Wisdom for Every Trial

James Bible Study

Introduction to James

The book of James is 5 chapters, 108 versus, and 1739 words. After reading this first verse of James, we can discuss the important issues of the book's origins and find out the author, date, audience, and other important information that will help us interpret James' message for his church and for our own lives today.

This information will help us understand the historical context of the book and its meaning to its original audience. We can then interpret the book and apply it to our lives today. We will seek a synthesis of this information to help us understand the book better.

James 1:1

1:1 James, a slave belonging to God and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One: To the twelve tribes who are in the Diaspora, greetings.

Author

The writer calls himself James. You would think that if a writer used his name that would help us to know who he is except for one minor problem. There are about six different men in the New Testament with that same name! We need to think through the possible people with that name to discover which James is writing to us.

Some possibilities for the author:

  • James the father of Judas (Not Judas Iscariot) (Luke 6:16)?
  • James the son of Alpheus, a disciple (Matthew 10:3; Mark 5:10; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13)?
  • James the Younger (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; 16:1; Luke 24:10)?
  • James the brother of John, sons of Zebedee, a disciple (Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:19; Luke 5:10)?
  • James the Just, Jesus’s half-brother (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; Acts 12:27; 15:13; 21:18;) 1 Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19; 2:9, 12)?

James the Just is the most widely accepted author. He was the leader of the Jerusalem church, referred to by Paul as a pillar of the church (Gal. 2:9), and an arbiter in the Jerusalem Church Council of Acts 15. He was well-respected by Jews which made him an excellent leader in the city between Christians and Jews.

James was the half-brother of Jesus and his brother, Jude, who wrote the book with his name. Jude actually mentions that he is the brother of James (Jude 1). Why do I say half-brother? James and Jude were sons of Mary and Joseph. Jesus is Mary’s son, but God the Father is His father. Luke describes it as the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary (Luke 1:35). This is why all Jesus’s brothers and sisters were half brothers and half-sisters.

James was the pastor of the Jerusalem Church until he was martyred around 62 AD. Josephus reports that the high priest, Ananus, had him stand for trespassing the law. Interestingly, Ananus was removed from his position as high Priest because of James’s death. Both Christians and Jews in the city of Jerusalem were very angry about his death.

Tell Me More

If you look at the original Greek text, or an interlinear, you will discover that the name of the author is Jacob. Why do we call him James in our English Bible versions? Actually, all of the “Jameses” in the English Bible are Jacobs. Why is that?

The answer gets a little complicated, so I will try to simplify it here. It is not because of King James. Translated James for Jacob in the New Testament started with translations of the Greek text into Latin, French, and other European languages like Spanish and English.

Furthermore, translators wanted to make a difference between New Testament references to Jacob from the Old Testament and other Jacobs in the New Testament that referred to Jesus’s disciples and others with the same name.

They actually did this in the Greek text, but you will find that most European languages make a separation between Jacob referred to Jacob of the Old Testament in the Greek text and the Jacobs named James in the New Testament.

James Describes Himself

1:1 James, a slave belonging to God and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One…

We have discussed James is the author above. James describes himself not as someone special (Jesus’s brother) but as a member of life the Christian community, a disciple of Jesus. He is a slave. This seems abrupt to us, but it is a great way to describe ourselves as disciples. A slave must obey his master in everything. A slave does not have any choice otherwise.

We must obey our Lord Jesus, or He is not our Lord. We are His slaves to do with as He wishes. Everything in our lives belongs to Him. We surrender every day, obey at every turn because we belong to Him.

Some commentators believe that this could be translated “belonging to the Lord and God Jesus Christ.” This would be unusual to the New Testament letters. It would proclaim Jesus as God and Lord. This is what He is. But it is better that it resembles the rest of New Testament letters, translated best as “God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The word for Lord in the Old Testament is the Greek translation of Yahweh. This is where we get the divinity of Jesus. Jesus is Yahweh, the Lord. He is also Lord in the sense of our Master and Boss. We are familiar with “Christ” in our Bibles, but the word Christ is the Greek word for Messiah, the One anointed by God, His special servant on the earth.

Audience

There are two ways we could understand the audience of this letter.

  • Was James writing his letter to the Jewish nation as a literal and historical nation, so that Diaspora referred to the historical scattering of the Israelites? The Babylonians and Persians scattered the Jews living in Israel as part of their way of dealing with conquered peoples. The twelve tribes would literally referred to the historical twelve tribes of Israel. The Jerusalem Church had a representation of both Hellenized Jews and native Jews (Acts 6).
  • Was James speaking metaphorically of the Church when he used the words Diaspora (and twelve tribes as a metaphor for the twelve apostles and the Church? This could referred to both believing Jews and Gentiles who became Christians. Diaspora would then refer to Christians who were scattered abroad in the Roman Empire especially because of persecution. For this study, we will maintain that since James the author was the Leader or pastor of the Jerusalem church, he was using these terms as rich metaphors for the church and those who were scattered abroad.

