Welcome to Day 2119 of  Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

James – Wisdom is Faith in Action 1 – Who is James – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 09/05/2021

James: Wisdom is Faith in Action – Who is James?

As mentioned last week, we are beginning a new series today on the Proverbs of the New Testament, better known as the book of James. This letter is chockfull of practical wisdom on how to live the life of a radical disciple. Today I want to provide a background of who James is, and why he is so uniquely fit to author the first book written in the New Testament. Since most of the lesson today sets the stage for our study through James, which may take many weeks to complete, we will only cover one verse today, James 1:1. Thus, this lesson will be somewhat academic in nature before we explore the depths of the wisdom found in James. James 1:1 (NIV) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. James 1:1 (NLT) This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. We live in a world where politics rules the day. In this world, a person’s public reputation too often drowns out the private reality. Who you know usually trumps what you know. Name-dropping often gets you farther than talent or skill. These cynical sayings not only apply to the political realm, where quid pro quo is the status quo. Unfortunately, the “good ol’ boy” system also tends to corrupt most areas of business, academia, entertainment—and, yes, even the church. This is why the opening words of the book of James are so refreshing. Like a cool spring breeze blowing through a musty room, the unassuming nature of these first few words drives out arrogance, ego, and presumption. Written by a man who could have dropped the Name Above All Names, this simple, straightforward greeting sets the tone for a letter that assaults our natural human tendencies toward sin and selfishness with a radical message of authenticity and humility. That begs the question, which is today’s message titled “Who is James?” From the very first phrase, the name “James,” this short letter presents us with a problem: Which “James” wrote this letter? Unfortunately, his humble self-identification as “a bond-servant (or slave) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1) doesn’t get us far. So, unless we were among those first recipients of the letter, we are left to some old-fashioned sleuthing to determine which James penned these words. If you run through the New Testament, you’ll come across four men with this name. It’s relatively easy to rule out a couple of these. First, James, the father of Judas (not Iscariot), never appears in the New Testament except in Luke 6:16. James, the son of Alphaeus, is probably the same as “James the Less.” Although he is one of the Twelve, he disappears from the biblical account after the upper room experience on Pentecost (Acts 1:13). So these two can be safely dismissed as unlikely candidates for authorship. This leaves James, the son of Zebedee and brother of the apostle John, or James, the half-brother of Jesus. Though the first James, a “Son of Thunder,” played a significant leadership role in the infant church as one of Christ’s inner three (Peter, James, and John), he was the first of the Twelve to suffer martyrdom under Herod Agrippa I. That occurred around AD 44 in persecution that resulted in further scattered the Jewish Christians throughout the Roman world (Acts 12:2). Shortly after this persecution, Jesus’ half-brother James stepped in to lead the persecuted church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18). This James, reared with Jesus in the home of Joseph and Mary, likely penned the letter that bears this name. This identification of the author as the half-brother of Jesus goes back to the earliest centuries of Christian history. Most conservative New Testament scholars agree. Moreover, the tone and the letter’s content match the style one would expect from a well-known leader of the original Jewish Christian church. Having identified the author as James, the brother of Jesus, what do we know about him that will help us as we read his letter? First, let’s reconstruct a meaningful picture of James’s life. No second-born son or daughter can fathom what it must have been like to suffer second-child syndrome with an older brother who never sinned. But James did. Can you even imagine? Let me set a modern-day scenario. Jesus always came when His mother called Him for the first time. He always washed His hands properly before supper. He always did His chores quickly and with delight. He always obeyed. Then there was James…born with a sinful nature like the rest of us, living in the shadow of a big brother who was God in the flesh. Being far from perfect, younger brother James had a built-in problem right from the start. I suppose James would have been happy to see Jesus leave home when He did. But then his already “strange” older brother returned to their home town claiming to be the long-awaited fulfillment of messianic promises (Luke 4:16-21). How do you think James felt toward his older brother then? We don’t have to wonder. John 7:5 says, “For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.” Mark 3:21 tells us that His siblings thought he was a lunatic. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. As a side note, the author Jude was also one of Jesus’s half-brothers. This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. So, throughout the Gospels, we see James in unbelief and skepticism over his older brother. But things didn’t stay that way. In 1 Corinthians 15:7, the apostle Paul gives this account. