CHAPTER III

THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

THIS epistle is addressed to the Jewish Christians of the Dispersion (i. 1). It is evident from the author's language that his readers were composed of the poorer and humbler classes (ii. 5) who were, most of them, in the employ of their richer fellow-countrymen. They were subject to oppression and injustice at the hands of their non-Christian employers (ii. 6; v. 4). The writer echoes the thought of Jesus (Lk. vi. 20; vii. 22; xiv. 21), that the poor are more receptive of his truth than the rich, although he shows no enmity to the rich as such. He insists upon the perishableness of riches (i. 10, 11), but assumes that the rich man may live the life of humility and love (i. 10). That life supplies the true ground of harmony between the two classes, elevating the poor to a sense of their spiritual riches, despite their hard outward conditions, and humbling the rich by teaching them the vanity of worldly wealth and the sole permanency of moral and spiritual good (i. 9–11).

In the situation which the epistle contemplates it was not strange that the Christians were tempted to court the favor of the rich. If a rich man came into the Christian (assembly, it would be natural to show him special favor; to treat him with a fawning partiality as compared with a poor man who might enter (ii. 1-3). Such an attitude James discountenances on the ground that it is inconsistent with the real equality of all men before God and with the principle that only spiritual good has real worth in his sight. A faith which is combined with such partiality would be sadly adulterated with worldliness. It would be the faith of a double-minded man (i. 8) who is no longer

(clear in his consent to Christ's idea that riches do not avail before God, and who has partially given himself over to false reasonings respecting the honor due the rich and to servile behavior in their presence (ii. 1, 4).

The author breaks out in severe denunciation of the injustice which his readers were suffering at the hands of their employers (v. 1-6). He predicts their impending doom. He sees their wealth consumed by rust and their rich vestments by moths. The day of the Messianic judgment hastens. The wages of the poor laborers whom they I have defrauded cries out for vengeance upon them. They have lived in selfish ease, like animals, fattening themselves, but doing it for the slaughter. The righteous have suffered without resistance, but their cries have been heard by the Lord of Hosts, and the day of vengeance is hastening on. "The judge standeth before the doors" (v. 9).

The evils which the author rebukes, or warns his readers to avoid, and the virtues which he commends are chiefly such as are especially appropriate to the situation which has just been sketched. The readers were subject to severe trials (Tapao poí) arising from their circumstances. These trials would naturally operate as discouragements to faith and zeal. It would be hard to maintain a belief in the messiahship of Jesus and to preserve a certain separateness from Judaism when to do so involved the disfavor and contempt of their fellow-countrymen. Hence the burden of James's message is an exhortation to patience and steadfastness. He urges that the process of testing to which they are subject, if heroically endured, will result, not in the weakening, but in the strengthening of faith. The testing process will but confirm them in their steadfast adherence to their faith and contribute to their í completeness in the Christian life (i. 2-4). But if the sufferings of their present lot are to have this effect, faith must be preserved unalloyed. The man who wavers between the principles of Christ and the favor of the selfish world need not expect any such blessing. He must seek the true wisdom to guide him—the wisdom of Jesus, who placed the true good in the inner life. His faith

must not be weakened by a half-hearted devotion to spiritual truth. He must not doubt or be divided in his allegiance, half consenting to the wisdom of Jesus and half to the wisdom of the world. If he does, he will be "like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed" (i. 6). His life will be divided and will lose its unity, its concentration, and its true reward (i. 5–8). We seem to hear in these words an echo of the teaching of Jesus about the distraction of life through anxiety for the things of the world and the impossibility of serving two masters (Mt. vi. 24, 25).

In addition to the evil of sycophancy towards their rich employers, the readers would inevitably be tempted to hate their oppressors. Hence they are urged to be "slow to wrath," for although God cherishes a righteous indignation against wicked men, "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (i. 19, 20). Man's methods of taking vengeance are not the same as God's, and God does not delegate his judgment to man. Hence the readers are exhorted to obey the "royal law" of love (ii. 8), and to wait in patience for the day of divine judgment, as the husbandman waits on the processes of nature (v. 7-9).

