From: Over 50 Interpreters Explain the Book of James Return to Home
By
Roland H. Worth, Jr. © 2017
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Over 50 Interpreters
Explain the Book of James
A COMPENDIUM OF THE MOST INSIGHTFUL MATERIAL FROM COMMENTARIES
AND OTHER WORKS
NOW IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Compiled and Edited
By
Roland H. Worth, Jr.
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2017 Preface
Those who have already used the
entry in this series on the gospel of Luke may recall that the strong majority
of that text had already been researched when I decided to finish that lengthy
work—after years of not checking to see how many sources I had
accumulated. That turned out to be far
more than I remembered.
When I turned to what else I had hidden
away in my files--to be candid, basically forgotten about--the results were
much closer to what I had anticipated for Luke:
21 entries for James while 1 Peter and 2 Peter/Jude had only 12 entries
each. Since this preparatory work had
already been done, it seemed appropriate to complete them and share them with
readers as well. Since the obvious omission
in this list--between 2 Peter and Jude--were the epistles of John, I researched
those "from scratch."
A resource that became readily available in
the “expansion” phase of these commentaries—and not in the years when the
“core” of the current volume was compiled--was the increase in online text
versions of a large number of commentaries that are now in the public
domain. Those without the place,
publisher, and date information--or only the date--represent my working from a
public domain online text of that work or a computerized form of it. In certain cases, a pdf
form of the material was available and the research was done from that source
and full publishing data is available—and provided.
When working
from a print edition, efforts have been made to identify the specific
author of it; when working from online text editions, I have typically simply
identified it by the name of the editor/compiler of the series—sometimes, but
not uniformly, specifically identifying him as “editor.” When feasible, I have been able to provide
original publishing information from print editions and have inserted
them.
Individuals
quoted are often edited in regard to length but never in a manner to alter the
point they intend to make--which will vary to different degrees from one
commentator to another. Alterations
on two minor matters also deserve to be noticed. I typically removed the bulk of the “
As to James in particular, it should be noted
that my “Torah” commentaries on the subject were written without reliance on
this material except in those rare cases where the same commentaries may have
been re-examined. Each was researched
independently of the other.
Roland
H. Worth, Jr.
July
2017
INTRODUCTORY MATTERS
Authorship
The Case for the “James of
It was particularly appropriate that the man who is shown by the Acts of the Apostles and by the Galatian letter to have attained the highest influence in the churches of Judea should show his profound interest in the Christians of the Hebrew race by addressing this letter to the multitudes of kindred who had their homes in foreign lands.
Yet there has been some dispute about the personality of the James who wrote this letter. There are three distinguished disciples which bear that name:
* James, the brother of John, one of the sons of Zebedee, one of the Twelve;
* James, the son of Alphæus, also an apostle, called James the Less (Mark
* and James, called
by Paul in Galatians “the brother of our Lord,” the man who appears in Acts,
chapter 15, as wielding a pre-eminent influence in the church at
The epistle could not have been written by James, the brother of John, as he was slain by Herod (Acts 12:2) before its date. The authorship must be ascribed either to James, the son of Alphæus, or to James, “the Lord's brother.”
From the earliest ages the latter has been agreed upon as the writer. To this conclusion all the known facts point. He was a permanent resident of Jerusalem, and pre-eminent in the church; he seems to be the chief figure in “the Council of Jerusalem” described in Acts, chapter 15; he was one of the pillars of the church (Galatians 2:9); hence he could speak authoritatively to the Jewish Christians scattered abroad.
It has, however, been held by many that he is the same as James, the son of Alphæus, and a cousin of Christ, instead of a brother. The argument in favor of this hypothesis is ingenious:
(1.) It is held that Mary never bore any children but Jesus, and hence that “the brethren of the Lord” were her nephews.
(2.) That
Mary, the wife of Clopas (John
(3.) That Alphæus and Clopas are different forms of the same name.
(4.) That the brethren of Jesus, “James and Joses and Simon and Judas,” were the cousins of Jesus, and that at least two, James and Judas, were apostles
(5.) This is supported by the fact that Jesus on the cross commits the care of his mother to John, which is held to prove that she could have no other sons.
In answer to this theory it may be said that (1.) it is improbable that the wife of Clopas was sister to Mary, a fact which would require two sisters to be of the same name. John names two pairs, Mary and her sister, and Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. The sister was no doubt Salome, the mother of John, named as one of the four women in the other gospels, and whom John omits to name from the same motives which prevented him from ever naming himself. Hence John was the nephew of Mary, and this in connection with the fact that the brethren of Jesus were not then believers is sufficient explanation of John being assigned the duty of caring for the mother of Jesus.
