James

THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF

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INTRODUCTION

THIS is called by EUSEBIUS

([Ecclesiastical History, 2.23], about the year 330 A.D.) the first of the Catholic Epistles, that is, the

Epistles intended for general circulation, as distinguished from Paul's

Epistles, which were addressed to particular churches or individuals.

In the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament extant, they stand

before the Epistles of Paul. Of them, two only are mentioned by

EUSEBIUS as universally acknowledged

(Homologoumena), namely, the First Epistle of Peter, and the

First Epistle of John. All, however, are found in every existing

manuscript of the whole New Testament.

It is not to be wondered at that Epistles not addressed to

particular churches (and particularly one like that of James, addressed

to the Israelite believers scattered abroad) should be for a time less

known. The first mention of James' Epistle by name occurs early in the

third century, in ORIGEN

[Commentary on John 1:19, 4.306], who was

born about 185, and died A.D. 254.

CLEMENT OF

ROME

([First Epistle to the Corinthians, 10]; compare

Jas 2:21, 23;

[First Epistle to the Corinthians, 11]; compare

Jas 2:25;

Heb 11:31)

quotes it. So also HERMAS [Shepherd] quotes

Jas 4:7.

IRENÆUS

[Against Heresies, 4.16.2] is thought

to refer to

Jas 2:23.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

commented on it, according to CASSIODORUS.

EPHREM THE SYRIAN

[Against the Greeks, 3.51] quotes

Jas 5:1.

An especially strong proof of its authenticity is afforded by its

forming part of the old Syriac version, which contains no other

of the disputed books (Antilegomena,

[EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 3.25]),

except the Epistle to the Hebrews. None of the Latin fathers before the

fourth century quote it; but soon after the Council of Nicea it was

admitted as canonical both by the East and West churches, and specified

as such in the Councils of Hippo and Carthage (397

A.D.). This is just what we might expect; a

writing known only partially at first, when subsequently it obtained a

wider circulation, and the proofs were better known of its having been

recognized in apostolic churches, having in them men endowed with the

discernment of spirits, which qualified them for discriminating between

inspired and uninspired writings, was universally accepted. Though

doubted for a time, at last the disputed books (James, Second

Peter, Second and Third John, Jude, and Revelation) were universally

and undoubtingly accepted, so that no argument for the Old Testament

Apocrypha can be drawn from their case: as to it the Jewish

Church had no doubt; it was known not to be inspired.

LUTHER'S objection to it ("an Epistle of straw,

and destitute of an evangelic character") was due to his mistaken idea

that it

(Jas 2:14-26)

opposes the doctrine of justification by faith, and not by works,

taught by Paul. But the two apostles, while looking at justification

from distinct standpoints, perfectly harmonize and mutually complement

the definitions of one another. Faith precedes love and the works of

love; but without them it is dead. Paul regards faith in the

justification of the sinner before God; James, in the

justification of the believer evidently before men. The error

which James meets was the Jewish notion that their possession and

knowledge of the law of God would justify them, even though they

disobeyed it (compare

Jas 1:22

with Ro 2:17-25).

Jas 1:3; 4:1, 12

seem plainly to allude to

Ro 5:3; 6:13; 7:23; 14:4.

Also the tenor of

Jas 2:14-26

on "justification," seems to allude to Paul's teaching, so as to

correct false Jewish notions of a different kind from those which he

combatted, though not unnoticed by him also

(Ro 2:17,

&c.).

