The Letter of James

Worship to Live By

Heil

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781621893721
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This book proposes a new and comprehensive chiastic structure as well as a new unifying theme for the Letter of James. In accord with this structure that organizes its oral performance, the words worship to live by express what the letter as a whole is exhorting its audience to adopt. Worship includes not only liturgical worship but also the ethical behavior that complements it, so that the result is a holistic way of worshiping God. And the words to live by embrace the worshipful conduct by which to live out presently one's birth to a new life as a believer before the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with a view to the future eternal life to be granted at the last judgment as the outcome of such worship. In short, the Letter of James urges its audience to practice the worship to live by now in order to live eternally.

James 1:1–16

Do Not Be Led Astray by Sin That Brings Forth Death (A)

Blessed is a man who endures temptation for the crown of life

A 1:1 James, of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ a servant, to the twelve tribes, the ones in the diaspora, joyful greetings! 2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you tumble into teeming temptations, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if anyone of you is lacking wisdom, let him ask from the God who gives to all unreservedly, indeed not reproaching, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, disputing nothing, for the one who disputes is like a wave of the sea blown and driven about by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 a double-minded man, unstable in all the ways of him.

B 9 Let the humble brother boast in his exaltedness, 10a but the rich one in his lowliness,

C 10b for like a flower

D 10c of grass he will pass away.

E 11a For the sun rises with its heat

Dʹ 11b and dries up the grass

Cʹ 11c and its flower falls away and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed.

Bʹ 11d So also the rich one in his pursuits will die out.

Aʹ 12 Blessed is a man who endures temptation, for having become tested, he will receive the crown of life that he (the Lord) promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one being tempted say, “I am being tempted by God,” for God is untempted of evil things, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted by his own desire, being dragged away and enticed. 15 When the desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and the sin having been brought to completion, brings birth to death. 16 Do not be led astray, my brothers beloved.1

Audience Response to 1:1–16

1:1–8 (A): A Faithless Unstable Man Will Not Receive Anything from the Lord

The audience hear the A element (1:1–8) of this chiastic unit as a chiastic pattern in itself:2

a) James, of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ a servant, to the twelve tribes, the ones in the diaspora, joyful greetings! Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you tumble into teeming temptations (1:1–2),

b) knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (1:3–4).

c) But if anyone of you is lacking wisdom, let him ask from the God who gives to all unreservedly, indeed not reproaching, and it will be given to him (1:5).

bʹ) But let him ask in faith, disputing nothing, for the one who disputes is like a wave of the sea blown and driven about by the wind (1:6).

aʹ) For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, a double-minded man, unstable in all the ways of him (1:7–8).3

The audience hear the exhortation, “but if anyone of you is lacking wisdom, let him ask from the God who gives to all unreservedly, indeed not reproaching, and it will be given to him” (1:5), as the unparalleled central and pivotal sub-element in this chiastic sub-unit. They then experience a pivot of parallels involving the only occurrences in this sub-unit of the terms “faith” and “nothing.” They hear a progression of parallels from “the testing of your faith [πίστεως]” and “lacking in nothing [μηδενί]” in the b) sub-element (1:3–4) to “let him ask in faith [πίστει], disputing nothing [μηδέν]” in the bʹ) sub-element (1:6). Finally, they experience another progression via the chiastic parallels determined by the only occurrences in this sub-unit of the term “Lord” and the definite article “the” in the dative feminine plural. “The Lord [κυρίου] Jesus Christ” and “to the [ταῖς] twelve tribes, the [ταῖς] ones in the diaspora” in the a) sub-element (1:1–2) progress to “anything from the Lord [κυρίου]” and “unstable in all the [ταῖς] ways of him” in the aʹ) sub-element (1:7–8).

This letter, a hortatory homily to be read publicly to a worshiping assembly, presents itself as sent by someone named “James,” describing himself as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1). In all probability this refers to the James who was a brother of Jesus (Matt 13:55; Mark 6:3) and became the leader of the Christian community at Jerusalem (1 Cor 15:7; Gal 1:19; 2:9, 12; Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18). Whether or not he was the actual author, his authority and status stand behind the letter.4

