JAMES (Epistle)

The author of this epistle does not present himself as an apostle, but is simply called James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ (James 1:1). It is assumed that it is James, the brother of the Lord, which is corroborated by the peculiarities of this epistle.

(to date. The following facts testify to its antiquity: The plan of gathering of Christians still bears the name of synagogue (James 2:2, Gr. text and V.M.); Christians are not sharply distinguished from Jews (James 1:1); sins attacked and wrongs corrected evoke a Jewish community; no allusion is made to the conference of Acts. 15 nor to the fall of Jerusalem; There is no trace of the controversies that, from the year 60 AD, occupied the attention of the Church. Thus, it is logical to place this epistle around the year 45 AD, and consider it the oldest writing of the NT.

(b) Recipients. This epistle is addressed to the twelve tribes that are in the dispersion (Greek: “Diaspora”, James 1:1), which does not mean either the entire Jewish dispersion or the entire Christian church seen as a ” Spiritual Israel”, but refers to the Christians (James 2:1, 5, 7; 5:7) who constituted the remnant believing in the Lord among the Jews of the “Dispersion” outside the land of Israel (cf. Jn. 7:35; 2 Mac. 1:27; see REST [OF ISRAEL]).

(c) Content. This epistle aims to correct Christians from Judaism of their sins and errors and encourage them to bravely endure the harsh trials that threatened them. Immediately after the mention of the recipients and the greeting, Santiago consoles his readers exposed to adversity; He exhorts them to stand firm, and shows them where the temptation to apostatize comes from (James 1:2-21).

Next, James warns Christians against superficiality, for which he is content with words; He explains to the brothers what authentic faith consists of (James 1: 22-27), and what fruits it will bear with respect to respect of persons, a very widespread sin (James 2: 1-13). He exposes how true faith is manifested, which is dead in itself without the fruit of works (James 2: 14-26).

He rebukes the presumption of those who, lacking the qualifications for it, assume a ministry of religious teaching, and reveals the roots of jealousy (James 3). He rebukes the envious and others with a mean spirit (James 4:1-12) and casts a curse on trusting in money (James 4:13-5:6).

The epistle ends with exhortations to patience in trials (James 5:7-12), and to prayer, a sufficient resource in every sad circumstance (James 5:1318). Finally, the author expresses the joy of the Christian who leads the lost sinner to faith (James 5:19-20). This epistle, whose language and writing are remarkable, is written in excellent Greek. His exalted, picturesque style resembles that of the Hebrew prophets.

This epistle contains more imagery from nature than all of Paul’s epistles (e.g., James 1:6, 23-24; 3:3-4, 10-12; 4:14; 5:7); These comparisons recall the Lord’s speeches in the Synoptic Gospels. There are numerous passages in the epistle that are analogous to Gospel passages. Parallelism abounds (development of thought in parallel phrases that are paired).

The tone and didactic object of this work allow it to be placed very early, and it is clear that its recipients had just embraced Christianity from a Jewish origin. The passage about faith and works (James 2:14-25) has often been misinterpreted. They have wanted to see in it a polemic against the doctrine taught by Paul of justification by faith, or at least a corrective to abusive conclusions that some drew from Paul’s teachings.

However, this passage is, in reality, the refutation of a very widespread idea within Judaism of that time, which claimed that mere intellectual adherence to divine teachings was sufficient for salvation. James proclaims that external testimony (cf. James 2:14, “if a man says that he has faith”) must be justified by a corresponding life; A profession of faith without works that are the fruit of this faith is groundless.

Hence James’ conclusion: “faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself” (James 2:17); In other words, the claim to have faith without some fruits in life that demonstrate it is a totally empty claim. With this Paul agrees, who strongly affirms that salvation is by faith, without merits of works; but that just as energetically affirms that the believer’s walk will externally demonstrate his saving and transforming faith through fruits consistent with the salvation received (cf. Eph. 2:8-10; Gal. 5:6; Tit. 2:14; 3:1, 5, 8, 14, etc.).

James, thus, does not affirm that works are necessary for salvation, as some have concluded, attributing to James a position opposite to that of Paul. What he does affirm is that the faith that saves reaches its full maturity, its plenitude, with those fruits that adorn it and that make its existence evident to the outside world (cf. James 2:22, etc.).

But it is still important to maintain the distinction between the external fruit of works, which perfect faith, or give it its fullness, and the source of good works, which is the new nature of the already saved believer. That is, good works are the necessary result of salvation, not its means, and they justify the believer by bearing witness to his faith to the world, adorning his testimony, and giving fullness to his faith (cf. Tit. 3:4- 8; see JUSTIFICATION).

This epistle reflects the Palestinian environment: its author, nourished by evangelical teachings and the words of the Lord Jesus, has given us a document of clearly Christian origin, in which literary analogies are evident.

The following comparisons are very interesting: Stg. 1:2 with Mt. 5:10-12; Stg. 1:4; Matt. 5:48; Stg. 1:5, 17; Mt. 7:7-11; Stg. 1:22; Mt. 7:21-27; Stg. 2:10; Mt. 5:19; Stg. 3:18; Mt. 5:9; Stg. 4:4; Matt. 6:24; Stg. 4:12; Mt. 7:1 and 10:28; Stg. 5:1 ff.; Mt. 6:19 and Lk. 6:24; Stg. 5:10; Mt. 5:12; Stg. 5:12; Mt. 5:34-37; Stg. 1:6; Mr. 11:23 ff.; cf. Stg. 1:9 ff.; 2:5 ff.; 4:4 ff.; 1:3 ff.; 5:1ff. with Lk. 1:46 ff.; 6:20ff., 24; 12:16ff.; 16:19 ff.

The author’s strong personality and firm convictions are evident in his contempt for a profession of faith not followed by an honest life (James 1:22-23); his precise views on the dangers of misusing the tongue (James 1:26; 3:2-12); his distrust of the selfish rich (James 1:10-11; 2:2, 6; 5:1-6); his deep sympathy for the poor (James 2:5-6, 15-16; 5:4); his determination to suffer joyfully for Christ (James 1:2; 5:10-11); his faith in prayer (James 5:16) and his hope in the coming of the Lord (James 5:7-8).

(d) There are some statements of James that deserve to be highlighted: “A double-minded man is fickle in all his ways” (James 1:8); “the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God” (James 1:20); “friendship with the world is enmity against God” (James 4:4); “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7); “The effective prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

There is evidence that the Epistle of James was used very early by the early Church. Clement of Rome quotes his phrases at the end of the 1st century, and other authors of the 2nd century do the same. At the beginning of the 3rd century Origen named it explicitly.

For a certain time, the Latin Fathers do not seem to have used it; Written for Christians of Jewish origin, it does not seem to have had much impact on Christians from paganism. It does not appear in the (incomplete) Muratori fragment, but Hermas uses it, and it appears in the Vetus Syriaca.

A fragment of the book of James, corresponding to Stg. 1:23, was found in Cave 7 of Qumran (7Q). This is of great importance, because it indicates a date necessarily prior to the year 70 BC. (See QUMRÁN, V, Cave 7 [7Q].) This fragment is designated 7Q8.