Sunday, September 22, 2013

New Testament History and Letters: Letter of James overview and insights


The Letter of James: overview and insights

Intro: For a young community of Jesus with practical questions about how to be a Christian. Who better than the half brother of jesus, one of the the leaders at the church at Jerusalem to write on practical Christian living. The letter of James is a practical help for a community to represent Christ.

A. Author

1. Who James? The title of this book derives from the name of its author, James the Just (as he was called), the brother of Jesus (Matt. 13:55) and leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15). Most scholars agree regarding his authorship.

2. Why James? [Note: Understanding the Author will help understand why he wrote as he did.]

a. James family history
The author of this letter gives us practically no information about himself He calls himself simply: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Jas 1:1). Who then is He? In the New Testament their are apparently at least five people who bear that name but tradition hold James, to be James half-brother of Jesus.

i.) Grew up with Jesus
Evidence about this James. From the New Testament we learn that he was one of the brothers of Jesus (Mk 6:3; Matt 13:55). James grew up with Jesus. Jesus was to him an older brother. As brothers they played together, were schooled together and learned carpentry together. No doubt Jesus tutored James and many of these things. Imagine all the times they talked around the dinner table. He saw Jesus life out his life up close and personal.

ii.) Unbelieving during Jesus Ministry
During Jesus' ministry it is clear that his family did not understand or sympathize with him and would have wished to restrain him (Matt 12:46-50; Mk 3:21; Mk 3:31-35; Jn 7:3-9). So, then, during Jesus' earthly ministry James was numbered amongst his opponents. How many times did he hear the story about Jesus birth, but was a hearer and not a doer. he was double minded about his brother's identity, untill after the resurrection.

iii.) Conversion and Calling
In 1 Cor 15 Paul gives us a list of the Resurrection appearances of Jesus and includes the words: "Then he appeared to James" (1 Cor 15:7). During the 40 days jesus remained on the earth he appeared to James. James came to faith after Jesus' appeared to him after the resurrection. James became a leader in the church. Numbered among the three pillars at the church in Jerusalem. Ac 12:17, Gal 2:9, Ac 15.

b. James was a wise leader.
James letter gives evidence he is steeped in the Old Testament particularly, the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. He must have read it a whole bunch. James contains more than 40 allusions to the OT. Also We hear echoes of Jesus' example in James' Letter. Taken as a whole the description is a beautiful picture of Christ-likeness. In a special way, James could say he remembered seeing Jesus respond with patience and perseverance to the mundane and manic moments common to all who doing life together. James must have recalled the way Jesus handled life's issues and added them to how he explained we should respond to life. Also James may also have learned from the disciples about his Lord and half-brother. There are more than 20 allusions to the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). All these factors make James something of a "community organizer", one who could diagnosis and speak to the practical issues of life together.

c. James was know for passionate devotion and intercession.
Don't let the strait forward style and authoritative tone of Jame's writing bring you to think he was a cold legalistic Pharisee, or only conserved with Christians doing stuff. To the contrary, He was a committed and pious man, a man concerned with the heart (4:1-3). He was deeply committed for he knew the error of indecisiveness. We see this in his focus on single-mindedness. Church history tells us he was nicknamed James the "camel kneed" because of the great time he spent in prayer. It is no wonder he spoke of controlling of the tongue. A man who knows how to pray knows the power of the tongue. He surly, reflected on years wasted with Jesus across the dinner table, all the conversations left unsaid, but now he had a second chance and prayer was the avenue. He would be martyred by the Jewish leaders in 62 AD. There is a description in Church History of James that is helpful.
the Lord's brother, James, he whom all from the time of the Lord to our own day call the Just, ..... To him alone was it permitted to enter the Holy Place, for neither did he wear wool, but linen clothes. And alone he would enter the Temple, and be found prostrate on his knees beseeching pardon for the people, so that his knees were callous like a camel's in consequence of his continual kneeling in prayer to God and beseeching pardon for the people.
B. Style and Content of Letter

1. It is a Curricular letter
He is writing a Curricular letter - a letter meant to be passes around from church to church. You can remind class James audience was Jewish house church's in Palestine (maybe beyond) scattered by persecution and lacking instruction. (Jam 1:1, Acts 8:1) The genre of the letter can be understood as wisdom teaching. Wisdom teaching for those inside the covenantal community. It assumes that you are already in. James writes to Christians. He writes to the covenant community. Wisdom teaching is for the fork in the road. It is between being wise and being a fool. It is between righteousness and wickedness. It is between good and bad. We are not talking about getting into the covenantal community. 

2. It is a practical letter
Content summery: James is conserved with the real conditions in the churches. James’s primary theme is full commitment, living out one’s faith, being a doer and not just a hearer of the word. This theme is developed in view of the social conflict between rich and poor and the spiritual conflict between factions in the church and in all believer's hearts. James rebukes his readers for their worldliness and challenges them to seek divine wisdom in working out these problems and getting right with God so they can build a community of faith that is strong.


