Book of James - Bible Survey

In James 1 there is set before us the practical Christian life. In James 2 the practical life is presented as the proof of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. In James 3 and James 4 seven different evils are passed before us which characterise the vast profession and into which the true Christian can easily fall but for the grace of the Spirit of God. In James 5 the Apostle contrasts the condition of the professing mass with that of God's suffering people, and presents the coming of the Lord in relation to both classes.

The divisions are: (James 1.) The power of faith. (James 2:1-13.) "Against such there is no law." (James 2:14-26.) The manifestation of faith by works. (James 3, 4.) The walk through the world. (James 5.) The end and conditions of the way.

I. TRIALS AND THE EXERCISE OF FAITH (1) II. THE ROYAL LAW: FAITH AND WORKS (2) III. THE EVILS OF THE TONGUE CORRECTED (3) IV. FURTHER EXHORTATIONS TO RIGHT LIVING (4) V. THE COMING OF THE LORD AND THE LIFE OF FAITH (5)

The Division of the Epistle of James

We have already pointed out that this Epistle is not a doctrinal document. Addressed as it is to the twelve tribes in the dispersion it has nothing to say about Gentile believers, nor about their place in the Church, the body of Christ. They were believers, yet distinctly Jewish believers. This is seen in the opening verse in which James calls himself "the servant of God," an Old Testament expression; but he adds "of the Lord Jesus Christ." He and those to whom he wrote were serving God, still zealous for the law, adhering to it in every way, yet they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and served Him. Their national hope as the people of God was theirs still. The Epistle is taken up entirely with the difficulties these Jewish believers had; it refers to the trials (like Peter's first Epistle) they were undergoing, exhorts them to faith. It points out the serious errors in the lives as believers; while they believed their lives did not correspond with such a belief. The correction of the faults, while common to all believers, has a striking Jewish aspect. They had respect of persons, looked to outward circumstances, and they are reminded of the royal law of the Scriptures, and insistence is made that their faith in the Messiah must be evidenced by works. They are exhorted to be more than mere hearers of the Word, by which they had been begotten anew, but to be doers of it. Many of them evidently wanted to be teachers, had great ambitions, but their Jewish character, looseness of their tongues in speaking evil, had become prominent and that is corrected. There is a repeated reference in the Epistle to the godly of their nation, to Abraham and Isaac, to Rahab, job and Elijah. There is also quite a little which links with the Sermon on the Mount. Finally there are exhortations to godliness, prayer, the life of trust and a reminder of the coming of the Lord. The prominent word seems to be the word "patience." We find it five times. The trying of faith is to work patience (1:3); patience is to have her perfect work (1:4); they are to be patient unto the coming of the Lord (5:7); and be like the husbandman who waits in patience, and finally they are reminded of the patience of Job. The exhortations may be grouped around this word patience.

I. Exhortations to Patience in Suffering God's Will (1:1-18). II. Exhortation to Patience in Doing God's Will (1:19; 4:17). III. Exhortation to Patience in Awaiting God's Will (5:1-20).

In contrast to many epistles of the NT James' epistle does not have a logical structure. The epistle contains many diverse admonitions. Of total 108 verses 54 contain an imperative. These admonitions refer to the correct behaviour in trials of faith, in speaking, in respect to our neighbour and the world and in sufferings. Faith (which appears 16 times) and works (15 times) are the main thought going through the whole epistle.

James (the Greek form of the name Jacob) does not address the Church but "the twelve tribes scattered abroad." Early Christianity from the point of view of Jewish believers is therefore its evident theme. There had been as yet no separation from the Jewish synagogues (ch. 2:2), such as the Epistle to the Hebrews later insists upon.

James writes very early in the history of the church; and does not write to the church, but to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, that is, all Israel. He speaks of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, to which all Israel was responsible to bow, and respond with suitable works. Of course, only Christians would so respond; but he presses responsibility upon every reader. It is elementary Christianity, for those emerging from the bondage of Judaism; but does not present the truths of our place in Christ, or heavenly position and blessings. We need its instruction just as we need to remember things learned in primary grades of school.

That there is a great difference between the great Pauline Epistles and the Epistle of James is seen at a glance. If one reads even the Epistle to the Hebrews, addressed to the same class of people, believing Hebrews, to whom the Epistle of James is also addressed, and reads James immediately after, a great and notable change is seen at once. The character of the Epistle of James is essentially Jewish. In the second chapter the word synagogue is used as the place of their assembly, "if there come unto your synagogue a man, etc." They were then still in the synagogue. Nothing about the Church, the body of Christ is mentioned in this Epistle, nor do we find here the great doctrines of Christianity and the corresponding Christian relationship. The law is also prominent; and there are other Jewish features which will be pointed out in the annotations. The character of the entire Epistle corresponds with those to whom the Epistle was originally addressed "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad." It is evidently a document written at an early date during the transition period and before the great doctrinal Epistles of the apostle to the Gentiles had been produced, in which the fulness of redemption, the body of Christ, the church, and its unity and other cardinal doctrines of our faith are revealed.

Hence only is accounted for in this Epistle appeal (James 4:1, 4, 9; James 5:1-6) to unbelievers in Christ or unconverted Jews, interspersed with addresses to those Jews who did believe (James 2:1, 5, 14; James 3:1, 13, 17; James 5:7-8). There is no ambiguity as to his own confession of the Messiah. From the very first verse of the Epistle he announces himself bondman not more of God than of the Lord Jesus Christ; and he begins with the blessedness of enduring trial or holy temptation in a way that applies clearly to Christian Jews, while he proceeds to warn against sins which go beyond the faithful to mere profession in chap. 2 and afterwards farther still.

As a whole the Epistle consists of exhortation from beginning to end; even its doctrine bears closely on moral ways, as in James 1:13-15, 16-21; James 3:5-8, 15-18. James is pre-eminently a teacher of righteousness; and was used of God in Jerusalem to meet the transition state between the old state that was about to close and the Christianity that was known more simply and fully among Gentiles. Accordingly his teaching, though as truly inspired of God as that of Paul, does not develop redemption in itself, its source, its objects, or its effects, but connects itself with the new birth, and the life we have from God by the word of truth, as opposed to outbreaks of temper and tongue which are the workings of fallen nature.

The Apostle has presented the beauty of the practical Christian life in the midst of a vast profession (James 1); he has given us the tests that prove the reality of those who profess the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ (James 2); he has warned us against the different evils that are found amongst those who make a profession of being in relationship with the true God (James 3 and James 4). Now, in the closing chapter (James 5), he clearly distinguishes between the two classes, on the one hand the vast mass of mere profession, on the other those in its midst who have personal faith in the Lord Jesus. When James wrote his Epistle, the twelve tribes formed the great profession, and the godly remnant the true believers. Today it is professing Christendom and true believers in its midst to whom these truths apply.