James 1:1-18

Before we dive into James it's important to learn a little about the history and context behind it.  The book is an epistle, or letter, in a very loose sense. Letter writing was very standardized in ancient Rome. We can get a good sense of the form used by reading Paul's letters. They all follow the exact same formula every single time with one exception. Letter writing was this precise. James' letter, however, starts off with a standard greeting for ancient letters but that's about where it stops. The formal styling of ancient letters disappear past this point. 

James is called the brother of Jesus. He stayed in Jerusalem after the resurrection and became the head of the Jerusalem church and possibly even the first church council. Paul butts heads with James in the book of Acts and this letter addresses the main reason for their disagreement.  That being said, it is possible that James, the brother of Jesus, is not the author of this letter. Somebody else could have used James' name to get people to read their letter. While writing under someones name could get you into legal trouble today, it was a common and encouraged practice in ancient times. It is likely that James would have agreed with most, if not all, of what is said in this letter if he was not the author. 

We can never be too sure of when a book of the Bible was written. The authors did not date them and the originals have long been destroyed or lost. However, using clues from the text and the oldest copies of the books we can usually make some good guesses to when a book was written. Through the account in Acts and using Paul's own letters we can come up with a pretty good time-line of when Paul wrote each of his letter. James is different though. While an important figure in Acts James takes a secondary role to Peter and Paul. His life isn't the focus in Acts so we don't know where to put this letter. Some suggest that it was written around the year 45. If that is the case than it was written before Paul began his missionary travels. This would also mean that James did not write the letter in response to Paul or distortions of Paul's teaching. If this is the case then James' letter has a completely different meaning than if a different theory is correct. This other theory is that James wrote his letter somewhere around 55-60.  This would make James' letter corrective to distortions of Paul's teachings. We will try to think about both of these theories as we read through James.

James is a short letter. It is broken up into 5 chapters. However, these 5 chapters contain a wealth of wisdom and depth. James also holds some controversy from the early church, and even some controversy for today's church.

So, if James tests your beliefs and pushes your comfort zone then you are among a large group of friends. James is not a popular book. But just because it isn't popular or the most well received of books doesn't mean that we shouldn't study James and test our beliefs against this book.

Trials and Temptations

Something to think about:

What is the hardest test you remember taking?

What do you do to cheer up when you're down?

In your family, who does everyone lean on in hard times?

Read James:1:1-18

Did any thing jump out of the scripture to you? Did you find anything interesting or odd?

Questions
If you missed this weeks study, read the questions and try to answer them.

• According to James, what should be a Christian's attitude when facing trials? How often is this your attitude in your own hard times?
• Why is perseverance important? What reward comes with persevering in the faith?
• What does it mean to be a "double-minded" person? How can one avoid being double-minded?
• How does James turn the assumed status of the rich and poor upside down?
• What is a trial you have faced in your life? What helped you through it?
• What reward will a person receive who "perseveres under trail" and loves God?
• In this passage, what do we learn about the origin of temptation?
• What stages does temptation progress through to become "full-grown" sin?
• What have you found helpful in dealing with temptation?
• What trial or test are you currently facing?

 Follow up

• When have you prayed for God's wisdom?
• What do you do when you pray but still have doubts?
• What are two good gifts God has given you this year?

Something to think about

What is temptation? James says that God doesn't tempt our hearts with evil, that temptation comes from ourselves. However, can God tempt us to do good? Is there even such a thing as a good temptation? What do you think?

Let's keep the conversation going. If you have any points you'd like to share, or questions you'd like to ask, please leave a comment below and check back to see if anybody else wants to add anything or respond to your comment. 

And don't forget to join us next Wednesday at High Noon in the Ritter Room (room 217). Feel free to bring a lunch with you.