As a “servant” (1:1), James humbly submits himself in obedience to both God and to the Lord Jesus Christ as one who “serves” them within a context of worship.5 As a “servant” who has been divinely authorized by both God and the Lord Jesus Christ, James addresses and thus also “serves” his audience, gathered together as a worshiping assembly to hear his epistolary homily. Implicitly, with James, the audience are to consider themselves fellow servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.6 They are likewise to humbly submit themselves in obedience to both God and to the Jesus God sent as “Christ,” God’s chosen messianic agent, who became “Lord” as God exalted him from death to eternal life with God (Phil 2:6–11; Rom 10:9; Acts 2:36).7 Along with all believers, the audience expected Jesus to come again to complete God’s plan of salvation from death to eternal life for all of God’s people.8

The letter is sent to an audience characterized as “the twelve tribes, the ones in the diaspora” (1:1). God’s chosen people Israel were originally constituted and unified as “twelve tribes,” but later scattered among the Gentiles “in the diaspora” outside of their divinely inherited land of Israel. The hope arose for their restoration in the end time when God would complete his plan of salvation. As addressed by James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, “the twelve tribes” refer to Christian believers as the beginning of the fulfillment of this hoped for restoration. The letter possesses the character of an encyclical addressed to several similar audiences of such believers. The address thus situates each such audience within a context of looking forward in hope, as a worshiping assembly, to the final completion of this restoration, which would include their participation in the eternal life of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.9

The designation “the twelve tribes” has both a literal and figurative dimension. Literally, it refers primarily to Jewish Christians, but not exclusive of Gentile believers, living geographically “in the diaspora” outside of Israel and among non-believers. Figuratively, it refers to all Christians, as the restored people of Israel living spiritually in a this-worldly, earthly “diaspora” characterized by mortality, who in hope are awaiting their final other-worldly, heavenly restoration with its promise of resurrection to eternal life. That “the twelve tribes” are immediately specified as “the ones in the diaspora” recognizes the difficulties of an audience who find themselves in a position in which they have not yet been fully restored to their promised homeland as “the twelve tribes” of God’s chosen people.10 It thus underscores their situation of waiting in hope for the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.11

The audience are to hear the declaration of “joyful greetings” that introduces this epistolary homily as coming not from James alone but from James as the servant authorized to speak on behalf of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (1:1). As a worshiping assembly gathered together to hear this epistolary homily, the audience are to begin to experience the joy of a greeting that ultimately comes from a divine source. The Greek term χαίρειν, normally translated as simply “greetings” but literally meaning “to rejoice,” is here translated as “joyful greetings,” making explicit the greeting’s connotation of “joy” in order to facilitate an appreciation for the wordplay with the directive for the audience to “consider it all joy [χαράν]” (1:2), which immediately follows the greeting.12

Affectionately addressed by James as “my brothers” (1:2), the audience are to regard themselves as fellow “servants” fraternally linked to James, a “servant” of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.13 The brotherly status the audience share with James facilitates their reception from him of instructions regarding their “service,” as a worshiping fraternal community, of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. As members of “the twelve tribes, the ones in the diaspora” (1:1), the audience are to “consider it all joy” whenever they “tumble into teeming temptations” (1:2). The striking alliteration of “tumble into teeming temptations” (πειρασμοῖς περιπέσητε ποικίλοις) provokes their attention with a perplexing paradox that begs for further explanation, even as it acknowledges the difficulties they face living “in the diaspora” among non-believers.14

James then begins to give the explanation for the joy of the audience whenever they fall into numerous temptations. The audience may be joyful “knowing,” not just intellectually but experientially, that this testing of their faith, that is, their trust in and fidelity toward God and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:1), produces “endurance [ὑπομονήν]” (1:3). Such “endurance” refers to not just their passive patience but their active resistance to temptations.15

The audience are to allow the endurance that the testing of their faith “produces” or “works [κατεργάζεται]” (1:3) to have or to yield its perfect “work” (ἔργον), with the wordplay underlining the connection between faith and the “work” that faith “works” or produces (1:4a).16 In a continuation of the chain-like repetition of key terms, the audience are to let endurance, the endurance that the testing of their faith produces or works (1:3), have its “perfect” work, that is, work its perfection, so that they may be “perfect” and complete, lacking in nothing (1:4).

The word “perfect” (τέλειος) carries connotations not only of maturity through growth but of completeness or wholeness within a context of both cultic and moral or ethical worship acceptable to God. In the biblical tradition a sacrifice to be worthily u...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• James 1:1–16
• James 1:17–27
• James 2:1–13
• James 2:14–26
• James 3:1–10
• James 3:11–18
• James 4:1–10
• James 4:11–17
• James 5:1–6
• James 5:7–11
• James 5:12–20
• Summary and Conclusion
• Bibliography