Smoodock's Blog

James addressed his letter to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. Although gentile believers would be affected by what James wrote, we need to keep in mind that James’ main consideration was believing Jews, because the persecution that came after Paul’s imprisonment was aimed at these believers. Knowing this, some of what James said was probably encoded to keep the enemies of the Gospel from understanding the true intent of this epistle. Moreover, it is probably true that James was executed by Ananias, the high priest and son of Annas (cir. 62-63 AD), for writing this very letter, and his stoning took place not long after Paul left for Rome in chains. Therefore, his letter had to have been written before this time, but probably closer to James’ death than nearer to Paul’s arrest.

What I find striking is Luke’s silence concerning the activity of James and the other Messianic Jews in Judea and Galilee following Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem and imprisonment at Caesarea. If Paul was arrested at Jerusalem in late spring of 58 AD, (Acts 20:16; cf. 21:27-28), the hush over the activity of the Jerusalem and Galilean Jewish believers from this point until Paul sailed for Rome in 60 AD (about 2 ½ years), is very curious to say the least. One can only say that either the Messianic believers in Palestine expressed cowardly behavior, or Luke is protecting them by writing nothing of their more recent activity.[1] This is even more understandable, in the context of Luke’s addressee, Theophilus (Acts 1:1), being the former high priest (cir. 36 to 41 AD) and son of Annas, and whose son, Matthias, was the current officiating high priest at Jerusalem.[2]

In any case, James addressed his letter during a time of great trial (James 1:2), and his advice for Christians was to remain persistent in their faith. The trial itself required wisdom on the part of the believer to fight the good fight (James 1:5). James’ manner seems to imply that those who lacked wisdom were rebuked by those who had come into the church, making out like they had the true knowledge of God and greater faith than anyone else. The wisdom that James mentioned had to do with understanding God’s word. Notice:

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory (1 Corinthians 2:4-7).

If any of Jesus’ disciples didn’t readily understand God’s word on their own, in that they were content to listen to those who spoke in the believers’ meetings, trusting this was enough, they would have found themselves ill equipped for the then present danger. James told them to simply ask God to give them understanding, because he would give it freely to those who ask. Nevertheless, the brethren were to ask in faith—trusting God loved them enough to freely give them all they needed. James again encodes his message when he speaks of wavering like the waves of the sea tossed in the wind. This language was used often in the New Covenant text to admonish believers to be content with what they had been taught and not run after every new doctrine or teaching that crossed their path (Ephesians 4:14; Hebrews 10:23; 13:9). Both Jude and Peter’s second epistles are decidedly more obvious about what was going on, because they were probably written following James’ death, so the battle lines in the faith were more clearly drawn at that time, for the persecution was well under way and the need to be subtle had long passed (Jude 1:12-13; 2Peter 2:17).

James was not only trying to encourage the more unstable believers to ask God for wisdom and hold fast to the faith that was delivered unto them, but he was also calling for the repentance of those double minded men (James 1:7-8) who had upset the peace of the community by teaching things they not only did not fully understand, but which also denied the Lord who bought them (2Peter 2:14; 3:16b).

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[1] The latter is more likely to be true, because Paul would later write to the Jews of Judea and Galilee, mentioning that they had endured hardship and even lost property, because they had helped him, while he was incarcerated at Caesarea (Hebrews 10:32-34).

[2] Luke was hopeful of Theophilus’ influence over his son who could end the persecution. Two decades earlier, Theophilus, the then officiating high priest, had ended the persecution following Stephen’s death, when he saw Roman armies wintering in Ptolemias and headed for Jerusalem to erect a statue of Caesar in the spring (cir. 38-39 AD), and Luke’s warning in Luke 21:20 seemed to have its desired effect.