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. I picture Jesus putting His arms around His younger brother, whispering words of encouragement and love in his ear—words he had longed to hear all his life. In any case, when Jesus’ disciples gathered in the upper room after their Lord’s ascension into heaven, James and all his brothers sat among them in Acts 1:14. They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. He experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) and the subsequent growth of the Jerusalem church amid persecution (Acts 3-9). James was undoubtedly active in the Jerusalem church when Stephen was arrested and later martyred for his faith (Acts 6:8—8:2). So James would have been aware that a young, zealous rabbinical student known as Saul of Tarsus supported the brutal death of Stephen and his further exploits found in Acts 8:3. But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison. After Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, the Jerusalem church accepted Barnabas’s testimony and received Saul (Paul) as a member of the Christian community, even welcoming him into the apostolic fellowship. It is noteworthy that Saul first sought out James in that gathering, Galatians 1:19. The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. Perhaps James recalled his stubborn refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah, even though he had lived with Jesus all his life. But, like Saul of Tarsus, James had finally come around. God’s work of grace grabbed his heart and made him look at his brother Jesus in a new light. And so, about ten to fifteen years later, James wrote the first book of the New Testament, the short, practical wisdom manual of Christian living we call “James.” Around AD 49, a dispute erupted in the church that threatened to break the unity between Jews and Gentiles. Acts 15:1 tells us, While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Naturally, this addition of circumcision to the gospel troubled Paul and Barnabas, who had been preaching a simple message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone apart from works. Wanting to set the record straight, Paul and Barnabas immediately went to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and elders, including Peter and James. When Paul made his case to the leaders in Jerusalem, Peter concurred, reminding the council that God had saved the Gentiles strictly by faith when he preached the gospel to Cornelius and his household. So, after Paul and Barnabas reported on their miraculous ministry among the Gentiles, James supported Peter and Paul. Acts15:12-15 Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Then, when they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. James then goes on to quote passages from Amos and Isaiah. James’s wise and convincing words became the basis for the Jerusalem council’s decision to affirm Paul’s gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. In agreement with Paul and Barnabas, the Jerusalem apostles and elders firmly rejected the addition of works to the gospel—and aren’t we grateful! However, to maintain unity between the Jewish and Gentile believers, the Jerusalem council asked Gentile converts to avoid practices that Jews would find offensive. Stated succinctly, James wanted to ensure that God-honoring works authenticated genuine faith. James, a Jew living in Jerusalem and leading the Jewish believers, continued to keep the Law as a testimony to his fellow Jews. The last thing he wanted was for his genuine faith in Jesus as the Messiah to be tarnished because he and his people abruptly turned their backs on the Law of Moses. Though the Law was never a means of salvation, for James and many Jewish believers, it was a testimony to unbelieving Jews that their faith empowered them to do good works. Nevertheless, James’s authentic faith eventually became the death of him. His steadfast faith in Christ—demonstrated through good works, strengthened through suffering, and seasoned with God-given wisdom—drew the ire of the increasingly zealous and jealous religious elite. Nevertheless, his words and works attracted thousands of Jews to Christ, and the anti-Christian powers in Jerusalem eventually had enough of him. Josephus reports that James was stoned, but Eusebius recounts that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and then beaten to death by a club. Whatever the details of his brutal and unjust execution, James, the brother of Jesus, was martyred for his faith in ad 62. With that brief overview of the life of James, let’s preview a little of his letter, which we will delve into in subsequent weeks. In light of James’s pedigree, position, kinship, and legacy, imagine how he could have started his letter: “James, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David, of the royal line of the kings of Judah… or “James, the eldest of the brothers of Jesus, the incarnate Son of God… or “James, pastor of the First Christian Church of the world… or “James, a long-time associate of Peter, James, John, Paul, and the rest of the apostles … Yes, James could have dropped all kinds of names, pulled rank, and impressed his readers with ego-inflating titles. But, as we will see when we unpack his letter, he rails against that kind of pride. That may be the style of this me-first world, but that wasn’t the style of James. So instead, he began his epistle, “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1). James was a bond-servant (Doulos). This word means an indentured servant or slave who could be free, but chooses to remain. This is not a prized position in the class culture of the Roman world. But James did not regard his slavery to God and submission to Jesus Christ as a burden or curse, but