(2.) We are told positively that the brethren of Jesus were not believers, and this, too, in the closing portion of the last year of our Lord's ministry, a fact that clearly shows that none of these could have been of the number of the apostles.
(3.) They are never called cousins of Jesus nor is there any proof that the Greek word which designates them as "brethren" is ever used in the sense of cousins in the New Testament.
(4.) When
these brethren had become believers, after the resurrection, they are
distinguished from the Twelve (Acts
James is spoken of as an apostle, yet neither he nor Paul, the greatest of the apostles, was of the Twelve. These facts seem to me to clearly indicate that “James, the brother of the Lord,” the author of this epistle, was not of the Twelve, and was a brother to the Lord Jesus in the sense that he was a child of Mary.
His
prominence, however, in the early church may be gathered from the following
references: Acts
The New Testament is silent
concerning his later history, but Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that
shortly before the war that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem, about A. D.
63, “Ananias, the high priest, assembled the
Sanhedrim, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who is called the
Christ, whose name was James, and some of his companions * * * and delivered
them to be stoned” (Antiquities xx. 9:1).
He was allowed to remain until not long before the overthrow of the
Jewish state, and was then removed.
What relationship of him to Jesus is intended by the label of “brother” [38]? So far, then, we have reached a fairly firm standing ground, and may take a fresh start on the assumption that the Epistle was written, not by the son of Zebedee, nor by the son of Alphæus, but by James the brother of the Lord. A question of great difficulty, however, once more meets us on the threshold. What kind of relationship did that description imply? Very different answers have been given to that question.
(1) We have the view that the “brethren of the Lord” were the sons of Joseph and of Mary, and therefore His younger brothers. This has in its favor, the common and natural, though not, it must be admitted, the necessary, meaning of the Greek word for “brethren,” perhaps, also, the primâ facie inference from Matthew 1:25.
It was adopted by Helvidius, a Latin writer of the 4th century, and has been revived by some recent scholars of high reputation, among whom are Dean Alford and Canon Farrar. It has against it the general consensus of the Fathers of the third and fourth century, resting on a wide-spread belief in the perpetual virginity of the mother of the Lord, and the fact that Helvidius was treated as propounding a new and monstrous theory.
It may be admitted that the word does not necessarily
mean that those who bore it were children of the same mother, and that Matthew
1:25 does not necessarily imply what, at first sight, it appears to mean. It is scarcely likely, however, with such
words at hand as the Greek for “sister’s son” (Colossians
Slightly weighing against it, perhaps, are (1) the
action and tone of the brethren in relation to our Lord (Matthew 12:46; John
7:3-5), which is that of elder rather than younger relatives, and (2) the fact
that the mother of our Lord is commended to the care of John, the son of Zebedee and Salome (John 19:26), and not to those who, on
this view, would have been her more natural protectors. It is probable, however, as stated above,
that the wife of Zebedee may have been the sister of
the Virgin, and if so, then there were close ties of relationship uniting
(2) There is the theory that the “brethren” were the
children of Joseph by a former marriage.
It need scarcely be said that there is nothing in the New Testament to
prove such a theory. Indirectly it falls
in with what has just been said as to their tone towards our Lord, and the
preference of a sister’s son (assuming Salome to have been the “mother’s
sister” of John
In the second, third, and fourth centuries this appears to have been the favorite view. It met the reverential feeling which, rightly or wrongly, shrank from the thought that the wedded life of the mother of Jesus was like that of other women. It gave to the word “brethren,” without any violence, an adequate or natural meaning.
It was maintained by Epiphanius
(a.d. 367), by Origen (in Joann. ii. 12, in Matthew
(3) Lastly, there is the theory already alluded to, that the “brethren” were the sons of the wife of Clôpas, who is identified with the sister of the Virgin, and that they were thus called “brethren” in the wider sense in which that word may be used of “cousins.” Clôpas is held (though this was an after-thought of writers later than Jerome, who was the first to propound this view) to be identical with Alphæus, and James the brother of the Lord is held to be identical with James the son of Alphæus, in the list of the Apostles, and “Jude of James” to be another of the brethren, and Simon, a third brother, is identified with Simon Zelotes, or the Canaanite.
