James

Overview

James writes like the book of Proverbs and sounds like the Sermon on the Mount. Short commands, vivid pictures, no long arguments: a bit and a rudder, a spark and a forest, a mirror looked into and walked away from.

His concern is faith that shows. He is not arguing against Paul — both quote Abraham — but against a claimed faith that changes nothing: no care for the poor, no control of the tongue, no patience under trial.

Background

James did not believe in Jesus during His ministry. The risen Christ appeared to him, and he became the leader of the Jerusalem church, presiding at the council of Acts 15 and known in tradition for hours spent in prayer.

His readers are poor and being dragged into court by the rich. The letter’s bluntness about wealth reads differently once that is clear.

Key themes

• Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.
• Faith without works is dead — it is not faith at all.
• Trials produce patience; wisdom is there for the asking.
• The tongue is small and sets everything on fire.
• Show no partiality: the poor man in shabby clothes gets the same seat.

Outline

1. Trials, wisdom and hearingChapter 1

   Count it all joy, ask for wisdom, and be swift to hear, slow to speak.

2. Partiality and worksChapter 2

   The rich man and the poor man in the assembly, and faith without works.

3. The tongueChapter 3

   Teachers judged more strictly, and a fire among our members.

4. Quarrels and prideChapter 4

   Where wars come from, submit to God, and boasting about tomorrow.

5. Patience and prayerChapter 5

   A warning to the rich, the patience of Job, and the prayer of faith.

Key passages

• James 1:2-4 Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.
• James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
• James 1:22 Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.
• James 2:17 Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
• James 3:5-6 Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
• James 4:14 What is your life? It is even a vapour.
• James 5:16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Christ in James

James mentions Jesus by name only twice, and echoes Him constantly — the letter is full of the Sermon on the Mount put into practice. He calls Him the Lord of glory, and calls himself His servant rather than His brother, which tells you what he came to believe about the man he grew up with.

Reading it

• Read it beside Matthew 5–7 and mark the echoes.
• Take one paragraph a day; it is dense and practical.
• Read 2:14-26 and Romans 4 together — the two are answering different questions.