Contents

Introduction to the Epistle 7
Chapter 1 Respond to Trials Properly (1:1-18) 17
Chapter 2 Behave Well in Trials (1:19-20) 35
Chapter 3 Be Swift to Hear (1:21-2:26) 39
Chapter 4 Be Slow to Speak (3:1-18) 77
Chapter 5 Be Slow to Anger (4:1-5:6) 89
Chapter 6 Persevere in Trials to the End (5:7-20) 109
Abbreviations and Bibliography 123

THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

Introduction to the Epistle

The Epistle of James is a beautifully constructed Christian letter written by an author with a pastor's heart. The writer is a skilled communicator. His style is both terse and graphic, employing a wide range of effective illustrations, making it easy to believe that he also taught God's truth orally with considerable power.

An indispensable element of the NT canon, the letter's profound substance renders invalid Luther's initial evaluation of the work as a "right strawy epistle." The Book of James is the voice of a great Christian leader whose grasp of the spiritual life and of human nature is equal to any in the canon of NT Scripture. The modern Church ignores James's immensely practical admonitions at its own peril.

In every way the Epistle of James justifies the Church's historic, collective judgment that it belongs among the writings which are given by inspiration of God (2 Tim 3:16).

The introduction continues with a discussion of authorship (pp. 7-10), audience, date, and destination (pp. 10-12), early history of the epistle (pp. 12-14), literary character (pp. 14-15), purpose (pp. 15-16), and outline (p. 17).

CHAPTER 1

Respond to Trials Properly

(James 1:1-18)

I. SALUTATION (1:1)

The author of the epistle was evidently James, one of the half-brothers of our Lord (see Introduction). He was also a prominent leader in the Jerusalem church. Yet he does not lay claim to any prestigious title at all, but simply calls himself a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. This humility might well be expected of a man who grew up in the same household with the sinless Son of God.

James addresses an audience whom he calls the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. If we are right in thinking that this epistle was written to Jewish Christians not long after the first persecution of the church in Jerusalem (ca. A.D. 35; see Introduction), the addressees are the true believing Israel within the larger Jewish nation (cf. Rom 2:28-29; 9:6-8). Thus they are the true twelve tribes because their hearts have been circumcised by faith (Col 2:11-12).

In this light, the reference to the readers being scattered abroad (Greek: en te diaspora, "in the dispersion") does not refer to the Diaspora, i.e., to the dispersion of ethnic Jews all over the Roman world that took place centuries earlier. Instead, it refers to the scattering of Jewish believers in the persecution that followed the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 8:1). Some time had passed (a few months?) since then, and these believers had taken advantage of less stressful times (cf. Acts 9:31) and had settled into various assemblies of believers throughout Palestine. Yet, continuing pressures were felt by them because they constituted a Christian minority among their unbelieving Jewish contemporaries. James writes to them in a pastoral capacity in which his concerns are especially focused on the on-going problems and trials which they faced

II. PROLOGUE: RESPOND TO TRIALS PROPERLY (l:2-18)

A. By Welcoming Them (1:2-11)

Naturally, James refers to his readers as his brethren, not because they are fellow Jews but because they have been born from above, brought...forth by the word of truth (1:18; cf. Acts 9:30; 10:23; etc.). This form of address, (my) brethren, is frequent in this epistle (1:16,19; 2:1,5,14; 3:1,10,12; 4:11; 5:7,9,10,12,19). Even a superficial reading of James 1:2-18 shows that the author regards his readers as Christians. It may be said that nowhere in the letter -not even in 2:14-26!- does he betray the slightest doubt that those in his audience are truly his brothers or sisters in the Lord. If we do not observe this simple and obvious fact, we may fall into a quagmire of skewed interpretations, just as so many expositors of James have actually done.

The words count it all joy are really the opening words of v2 (in Greek). They strike precisely the note of triumph that James wishes to sound for his Christian brothers. Various trials have occurred -and will continue to occur- in the lives of these readers. How should they face them? What attitude should they take? They should count them as joy, James declares. But not merely as a partial or insufficient kind of joy. Rather, James insists, they should count them as all joy, or (more idiomatically) as a "total joy"! How unnatural this is to the human heart is obvious. We usually greet troubles with distress and complaining! Clearly, James is exhorting these believers to view their hard times with the eye of faith.

Why should they count their trials as all joy? Because these trials have a positive and highly beneficial purpose in the plan of God. And that purpose is stated here as something known to the readers. God's intention in allowing our faith to be tested is to produce patience, more accurately, "endurance" or "perseverance." The author of Proverbs wrote, If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small (Prov 24:10). God is in the business of building up strong Christian men and women who can "persevere" in hard times without fainting.

The Greek phrase translated by the NKJV as the testing of your faith treats the Greek word dokimion as a noun. But dokimion could be the neuter singular of the adjective and literally can mean: "the genuine [thing] of your faith" (cf. BGD, p. 203). A comparable expression is found in the papyri in the sense of "standard [refined] gold" (see MM, pp. 167-68). We suggest the meaning, "your quality-proven faith," i.e., "your unalloyed [pure] faith." James is referring to the way trial and testing apply "fire" to our faith, so that it can come through the "furnace" of trouble cleansed of any dross or impurity from the flesh. Like gold that has been refined, faith can be purified from the selfish motives and misguided perceptions that often distort and weaken it. God can use trouble to accomplish just that. . . .

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