The theory was first stated by Jerome (Catal. Vir. Illustr.;
Adv. Helvid.) in his
eagerness to vindicate the perpetual virginity of Mary against what seemed to
him the heresy of Helvidius, but though maintained
vehemently at first, was afterwards treated by him as a matter of comparative
indifference (Lightfoot’s Excursus, ut
supra). His influence, however, gave currency to the theory in the
Character
of James of
We
can well believe that in the
His
sincere and spiritual Judaism would be a guide to lead him to Christ, the
'fulfiller' of the Law (Matthew
And so,
even as 'bishop' of Jerusalem, St. James went on keeping the whole Law,
although he was ready to grant the fullest liberty to those Gentile converts
who had never been Jews by religion (Acts 15).
He combined strong personal convictions with the widest sympathy with
the views of others. Hence, although
himself a strict Jew, he could act cordially with
At
this point the narrative of the Acts leaves St. James; but from the Jewish
historian Josephus, and the converted Jew Hegesippus,
we get accounts of his death which, though they differ in details, agree in
their main facts. From them we learn
that he was held in great esteem by his fellow-countrymen, and even permitted
to enter the
A Sadducean high priest, Ananus,
brought him before the Sanhedrin, and caused him to be put to death by stoning,
in spite of the remonstrances of all the better sort
of Jews. James 'the Just' (as he was
called by his fellow-countrymen) died praying, like St. Stephen, for his
murderers, a few years before the final overthrow of Judaism by the
Romans. In very truth he was taken away
from the evil to come. Some have seen in
St. James the Restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:7, after whose removal the Jewish
apostasy would stand revealed and receive its due reward in the overthrow of
the nation and the religion of the Jews.
Analysis of the case for James the apostle being the author [38]. The hypothesis that the son of Zebedee, the brother of the beloved disciple, was the writer of the Epistle, has commonly been dismissed as hardly calling for serious consideration. It is not, however, without a certain amount of external authority, and has recently been maintained with considerable ability by the Rev. F. T. Bassett in a Commentary on the Epistle (Bagsters, 1876). It may be well therefore to begin with an inquiry into the grounds on which it rests.
(1) The oldest MSS. of the earlier, or Peshito, Syriac version, ranging from the 5th to the 8th century, state, in the superscription or subscription of the Epistle, or both, that it is an Epistle “of James the Apostle.” Printed editions of the Syriac Version state more definitely that the three Epistles (James, 1 Peter, and 1 John) which that version includes, were written by the three Apostles who were witnesses of the Transfiguration, but it is uncertain on what MS. authority the statement was made.
As far then as this evidence goes, it is of little or no weight in determining the authorship. It does not go higher than the fifth century, and leaves it an open question whether “James the Apostle” was the son of Zebedee, or the son of Alphæus, or the brother of the Lord, considered as having been raised to the office and title of an Apostle.
(2) A Latin MS. of the New Testament, giving a version of the Epistle prior to that of Jerome, states more definitely that it was written by “James the son of Zebedee,” but the MS. is not assigned to an earlier date than the ninth century, and is therefore of little or no weight as an authority. Neither this nor the Syriac version can be looked on as giving more than the conjecture of the transcriber, or, at the best, a comparatively late and uncertain tradition.
(3) Admitting the weakness of the external evidence, Mr. Bassett rests his case mainly on internal. It was, he thinks, à priori improbable that one who occupied so prominent a place among the Apostles during our Lord’s ministry, whose name as one of the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17) indicates conspicuous energy, should have passed away without leaving any written memorial for the permanent instruction of the Church. It is obvious, however, that all à priori arguments of this nature are, in the highest degree, precarious in their character, and that their only value lies in preparing the way for evidence of another kind.
(4) The internal coincidences on which Mr. Bassett next lays stress are in themselves so suggestive and instructive, even if we do not admit his inference from them, that it seems worth while to state them briefly.
(a) There is, he points
out, a strong resemblance between the teaching of the Epistle and that of John
the Baptist, as is seen, e. g., in comparing:
James 1:22, 27 with Matthew 3:8
James 2:15-16 with Luke 3:11
James 2:19-20 with Matthew 3:9
James 5:1-6 with Matthew 3:10-12.