a glorious honor. After introducing himself, James addressed the letter to his audience, a typical letter from then. To whom, then, was this letter written? It was clear: I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Although most of the twelve historical tribes of Israel had lost their distinct identities centuries earlier in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, the term “twelve tribes of Israel” continued to be used as a figure of speech referring to all children of Israel throughout the world. The phrase “scattered abroad” reinforces that James primarily addressed Jewish Christians, many of whom he had probably known in Jerusalem before they were scattered due to the church's persecution by the unbelieving Jewish authorities. James calls his readers “brothers” several times throughout the letter, indicating that he addresses fellow believers in Jesus, not merely all Jews spread throughout the Roman world. So, James was a Jewish believer writing to other Jewish believers in the first century who were “scattered abroad” (diaspora), “scattered throughout” like seed sown throughout a field. When James wrote this letter, Jewish communities had already been established throughout the Roman world due to numerous exiles from the Holy Land. In addition, about this time, the Roman Emperor Claudius persecuted the Jews of Rome and drove them from the city. Jewish businesses were boycotted. Jewish children were mocked and thrown out of schools. Times were harsh, and life was grim. So Jewish Christians, like the people to whom James wrote his letter, seem to have lived in a double diaspora. Not only were they subject to Roman ire because of their Jewishness, but many had also been driven out of the Jewish communities because of their faith in the Messiah! More than others, Jewish believers lived without roots and traveled outside Judea looking for a place to call home. As a result, many of these men and women found themselves in social and religious limbo. I believe suffering purifies and matures, but I also believe that relentless, extreme suffering can confuse and crush. Many of these Jewish believers had begun to grow weary, tempted either to turn their backs on their Jewish roots or to defect from their faith in Christ. Many claimed that they believed the truth of God concerning the Lord Jesus, but because of the pressures of the day, they began to live a lie. In this context of suffering, confusion, and defection, it is unsurprising that James writes a strong appeal letter. Remember, this letter was not a doctrinal treatise, not a defense of the gospel regarding the person and work of Christ, not a retelling of the Christian story. This letter assumed his readers already knew all those things. Instead, James penned a letter about authentic faith lived out in a hostile world The central theme of the book of James is that real faith produces genuine works. In other words, the person who has found the way genuinely walks. If you claim, “I have come to Jesus Christ; He is my Lord and Savior,” James answers, “Then let your life give evidence of that truth. Let your outward acts reflect the inward reality. Justify your faith before others by your good works.” Many individual sections and troublesome verses will become apparent when we realize this overarching theme. In the first major section, James tells his readers that real faith produces genuine stability. When real faith is stretched, it doesn’t break but perseveres. James supports this claim with three examples, which we will explore over the next three weeks. First, he shows that trials and tribulations in life do not destroy faith but deepen it and cause it to grow (1:2-12). Second, James reminds us that we can face temptations through genuine faith (1:13-18). Third, he explains that true believers respond to God’s Word positively, changing their lives to conform to its truth (1:19-27). The second major section begins at 2:1 and runs through 3:12. In this section, James argues that real faith produces genuine love. When true faith is pressed by various circumstances, social challenges, and personal struggles, it does not fail. Instead, it produces responses that put others first. Genuine faith takes a stand against prejudice (2:1-13), justifies itself through obedience and action (2:14-26), and bridles the beastly tongue (3:1-12). Genuine faith does not produce a passive, wimpy pushover, but a daring and durable force of love in action. In the third section, James asserts that real faith produces genuine humility (3:13-5:6). He contrasts worldly ambition with heavenly wisdom; one results in envy and strife, the other in righteousness and peace (3:13-18). James also lends practical advice on overcoming worldly behavior in the church, including behavior that brings division (4:1-10). He then encourages his readers to overcome boasting with true humility before God (4:11 -17). Finally, he also warns the wealthy to live responsibly with their riches (5:1-6). In the last section, James reaffirms that real faith produces genuine patience (5:7-20). Those Jewish Christians distressed by faith-challenging circumstances needed to hear that assurance repeatedly. James encourages his readers to be patient in suffering in light of the Lord’s coming (5:7-12). He encourages them to seek physical and spiritual wholeness (5:13-18). And he ends his profoundly practical letter with an admonition to steer erring believers back onto the right path (5:19-20). Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most importantly, your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal. As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you next time for more wisdom from God’s Word!

