The Letter of James

The letter of James contains a powerful moral exhortation directed toward the early church. The author is James, but who is that? There were many James’ living in the late first century. Christian tradition claims that this James was the brother of Jesus, and the first leader of the Jerusalem church. Most scholars dispute that claim, arguing instead that the author was either a disciple of James or an admirer of him. To support this position, these scholars argue that the letter is written in Greek. While there are many references to the Jewish scriptures in the letter, these references come from the Greek translation, the Septuagint, of these scriptures and not the Hebrew translation. It is very unlikely that the brother of Jesus could read or write Greek. Finally, the level of church organization implied within the letter suggests a dating for the letter toward the end of the first century. James, the brother of Jesus, was stoned in the early 60s.

Though referred to as a letter, this work is more like a sermon. It reflects the piety of the early Jewish-Christian community living in Palestine. The author defines the essence of religion in terms of the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself (2: 8-9). The central thrust of the letter is to urge those with faith to demonstrate it by the way they live (1:22-25). You must express your faith in action by controlling your speech (3: 1-12), helping the poor and oppressed (1: 27), treating people from different classes equally (2: 1-4), being merciful (2: 12-13) and living as a peacemaker (3: 18).

Martin Luther hated this letter because he saw it as conflicting with Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith. The key offending passage reads: “Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead (2:17).” A person is justified by doing something good, not only by what he believes (2: 24-25). Some scholars disagree that there is a fundamental difference between Paul and the author of James on this issue. They point out that Paul and James are not talking about the same thing. For Paul, the central issue is salvation. One is saved by faith in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The central issue for James is the difference between talk and action. You cannot be a Christian without acting as one. Paul, these scholars note, would agree.

While there is some truth to this position, I think that the weight of evidence supports Luther. To begin with, the author of James seems to deliberately attack Paul when he says that: “Abraham our father was justified by his deed, because he offered his son on the altar (2:22).” Paul clearly makes the point in Romans that Abraham was justified by his faith (4: 1-17). In addition, the author of James seems to suggest that humans can act morally (3: 13-14, 4: 7-8, and 4: 17). He also urges his listeners to keep the Law (4: 11). For James, the whole point about religion is ethics. Much of what he says in his letter reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount. As I pointed out in an earlier blog, Jesus and Paul differ on the issue of justification. I come down on the side of Jesus and the author of James.