James Week 1: An Introduction

January 25, 2012

Pray

Read James 1:1

 We are diving into to the Letter of James. So we need to learn a little bit of the background on who wrote the letter, who it was written to, the situation of the times and why it was written.

First let’s look at who wrote it.

James the brother of Jesus is commonly accepted as the author of this letter. We see evidence of James, the Brother of Jesus, and his prominent role in the early church in the book of Acts (Acts 15:13-21). He was a big part of the church in Jerusalem and therefore it fits with who the book was written to.

The letter was written to the 12 tribes in the Dispersion. A little history, once Christ was crucified and the church began to form, there were many who did not like it. Jews, Romans and any number of other peoples and religions did not like what Christianity stood for. Saul (later renamed Paul) was among those that were present when Stephen was martyred. After this the Christians went into hiding or left Jerusalem to avoid persecution and were scattered abroad. That is what is known as the Dispersion. James was not writing to those in Jerusalem, or to a specific church as Paul did many times. James was writing his letter to all Christians no matter where they were. His reasoning behind this is that he wanted to identify all Christians as the children of God. The nation of Israel was the people of God. Now all Christians held that title.

James was writing this letter to these Christians to encourage and admonish the church. “This letter is intended to confront members of the church with the responsibilities of the Christian life.” This is not a letter written pleading with unsaved people to come to a knowledge of Christ, rather it is a letter written to those who would call themselves Christians addressing issues that have risen up in the church. The church that James was writing too fell into some sin, just like we all do. The church was consumed with a worldly lifestyle not putting it’s faith into practice, fighting amongst itself. James deals with suffering, sin, our view of Christ, the poor, and wisdom. James is a very practical book, but it is also a very blunt book some would even say harsh at times. James doesn’t sugar coat things or pull punches. He will also call us as the church to live in true community with one another.

v.1 - We have already dealt with much of verse 1 in going over the background of the book of James. But to be thorough so we don’t miss anything let’s just look at the few points we missed. James identifies himself to the readers as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is basically James’ qualifying statement about why he has the authority to write this letter and why he should be listened to. He didn’t want people to listen to him because he was the brother of Jesus, so that is no how he introduced himself. The term he used can be interpreted slave.  Not a modern day version of slave but a new testament form of slave. Many slaves were dedicated to pleasing their masters because of the reward that awaited them if they did. James is a servant of God, in the Old Testament when a person was referred to as a servant of God it meant that they were chosen by God to do His work because of their loyalty and humility before Him. This is James. God has given James authority to write this but James does not abuse this authority instead he has the mind of Christ and serves others with his calling.

 The letter of James is one that can hold great meaning in the life of a believer today. My hope is that over the next 14 weeks we will be able grow as we uncover the truths that James writes down for us.