Welcome to Day: 2119

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

James – Wisdom is Faith in Action 1 – Who is James – Daily Wisdom

/: 2021

JAMES: WISDOM IS FAITH IN ACTION – WHO IS JAMES?

As mentioned last week, we are beginning a new series today on the Proverbs of the New Testament, better known as the book of James. This letter is chocked full of practical wisdom on how to live the life of a radical disciple, which we focused on during August. Today I want to provide a background of who James is, and why he is so uniquely fit to author the first book written in the New Testament. Since most of the lesson today sets the stage for our study through James, which may take many weeks to complete, we will only cover one verse today, James 1:1. Thus, this lesson will be somewhat academic in nature before we explore the depths of the wisdom found in James.

James 1:1 (NIV) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

James 1:1 (NLT) This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.

We live in a world where politics rules the day. In this world, a person’s public reputation too often drowns out the private reality. Who you know usually trumps what you know. Name-dropping often gets you farther than talent or skill. These cynical sayings not only apply to the political realm, where quid pro quo is the status quo. Unfortunately, the “good of boy” system also tends to corrupt most areas of business, academia, entertainment—and, yes, even the church.

This is why the opening words of the book of James are so refreshing. Like a cool spring breeze blowing through a musty room, the unassuming nature of these first few words drives out arrogance, ego, and presumption. Written by a man who could have dropped the Name above all names, this simple, straightforward greeting sets the tone for a letter that assaults our natural human tendencies toward sin and selfishness with a radical message of authenticity and humility.

That begs the question, which is today’s message titled ‘Who is James?’

From the very first phrase, the name “James,” this short letter presents us with a problem: Which “James” wrote this letter? Unfortunately, his humble self-identification as “a bond-servant (or slave) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1) doesn’t get us far. So, unless we were among those first recipients of the letter, we are left to some old-fashioned sleuthing to determine which James penned these words.

If you run through the New Testament, you’ll come across four men with this name. It’s relatively easy to rule out a couple of these. First, James, the father of Judas (not Iscariot), never appears in the New Testament except in Luke 6:16. James, the son of Alphaeus, is probably the same as “James the Less.” Although he is one of the Twelve, he disappears from the biblical account after the upper room experience on Pentecost (Acts 1:13). So these two can be safely dismissed as unlikely candidates for authorship.

ted church in Jerusalem (Acts: 12:17

This identification of the author as the half-brother of Jesus goes back to the earliest centuries of Christian history. Most conservative New Testament scholars agree. Moreover, the tone and the letter’s content match the style one would expect from a well-known leader of the original Jewish Christian church.

Having identified the author as James, the brother of Jesus, what do we know about him that will help us as we read his letter? First, let’s reconstruct a meaningful picture of James’s life.

No second-born son or daughter can fathom what it must have been like to suffer second-child syndrome with an older brother who never sinned. But James did. Can you even imagine? Let me set a modern-day scenario. Jesus always came when His mother called Him for the first time. He always washed His hands properly before supper. He always did His chores quickly and with delight. He always obeyed. Then there was James…born with a sinful nature like the rest of us, living in the shadow of a big brother who was God in the flesh. Being far from perfect, younger brother James had a built-in problem right from the start.

I suppose James would have been happy to see Jesus leave home when He did. But then his already “strange” older brother returned to their home town claiming to be the long-awaited fulfillment of messianic promises (Luke 4:16-21). How do you think James felt toward his older brother then? We don’t have to wonder. John 7:5 says, “For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.” Mark 3:21 tells us that His siblings thought he was a lunatic. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

As a side note, the author Jude was also one of Jesus’s half-brothers. Jude 1 This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. So, throughout the Gospels, we see James in unbelief and skepticism over his older brother. But things didn’t stay that way. In 1 Corinthians 15:7, the apostle Paul gives this account. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. I picture Jesus putting His arms around His younger brother, whispering words of encouragement and love in his ear—words he had longed to hear all his life. In any case, when Jesus’ disciples gathered in the upper room after their Lord’s ascension into heaven, James and all his brothers sat among them in Acts 1:14. They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

He experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) and the subsequent growth of the Jerusalem church amid persecution (Acts 3-9). James was undoubtedly active in the Jerusalem church when Stephen was arrested and later martyred for his faith (Acts 6:8—8:2). So James would have been aware that a young, zealous rabbinical student known as Saul of Tarsus supported the brutal death of Stephen and his further exploits found in Acts 8:3. But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

After Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, the Jerusalem church accepted Barnabas’s testimony and received Saul (Paul) as a member of the Christian community, even welcoming him into the apostolic fellowship. It is noteworthy that Saul first sought out James in that gathering, Galatians 1:19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. Perhaps James recalled his stubborn refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah, even though he had lived with Jesus all his life. But, like Saul of Tarsus, James had finally come around. God’s work of grace grabbed his heart and made him look at his brother Jesus in a new light. And so, about ten to fifteen years later, James wrote the first book of the New Testament, the short, practical wisdom manual of Christian living we call “James.”

Around ad 49, a dispute erupted in the church that threatened to break the unity between Jews and Gentiles. Acts 15:1 tells us, While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Naturally, this addition of circumcision to the gospel troubled Paul and Barnabas, who had been preaching a simple message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone apart from works. Wanting to set the record straight, Paul and Barnabas immediately went to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and elders, including Peter and James.

supported Peter and Paul. Acts: 15:12

Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Then, when they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted.

James then goes on to quote passages from Amos and Isaiah. James’s wise and convincing words became the basis for the Jerusalem council’s decision to affirm Paul’s gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. In agreement with Paul and Barnabas, the Jerusalem apostles and elders firmly rejected the addition of works to the gospel—and aren’t we grateful! However, to maintain unity between the Jewish and Gentile believers, the Jerusalem council asked Gentile converts to avoid practices that Jews would find offensive. Stated succinctly, James wanted to ensure that God-honoring works authenticated genuine faith.

James, a Jew living in Jerusalem and leading the Jewish believers, continued to keep the Law as a testimony to his fellow Jews. The last thing he wanted was for his genuine faith in Jesus as the Messiah to be tarnished because he and his people abruptly turned their backs on the Law of Moses. Though the Law was never a means of salvation, for James and many Jewish believers, it was a testimony to unbelieving Jews that their faith empowered them to do good works.

Nevertheless, James’s authentic faith eventually became the death of him. His steadfast faith in Christ—demonstrated through good works, strengthened through suffering, and seasoned with God-given wisdom—drew the ire of the increasingly zealous and jealous religious elite. Nevertheless, his words and works attracted thousands of Jews to Christ, and the anti-Christian powers in Jerusalem eventually had enough of him. Josephus reports that James was stoned, but Eusebius recounts that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and then beaten to death by a club. Whatever the details of his brutal and unjust execution, James, the brother of Jesus, was martyred for his faith in ad 62.

With that brief overview of the life of James, let’s preview a little of his letter, which we will delve into in subsequent weeks.

In light of James’s pedigree, position, kinship, and legacy, imagine how he could have started his letter:

“James, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David, of the royal line of the kings of Judah…

or

“James, the eldest of the brothers of Jesus, the incarnate Son of God…

or

“James, pastor of the First Christian Church of the world…

or

“James, a long-time associate of Peter, James, John, Paul, and the rest of the apostles …

Yes, James could have dropped all kinds of names, pulled rank, and impressed his readers with ego-inflating titles. But, as we will see when we unpack his letter, he rails against that kind of pride. That may be the style of this me-first world, but that wasn’t the style of James. So instead, he began his epistle, “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1:1). James was a bond-servant (Doulos). This word means an indentured servant or slave who could be free, but chooses to remain. This is not a prized position in the class culture of the Roman world. But James did not regard his slavery to God and submission to Jesus Christ as a burden or curse, but a glorious honor.

After introducing himself, James addressed the letter to his audience, a typical letter from then. To whom, then, was this letter written? It was clear: I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.

