Overview of James

We move now to what are sometimes called the General epistles. These are letters that are written to the church generally, rather than to specific churches or individuals.

The first is James, traditionally attributed to James, the half-brother of Jesus. This James rose to prominence as a leader in the Jerusalem church (see Acts 15:13-29 and Acts 21:17-26).

There’s some debate over whether it was actually written by a different James, or maybe disciples of the half-brother of Jesus that wanted to collect together his wisdom sayings.

There’s very little to date this letter, though most scholars place it after the gospel, as early as 90s CE and as a late as 150s CE.

The letter is a collection of wisdom sayings, not too dissimilar to Proverbs. This makes it very difficult to put together a clear structure or outline. Wherever you look, there are different suggestions for how to outline and read the letter.

But while the letter lacks a clear structure, is has very clear themes. The first is trials. Multiple times James mentions trials, tests, temptations, and sufferings. It is assumed that believers will face these. The call is to stand strong and be faithful in the face of them.

Then there’s wisdom and speech. Believer should seek wisdom and be careful in what they say.

Finally, there’s wealth and the poor. Those who have money should be careful not to make it an idol, and caring for the needy is the responsibility of all believers. To turn your back on that responsibility is to turn your back on Jesus.

Because of the focus on working hard to endure trials, and serving the poor, many have struggled with the seemingly works based faith of James, in contrast with the grace based faith in Paul. Salvation is meant to be a free gift from God. We shouldn’t need to do anything to earn it.

And this is true, but to leave it there is an oversimplification of the gospel. Even in Paul, we saw that while salvation is a free gift from God that we don’t earn; it does then expect from us a transformed life. One spent in service to God.

James 1-2

The author of the letter introduces themselves as James, a servant of God and their readers as ‘the twelve tribes in the Dispersion’ (James 1:1).

At first look, this seems to be talking specifically about Jewish readers, but then we remember that the Jews are actually predominantly made up of three tribes, Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. The remaining northern tribes were taken into exile by the Assyrians and largely disappeared as distinct groups.

With that in minds it seems that ‘the twelve tribes in the Dispersion’ became a turn of phrase to refer to the entire church, both Jew and Gentiles spread out across the known world.

James then jumps into his wisdom sayings. We see the three key themes unpacked in the next ten verses (James 1:2-11). Believers should count it joy when faced with trials and struggles. Trials and struggles that test a believer's faith are what produce endurance, and endurance is required for maturity.

Next up is wisdom. If anyone feels like they lack wisdom, they need only ask God, who is generous in giving out wisdom. But James warns his readers that anyone who does ask for wisdom should never do it out of doubt. Doubt leads someone to be unstable and easily influenced. They are double-minded.

There’s been lots of debate about what this means. Many have taken this as a rebuke that any sort of doubt is inherently sinful. But there are others who point out that the doubt James is talking about isn’t a doubt in what will happen, but a doubt in where your confidence lies.

Do you trust God as your source of wisdom and support, or do you trust something else? Wealth, power, security, etc.

This would then flow directly into James’ next point. Those who are poor should boast in the fact that Jesus has lifted their heads. Those who are rich should boast in the fact their confidence isn’t in their riches.

Just like a flower in the heat of the sun, riches and wealth can easily wither away. If the rich put their confidence in their wealth, then they will be put to shame. Instead, it should be in God who will never fail them.

Having established these key ideas, James then continues to cycle through them with different wisdom sayings. Those who endure temptation are blessed. Their reward will be life in Jesus.

But just because trials and temptations are good for developing endurance and character, doesn’t mean believers should assume God is actively tempting people with sin.

The sin already exists around and in us. This sin causes temptation, which, when indulged, gives birth to more sin in our lives, which in turn leads to our death.

Meanwhile, good and perfect gifts, like the ability to resist sin, come from God, who does not change. While sin wants to birth in us more sin and death, God seeks to birth in us truth that leads to fruitfulness.

This involves both hearing and doing the word. In order to hear properly, you must be slow to speak and slow to anger. These things do not produce righteousness and limit your ability to hear properly.

In fact, believers should seek to rid themselves of this and other weaknesses so that they can, in meekness, hear the word God is bringing.

But hearing is not enough. Work needs to be done based on what is heard. To hear and not do is like looking in the mirror to check how you look, seeing something and thinking, ‘oh I should fix that’ and then immediately walking away and forgetting to fix it.

If someone thinks they are particularly religious or spiritual, should be careful in this. They should guard their tongue so they can hear properly and then make sure they are doing as well, like caring for the poor and needy.

Back to the rich and the poor, believers should be careful to not give special treatment to the rich over the poor. To do so shows a level of evil that has slipped into their reasoning.

Instead, they should love their neighbour as themselves. James lifts this up as the ‘royal law’. When it is comes to this law, you have to apply it universally. You can say, I’m loving here so it’s okay if I then show partiality and prioritise rich people here, just like you can say ‘sure I murdered someone, but at least I’m not an adulterer’.

Believers are called to not cut corners or allow for exceptions to the rule of ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. Any area someone fails in that law affects every area.

In this way, your faith should be lived out in your works. If someone is in need and all a believer does is pray over them and doesn’t help meet their need, then their faith is dead.

That’s not to say that the works on their own matter. The works are evidence of someone’s faith. But someone can claim to have faith and that faith be useless. Even the demons believe in God.

Abraham, the father of the faith, put his faith into action when he trusted that God would do something miraculous while offering Issac on the altar. And Rahab didn’t just believe that the God of Israel would deliver Jericho in their hands. She protected the messengers and sent them back to the Israelites with her support.

The works are what prove an individual's faith showing it to be good and profitable.

Psalm 29

This psalm is attributed to king David and falls into the category of praise psalm. Because of the focus on strength and God’s voice, this was like a psalm sung after a great military victory. There was a sense that the war cry of God is what helped the Israelites win battles.

Psalm 29:1-2 - Ascribe glory to the Lord

Psalm 29:3 - His voice is like thunder

Psalm 29:4-6 - His voice is powerful

Psalm 29:7 - His voice is like fire

Psalm 29:8-9 - His voice shakes the earth

Psalm 29:10-11 - The Lord sits enthroned

The psalm opens with the call to ‘heavenly beings’ (the Hebrew describes them as sons of God) to praise God. So great is the sense of victory amongst the Israelites that they tell the very heavens to sing God's praise. 

They mention that God’s voice is like thunder over water. There is lots of imagery being pulled in here. God speaking to the water and dividing it at creation (Genesis 1:6-8); the flood narrative (Genesis 7-8); God splitting the red sea for the Israelites to walk through (Exodus 14), to name a few.

We’ve mentioned with each of these that the sea embodies the forces of chaos, and so just as God’s voice has power of the sea, it also has power over chaos. This includes the enemy armies seeking to bring chaos and destruction. They must all submit to God’s voice.

The next feat of strength we see from God’s voice is that it breaks cedars from Lebanon. Lebanon was an area to the north of Israel, and many of their enemies attack them from the north. But God takes these enemies and breaks them, chasing them away like a young calf.

God’s voice is described as like fire, or lightning (depending on your translation). The very earth itself trembles, deers give birth, and forest are stripped bare. In each of these, we see God’s authority and power over every area of nature.

And so the psalm ends by honouring God with his rightful place, as a king enthroned. He enthroned of the flood, the embodiment of all things chaotic. His reign last forever, and he strengthens his people.

In this psalm, we learn of God’s great power and authority. All the scary things of earth, whether it be chaos, enemy forces, or just day-to-day life, must bow before him.