Epistle of James

Dan Fefferman

The Epistle of James is a book in the Christian New Testament. The author identifies himself as James, traditionally understood as James the Just, the brother of Jesus, first of the Seventy Disciples and first Bishop of Jerusalem. Framed within an overall theme of patient perseverance during trials and temptations, the text condemns various sins and calls on Christians to be patient while awaiting the imminent Second Coming.

The epistle has caused controversy: Protestant reformer Martin Luther argued that it was not the work of an apostle. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Mormonism claim it contradicts Luther's doctrine of justification through faith alone (Sola fide) derived from his translation of Romans 3:28. The Christian debate over Justification is still unsettled, see also Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and Christian view of the Law.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Epistle of St. James:

"The subjects treated of in the Epistle are many and various; moreover, St. James not infrequently, whilst elucidating a certain point, passes abruptly to another, and presently resumes once more his former argument; hence it is difficult to give a precise division of the Epistle."

Content

The United Bible Societies's Greek New Testament divides the letter into the following sections:

Salutation (1:1) Faith and Wisdom (1:2-8) Poverty and Riches (1:9-11) Trial and Temptation (1:12-18) Hearing and Doing the Word (1:19-27) Warning against Partiality (2:1-13) Faith and Works (2:14-26)

The Tongue (3:1-12) The Wisdom from Above (3:13-18) Friendship with the World (4:1-10) Judging a Brother (4:11-12) Warning against Boasting (4:13-17) Warning to the Rich (5:1-6) Patience and Prayer (5:7-20)

The epistle was addressed to the Jews of the dispersion, "the twelve tribes scattered abroad." ^{[citation needed]}

The object of the writer was to enforce the practical duties of the Christian life. The vices against which he warns them are: formalism, which made the service of God consist in washings and outward ceremonies, whereas he reminds them (1:27) that it consists rather in active love and purity; fanaticism, which, under the cloak of religious zeal, was tearing Jerusalem in pieces (1:20); fatalism, which threw its sins on God (1:13); meanness, which crouched before the rich (2:2); falsehood, which had made words and oaths play-things (3:2-12); partisanship (3:14); evil speaking (4:11); boasting (4:16); oppression (5:4). The great lesson which he teaches them as Christians is patience, patience in trial (1:2), patience in good works (1:22-25), patience under provocation (3:17), patience under oppression (5:7), patience under persecution (5:10); and the ground of their patience is that the coming of the Lord drawing nigh, which is to right all wrong (5:8).

Authorship and composition

The author identifies himself in the opening verse as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." The name "James" is an anglicized form of the Hebrew and Greek name Jacob. From the middle of the third century, patristic authors cited the epistle as written by James the Just, a relation of Jesus and first Bishop of Jerusalem. This James is considered the physical (younger) brother of Jesus by many Protestants, but not by Catholics, who insist that Jesus had no younger siblings. Some admit that he may have been an older half-brother by another mother who died, leaving Joseph a widow before he married Mary. Not numbered among the Twelve Apostles, unless he is identified as James the Less, James was nonetheless a very important figure. Paul, like the Epistle of James itself, identified him as "the brother of the Lord" in Galatians 1:19 and as one of the three "pillars" in 2:9, along with Peter and John. He is traditionally considered the first of the Seventy Disciples. John Calvin and others suggested that the author was the Apostle James, son of Alphaeus, also called James the Less, one of the 12 apostles.

Authorship has also been attributed to the apostle James the Great, brother of John the Evangelist and son of Zebedee.

If written by James the Just, the place and time of the writing of the epistle would be Jerusalem, where James was residing before his martyrdom in 62. The letter speaks of persecutions in the present tense (2:6), and this is consistent with the persecution in Jerusalem during which James the brother of John—but not James the Just—was martyred (Acts 12:1). However, some challenge the early date on the basis of some of the letter’s content, which they interpret to be a clarification of St. Paul’s teachings on justification found in his Epistle to the Romans and elsewhere. If written by James the Great, the location would have also been Jerusalem, sometime before 45, when this James was reportedly martyred. The Catholic Encyclopedia accepts James the Just as the author and dates the writing of the epistle between 47 C.E. and 52 C.E.

