Introduction:

Imagine what it would have been like to watch Jesus grow up.  What wisdom could a person learn by spending years around the Son of God before the crowds began taking up all His time?  That blessing was not as appreciated as it should have been.  Jesus once said that a prophet receives no honor in his own hometown (Luke 4:24).  This seems to also have been true with Jesus’ family.  The Bible lists four brothers of Jesus:  James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas (Matthew 13:55).  His brothers did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah during His ministry (John 7:5), and they even wanted to forcibly take Him home because they believed that Jesus was going crazy (Mark 3:21).  And yet, after Jesus’ resurrection, His brothers could be found with Mary in the upper room in one accord with Jesus’ disciples (Acts 1:14).  They were recipients of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  The skeptical family members had finally accepted that their brother was the Creator of earth and the Son of God.  What a turnaround!  And two of those brothers are believed to have authored the books of the Bible that bear their names:  James and Jude.

Author and Date:

Church tradition points to James, the brother of Jesus, as the author of the book of James.  The book itself does not claim a familial relationship.  It identifies the author as simply “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  However, this simple introduction makes it clear that the author thought that he needed no special introduction.  He assumed that everyone would know who he was, which was remarkable considering that James was a popular name at the time.  There are no less than three James in the list of disciples: the brother of John, the son of Alpheus, and the father of Judas (not Iscariot), yet none of these James are considered to be the author of this letter.  While there is no definitive proof, most people believe that James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem and James, the brother of Jesus are the same person.  Paul places James, the brother, in Jerusalem about three years after Paul’s conversion (Galatians 1:19).  James the Just, who was the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was in charge of the Jerusalem council, which took place fourteen years later (Galatians 2:1).  If there were two separate leaders of the church in Jerusalem named James, it would have been logical for the writer of the letter of James to identify which one he was, yet he did not.  If they are the same man, we know quite a bit about James after the resurrection of his brother.

James had the nickname of “Just” because he was famous as a righteous man.  He was the leader of the most respected church in the empire.  While the other apostles traveled around the world to bring the gospel to all nations, kindreds, and tongues, James stayed in Jerusalem and guided the church there.  He is mentioned in Acts 15 and 21, 1 Corinthians 15:7, Galatians 1:19  and 2:9 and 12, and Jude 1:1.  Outside sources claim that James was so well respected and powerful in the city of Jerusalem that he was targeted by the leaders of the Sanhedrin.  When the procurator Porcius Festus died, the high priest Ananus/Annas took advantage of the temporary absence of Roman authority to arrange for James’ death during Passover.  Supposedly, the Pharisees placed James on a pinnacle of the temple so that he could publicly deny Jesus before the crowd gathered below.  However, James used the opportunity to proclaim to everyone that Jesus had risen from the dead, was sitting at the right hand of God, and would return in the clouds of heaven.  This did not sit well with the Pharisees, so they pushed him off the pinnacle.  However, he survived the fall and began praying for their forgiveness.  Then they began stoning him.  When this did not finish him off, a final death blow was administered by a launderer who took one of the clubs that they beat the dirty clothes with and smashed James’ head.  The historian Josephus does not include all these details.  He simply says that the Sanhedrin passed judgment against James and had him stoned.  The year of James’ death is placed at A.D. 62, just four years before the siege of Jerusalem, which would ultimately lead to its destruction in A.D. 70.  Thus, the letter of James had to have been written before A.D. 62.  Paul claimed that the leaders of Jerusalem had agreed that Paul should focus on the Gentiles while they focused on the Jews. Paul was arrested in Jerusalem only a few years before James’ death, so not enough time had passed for this division of duties to have changed.  Thus, it is likely that James was writing specifically to Christian Jews dispersed throughout the Roman Empire rather than Gentile Christians.  However, his message is applicable to all Christians in any time period.

Theme:

The letter is written in a Greek style of the time known as a diatribe.  This was a popular way to organize a treatise or speech about ethics.  Unsurprisingly, the letter written by the influential leader of the church in Jerusalem was about living a practical Christian life.  James emphasizes that faith will be accompanied by works that reveal a person’s true allegiance.  Some theologians have pointed out that the thesis of the letter is stated in James 1:19.  “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  The “quick to hear” theme is developed in 1:22-2:26.  We are to listen to what the Old Testament tells us, like taking care of the widow, orphan, and sojourner.  The “slow to speak” section is from 3:1-18.  James informs us that our tongue can be difficult to control and can lead us into sin.  James 4:1 to 5:6 deals with the “slow to anger” section.  James condemns quarreling and pride among Christians.  He says that this arrogant attitude needs to be submitted to God for correction.

Another theme is Jesus’ teachings, especially from the Sermon on the Mount.  Here are some references taken from the Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 7

References to the Sermon on the Mount

James	Matthew	James	Matthew
2:5 & 1:9	5:3	4:9	5:4
2:13 & 1:17	5:7 & 9	4:8	5:8
3:18	5:9	1:2 & 5:10-11	5:11-12
1:19-25 & 2:10-11	5:19	1:20	5:22
2:10-11	5:27	5:12	5:34
1:4	5:48	2:13	6:15
5:2	6:19	4:4	6:24
4:13-16	6:25	3:1 & 4:11	7:1
2:13	7:2	1:5 & 17	7:7 & 11
4:3	7:8	2:8	7:12
3:12	7:16	1:22 & 2:14 & 5:7-9	7:21-26

Organization:

1:1              A simple greeting that identifies James as the author and his audience as the tribes of the dispersion.

1:2-18        The testing of faith, whether from persecution or temptation

1:19-22 The thesis of the letter:  quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger

1:23-27  The law of liberty opens our eyes to our real condition.  We must be doers of the law and not just hearers.

2:1-13 Treat others with respect.  Do not differentiate between poor and rich people.

2:14-21  Faith without works is dead.  Examples of faith from the Old Testament.

3:1-18        The dangers of  the tongue

4:1-17        Condemnation of conflicts between Christian brothers and sisters.  Sources are self-seeking, speaking evil against a brother, and boasting.  We are to submit ourselves to God to overcome these tendencies.

5:1-6          Warnings about wealth

5:7-20        Final words of advice.  Have patience while waiting for Jesus’ second coming.  Act properly at all times.  Pray for the sick.  Work for others’ salvation.

Conclusion:

As the primary leader of the first church, James had obtained a wealth of wisdom on the problems faced by Christians in social situations.  He had seen and dealt with the effects of gossip, treating fellow Christians differently based on social position, and keeping one foot in the world rather than embracing Jesus wholeheartedly.  He knew not only the dangers of such conflict, but also, that the only cure for bickering and backbiting was submission to God.  As Jesus’ brother, James knew the  wisdom of the scriptures.  Many of his points are taken directly from Jesus’ sermons, especially the Sermon on the Mount.  James may not have taken his brother seriously before the cross, but he had absorbed much of Jesus’ wisdom over the years even if he had never admitted it before Jesus’ death.  After the resurrection, James was a transformed man.  The biggest sign of James’ change in attitude is in James 1:1.  His claim to fame is that he is a servant of Jesus Christ—not Jesus’ brother, not a famous church leader, not an influential authority in Jerusalem—simply a servant of Jesus, the Messiah.