(b) There are the
frequently recurring parallelisms between the Epistle and the Sermon on the
Mount, which strike the attention of well-nigh every reader:
James 1:2 compared with Matthew 5:10-12
James 1:4 compared with Matthew 5:48
James 1:5;
James 1:9 compared with Matthew 5:3
James
James
James
James 3:17-18 compared with Matthew 5:9
James 4:4 compared with Matthew 6:24
James
James
James 5:2 compared with Matthew 6:19
James
James
It is urged that the son of Zebedee was certainly among our Lord’s disciples at the time the Sermon on the Mount was delivered, while there is no evidence that the son of Alphæus had as yet been called, and a distinct statement, assuming the brother of the Lord not to be identical with the son of Alphæus, that he at this time did not believe in Jesus as the Christ. (John 7:5.)
(c) The writer finds in St
James’s description of Jesus as “the Lord of Glory” a reference, parallel to
those of 2 Peter 1:16-18 and John 1:14, to the vision on the Mount of
Transfiguration which had been witnessed by Peter and the two sons of Zebedee.
(d) In the emphasis with which the writer of the Epistle
condemns the sins of vainglory and rivalry and self-seeking ambition Mr.
Bassett finds a reference to the disputes and jealousies which during our
Lord’s ministry disturbed the harmony of the Apostolic company (compare
James 1:9-12, 3:14-16 with Matthew 18:1, Mark 9:34); in his protests against
the “wrath of man” (James 1:19-20), a reminiscence of his own passionate desire
to call down fire from heaven, as Elijah had done of old (Luke 9:54). With this and with Elijah’s loss of patience
(1 Kings 19:4-10), he connects the statement that “Elias was a man of like
passions with ourselves” (James
(e) Stress is laid on the language of the Epistle as to the
“coming of the Lord” as agreeing with what our Lord had said on the
James 2:6-7 with Mark 13:9
James 4:1 with Mark 13:7
James
4:13-14 with Mark
James 5:9 with Mark 13:29
James 5:7 with Matthew 24:27.
It is inferred that here also he was reproducing what he had himself heard.
(f) The not unfrequent parallelisms between this Epistle and 1 Peter
are next brought to bear on the question. They are given as follows:—
James 1:2 with 1 Peter 1:6-9
James
James
James 4:6, 10 with 1 Peter 5:5
James
It is urged that these coincidences of thought and
phrase are just what might be expected in those who like the son of Zebedee and the son of Jona had
been friends and companions in the work of disciples and Apostles.
(5) Interesting and suggestive as each of these lines of thought beyond question is, the evidence does not appear, on the whole, to warrant the conclusion which has been drawn from it. It would be a sufficient explanation of (a) and (b) that the writer of the Epistle had been one of the hearers of the Baptist and of our Lord, or had read or heard what we find recorded in St Matthew’s Gospel.
Of (c) it must be said that
the epithet “of glory” was far too common (Acts 7:2; Ephesians
The faults mentioned under (d) were too much the besetting sins of the whole people to sustain any conclusion based on the supposition that they applied specially to the writer.
It is obvious that the teaching of our Lord as to His “Coming,” under (e), must, from a very early period, have become, at least to the extent to which the Epistle deals with it, the common property of all believers.
Lastly, as to the parallelisms of (f)
it must be remembered that there is as much evidence that another James was for
many years in constant communication with St Peter, as there is for the earlier
friendship of that Apostle with the son of Zebedee.
On
the whole, then, it is believed that this hypothesis, interesting and ingenious
as it is, must be dismissed as not proven.
Date of
Writing
The case for a date in the sixties of the first century. One presentation of the approach [1]. Two views are held--(1) that the epistle was written before the council at Jerusalem 50 (A.D.); (2) that it should be dated shortly before the death of James (63 A.D.). The former view makes it the earliest written book of the New Testament, and is based upon the following reasons; exclusively Jewish Christian communities did not exist outside of Judaea after that time; the lack of fully-developed Christian doctrine points to an early date; and the trials referred to were probably incidental to the persecution in the days of Herod Agrippa. But these are not conclusive.
The
errors combated point to the later date, since they indicate a perversion of
the doctrine of free grace and a lax morality resulting from this, amounting to
dead orthodoxy. Such a tendency, though
most readily developed among Jewish Christians, would require time to reach the
form of error opposed in the epistle.
While this date (between 60-63 A.D.) places the
letter after the earlier group of Pauline epistles, it does not necessarily
involve any reference to them by James.
