James is a powerful and practical manual on the application of faith in Christ to the struggles and relationships we encounter every day. With force and clarity, this epistle relates Christlike conduct to a wide range of topics, and it is always convicting to read. James maps the behavior of belief and shows how faith perseveres under trials, resists temptations, responds to Scripture, overcomes favoritism, leads to good works, controls the tongue, produces wisdom, submits to God, resists the lures of the world and the devil, depends on God and not on riches, waits patiently for Christ’s coming, and results in answered prayer.
James is addressed to “the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad” (1:1), and this refers to the Hebrew Christians who resided outside of Palestine. These Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah were encountering many trials, and they needed to be encouraged and exhorted to persevere in their faith. This epistle makes no mention of Gentile believers, and appears to have been written around AD 46–49 before the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. According to Josephus, James was martyred in AD 62.
The theme of James is the character of true faith as it is expressed in various situations and relationships. The Jewish believers scattered throughout the Roman Empire were struggling with trials and temptations, and there were evidently problems in their assemblies with spiritual apathy, preferential treatment of the wealthy, disunity, and materialism that needed to be corrected. James wrote this letter to exhort them to persevere in obedience to the truth and to apply a living faith in Christ to their attitudes and actions. A lack of change in personal character and conduct is symptomatic of a dead faith.
This epistle is the primary wisdom literature of the New Testament, and it is strongly influenced by the book of Proverbs and the Sermon on the Mount. It combines the pithy maxims of the Proverbs with the fiery rhetoric of Amos in its relentlessly ethical stance. It is full of vivid imagery and sharp commands (there are 54 imperatives in its 108 verses). This is a very formal letter that differs from the Pauline epistles in that James says nothing at all about his personal circumstances. Because of its specific treatment of so many situations in life, James is the most practical book in the New Testament, and its timeless principles apply just as well to life today as they did in the first century.
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapter 1
After a brief greeting (1:1), James speaks of the eternal perspective believers need to cultivate when they are facing trials so that they will be able to persevere when tested and tempted (1:2–18). They must not only listen to the word, but apply it to their actions (1:19–27).
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapter 2
Turning to the problem of the preferential treatment of the wealthy, James instructs his readers to love the poor and the rich alike (2:1–13). He contrasts profession of faith with possession of faith and argues that a genuine faith is expressed in deeds (2:14–26). While faith alone justifies us before God (Romans 4), it is only by the works of faith that we are justified before others (2:24).
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapter 3
The tongue is the hardest thing in nature to control, and our speech can lead to blessing or cursing, to life or to death (3:1–12). James contrasts two kinds of wisdom, the heavenly and the earthly, and exhorts his readers to turn away from envy and selfish ambition to love, mercy, and peace (3:13–18).
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapter 4
Selfishness and materialism lead to quarrels, disunity, and pride; James counsels us to humble ourselves and submit to God rather than envying and slandering others (4:1–12). Those who engage in business must submit their plans to God’s will and avoid the arrogance of autonomy (4:13–17).
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapter 5
Those who depend on their wealth and oppress others will meet with a day of reckoning (5:1–6). Those who are suffering and oppressed must persevere in hope of the promised coming of the Lord (5:7–12). This epistle concludes with a teaching on the healing and restoration that can be accomplished through the prayer offered in faith (5:13–20).
James calls himself “a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1) and speaks of his readers as brethren whose faith is in “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” (2:1). While he says less than other New Testament writers about the Person and work of Christ, his words are saturated with allusions to the teaching of our Lord (there are 15 indirect references in this epistle to the Sermon on the Mount). He anticipates the Lord’s coming as the Judge in 5:7–9
From Handbook to Scripture