Reformer Martin Luther fits. We’ll look at this next.