James: “wisdom from above” “Greetings”
“let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger”
James 1:1: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
Introduction
“[A] remarkably accessible moral and religious exhortation” is the opening description of the book of James by Luke Timothy Johnson in his commentary. Johnson sets up his introduction to James with four questions:
what is the character of the writing, its voice? whose voice is heard? how was the voice heard? how should the voice be heard?
Last Sunday Herb Prince began to lay out some background for “the character of the writing, its voice” in his “Prelude to the Letter of James: Moral Philosophy in the Hellenistic era.” James was written in this Hellenistic era and reflects the spirit of that age: The culture in which the biblical writers lived was in their bones.
For that culture the dominant concern was “the art of living.” The emphasis was not so much on theoretical wisdom (sophia), as it was on practical wisdom (phronesis). Beginning with the Greek philosophers Socretes, Plato, and Aristotle, with special attention to Epicurus, Herb Prince sketched for us the development and nature of this aspect of the “voice.” His lesson needs to be referenced again and again throughout our study of James.
Other contributions to the “voice” or character of the writing of our book include the Old Testament, Jewish Literature of the period, other New Testament writings, and the non-canonical Christian Literature. We will become aware of these influences as we proceed through our study of the text of James.
We will give some attention in this lesson to “whose voice is heard” and may touch occasionally throughout our study “how was the voice heard,” that is, the history of the interpretation of James down through the centuries in the Church. Our primary attention, however, will be on “how should the voice be heard,” that is, to listening to what is being said to us and for our lives in the present as we give our minds and hearts to the biblical text. May the Holy Spirit speak the mind of God and the heart of Jesus to us through the “voice” of James!
To do this we seek the help of Jeanne Serrao, with her permission, the help of her forthcoming commentary on James. C. Jeanne Serrao, Ph.D (Claremont Graduate University), is Professor of Biblical Literature and Dean of the School of Theology and Philosophy at Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio. What follows in different type (Ariel) will be in substance Jeanne’s work. Material will be woven together from both the Introduction and her exegesis but not designated as such.
Jeanne’s commentary begins as customary in ancient letters with the Greeting: 1:1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
BEHIND THE TEXT
Authorship
The author of James does not identify himself beyond his name (Iakōbos from the Hebrew Old Testament yaqôb, Jacob) and his relationship to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. His use of Christ, as part of Jesus’ name and not just as a title, indicates that the author was influenced by Hellenism. [As Herb emphasized] recent scholarship indicates that all Judaism was Hellenized in the first century.
As to the question of possible apostolic authorship, the author gives no personal or biographical information or claim any apostolic status. His self-introduction implies that he was someone whose authority was clearly known to his audience.
The NT mentions several people named James: the son of Zebedee (Mark 1:19), the son of Alphaeus (Mark 3:18), the brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3), the younger (Mark 15:40), the father of Jude (Luke 6:16). Of this group James, “the Lord’s brother” (Gal 1:19) was the most recognized leader in the early Christian Church. So which James was it, if any of them?
Although the authorship of James was widely disputed among the ancient church authors, the letter had general acceptance in the early church. Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260-339) identifies James as one of the seven “General” epistles, frequently used in many churches.
The text of James indicates that the writer was fluent in Greek and may have used the LXX (Septuagint) as his OT scripture. He was deeply influenced by Jewish wisdom and intertestamental literature. The spirit of OT and Jewish Wisdom traditions so imbue the entire letter that it would be fair to characterize the ideology of this homiletical letter as very much a part of the sapiential [wisdom] tradition, yet with strong ‘alternative wisdom’ leanings.
That the author wrote in excellent Greek is problematic for many scholars. James, the brother of Jesus, would likely have been a Galilean without much education in Greek. A Hellenistic Jewish editor could account for the good Greek grammar and style. However, “a hard-and-fast distinction between Hellenistic Jews in the Diaspora and non-Hellenized Palestinian Jews is artificial.” Thus “the authorship of James by a Palestinian Jew is easily conceivable.” The main question that might remain for some is the level of education that James would have had access to.