After the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7, the church endured extreme persecution some ran from the Leaders of Judaism, such as Saul and persecutors like him. The letter of James could be a way to keep them involved even after they left Jerusalem. It would be a friendly and much welcomed letter from their pastor.

To the Diaspora

1:1…To the twelve tribes who are in the Diaspora, greetings.

James writes his letter to the audience of the twelve tribes who are in the Diaspora. The 12 tribes usually refers to Israel, but it was unusual for New Testament writers to refer to Israel using “12 tribes.”

Since the time of the exile of the 10 northern tribes of Israel, references to those who lived in the area of Israel turned from Israelites to Jews by the first century AD. If James was writing only to Jewish Christians, he would say, “to the Jews scattered among the nations.” This is why some scholars believe James is referencing the composite Church, composed of believing Jews and Gentiles in Jesus.

The Diaspora could be considered a specialized word with the specific meanings of those Jews exiled among the nations since the exiles by the Assyrians Empire Babylonian Empire in 720 BC and 586 BC respectively. However, if James is writing to Jewish and Gentile Christians scattered abroad from Jerusalem, Diaspora simply refers to a believing community of Christians scattered abroad. This is probably the way we should understand this address.

As with all biblical books, the first addressees are the historically original audience the writer addresses the book 2. Secondarily, everything we read in the Bible is also addressed to us. God addresses us as believers in Him, so the message of James is applicable to us.

We must do the proper interpretive steps to make sure we do not write in meaning that would take this text from its time and culture to ours without preserving the meaning intended by the author. When we do our work well, we can apply the intended meaning we have discovered to ourselves and our world today.

Occasion and Purpose

The Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD brought changes to the entire Roman province of Palestine. The Jerusalem Temple was also destroyed, ending animal sacrifices in Judaism. Judaism turned to the synagogues created in the Diaspora during the exile of Israel writes by the Babylonian and Persian empires. They focused on studying Torah in lieu of sacrifices at the temple.

Selected the best part Christianity separated from Judaism and came under great persecution from Jews and Romans. Originally, Romans understood Christianity to be a sect of Judaism, and protected by Roman law. Christians were not required to worship the emperor, but that all changed when the Jews clarified that Christians were not one of the Jewish sects.

Because of this persecution, Jewish Christians and other Christians fled from Jerusalem and the surrounding areas to other Roman provinces. There were already Jews living in other provinces, but these were Christian Jews. They moved out wanted to hear from their pastor because they cannot be in Jerusalem to hear his sermons. The letter of James gives a pastoral touch to the issues of James’s day. He deals with compassion and firm preaching when the topic warrants it.

Date

The date of James must be before 62 AD becausee James the Just was martyred then. Some would say it is as early as 44-49 AD because it doesn’t seem to take into account the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15. Other than Galatians, this is the earliest writing of the New Testament. James does not seem to be aware of exactly what Paul taught about faith and works, so it is probably written before Paul meets with James and the apostles in Jerusalem, in the event he explains in Galatians 2

Genre and Literary Features

Genre refers to what type of literary work the letter of James is. For instance, we know that it is is an epistle (a Greek letter with defined parameters and structure). But beyond that, what is the book of James considered to be. Genre determines how we interpret the book's images, use of Scripture quotes, and driving themes and purpose.

For example, if we look at a poem, we expect certain literary conventions, such as rhyme, meter, repetition, parallelism, vivid imagery, terseness, and the like. We will not expect to see a statement logically defined with a body and a reasonable conclusion. Poets write to display and express emotions related to life. In the same way, we need to know what conventions James is using so that we don't misinterpret his method and message to us.

Several attempts by scholars have been given to better understand the genre of the book of James. Here are a few possibilities:

    Sermonic Flavor. Much of the letter of James is a sermon approach. James addresses issues in the community and produces illustrations, application, and imperative commands. He also references Scripture as he makes his points. Prophetic Flavor. In the sense of addressing a major issue within James’ congregation and applying biblical ideals as a response to the issue. Not prophetic in that James tells the future. James addresses the issue of squabbles among Christians (Chapter 4), the problem of the tongue (chapter 3), and relations between the rich and poor (1:9-11, 2:1-10; 5:1-6). Proverbial Wisdom Flavor. Much like the Proverbs, the whole book of James is arranged or disarranged in a collection of short wisdom sayings that present paradoxes. The book has material unrelated and disconnected from other material in the same book. A road system without an interstate system. Each saying would be taken as a stand-alone passage. Series of Collected Sermons. Each issue builds on the last as the sermons are tied together through catchwords and phrases, ideas, and concerns. A perfect example would be James 1:2-8 conn selected for Jewel anniversary so that visual imagery ected to 1:12-18 through two or three catchwords (approved, trial/temptation, etc). This would explain how the book circulates between the same types of issues.

