The Epistle of James

The author identifies himself as James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Four men, at least in the New Testament, were listed as James:

a) James the son of Zebedee brother of John and of the twelve. (Mark 1:19; 5:37; 9:2)


b) James the son of Alphaeus also one of the twelve. (Mark 3:18)


c) James, the father of Judas (not Judas Iscariot). (Luke 6:16)


d) James the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19) who plays a leading role in the early church. (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18)

Of these four, the last is by far the most obvious candidate for the authorship this letter.

- James the father of Judas and James the son of Alphaeus are too obscure.
- James the son of Zebedee was martyred before this letter was written. (Acts 12:2)
- James, the Lord's brother, was a leader of the Jerusalem church. The early church fathers with some exceptions held to this James as the author.

Against his authorship

1. Some think is it inconceivable that a brother of Jesus would have written such a letter with out alluding to his special relationship to Christ or to his confrontation with the resurrected Christ. (I Corinthians 15:17)


2. Some say the language and cultural background to the letter are not typical of a Hebraic Jew. The style is better suited to a very Hellenistic Greek.

James was a leader in the Jerusalem church as we see in Acts and elsewhere and as as leader it is certainly possible that he would have written to the Jews of the Roman empire during his tenure as bishop of Jerusalem.

If this was the case it would have happened sometime between 40 and 62 A.D. General opinion has placed this epistle as the earliest New Testament writing at 44 - 48 A.D.

Since James lived in Jerusalem it is very likely that the letter originated there.

James is a letter. However it may begin like a letter but it does not end like a letter.

The message is a pastoral admonition as it is full of exhortations and specific instructions.

This book is loose in its structure and seems to be a combination of short, energetic and authoritative admonitions to practical Christian living.

James uses colorful Greek metaphors and other figures of speech and makes many references to nature to illustrate his thoughts. It also combines the rhythmic beauty of Greek with the stern intensity of Hebrew.

The Jewish Christians of this very early period of the church could for one reason or another be found in many part of the world at that time with very little particular instruction on how to live their new found faith.

Paul's message of the gospel and his early doctrinal teaching was just taking affect but James as a leader in the church saw fit to lend his authority to the gospel and to make it a practical message to the Jews who were spread outside Jerusalem.

To exhort the early believers to Christian maturity and practical holy living.

Further to Christian maturity James challenges his readers ho to achieve it through a persevering stand, compassionate service, careful speech, obedient submission and emphatic sharing.

Further to holy living James shows how Christian faith and love is to be expressed in various real situations. The intent is to present practical way sin which "Faith Works."

1. The main emphasis of James is developing spiritual maturity and putting your faith to work.

The most famous saying in James is "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:17)

2. James emphasizes several attitudes and actions that are required for a living and mature faith. They are as follows:

a) Spiritual Maturity will involve perseverance in testing (ch 1)

b) Spiritual Maturity will involve practicing the truth in love and in good deeds (ch 2)

c) Spiritual Maturity will involve controlling the tongue (ch 3)

d) Spiritual Maturity will involve submission to God in all things including suffering and prayer (ch 4,5)

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