The author refers to himself as a servant or slave (doulos). In the first century, doulos, belonged to a lower social and economic group in the society and this group “constituted the greatest number but possessed the fewest goods.” Moreover, this group was “identified not by parentage, birthplace, or occupation, but by the one(s) in whose service one stood.”
James’s use of the phrase servant of God has a dual background. On the one hand, this phrase seems to reflect the sociological understanding of the identity of a doulos who stood in a relationship of service to another person. On the other hand, James being a traditional Jewish Christian, sees himself standing in the line of the great servants of God in the traditional faith of Israel – figures such as Moses the servant of God (Numb 12:7), God’s servants the prophets (Jer 7:25; 25:4), and Isaiah’s servant of Yahweh (52:13-53:12). The identification of James as the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ reflects the early Christian practice, particularly of Christian leaders, of identifying themselves as standing in a relationship of service to Jesus Christ (see Rom 1:1; Phil 1:1; Titus 1:1).
Audience
James’ readers are vaguely addressed as the twelve tribes in the Diaspora. Yet this address does indicate a Jewish background and may be a reference to Jewish Christians who live in Syria, Rome, Greece and Asia Minor. Many of these had lived outside of Judea for centuries, some since the Babylonian exile. These Jewish Christians of the Diaspora would be well acquainted with trials, living as foreigners outside of Palestine.
Some families, like Paul’s, may have earned or bought Roman citizenship, but many lived as non-citizens, subject to the whims of the authorities. Although they may not have been specifically targeted for persecution, they suffered lack of status and power within their communities and their specific dietary and ritual laws made them stand out as unusual or strange. Even those who lived in Judea were subject to the whims of the Roman authorities who occupied Palestine in the first century.
In the text James used “twelve tribes” rather than a more general term like Israel, or people of God: “While unnatural as a reference to the church, the phrase is a natural way of referring to Israel outside the land.” So the 12 tribes language was exactly the phrase needed and also “evoked the hope of the regathering of all the tribes in the land of Israel by God in the Messianic age.”
IN THE TEXT
■ 1 Verse 1 follows the customary pattern of the opening of letters in the NT according to the form of letter writing in the ancient Greco-Roman world. The author identifies himself by name, and gives a brief self-description, identifies the addressees and closes with a salutation. In the identification of the author, only the name is given and there are no personal or biographical data.
1.
If the writer of this letter was indeed James the brother of the Lord (Matt 13:55; Mark 6:3), then the author’s lack of mention of his personal relationship to Jesus (such as “brother of the Lord Jesus”) remains a mystery. The answer may be found in the self-description that follows the personal identity of the author. Instead of any mention of personal relationship to Jesus, the author uses a very strong word (doulos) to describe his relationship with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ.
For James, his personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is his Lord, and his relationship to Jesus as his servant, is much more important than his family connection to him. His Christian identity is thus wrapped in his servant-Lord relationship rather than in his brother-brother relationship with Jesus. Doulos means a slave or someone who is bonded for life (bond-servant). James understands himself as a slave committed to the service of God and Christ Jesus. He is not an outsider, but one who has completely dedicated his life to God.
James does not identify himself as a leader or as an apostle as customary, as indicated in most of the letters of Paul (except in 1, 2 Thessalonians and Philippians). Paul, in his letters, uses his apostolic designation in most cases where he needed to establish his authority. Where he does not use it (Thessalonians and Philippians), there is special focus on his relationship and service to the audience. James’ lack of identification of himself as a leader may indicate that he was well known to his readers and his authority was well respected.
It is logical to understand James’ self-identification as a servant or slave as a stance of humility. John Wesley sees James’ humility in his mentioning Jesus only twice in his letter: “It might have seemed, if he mentioned him [Jesus] often, that he did it out of vanity, as being the brother of the Lord.” However, this is the only place in the NT where this exact title (slave/servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ) is found. The use of this title can be seen as James “distinguishing himself from them [his readers] as a figure of authority.”