Paul

(Ga 2:9)

arranges the names "James, Cephas, John," in the order in which their

Epistles stand. James who wrote this Epistle (according to most ancient

writers) is called

(Ga 1:19),

"the Lord's brother." He was son of Alpheus or Cleopas

(Lu 24:13-18)

and Mary, sister of the Virgin Mary. Compare

Mr 15:40

with Joh 19:25,

which seems to identify the mother of James the Less with the wife of

Cleopas, not with the Virgin Mary, Cleopas' wife's sister. Cleopas is

the Hebrew, Alpheus the Greek mode of writing the same

name. Many, however, as HEGESIPPUS [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 23.1],

distinguish the Lord's brother from the son of Alpheus. But the

Gospel according to the Hebrews, quoted by JEROME,

represents James, the Lord's brother, as present at the institution of

the Eucharist, and therefore identical with the apostle James. So the

Apocryphal Gospel of James. In Acts, James who is put foremost in

Jerusalem after the death of James, the son of Zebedee, is not

distinguished from James, the son of Alpheus. He is not mentioned as

one of the Lord's brethren in

Ac 1:14;

but as one of the "apostles"

(Ga 1:19).

He is called "the Less" (literally, "the little,"

Mr 15:40),

to distinguish him from James, the son of Zebedee.

ALFORD considers James, the brother of the Lord,

the author of the Epistle, to have been the eldest of the sons of

Joseph and Mary, after Jesus (compare

Mt 13:55),

and that James the son of Alpheus is distinguished from him by the

latter being called "the Less," (that is, junior). His arguments

against the Lord's brother, the bishop of Jerusalem, being the apostle,

are: (1) The Lord's brethren did not believe on Jesus at a time when

the apostles had been already called

(Joh 7:3, 5),

therefore none of the Lord's brethren could be among the apostles (but

it does not follow from

Joh 7:3

that no one of them believed). (2) The apostles' commission was

to preach the Gospel everywhere, not to be bishops in a

particular locality (but it is unlikely that one not an apostle should

be bishop of Jerusalem, to whom even apostles yield deference,

Ac 15:13, 19;

Ga 1:19; 2:9, 12.

The Saviour's last command to the apostles collectively to preach

the Gospel everywhere, is not inconsistent with each having a

particular sphere of labor in which he should be a missionary bishop,

as Peter is said to have been at Antioch).

He was surnamed "the Just." It needed peculiar wisdom so to preach

the Gospel as not to disparage the law. As bishop of Jerusalem writing

to the twelve tribes, he sets forth the Gospel in its aspect of

relation to the law, which the Jews so reverenced. As Paul's Epistles

are a commentary on the doctrines flowing from the death and

resurrection of Christ, so James's Epistle has a close connection with

His teaching during His life on earth, especially His Sermon on the

Mount. In both, the law is represented as fulfilled in love: the very

language is palpably similar (compare

Jas 1:2

with Mt 5:12;

Jas 1:4

with Mt 5:48;

Jas 1:5; 5:15

with Mt 7:7-11;

Jas 2:13

with Mt 5:7; 6:14, 15;

Jas 2:10

with Mt 5:19;

Jas 4:4

with Mt 6:24;

Jas 4:11

with Mt 7:1, 2;

Jas 5:2

with Mt 6:19).

The whole spirit of this Epistle breathes the same

Gospel-righteousness which the Sermon on the Mount inculcates as

the highest realization of the law. James's own character as "the

Just," or legally righteous, disposed him to this coincidence

(compare

Jas 1:20; 2:10; 3:18

with Mt 5:20).

It also fitted him for presiding over a Church still zealous for the

law

(Ac 21:18-24;

Ga 2:12).

If any could win the Jews to the Gospel, he was most likely who

presented a pattern of Old Testament righteousness, combined with

evangelical faith (compare also

Jas 2:8

with Mt 5:44, 48).

Practice, not profession, is the test of obedience (compare

Jas 2:17; 4:17

with Mt 7:2-23).

Sins of the tongue, however lightly regarded by the world, are an

offense against the law of love (compare

Jas 1:26; 3:2-18

with Mt 5:22;

also any swearing,

Jas 5:12;

compare

Mt 5:33-37).

The absence of the apostolic benediction in this Epistle is probably

due to its being addressed, not merely to the believing, but also

indirectly to unbelieving, Israelites. To the former he commends

humility, patience, and prayer; to the latter he addresses awful

warnings

(Jas 5:7-11; 4:9; 5:1-6).