It is generally admitted that
A
case for a pre-Jerusalem Council dating [8]. It is
more difficult to determine the time of composition. It is only certain mater of dispute whether
it was written before or after the ever-memorable labors of Paul among the
Gentiles, or, more precisely, whether it was written before or after the
council at
The former opinion is the more probable; for after that time the Pauline proposition, that man is justified not [by works but by faith] was not only generally known, but so powerfully moved the spirits in Christendom, that it seems impossible to suppose that James could have in perfect ingenuousness asserted his principle [in James 2] without putting himself in a definite relation to the doctrine of Paul, whether misunderstood or not.
Wiesinger, for the later
composition of the Epistle, appeals “to the form of the Christian life of the
readers,” whilst, on the one hand, they are treated “as those who are mature in
doctrine,” and, on the other hand, “the faults censured in their conduct are
such as can only be understood on the supposition of a lengthened continuance
of Christianity among the readers.” But,
in opposition to this view, it is to be observed that a Christian church
without such maturity as is indicated in 1:3, 2:5, 3:1, can hardly be
imagined.
A longer case for a pre-50 A.D. date rather than a post 58 A.D. writing [50]. With reference to the date of the Epistle we need refer but to two views. There are some who maintain that this Epistle shows an intimate acquaintance with the writings of Paul, especially of his controversial Epistles (Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans), and that therefore this Epistle must have been written after the year A.D. 58. On the other hand, we have the strongest evidence to prove that this Epistle was written before A.D. 50, and that it is the oldest of all the New Testament writings. We may given the following reasons for an early date:
(1) It was written to churches composed
exclusively of Jewish Christians. It was
not until A.D. 44 that any number of Gentiles were admitted into the Church
(Acts
(2) There is no allusion whatever to the great controversy concerning circumcision and the observance of the Mosaic law. This proves that this question had not yet arisen.
If the letter had been written after the Council of Jerusalem (A.D. 50), James would most assuredly have referred to the decree, and urged the Jews of the Dispersion to observe the conditions laid down, for the points at issue in the controversy were of such a burning character that James, on a later visit of Paul to Jerusalem in 58 A.D., called his attention to the matter (Acts 21:20-25), and the furious assault of the Jews on Paul turned on this very question (Acts 21:27-29).
(3) The Judaic tone of Epistle (so strongly emphasized by Luther) is in favor of an early date. So far as this consideration goes, we should be led to assign the Epistle to the earliest possible date after the day of Pentecost.
(4) The description given of Church organization
and search discipline implies an early date of the Epistle. No mention is made of bishops, but only of
teachers and elders (3:1;
We conclude then with Gloag that we have in this Epistle of James “an inspired document of primitive Christianity, allied to the simple teaching of the Master—before the religion of Christ was developed by the doctrinal statements of Paul and the profound intuitions of John.”
Case
against an early dating [39]. A
decisive objection to the early date is the late recognition of the epistle by
the Church. If it were really written by
James the brother of Jesus from
A second
objection to the early date is its assumption of a wide-spread and
well-established Christian public already existing in the Jewish
“dispersion.” Where was this ecumenical
audience in A.D. 45? Alford’s reply that
it appears in Acts 11:19, and following verses, is
entirely insufficient. A few scattered
clusters of converts in
Apparently in this epistle, as in Hebrews and the Pastoral and Catholic epistles, the discussions and strifes about circumcision and ritual are long past.
As to the state of things apparent in the epistle, we may readily concede that the mention of “church” and “elders” by no means proves a late period, for these appear at the very origin of Christianity. But in James the Churches are world-wide; they have their regular-built synagogues; they have generally fallen into fixed habits, such as obsequiousness to the rich, an antinomian perversion of the Pauline doctrine of faith, and a too great loquacity of would-be teachers and “masters.” The eloquent denunciatory apostrophe to “rich men” implies their established relations to the Church, while the woes pronounced upon them intimate the impending doom overhanging the city in which it was written.
As we see
a probable allusion to the martyrdom of James in Hebrews 13:7, so Hebrews must
have appeared after this epistle. How
long this epistle was written [before the destruction of
Place of Writing
Evidence
for a geographic Palestinian setting from internal references [2]. The
epistle was probably written from
Evidence
from the authorship of the book and its destination [8].
The place of composition is not mentioned in the Epistle; but from the
position which James occupied to the
Style of Writing [2]
The style
and diction of the epistle are strongly marked.
Links connecting them with the historic individuality of the writer,
which are so numerous in the case of Peter, are almost entirely wanting. The expression, “Hearken, my beloved
brethren” (ii. 5), suggests the similar phrase, Acts xv. 13; and the ordinary
Greek greeting, hail (Acts xv. 23), is repeated in Jas. 1.1; the only
two places where it occurs in a Christian epistle.
