Season: 10 Episode: 150
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Summary:
What is the evidence of a Christian life? Shanda walks you through the epistle of James, the half brother of Jesus. She breaks down all five chapters, pulling the main, and sometimes controversial points from this epistle. You will hear the timeline of James’s confession of faith, as James and the rest of Jesus’s family thought He was crazy. Jesus made it a point to show Himself to James after His resurrection. The contents of James’s letter is sure to challenge you as his writings pack a punch and calls every Christian to be a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only.
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Can you have faith without works? Can you be a hearer of the word and not a doer of the word? We’re taking a look at one of my favorite books of the Bible today and we’re talking about the book of James. I contemplated starting the gospels and taking a look at the OT but the reason I chose the book of James this week is because my middle son and I are taking a class at church on how to effectively teach the Bible, He and I worked on the book of James for his presentation and so I thought I’d do this one since we were studying it.
If you aren’t familiar with the book of James, you are going to love it. And if you are familiar with it, I hope you learn something new about it through this episode. It is loaded with wisdom and James packs a punch in the way he writes.
Train Your Brain
Before we get into the book of James, I want to encourage you to sign up for the Train Your Brain class this fall. If you have a middle schooler who needs to learn how to think, or if you or a high school student have never learned how to identify fallacies, you need to take this class. One of the things I was thinking about the other day is the fact that this is an election season and I’ve already seen propaganda everywhere. Tons of people have opinions and they say really illogical things. The reason we are so easily deceived is because we don’t know how to think. This class will help a lot. You can register at onlinechristiancourses.com. I am really excited about teaching this class to middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adults. You will not regret taking it.
Alright, today we are going to talk about the main points in the book of James but before we do, we have to lay the groundwork for the book of James. We are going to look at:
- Who is James and what is the situation surrounding the first century writing of this letter?
- What are the main points of James’ letter?
- How do we apply this to our lives today?
James
James is written by Jesus’s half brother. You wouldn’t know this by looking at James’ introduction because he doesn’t mention it, which is telling. The book of Jude is also written by Jesus’ half brother Jude, yet again, you wouldn’t know it because he doesn’t mention it. We get this information by looking at the historical evidence and what most scholars have come to believe.
There are 4 men named James in the New Testament. In Matthew 13:55, we see a list of Jesus’ brothers and James is mentioned. He becomes the leader of the Jerusalem church. What’s fascinating about James’ testimony is that he, along with other family members, thought Jesus was crazy. Mark gives an account of this in chapter 3:20-21.
It wasn’t until after Jesus’ death and resurrection where we see James became a believer and follower of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us that Jesus showed himself to more than 500 eyewitnesses. Paul specifically mentions that Jesus showed Himself to his brother James.
James became an eyewitness to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
When you think about it, this strengthens the evidence for the resurrection because at first Jesus’ family thinks He’s crazy, but they see Him healing, raising people from the dead, and they hear His teachings, yet they cannot believe He is the Son of God. Then, Jesus shows Himself to His family after His resurrection and James goes all in.
James writes his letter to the 12 tribes of Israel as they are dispersed, becomes the leader of the Jerusalem church, and ends up dying for the Lord. And the opening of his letter is the most telling when he doesn’t introduce himself as the half brother of Christ, but as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who does that? Only one who is fully convinced that the man he once thought was only his brother and only a man, really was the risen Son of God. And that is the testimony of only one eyewitness. The entire NT was written by eyewitnesses or close companions of the eyewitnesses who saw the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Historians believe James was a martyr for Christ, although there is no biblical account of it. The James of Acts 12 is the brother of John, one of Christ’s apostles.
So if we use the STOP method here, we see:
Situation: The church was dispersed because of persecution. In a time of oral tradition, where things were passed on orally, this really forced the church leaders to write the biblical accounts to the churches and that’s why we have all of Paul’s epistles – he wrote some of them from prison. And that’s why we have James’ epistle. Which is the way God used the situation to give us the NT. It’s miraculous when you think about it. It strengthens the testimony of the evidence for the NT because of the situation and what the eyewitnesses went through to write their wisdom and instruction.
Type: again, this is an epistle, meaning letter. When James begins the letter, he starts it as any other letter with a solid introduction, but he does not conclude it that way. He abruptly ends it because, as I’ve mentioned, his letter is similar to the wisdom literature of the OT. He is giving instruction to the church on how to live. If you take note of chapter 4, you’ll see James asks a lot of questions. He uses questions to drive a point. His wording is strong. James is a strong writer and he doesn’t mince words. You can feel his no nonsense attitude as he writes.
Object: as mentioned in his opening, James is writing to the 12 tribes of the dispersion. He is writing to believers.
Prescriptive or Descriptive: Since this is written to the church and is a NT book, this is prescriptive. I don’t know of any part of James that is descriptive. And we’ll talk about what James’ instruction is for us today soon.
Main Points of James’ Letter
Let’s go chapter by chapter to pull the main points James makes from each one. He makes a lot and, like I said, he doesn’t pull any punches.
Chapter 1:
James first talks about the point of testing and trials – they are meant to mature us. The goal of his letter is so that we are mature and complete (the word perfect is also sometimes used for complete) lacking nothing. However, James said we cannot be mature if we doubt and are double-minded. To be double minded means we have one foot in the world and one foot in relationship with God. We are easily tossed by doubt – the waves of the sea. This is strong language because everyone doubts. But James is juxtaposing doubt with the wisdom God gives. Right away, he encourages us to ask for wisdom so that we can be mature – meaning we know how to live a godly life as we follow Christ.
In verse 12, James talks about the path toward sin, again using temptation/trials as the focus. He said we are first drawn away by our own desires and enticed. Starting in verse 13, this is what James says: “3 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
This is a depiction of what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
It’s the path toward sin.
