The Book ofJames; Historical Context

Who wrote the book?

Internal evidence suggests that the author of the book is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ as mentioned in the first verse. The fact that there are several James’ in the Holy book leads there to be differing schools of thoughts as to which James actually wrote the book. This due to the fact that many with the name James are mentioned in the New Testament; James the brother of Jesus, James-one of the apostles son of Zebedee, James- one of the apostles son of Alphaeus and lastly James the father of Judas (not Iscariot). Of the afore mentioned James’ none seems to hold more water as to claim on the book as James the brother of Jesus. James the son of Zebedee who had a prominent role in the early church died far too early (A.D. 44) to allow us to associate him with authorship of the book. The other James’ especially the father of Jesus is far too obscure to be seriously considered and the same is true for James the son of Alphaeus.

The arguments for James the brother of Jesus as the author of the book have several solid points which I will go on to mention;

1) The striking similarities between the Greek used in Acts 15, which is attributed to James and that of the book of James.

2) The language and cultural background of the letter. It is written in good Hellenistic Greek including a hexameter early in the book (1:17) and certain other literary touches. However, many have used this to suggest that a Galilean Jew could not have written it. There is not a strong case for this because;

a) Although the Greek is good it doesn’t suggest acquaintance with higher styles of literary Greek.

b) The extent to which Palestinian Jews in the first century knew Greek should not be underestimated as many used it as one of the three languages. Almost all the New Testament is written in Greek.

c) The language used in the letter in regards to the religious and philosophical concepts is not a barrier as these concepts would have been widespread among the general population.

I stand to believe that in this case the answer is the simplest available. The book was written by James the brother of Jesus. There is no evidence to prove otherwise.

Who received it?

Although the book is not written to a specific church it is certainly written to a specific audience. James writes to the ‘twelve tribes in the Diaspora’. Although this may be taken metaphorically with the support of 1 Peter 1:1 to mean the predominantly Gentile church spread out in the Roman empire or the Christians living away from their true heavenly home, I do not believe this is the case. This is because the Greek word used in the verse Diaspora was used mainly to describe Jews living in the outside of Palestine. James then wrote this book to Jewish Christians living outside Palestine, and the following eveidences will further support this claim.

· He mentioned the twelve tribes of Israel

· He used the Greek word for Synagogue

· Several quotations and Allusions from the Old Testament

· Jewish Idioms “Lord of sabaoath”

· Stressed several principles of the Jewish Law

· There is no mention of idolatry as this did not characterize first century Jews. Whereas if it were pagans there would have certainly been mention as to conduct with idols.

What was the relationship of the recipients of this letter to the author?

The letter of James was not written to a specific church but to a specific audience. Now there is not much evidence as to James’ relationship with the recipients. However the only solution I would is suggest is that because James was the Leader of the Church and therefore had the authority to write to the ‘twelve tribes’. James may have also found common ground because he was a Jewish writing to Jews.

What are the main themes of the book?

Although not clearly demarcated in the book there are several themes/motifs that James alludes to. These are as following;

· Trials and Christian Maturity

o James in verses (1:2-18) attacks several issues where Christian suffering (which leads to maturity) is the most prominent. Words used in this part are peirazao and peirasamos used to connote “trials” or “temptations”.

· True Christianity seen in its works

o (1:19-2:26) he focuses on three key words “Word (of God)”, “law” and “works”. Here James insists that true faith is always marked with obedience.

· Dissensions within the community

o (3:1-4:12) here he talks about the Dissension in the community of Christians which in this case find their roots in envy. He uses several images to illustrate the power of the tongue.

· Implications of a Christian Worldview

o (4:13 -5:11) Here he deals with how Christian should see the world involving God in all the plans the make.

· Concluding Exhortations

o (5:12-20) he signs of also talking about the responsibility of Christians in keeping each other spiritually healthy

The Gospel of Matthew: Literary Context

Literary Context of the Gospel of Matthew

What kind of Literature is it? And what is distinctive about it?

The Gospel of Matthew is a narrative, intended for the Jewish Christian audience. This main purpose of this Gospel as with narrative is to tell a story, in this case the Story of Jesus Christ who was the Messiah, the promised savior. The gospel of Matthew is riddled with many Old Testament quotes as well as a full genealogy of Jesus Christ. This narrative consists of several parables, teachings and stories of the Life of Jesus Christ.

Narratives are different from any of general works of literature The Gospel of Matthew is also different because it is an ecclesiastical gospel. It is the only Gospel to include the word ecclesia which is used to define the church, the bride of Christ. Therefore the narrative goes on to tell the story of Christ the bridegroom to ecclesia. It was catered for the Old Testament believers who would understand the message of the one Shepherd who came to save the lost sheep of Israel.

What are the repeated words? What theme are they indicating?

In two words the theme for Matthew 5 and 6 is basically dealing with the issue of Christian Character, the ‘Christian counter culture’ as one author put it. Jesus implores that the Christian live a ‘counter culture’. In the Sermon the Mount, Jesus constantly uses the phrase ‘Blessed are those who….. for they will….’ Here Jesus is challenging the people to live a life unlike that of the Pharisees and Scribes who are like noisy gongs filled with religious practices but have no life. The beatitudes show what Jesus requires from the people, dealing with their heart issues because where a man’s treasure is that’s where his heart will be.

Jesus then tackles the issue of the law constantly repeating the phrase ‘you have heard it said……….but I say to you……..’This is a flow on the issues of the heart; Jesus takes them a step further as to what they thought the law was and what the original meaning that God had intended it to be. Jesus challenges the audience not to be like the forefathers who had their hearts in the wrong places and look what happened to them. The challenge is to change one’s heart and therefore change one’s character.

Holy Ghost Baptism

What is it and why the fuss?

God started to promise the gift of the Holy Spirit as early the time of Joel the prophet when he made this statement; Joel 2:28 “Then after I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.” This promise is reinforced by Jesus before he ascends into heaven in Luke 24: ⁴⁹ “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

There are several things that are important to understand prior to Holy Spirit Baptism; we have already discussed where we heard it from, now we need to talk about what it’s for. The Holy Spirit is extremely important for the Christian witness. The Holy Ghost gives people the power to be effective witnesses as seen in Acts 1:⁸ but when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is a fitting entrance to the Acts of the Apostles as I believe that these Acts could not have been accomplished without the Power and the Help that comes from the Holy Spirit.

So how does one now get the Holy Spirit? The very first baptism of the Holy Spirit happened on the day of Pentecost with the 120 disciples in the upper room (Acts 2:1). There was a huge rush of wind and tongue of fire rested on each of them and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began speaking in tongues. I wish we all had baptism like that. However the general pattern of baptism occurs in the laying on of hands Acts 8:17 says that Peter and John laid hands on people and they received the Holy Spirit. Ananias laid hands on Saul in Acts 9:17 and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and Paul laid his hands on people and they also received the Ghost (Acts 19:6). Although this seems to be the standard way in scripture it is not the only as further on some gentiles received the Holy Spirit even before they had hands laid (Acts 10:44-46).

The power to be a witness is the main reason for the baptism in the Holy Spirit as discussed before but how does this power manifest? When one is baptized he receives Spiritual gifts from the spirit, gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues just to mention a few. Paul talks about these spiritual gifts briefly in 1 Cor. 14. “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts” is part of the Apostles opening statement.

Therefore a Christian must desire the gifts that come from the Holy Spirit to allow him/her to be an effective witness for the gospel of Christ.