The purity of the Greek, and its comparative freedom
from Hebraisms, are difficult to account for in a
writer who had passed his life in
Target
Audience
The
anticipated readers were Jewish
Christians rather than traditionalist, non-believing Jews [31]. “The twelve
tribes which are in the dispersion,” or of the dispersion (ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ
en tē diaspora) [1:1]. This word occurs only here and in 1 Peter
1:1, and John 7:35. It refers properly
to those who lived out of
There
were two great “dispersions;” the Eastern and the Western. The first had its origin about the time when
the ten tribes were carried away to
The
other was the Western “dispersion,” which commenced about the time of Alexander
the Great, and which was promoted by various causes, until there were large
numbers of Jews in
The
phrase “the twelve tribes,” was the common term by which the Jewish people were
designated, and was in use long after the ten tribes were carried away,
leaving, in fact, only two of the twelve in Palestine. Many have supposed that James here addressed
them as Jews, and that the Epistle was sent to them as such. But this opinion
has no probability; because:
(1) If this had been the case, he would not have been likely to begin his Epistle by saying that he was “a servant of Jesus Christ,” a name so odious to the [traditionalist] Jews;
(2) and, if he had spoken of himself as a Christian, and had addressed his countrymen as himself a believer in Jesus as the Messiah, though regarding them as Jews, it is incredible that he did not make a more distinct reference to the principles of the Christian religion; that he used no arguments to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah; that he did not attempt to convert them to the Christian faith.
It should
be added, that at first most converts were made from those who had been trained
in the Jewish faith, and it is not improbable that one in
The
earlier the date we attribute to the epistle, the less likely there were
Gentiles—at least many of them—included in the intended targeted audience [50]. Some
suppose that the Epistle was addressed to Christians in general, to all
believers, whether Jews or Gentiles.
They take the expression “twelve tribes” in a figurative sense to denote
the “Israel of God” (Galatians
As all the congregations established
by Paul, especially after the council of
The targeted audience was neither traditionalist Jews (as contrasted with Christians), nor a church composed of a heavily ethnically integrated combination of Jews and Gentiles, but a strongly Jewish Christian body. [51] As the [identity] of the author has been the subject of much dispute, so likewise have been the persons to whom this Epistle was primarily addressed. They are designated ‘the twelve tribes who are scattered abroad;’ but very different meanings have been attached to these words.
Some
suppose that the Epistle was addressed to Christians in general. They take the expression ‘twelve tribes’
in a figurative sense to denote ‘the Israel of God’ Galatians
Others suppose that the Epistle was addressed to Jews generally—to non-Christian as well as to Christian Jews. This is an opinion which possesses considerable plausibility, and has found many able supporters. The Epistle, it is affirmed, is addressed ‘to the twelve tribes,’ without any recognition of the Christian faith of the readers; they are described merely according to their nationality. Besides, it contains various statements which can hardly apply to Christians, and can only be true of unconverted Jews (James 2:6-7, 5:6).
But the general contents of the Epistle are opposed to this opinion. The readers, whoever they were, were at least professing Christians; their Christianity is taken for granted. James rests his authority upon being ‘a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (James 1:1).
His readers, without distinction, are such as God
hath begotten by the word of truth, that is, the gospel of Christ (James
Hence, then, we conclude that this Epistle was primarily addressed to Jewish Christians. To this, indeed, it has been objected that there are portions in it which are inapplicable to Christians: the severe invectives of the writer (James 3:9, 4:1, 4:4), and especially his denunciation of judgment upon the rich (James 5:1-6), can only refer to unbelievers. But we do not know the state of moral corruption which prevailed among the Jewish Christians; and certainly, if we were to judge of them by the conduct of many professing Christians of the present day, we would not regard those invectives as too strong. And with regard to the attack upon the rich in the fifth chapter, it is so worded that it may be regarded as an apostrophe addressed to rich unbelievers—the proud oppressors of the Jewish Christians; though it is not impossible that there existed in the Christian Church rich professors to whom these words of stern reproof were not inapplicable.