When James calls himself a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is possibly equating Jesus with God. Although the grammar is not clear here, James may well have intended this distinction. At the very least James uses the fullest title of Jesus calling him both “Master and Messiah (Lord ).”
2.
The reference to the addresses as the twelve tribes in the Diaspora is somewhat ambiguous because we do not know if the author intends a literal or a metaphorical designation, that is “their geographical location” or “their social location” within Jewish Christianity.
The Greek text places emphasis on the twelve tribes, who happen to be in the Diaspora, meaning they do not belong to the area they live in, but live in these areas as aliens and sojourners. Scholars are divided on whether the twelve tribes is a metaphor for “the Christian Church conceived of as the True Israel inheriting the rights of the ancient people of God” or a literal reference to the ethnicity and status of our audience. It seems likely, however, that James as a leader of the Jewish Christian church did not make a distinction between the two.
James was written at a time (AD 40s) when the distinction between Jew and Christian was not clear, since most Christians were Jews (2004, 31). It is possible to think that though some of these Christians may have been born in the places where they lived, their ethnic and religious background would have made them very different from the people who lived around them. Their values would have been different and as a result they would not have fitted well into the everyday life of the cities they were in. They would also have been ridiculed for their beliefs and lifestyle and would have been physically and socially abused because of their differences from others in the areas where they lived.
3.
Verse one ends with a single word salutation. Chairein (an infinitive of the verb chairō, meaning “to rejoice” or “be glad”), is the standard greeting found in most ancient letters. It is the main reason for considering this book of James to be a letter. Although, this greeting was common in the first century, it does not appear in any other canonical letter. It is found in two letters incorporated into Acts: 15:23 (letter giving the decision of the Jerusalem Council where James was the mediator and perhaps more evidence that this James was the author) and 23:26 (letter from Claudius Lysias, tribune in Jerusalem, to governor Felix).
Paul normally used charis (grace) and combined it with eirēnē (peace). His addition of mercy to grace and peace in his letters to Timothy (1 Tim 1:2, 2 Tim 1:2) reflected a more “Jewish-oriental . . . and Christian liturgical practice” than the standard greeting used in James.
Conclusion
This opening greeting prompts us to reflect on
God’s speaking to us through a literary artifact of the 1st century—charein—a letter partaking of the history, culture, and language of its day—the utterly human can be a holy instrument when in living union with the Holy Spirit—the very nature of the scriptures as Scripture!
A model of piety for us of a “brother of Jesus”—doulos—a humble servant is who he is first and most of all! That is, his primary identification above all human connections, like us, is to belong to Someone--“a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,”
I would like you to meet
Dr. C. Jeanne Serrao jeanne.serrao@mvnu.edu (740) 397-9000 Ext. 3602 INCLUDEPICTURE "http://www.mvnu.edu/images/spacer.gif" \* MERGEFORMATINET
James 3:17, NRSV. The main body of James is made up of three essays on “wisdom from above” which the author summarizes in comprises a series of three essays (chs 2, 3, 4) on “wisdom from above” which the author summarizes in 1:19. C. Jeanne Orjala Serrão, James: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, New Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City), unpublished manuscript. Greeting 1:1 Introduction 1:2-27: James’ Opening Statement on the Christian Life A. Statement of Key Themes: Perseverance, Wisdom and Status B. Statement of Key Themes: Temptation, Anger, Listening and Doing and Pure Religion Exposition: 2:1-5:20 Partiality and the law of love: 2:1-13 Faith and Actions: 2:14-26 The Tongue Reveals One’s True Nature: 3:1-12 Earthly and Heavenly Wisdom: 3:13-18 The Double-minded must Humble Themselves: 4:1-10 Do not Judge your Neighbor: 4:11-12 Do not Boast about Tomorrow: 4:13-17 Warning to the Corrupt Rich: 5:1-6 Patience in Suffering: 5:7-11 The Simple “Yes” and “No”: 5:12 Prayer Offered in Faith: 5:13-18 Turning back the Wanderer: 5:19-20 James 1:19, NRSV. The main body of James is made up of three essays on “wisdom from above” which the author summarizes in 1:19 according to Robert W. Wall, Community of the Wise: The Letter of James, The New Testament in Context, Howard Clark Kee and J. Andrew Overman, eds. (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 1997), 192. The series of lessons on James will use the NIV. NRSV reads, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.”