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