They were
the Jews of the dispersion—Jews resident beyond the boundaries of
Accordingly the persons to whom it was addressed
would be such as had passed over to Christianity from among those who are
called Hellenists or Grecians in the Acts of the Apostles, i.e. Christian
Jews who resided out of
Core
Purpose of the Epistle
The
epistle is “utilitarian”/everyday behavior centered rather than
“theological”/doctrinal [50]. The whole character of the
Epistle is purely practical. James is
writing in the interest of morality, and his warnings are directed not so much
against errors of doctrine as against errors of life. There is no polemical design in it, for there
is no direct or indirect reference to the teaching of Paul. The Epistle is pre-eminently ethical and
practical.
The epistle encourages believers to imitate God’s holiness and character in everyday life [24]. It is not easy to give an analysis of an Epistle which, at first sight, seems to be rather a collection of ethical precepts than a connected whole. But, if we look closer, we shall find one great leading thought underlying the whole and binding together its various sections. And that thought is the central doctrine of the Old Testament, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord' (Deuteronomy 6:4).
That was
the creed of every devout Jew, and that is the text of St. James's homily. If God is one—one in Himself as well as the
one true God—then His children, made in His image (Genesis
In God
there is no change (James
Reliance on the Teaching of Jesus [2]
The
language of [the Sermon on the Mount] it reflects more than any other book of
the New Testament. It meets the
formalism, the fatalism, the hypocrisy, the arrogance, insolence, and
oppression engendered by the sharp social distinctions of the age, with a
teaching conceived in the spirit, and often expressed in the forms of the Great
Teacher’s moral code. “The epistle,”
says Dr. Scott, “strikes the ear from beginning to end
as an echo of the oral teaching of our Lord.
There is scarcely a thought in it which cannot be traced to Christ’s
personal teaching. If John has lain on
the Saviour’s bosom, James has sat at his feet.”
The following correspondences may be noted:
Matthew James
v. 3 i. 9; ii. 5
v. 4 iv. 9
v. 7, 9 ii. 13; iii. 17
v. 8 iv. 8
v. 9 iii. 18
v. 11, 12 i. 2; v. 10, 11
v. 19 i. 19 seq., 25; ii. 10,11
v. 22 i. 20
v. 27 ii. 10, 11
v. 34 seq. v. 12
v. 48 i. 4
vi. 15 ii. 13
vi. 19 v. 2 seq.
vi. 24 iv. 4
vi. 25 iv. 13-16
vii. 1 seq. iii. 1; iv. 11 seq.
vii. 2 ii. 13
vii. 7, 11 i. 5, 17
vii. 8 iv. 3
vii. 12 ii. 8
vii. 16 iii. 12
vii. 21-26 i. 22; 11. 14; v. 7-9
Possible Reference to James in Other
Epistles
In the Book of Hebrews [24]. Probably the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews alludes here and elsewhere to St. James: compare Hebrews 11:31; Hebrews 12:11 with James 3:18; James 2:26. Possibly Hebrews 11 starts with a definition of faith because of the difficulties raised by James 2:14-26. Hebrews 13:7 is supposed by many to contain an allusion to the death of St. James.
Canonicity
[37]
The Epistle of St. James has not been
admitted into the Canon of the New Testament without dispute. The most important early testimony in regard
to its authenticity is found in Eusebius, H.E. II. 23, where, after
citing accounts of James the Lord’s brother from various authorities, the
historian adds that to him is attributed the first of the Epistles called
Catholic, but that it is regarded by some as spurious, not many of the ancient
writers having mentioned either this Epistle or that which is attributed to
Jude, although they were both publicly read in the Churches.
Further on, in another passage
containing a list of the Scriptures which are acknowledged as well as of those
whose authenticity is disputed, the Epistle of St. James is included in the
latter group: Eusebius, H.E., III. 25.
On this testimony it may be remarked
that the doubt as to the authenticity of the Epistle seems to have arisen not
from any improbability of the alleged authorship, or from erroneous doctrine
contained in it, but from the absence of citation by succeeding writers. But this is a fact quite capable of
explanation in the case of an Epistle singularly free from controversial
subjects and addressed to Jewish Christians, a community which shortly
afterwards was either absorbed into the Churches of Gentile Christians, or
became discredited by a lapse partly into Gnosticism, partly into a form of
Christianity hardly distinguishable from Judaism.
In the catalogue of the Canonical
books called the Muratorian Fragment, a document
belonging to the second century, the Epistle of St. James is omitted. It is however found in the Syrian and
Egyptian versions and in the lists of Origen (A.D.
254), Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 348), Gregory of Nazianzus
(c. A.D. 381), Athanasius in his 39th
Festal Letter (A.D. 367), in those of the Councils of Laodicea
(A.D. 363) and
More important than the testimony
cited above are the undoubted traces of this Epistle to be found in Clement of
Rome (Epistle to Corinthians, A.D. 95; see c. 23, c. 30, c. 33), in the Didache, written probably early in the second
century (see ii. 4, iv. 3, iv. 14 and other passages), and in Hermas, who wrote his allegorical work not much later. The presence of St. James’ influence in Hermas appears in a most interesting way, not so
much by direct quotation as by a pervading sense of his teaching which
penetrates the whole book, together with a constant use of his most
characteristic terminology. No one can read
The Shepherd without feeling how great an impression the Epistle of St.
James had made on the writer’s mind.
References to the Epistle are also
discernible in the writing of Barnabas (c. A.D. 95), Ignatius (c. A.D. 115),
and Polycarp (c. A.D. 155).
Such evidence enables us to trace
the Epistle to the beginning of the post-Apostolic age. And if this be so it is hardly conceivable
that at that early epoch any Christian writer would have ventured to put forth
a forged epistle in the name and with the authority of St. James. On the whole the external evidence leads us
to infer that the Epistle, at first better known in the East than in the West,
gradually won its way into full recognition by the Church, and in the fourth
century was placed without question in all the authorized catalogues of the
Canonical books.
Application
of the Term “Catholic” to This and Certain Other Epistles [51]
This Epistle is the first in that division of the books of the New Testament known by the name of the Catholic Epistles. To this division belong seven Epistles: the Epistle of James, the two Epistles of Peter, the three Epistles of John, and the Epistle of Jude.
The term Catholic was applied by Origen in the third century to First Peter and First John; but it was not until the fourth century that it was used to distinguish this group of Epistles. In this application we first meet with it in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, who speaks of ‘the seven Catholic Epistles’ (H. E. ii. 23).
Various meanings have been attached to the term. Some regard it as synonymous with canonical, and as used to denote those Epistles which were universally recognized. Others understand the term as opposed to heretical, and as employed to denote those writings which agree with the doctrines of the universal church. And others think that, after the Gospels and the Acts were collected into one group, and the Pauline Epistles into another, the remaining Epistles were called catholic to denote the common or general collection of all the apostles.
But all those meanings are defective; they do not distinguish this group of Epistles; they are as applicable to the other writings of the New Testament [as well]. The most appropriate and approved meaning of the term is general, in the sense of circular; used to denote those Epistles which are addressed, not to any particular church or individual, as the Pauline Epistles, but to a number of churches. It is true that the Second and Third Epistles of John form an exception, as they are addressed to individuals; but they are attached to the larger Epistle of the same author, and may be considered as an appendix to it.
Although the term Catholic is given to these
seven Epistles primarily to distinguish them from the Epistles of Paul, yet,
taken in the above sense, it appropriately distinguishes them. Thus the Epistle of James is a catholic or
circular Epistle: it is not addressed to
any particular church or individual, but generally to the twelve tribes which
are scattered abroad. Corresponding to
this general address, the references in it are general, not personal; there are
no salutations appended to it, as is the case with many of the Epistles of
Paul.
BOOKS/COMMENTARIES UTILIZED
IN THIS STUDY:
1 [Anonymous]. Teacher’s Testament/Nelson’s Explanatory
Testament
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Nelson & Sons;
2 Marvin
R. Vincent, D.D. Word
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Charles
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Young. Commentary
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4 Daniel
Whitby, D.D. and Moses Lowman. A Critical Commentary and
Paraphrase
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5 Matthew
Henry. Vol. IV: Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.
6 Rev. Dr
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1865
7 Charles
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8 Joh. Ed. Huther, Th. D., Critical
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9 Professor
Bernhard Weiss, D.D. A
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10 Charles
Simeon, M.A. Horae
Homileticae Vol. XX.
and Ball, 1833.
11 Rev. S.
T. Bloomfield, M.A. Recensio
Symoptica Annotations Sacrae
[
12 George
Leo Haydock. Haydock’s Catholic Family Bible and Commentary
UTS,
13 Howard
Crosby, D.D. New
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14 Anonymous [Justin
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16 Orello Cone, D.D. International Handbooks to the N.T. Vol. 3:
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19 Donald
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37
38
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48 William B. Godbey. Commentary on the New
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http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ges/
49 James Nisbett,
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Commentary.”] At:
http://www.studylight.org/ commentaries/cpc/
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51 Schaff’s
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