. Luke Timothy Johnson, The Letter of James, The Anchor Bible, vol. 37A (Yale University Press, 2005 [1995], 3. Johnson was a Benedictine Monk and priest before he became Professor of New Testament at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University (where my co-teacher, Herb Prince, spent his years of graduate study). During graduate study at Yale, Johnson fell in love with and married a lady with six children. Being a monk, he said, prepared him to be a father of six! These details are from memory, not documented. Ibid., 3-4. Such as the Qumran scrolls, 4 Maccabees, Philo, The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, etc. Such as the Didache, etc. For an extensive list and discussion of these other “contributions,” see Johnson, 29-80. For those of you who knew him, her father was Paul Orjala, born and raised in our local SD church and pioneer missionary in Haiti before a career at Nazarene Theological Seminary. In retirement he taught at Point Loma Nazarene University. And in black as distinguished from blue for those who receive this lesson in color. Jeanne’s commentary is my current editing project so her text will have been modified some and especially for its use in this lesson. These changes and omissions will not be evident. Her documentation, for example, is mostly removed. Quotation marks, however, often remain indicating she is quoting. Any additions of substance will be indicated by change in type and color used. This characterizes the footnotes as well. We remember from our previous lessons on 2 Corinthians from time to time that the New Beacon Bible Commentary on the biblical text is set up in three sections, “Behind the Text,” “In the Text,” and “From the Text.” Bold type indicates NIV text. As to this James, the Gospels indicate that James and the other siblings of Jesus did not believe in him during the days of his earthly ministry (Matt 12:46-50; John 7:1-5; 19:25-27). Paul specifically mentions James as one of those to whom the risen Jesus appeared (1 Cor 15:7). On this basis, Paul perhaps identifies James as, not only “the Lord’s brother,” but also as one of “the other apostles” (Gal 1:19; 1 Cor 15:7), and includes him alongside Peter and John as one of the “pillars” of the Jerusalem church (Gal 2:9). Two passages in Acts portray this James as a mediator of the Jerusalem Council and head of the Jerusalem Church (15:13-21; 21:18-26). In Jude 1, the author identifies himself as the brother of James. The Septuagint (LXX) was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Some scholars insist that this and other characteristics indicate that someone wrote the letter under the assumed name of James (pseudonymous), a practice common in Jewish literature, but not necessarily in early Christian literature. Italicized bold type indicates Jeanne Serrao’s personal translation of the biblical text. The closest parallel is when Paul calls himself a slave/servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ in Titus 1:1. By social location, the reference is to the fact that these Jewish Christians, although they saw themselves within the Jewish tradition, were suspect and different from mainstream Judaism. Although an early or late date for the writing of James is debated by scholars, Serrao appears to accept early tradition, which by the end of the fourth century, placed the writing of James between A.D. 40 and 62, when James was the head of the church in Jerusalem. Judaism in the early first century consisted of several varieties: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, etc. It was in Syrian Antioch, that according to Luke (Acts 11:26) the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, perhaps to distinguish them from the Jewish communities that did not believe Jesus was the Messiah and did not accept Gentiles into their communities. The scattering of the Jewish Christians which resulted in the conversion of many in Syrian Antioch happened after Stephen’s death about AD 35. By the time Paul comes to Antioch at the invitation of Barnabas (AD. 45) the followers of Jesus were called Christians.
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