James goes on to say that being a hearer of the word is not enough. We are to be doers of the word as well. Again, he gives a picture of what it’s like for someone who hears the word only and does not do it. He says it’s like looking in a mirror and seeing what you look like – the flaws, the things that need to be fixed, and then walking away and forgetting what you look like. He uses imagery to show us exactly what it’s like to be a hearer of the word only and why it doesn’t go far enough. It’s very powerful.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 begins by refuting favoritism, mostly in regard to the rich and the poor. In the first century in Jerusalem, there was no middle class. They were under Roman rule and there were only the rich and the poor. So naturally, people favor those they can benefit from and that’s why it’s so tempting to favor the rich. But James referred to the first and greatest command here – and the second which is like it – and reminds the church that if you truly love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t show partiality.
And again, we see James’ argument for faith and works. Just like today, in the first century people would say, “I believe in God. That’s enough.” But James’ argument was not faith or works, it was works by faith. Let me read part of that passage so we can get a good grasp on what James’ point is here because I think it’s important.
We’ll read from verse 18-25 of chapter 2:
“18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[e] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
James’ point is to believe in God, and put your faith and trust in Him produces works of righteousness.
You can back up every major point of James with something Jesus said. For example, Jesus talked about the wise man and the foolish man. The wise man built his house on the rock and the foolish man built his house on sand. They both heard the word but only one of them did what the word said. The wise man is the one who heard Christ’s sayings and did them. The foolish man heard them but did not live by them.
I think it’s very interesting how we can go back to the gospels to confirm the instruction given by James. He was a student of the word and was holding the church accountable to the teachings of Christ.
Chapter 3
Now remember, there are no verses in the Bible and there are only 5 chapters in the book of James. So James goes right into taming the tongue after he talks about faith and works. The break is given by the ones who inserted chapter and verse.
James shows the responsibility of teachers. He warns teachers that they will be held to a higher standard. This warning is sandwiched between hearing and doing, which is related to faith and works and then he puts in the warning to teachers – that you’ll be held to a higher standard – and then he talks about taming the tongue.
So let’s quickly recap here to see the connection:
James begins by calling the church to maturity and growth through trials and asking God for godly wisdom. He then shows how this will affect the way we live – not just hearing the word, but doing the word. Not just saying we have faith but living it by showing evidence of our faith through works. Then he warns teachers that they will be held to a standard – what’s the standard – all that James just said we must do. And now he’s talking about the importance of taming the tongue – which is being self-controlled and disciplined in this area rather than popping off, cursing your brother, and then saying you love God.
And again, he does this though imagery – something the people know all too well – horses. That was the mode of transportation back then. They all knew what it was like to put a bit into a horses mouth so they could control the horse. I grew up around horses and you can put a halter on a horse and it helps to move the horse, but halters are used mostly to lead the horse while you walk them to the stall.
But a bit goes into the horses mouth and you hold the reigns in your hand so you can sit on the hose and turn him left, right, back him up, or turn him. Without that bridle, it’s going to be very difficult to get a powerful horse to do what you want him to do. James equates that horse to the tongue – a powerful thing that must be tamed. He also uses the example of the rudder on a ship.
The rudder is small but it turns the ship where it goes.
He’s making the point that the tongue is a small part of the body but very powerful and can do a lot of damage. He says this in verses 9-12, “9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
Again, very powerful and the use of a spring to make the point is clear. You only get one type of water coming from a spigot. It’s either fresh or bitter. It can’t be both.
Chapter 3 ends with the contrast of earthly wisdom and godly wisdom. There are only two kinds.
Chapter 4
In chapter 4, James asks a lot of questions. This is a great teaching strategy because it engages the student. Instead of don’t do this and don’t do that, James asks questions to help the student see the problem. Then he tells them what to do. He asks 6 questions in 17 verses. He is trying to get the church to see that the fighting going on inside the church is coming from a place of jealousy and strife, not of submitting to Christ.
They were selfish and desired to fulfill their own passions. James went on to say that God is in control of their lives and they only have today. They were being haughty and prideful, thinking they could plan their tomorrows but if you are in full submission to Christ you will say, ‘If the Lord allows, I will accomplish this thing because He is in control of my tomorrows.”
Chapter 5
In chapter 5, James again mentions something Jesus did. Let your yes be yes and your no, no. Jesus said those exact words. He’s really pointing to integrity of the christian walk that is shown in all aspects of life.
He goes on to talk about prayer and confessing our sins to one another and again, he ends the letter with no formal closing like letters usually have.
How do we apply this to our lives today?
The whole book is prescriptive, meaning it can be applied today. What we have to remember is that sometimes when you have a book of do’s and don’ts that James sort of has here, it can be easy to become legalistic. But that is not at all what James says or promotes in this letter. His main point is that a life lived for Christ is consistently shown in every area of that persons life: in what he does, in what he says, and in how he submits his life to Christ. If not, your faith is dead. Faith is trusting in Christ for the inner working of sanctification that produces the fruit in our lives.
Jesus said this in John 15: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
That’s exactly what James is saying throughout his letter – if you are not bearing fruit, you are not in Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit living in us as we have surrendered our life to Christ will bear fruit in us. It’s not about faith Or works. It’s works produced by faith.
Conclusion:
Alright, so that is the book of James. If you want to study it further, I highly recommend you get the Life Change study Bible for extra studying. You can also get the ESV bible journals from amazon and you can write in it. It’s already double spaced for you. But it’s not a study Bible so keep that in mind.
If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a 5 start rating and review. If you have any questions for me, please email me at hello@shandafulbright.com.
e next one!
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