The Holy Writer of this epistle names himself to his readers in the opening verse as, “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1). The question has long been, “Which James is the author of this letter?” There are several Jameses mentioned in the New Testament:
The book of Acts specifically mentions James the son of Alphaeus (Acts 1:13), James the brother of John (Acts 1:13, 12:2), and James the father of Judas (Acts 1:13). But after the death of James the brother of John, who was the best known of the three, another James rises to the leadership of the church in Jerusalem.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul speaks of James as one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem saying, “James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars... gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:9). This would have been after the death of James the brother of John, so the James who was a leader of the church in Jerusalem, and who is referred to in the rest of the New Testament must be another. This James is continually referred to later in Acts as well. When Peter is freed from prison by the angel of the Lord, Peter went to the home of Mary and told the believers there, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren” (Acts 12:17). Later, at the Jerusalem Council it was James (Acts 15:13) who settled the dispute about the circumcision of Gentile converts through his words. And finally, after his third missionary journey, Paul came to Jerusalem, and met with James and the elders (Acts 21:18). As we read through the book of James and compare it with the history recorded in Acts, it seems certain that it was this James who was the leader of the church in Jerusalem, that wrote this epistle. He is often called “James the Just”.
The question has long been, “Which of the Jameses mentioned previously is this James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and writer of this letter?” That question has been debated for centuries, and continues to be debated today. We simply cannot be certain, but we do know that the original readers had no trouble identifying the writer and recognizing his authority to declare the Word of God to them. That same Word has been preserved for us as well.
James addresses his letter “to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad” (1:1). This certainly refers to Jewish Christians who had been scattered from Jerusalem both before and during the persecutions recorded in the book of Acts. Seldom do we read of a city that Paul entered on his missionary journeys where a synagogue could not be found. The Jews had scattered all over the Roman empire, and it was to these Jewish Christians, whom he addresses as “my brethren” (1:2; 2:1), and “my beloved brethren” (1:16,19), that he writes this valuable letter.
One writer says that there is no more Jewish book in the entire New Testament, including even the Gospel of Matthew, and the epistle to the Hebrews. If the two references to Christ in the book were eliminated, we may expect to find this book in the Canon of the Old Testament instead of the New. So this letter must have been written very early in the history of the New Testament church probably around 45 A.D. Here are a few other examples:
These imperatives are clearly brought out in the content of the letter. James admonishes his readers to take a right attitude towards trial and temptations (1:2-18); exhorts them to receive the Word properly (1:19-27); forbids them to show partiality to others (2:1-13); demonstrates to them the insufficiency of faith without works (2:14-26); warns them against the sins of the tongue (3:1-12); sets forth the nature of true and false wisdom (3:13-18); rebukes them for their quarrelsomeness, worldliness and pride (4:1-10); instructs them to be considerate toward their brethren (4:11-12); upbraids them for their attitude and conduct in their business life (4:13-5:6); exhorts them to patient endurance of the ills of life (5:7-12); tells them what to do in times of affliction (5:13-18); and points out the importance of restoring an erring brother (5:19-20).
Over the years many have contested the truth of this letter because of its seeming contradiction to the letters of Paul on the doctrine of justification by faith. Luther himself called this letter of James “an epistle of straw” in his early years. Do the statements of James and Paul contradict each other?
James writes, “a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (2:24) while Paul writes, “we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (3:28). What’s more, both James and Paul point to Abraham as their example. So do they contradict each other? Certainly not! We need to remember the context of these sections. These two writers are speaking about justification from different points of view. Paul emphasizes that works cannot earn justification before God, where James stresses the importance of giving evidence of your faith before men by your works. Later in his life Luther came to understand the value of this letter of James, and summarized the unity between James and Paul saying, “Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone.”
Note: This study was prepared for the Bible Class at Zion Lutheran Church, Lawrenceville, GA by Pastor Nathanael Mayhew.