James was martyred at the Passover. This Epistle was probably

written just before it. The destruction of Jerusalem foretold in it

(Jas 5:1,

&c.), ensued a year after his martyrdom, A.D. 69.

HEGESIPPUS (quoted in

EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.23])

narrates that he was set on a pinnacle of the temple by the scribes and

Pharisees, who begged him to restrain the people who were in large

numbers embracing Christianity. "Tell us," said they in the presence of

the people gathered at the feast, "which is the door of Jesus?" James

replied with a loud voice, "Why ask ye me concerning Jesus the Son of

man? He sitteth at the right hand of power, and will come again on the

clouds of heaven." Many thereupon cried, Hosanna to the Son of David.

But James was cast down headlong by the Pharisees; and praying,

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," he was stoned

and beaten to death with a fuller's club. The Jews, we know from Acts,

were exasperated at Paul's rescue from their hands, and therefore

determined to wreak their vengeance on James. The publication of his

Epistle to the dispersed Israelites, to whom it was probably carried by

those who came up to the periodical feasts, made him obnoxious to them,

especially to the higher classes, because it foretold the woes soon

about to fall on them and their country. Their taunting question,

"Which is the door of Jesus?" (that is, by what door will He come when

He returns?), alludes to his prophecy, "the coming of the Lord draweth

nigh . . . behold the Judge standeth before the door"

(Jas 5:8, 9).

Heb 13:7

probably refers to the martyrdom of James, who had been so long bishop

over the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem, "Remember them which have

(rather, 'had') the rule (spiritually) over you, who have spoken unto

you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their

conversation."

His inspiration as an apostle is expressly referred to in

Ac 15:19, 28,

"My sentence is," &c.: "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and

to us," &c. His episcopal authority is implied in the deference

paid to him by Peter and Paul

(Ac 12:17; 21:18;

Ga 1:19; 2:9).

The Lord had appeared specially to him after the resurrection

(1Co 15:7).

Peter in his First Epistle (universally from the first received as

canonical) tacitly confirms the inspiration of James's Epistle, by

incorporating with his own inspired writings no less than ten passages

from James. The "apostle of the circumcision," Peter, and the first

bishop of Jerusalem, would naturally have much in common. Compare

Jas 1:1

with 1Pe 1:1;

Jas 1:2

with 1Pe 1:6; 4:12, 13;

Jas 1:11

with 1Pe 1:24;

Jas 1:18

with 1Pe 1:3;

Jas 2:7

with 1Pe 4:14;

Jas 3:13

with 1Pe 2:12;

Jas 4:1

with 1Pe 2:11;

Jas 4:6

with 1Pe 5:5, 6;

Jas 4:7

with 1Pe 5:6, 9;

Jas 4:10

with 1Pe 5:6;

Jas 5:20

with 1Pe 4:6.

Its being written in the purest Greek shows it was intended not

only for the Jews at Jerusalem, but also for the Hellenistic, that is,

Greek-speaking, Jews.

The style is close, curt, and sententious, gnome following after

gnome. A Hebraic character pervades the Epistle, as appears in the

occasional poetic parallelisms

(Jas 3:1-12).

Compare "assembly": Greek, "synagogue,"

Jas 2:2,

Margin. The images are analogical arguments, combining at once

logic and poetry. Eloquence and persuasiveness are prominent

characteristics.

The similarity to Matthew, the most Hebrew of the Gospels, is just

what we might expect from the bishop of Jerusalem writing to

Israelites. In it the higher spirit of Christianity is seen putting the

Jewish law in its proper place. The law is enforced in its everlasting

spirit, not in the letter for which the Jews were so zealous. The

doctrines of grace, the distinguishing features of Paul's teaching to

the Hellenists and Gentiles, are less prominent as being already taught

Jewish Christians who still kept the legal ordinances down to the fall

of Jerusalem, the spiritual principle of the law, namely, love

manifested in obedience. To sketch "the perfect man" continuing in

the Gospel law of liberty, is his theme.