However, many critical scholars consider the epistle to be written in the late first or early second centuries, after the death of James the Just. Reasons cited for the rejection of an early date and James' authorship include:

• The letter was apparently unknown to the early church before the time of Origen and Irenaeus (mid-late second century)
• Nothing in the letter suggests a personal relationship between the author and Jesus of Nazareth.
• The author does not speak with personal authority, as James did in the Book of Acts.
• The excellent Greek of the writer is probably inconsistent with a person of James' background.

Canonicity

The Epistle of James was included among the 27 New Testament books first listed by Athanasius of Alexandria and was confirmed as a canonical epistle of the New Testament by a series of councils in the fourth century. Today, virtually all denominations of Christianity consider this book to be a canonical epistle of the New Testament.

In the first centuries of the church, the authenticity of the epistle was doubted by some Church Fathers, including for example by Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia. It is missing in the Muratorian fragment—the earliest known list of canonical scriptures— as well as several other early lists. The church historian Eusebius of Caesaria classes it among the contested writings (Historia ecclesiae, 3.25; 2.23). St. Jerome gives a similar appraisal but adds that by his day it had been universally admitted.

Its late recognition in the church, especially in the West, may be explained by the fact that it was written for or by Jewish Christians, and therefore not widely circulated among the Gentile Churches. There is some indication that a few groups distrusted the book because of its doctrine, which famously emphasized that faith alone is inadequate for salvation, but must be accompanied by good works. In Reformation times some theologians, most notably Martin Luther, questioned the epistles inclusion in the New Testament. However, both the Lutheran Church and every other major denomination today accepts the Epistle of James as legitimate holy scripture.

Doctrine

Justification

The letter contains the following famous passage concerning salvation and justification:

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? …You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only…? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:14, 24, 26)

This passage has been cited in Christian theological debates, especially against the Protestant doctrine of Justification by faith alone. This passage appears to be consciously intended to correct some interpretations of the teachings of Paul of Tarsus, especially in his Epistle to the Romans (see Romans 3:28), which emphasized that "man is justified by faith," rather than by works or obedience to the Jewish Law.

Anointing of the Sick

James' epistle is also the chief biblical text for the Anointing of the Sick. James wrote:

"Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven." (5:14,15).

See also

• Pauline Christianity
• Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
• Sola fide
• Antinomianism
• Old Testament#Christian view of the Law
• Biblical canon
• Antilegomena

External links

Online translation of the Epistle of James:

• Online Bible at GospelHall.org

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Epistle of St. James: "Luther strongly repudiated the Epistle as "a letter of straw," and "unworthy of the apostolic Spirit," and this solely for dogmatic reasons, and owing to his preconceived notions, for the epistle refutes his heretical doctrine that Faith alone is necessary for salvation. ... For the question of apparent opposition between St. James and St. Paul with regard to "faith and works" see EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS."
• Jewish Encyclopedia: JAMES, GENERAL EPISTLE OF: "It has been assumed by most New Testament exegetes that these observations refer to Paul's doctrine concerning justification by faith, a doctrine which also is based upon Gen. xv. 6 (see Rom. iv. 3; Gal. iii. 6), but which is contradicted by James."
• Encyclopædia Britannica: James, Epistle of
• Biblaridion magazine: Examining the background to the epistle of James
• Marius Victorinus and the Teachings of James
• Early Christian Writings: The Epistle of James
• Sermons on the Letter of James
• Justification in James 2 by James Akin: "Over the last four hundred years, James 2:14-26 has been one of the most controversial passages in the Bible..."
• NAB Introduction to James

References

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This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

Preceded by: Hebrews

Books of the Bible

Succeeded by: 1 Peter

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