Another evil to which these Christians were liable was an excessive eagerness to assume the role of teachers. They had become a relatively separate community. So far as we can judge from the epistle their assembly was not yet organized. They were not subject to precedent or the restraining power of an established régime in the conduct of their meetings. Under these conditions an undesirable liberty would easily develop itself. Such seems to have been the fact. Many were not "slow to speak" (i. 19), and their speech often lacked the "meekness of wisdom." This excessive liberty seems to have led to many abuses. It gave rise to an exaggerated emphasis upon speaking and hearing as compared with practice (i. 22). In some cases it ministered to pride and contention. The author thinks that among his readers too many are aspiring to be teachers, and reminds them of the solemn responsibility which teachers assume and of the

[heavier judgment to which they are subject if they fail in their work. "In many things we all stumble," he says, and adds that there is nothing in which one is so liable to stumble as in speech. How difficult and how responsible, then, is the work of a teacher (iii. 1, 2)! This reflection leads him off into a general description of the difficulty and importance of controlling the tongue.

Such considerations as the foregoing put us in possession. of the general situation which the epistle presupposes. It contains an extremely practical message, adapted to the trying circumstances of its readers. It is simple and straightforward and without any formal logical structure. The two peculiarities of the epistle which strike one most forcibly are the Old Testament form of its thoughts, and the resemblance of many of the ideas to those of Jesus. It reads like a Jewish sapiential book, but the wisdom which is commended is the wisdom of Jesus. From these general comments I advance to a more particular consideration of the doctrinal contents of the epistle.

After the manner of the Old Testament, James's favorite name for God is ỏ kúptos (iv. 15; v. 11, 12). He is also called "Lord of Sabaoth" (v. 4). Three times the term "Father" is applied to God. He is "our God and Father" (i. 27), "the Lord and Father" (iii. 9), and "the Father of lights" (i. 17), that is, the Creator of the heavenly bodies, and figuratively called their Father, because they are thought of as sources of light and blessing, and as kindred to him in this respect. James pictures the goodness of God in various forms. He is the bountiful giver of wisdom who does not, like a reluctant benefactor, chide those who apply to him (i. 5). He is himself the abso{lutely good, and gives only good gifts to men. All moral evil is completely foreign to his nature. He enticed to evil, nor can he entice men into pure and perpetual fountain of goodness. him "no variation, neither shadow cast by turning." Unlike the sun and moon, his light suffers no eclipse. He [bestows the spiritual life by sowing the word of truth in the heart (i. 13–18).

sin.

cannot be

He is the There is with

The Old Testament ideas of the "jealousy" of God and of the divine judgment are prominent in our epistle. Το become a "friend of the world"— that is, to give oneself up to sinful pleasures and passions-is to become, so far, hostile to God; and God wants no divided or partial allegiance. The spirit which he implants in men yearns over [them enviously, that is, God is anthropopathically represented as begrudging the partial transfer of men's devotion to another than himself. Hence such faithlessness is represented, as in the Old Testament, as adultery. God requires an undivided heart (iv. 1-5). He will severely judge oppression and injustice, yet towards the humble and patient "the Lord is full of pity and merciful" (v. 11). To me it seems evident that we have here a clear reflection of Jesus' idea of God as the bountiful and ungrudging giver of all good, the heavenly Father who is perfect (Téλetos) in love (Mt. v. 43-48), the els ȧyalós whose goodness is absolute and therefore excludes all becoming good (Mk. x. 18). Here we see the God of the Old Covenant clothed in the qualities which distinguish Jesus' conception of the Father in heaven.

As in the Old Testament, man is described as made in the image of God (iii. 9). It is obvious from the context that all men, despite their sinfulness, are regarded as still bearing the divine likeness. The argument is: Do not curse your enemies; reverence man as man, because he is made in the image of God. This idea is the key to all that our author says concerning mankind. As in Genesis, man, whom God has made for himself, is subjected to temptation to forfeit his true relation to his Maker. The world makes its appeal to his heart, and claims at least a part of his interest and devotion. The term "world" is not defined, but its use makes it evident that it bears an ethical The readers are bidden to "keep themselves unspotted from the world" (i. 27). The tongue is identified with the "world of iniquity" in the body (iii. 6), the idea apparently being that the tongue is the organ of the world of evil in man. "The friendship of the world is enmity. with God" (iv. 4). The world is moral evil, without or

sense.