Although most of the twelve historical tribes of Israel had lost their distinct identities centuries earlier in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, the term “twelve tribes of Israel” continued to be used as a figure of speech referring to all children of Israel throughout the world. The phrase “scattered abroad” reinforces that James primarily addressed Jewish Christians, many of whom he had probably known in Jerusalem before they were scattered due to the church's persecution by the unbelieving Jewish authorities. James calls his readers “brothers” several times throughout the letter, indicating that he addresses fellow believers in Jesus, not merely all Jews spread throughout the Roman world.

So, James was a Jewish believer writing to other Jewish believers in the first century who were “scattered abroad” (diaspora), “scattered throughout” like seed sown throughout a field. When James wrote this letter, Jewish communities had already been established throughout the Roman world due to numerous exiles from the Holy Land. In addition, about this time, the Roman Emperor Claudius persecuted the Jews of Rome and drove them from the city. Jewish businesses were boycotted. Jewish children were mocked and thrown out of schools. Times were harsh, and life was grim. So Jewish Christians, like the people to whom James wrote his letter, seem to have lived in a double diaspora. Not only were they subject to Roman ire because of their Jewishness, but many had also been driven out of the Jewish communities because of their faith in the Messiah! More than others, Jewish believers lived without roots and traveled outside Judea looking for a place to call home. As a result, many of these men and women found themselves in social and religious limbo.

I believe suffering purifies and matures, but I also believe that relentless, extreme suffering can confuse and crush. Many of these Jewish believers had begun to grow weary, tempted either to turn their backs on their Jewish roots or to defect from their faith in Christ. Many claimed that they believed the truth of God concerning the Lord Jesus, but because of the pressures of the day, they began to live a lie.

In this context of suffering, confusion, and defection, it is unsurprising that James writes a strong appeal letter. Remember, this letter was not a doctrinal treatise, not a defense of the gospel regarding the person and work of Christ, not a retelling of the Christian story. This letter assumed his readers already knew all those things. Instead, James penned a letter about authentic faith lived out in a hostile world.

The central theme of the book of James is that real faith produces genuine works. In other words, the person who has found the way genuinely walks. If you claim, “I have come to Jesus Christ; He is my Lord and Savior,” James answers, “Then let your life give evidence of that truth. Let your outward acts reflect the inward reality. Justify your faith before others by your good works.” Many individual sections and troublesome verses will become apparent when we realize this overarching theme.

In the first major section, James tells his readers that real faith produces genuine stability. When real faith is stretched, it doesn’t break but perseveres. James supports this claim with three examples, which we will explore over the next three weeks. First, he shows that trials and tribulations in life do not destroy faith but deepen it and cause it to grow (1:2-12). Second, James reminds us that we can face temptations through genuine faith (1:13-18). Third, he explains that true believers respond to God’s Word positively, changing their lives to conform to its truth (1:19-27).

The second major section begins at 2:1 and runs through 3:12. In this section, James argues that real faith produces genuine love. When true faith is pressed by various circumstances, social challenges, and personal struggles, it does not fail. Instead, it produces responses that put others first. Genuine faith takes a stand against prejudice (2:1-13), justifies itself through obedience and action (2:14-26), and bridles the beastly tongue (3:1-12). Genuine faith does not produce a passive, wimpy pushover, but a daring and durable force of love in action.

In the third section, James asserts that real faith produces genuine humility (3:13-5:6). He contrasts worldly ambition with heavenly wisdom; one results in envy and strife, the other in righteousness and peace (3:13-18). James also lends practical advice on overcoming worldly behavior in the church, including behavior that brings division (4:1-10). He then encourages his readers to overcome boasting with true humility before God (4:11 -17). Finally, he also warns the wealthy to live responsibly with their riches (5:1-6).

In the last section, James reaffirms that real faith produces genuine patience (5:7-20). Those Jewish Christians distressed by faith-challenging circumstances needed to hear that assurance repeatedly. James encourages his readers to be patient in suffering in light of the Lord’s coming (5:7-12). He encourages them to seek physical and spiritual wholeness (5:13-18). And he ends his profoundly practical letter with an admonition to steer erring believers back onto the right path (5:19-20).