An Introduction to James

This text is an interesting work with lots of advice about being a follower of Christ. The author presents Christianity as a way of life- not just a system of beliefs. It mentions Jesus only a few times and has a definite Jewish vibe to it (the first line addresses the "twelve tribes in the Dispersion..." i.e. those Jews living outside Jerusalem). Many Jews, after the Babylonian exile did not return to Jerusalem; this letter is to them. The people in this situation were likely poor and oppressed (by "real" Jews and also by the Gentiles).  The issues faced by these Jewish Christian are not to different than what many of us are facing today.  It reads almost like a check list of what to do as a Christian. 

There are several "James" referenced in the Bible: James, son of Zebedee, brother to John; James, brother of Jesus; James, son of Alphaeus; James, father of Judas the apostle. Traditionally, it is James, the brother of Jesus that is credited with authorship of this text. He became a leader of the church in Jerusalem. He is sometimes called James of Jerusalem or James the Just. James was killed in 62AD, so the letter (if written by him) had to pre-date that. Most hypothesize the date was late 40s to mid 50s (so prior to all the Gospels and contemporary with some of Paul's epistles). 

The major themes of James are:

• trials and temptations- life is full of them and one should "consider it nothing but joy" to experience them (1:2-4)
• wisdom from above- wisdom given from God (1:5) and then how we ought to live in relationship with God
• faith and works- probably one of the most famous part of his writing, "faith without works is dead" (2:17, 26) and also  "a person is justified by works and not by faith alone" (2:24)
• rich and poor- James has an overwhelming concern for the poor and hostility toward the rich, more than any other text in the Bible (other than maybe Luke/Acts)

I am looking forward to reading this with you and hearing your thoughts!