3. A sermon in letter form: James pens a preachy postal parchment.
James letter is not a traditional letter. It is best understood as a sermon. It is as if James pulled some of his best sermon points and complied them into one helpful little letter. A basic structure of the letter can be seen that will help in readers.

       I.   Intro 1:1
            1. How to handle the issues of life 1:2-18
            2. Rules for life within the church 1:19-3:18
            3. Rules for life beyond the church 4:1-12
       II. Concluding remarks 5:7-20

4. Community, individualism and James
James is deeply Jewish, so Jewish he smells like kosher dill. This said, it reminds us, we can't let American individualism influence our reading. From the outset James' passion is with life within the believing community while it is true that each must assume his or her individual responsibility to make the community healthy the concern is not with personal devotion as much as it is with healthy community.

5. The Content of James
Summery: James is conserved with the real conditions in the churches. James’s primary theme is wisdom, living out one’s faith, being a doer and not just a hearer of the word. This theme is developed in view of the social conflict between rich and poor and the spiritual conflict between factions in the church and in all believers’ hearts. James rebukes his readers for their worldliness and challenges them to seek divine wisdom in working out these problems and getting right with God so they can build a community of faith that is strong.

A. Best way to approach the letter of James is to understand it as New Testament Wisdom Literature. Biblical wisdom seeks to produce integrity of self and life. Seeing and Living in rhythm with God and the way he made the world to work.

B.  The problem: James understands the problem as fragmentation. There are threats from outside (persecution, famine) and threats from inside (immaturity etc). You can understand the threats both outside and inside the church as fragmentation. These are threats will fragment Christian character and community. They pull you out of rhythm with God and how he made the world to work. The important key in James way of thinking is the issue of integrity of selfhood and community. Also James aims to calls his readers not only to persevere, but also to repent of double-mindedness and of divided loyalty.
  1. Examples of fragmentation: “Double-mindedness” (1:7), “showing favoritism” (2:1) and “faith without deeds” (2:20) For James, All these divisions are expressions of foolishness. They are things that are out of accord with God’s wisdom. Every one of these examples is an example of fragmenting something that is supposed to go together.
C. James gives the church the wisdom it needs to heal the fragmentation.

Below is a sketch outline showing the flow of the argument from general issues of suffering to specific issue of the community

Address and greeting (1:1)
     I. Building Christian maturity (1:2-1:27)
          A. Trials and temptations (1:2-11)
          B. The evil desire (1:12-18)
          C. True religion is compassion in action (1:19-27)
     II. Building a healthy community (2:1-5:18)
          A. The Effects of sickness in Community (2:1-26)
               1. Sin of favoritism (2:1-13)
               2. Sinful division between Faith and deeds (2:14-26)
          B. The Source of Sickness in community (3:1-18)
               1. Immature Teachers and loose tongues (3:1-12)
               2. True and false wisdom (3:13-18)
          C. James Rx Pad: Symptoms and Antedates for the community (4:1-5:18)
               1. Friendship with the world (4:1-10)
               2. Slaughter and the desire for money (4:11-17)
               3. The Corrosive Power of wealth (5:1-6)
               4. Patients in the face of suffering (5:7-11)
               5. The prayer of faith and Life together (5:12-18)
Conclusion: The forgiveness of God (5:19-20)

C. Observations:
NOTE: teacher give two or three observations from the text on a major themes in letter. The aim is to give student a feel for the text and author -  three examples are given below [A. B. C. see next post].

A.) James view of Wisdom: Wisdom and James' Pastoral Exhortation.

B.) James view of the law: ‘Royal law’ (2:8) and ‘the law that gives freedom’ (1:25; 2:12)

C.) Character of Christian Community (James 5)

D. Application: Helpful Advice When reading James
1. Take your time. Because of its many starts and stops and turns, it is best to take it in small meditative Chunks.

2. Read it out loud to yourself. You will find a kind of sermon quality to the letter. James hopes to persuade and dust to facilitate change in the way God's people live in community with one another.

3. Watch out how you read. Watch out for reading James as though it were addressed to individual believers about their one-to-one relationship with God and others. Nothing could be farther from James' his own concern. He is concerned with healthy community. As you read ask yourself how is James encouraging me to be a part of a health community. What does he want me to stop doing so I am not a cancer to the body of Christ. (In other words read James with your mind not on "what is good for me" but "what is good of the group." Jesus' ethics was "other" centered - love God "the divine Other" and love thy neighbor the "human other")

4. Let James be your spiritual director. James frequently uses the rhetorical device of direct command, expressed in the imperative mood of the verb (for example., “be doers of the word, and not hearers only,” 1:22). Their are 50 imperatives in the book’s 108 verses. This abundance of commands is a signal that the writer has a practical bent and is interested in action rather than mere belief as the distinguishing characteristic of Christians. There is also a strongly persuasive stance as the author seeks to move his readers to action. In many places your don't need to look for a deeper meaning instead you need to do the stuff. James is not giving advice but commands.

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