James has some literary features that help him produce his communication with his readers. Some of these found in the book are:

  • Parables. Especially in James 2, James uses a parable of a rich man entering the place of meeting to talk about partiality. And talks about trials as points of contact to enact godly wisdom. He gives ways to live wisely in these times of trials. Wisdom Sayings. James describes heavenly wisdom, Imperatival Commands. There are a lot of imperatives (commands) given by James throughout this letter. It is a much higher percentage per capital and in many other books. Vivid Imagery. The letter of James has a lot of vivid imagery almost like poetry. The images James uses are easy to see in your mind’s eye. Mouse click select

Main Themes

James returns to several main themes throughout his letter. Some of these things are:

  • Wisdom. James touches on the importance of heavenly wisdom in the last days and the trials we face (James 1:5-8; 3:13-18).
  • Rich and Poor. James addresses the social implications and aspects of the rich versus the poor (James 1:9-11; 2:1-13; 5:1-6).
  • Trials and Temptation. In one real sense, the whole book of James is about trials and temptations we face in the last days. He begins with various trials and then encounters some of those various trials from his time period (James 1:2-4, 12-18)
  • Faith and Works. James describes the difference between faith and works and how they work together (James 2:14-26).
  • Speech. James talks about the power of the tongue and how it is. To control it, sometimes giving voice to our anger (James 1:19-21; 3:1-12).
  • Suffering. The issue of suffering in the last days takes James’s attention in the letter (James 5:1-6, 7-12, 13-18, 19-20).

Biblical Prophecy, Wisdom, and Faith

Some of the central themes of James, such as wisdom, prophecy, faith, and the last things must be understood in a biblical context rather than the popularized caricatures we use today. For instance, in prophecy, we tend to focus on a minor trend that prophets could tell the future. While this happens sometimes in the biblical prophets, a prophet was not some soothsayer or mystic future teller.

Prophets stood out because they focused on social injustices and sin in people's lives and nation's character. Then they told the world what God thinks about those issues. Prophets were prophetic because they had the gift of being God's mouthpieces, speaking to the issues that God was concerned about, calling out rulers and people to live God's way instead of their own way.

Wisdom also has a different nuance today than it does in the Bible. Today, wisdom is some unattainable, spiritual or secretive ability, like intuition or a "gut feeling." But in the Bible, wisdom is always a path chosen to deal with an issue in everyday practice. Wisdom was extremely practical and real. It was knowing the facts and acting on what you know to be true in every situation. We will see James repeatedly do this.

In the same fashion, faith is lived out, not head knowledge. It is seen with every deed and word. Faith is active beleif. And faith is placed in the context of the last days. In our suffering and trials, James gives us the best nugget of wisdom any pastor could, to turn to the Lord in faith, trusting God to get you through!

Outline and Structure

The structure of the book focuses on main themes and addresses them two or three times throughout the total of the letter of James. The central focus is having pure joy in various trials, wisdom in trials, and then a list and returning to those trials throughout the letter.

  1. Introduction and Greeting (James 1:1)
  2. Wisdo for Various Trials (James 1:2-27)
    1. The Trial of Joy (James 1:2-4)
    2. The Trial of Wisdom (James 1:5-8)
    3. The Trial of the Lowly Brother (James 1:9-11)
    4. The Trial of Temptation (James 1:12-18)
    5. The Trial of Living God’s Word (1:19-27)
  3. Wisdom for trials of faith that works (James 2:1-3:18)
    1. The Trial of Partiality (James 2:1-13)
    2. The Trial of Faith and Works (James 2:14-26)
    3. The Tribal of the Tongue (James 3:1-12)
    4. The Trial of Heavenly Wisdom (James 3:13-18)
  4. Wisdom for trials of worldliness and suffering (James 4:1-5:18)
    1. The Trial of Worldliness (James 4:1-12)
    2. The Trial of Presuming upon Tomorrow (James 4:13-17)
    3. The Trial of the Poor (James 5:1-6)
    4. The Trial of Patience (James 5:7-12)
    5. The Trial of the Prayer of Faith (James 5:13-18)
  5. Wisdom for the Trial of Striving Together (James 5:19-20)

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