Content
The letter of James, a series of loosely related homilies, resists clear structural demarcation. But five general sections can be discerned.
Trials and Christian maturity (Jas. 1:1-18). After the address and salutation (1:1), James opens with a section in which he attacks several issues, among which Christian suffering (“trials”) is the most prominent (1:2-18). He encourages his readers to find meaning and purpose in their suffering (1:2-4), to pray in faith for wisdom (1:5-8), and to apply a Christian worldview to poverty and wealth (1:9-11). After coming back to the subject of trials (1:12), he moves into the issue of temptation (1:13-15), a transition eased by the fact that the words “peirazo” and “peirasmos” can connote either “trials” or “temptations.” The section concludes with a reminder of God’s goodness in giving (1:16-18).
True Christianity seen in its works (Jas. 1:19-2:26). The second section of the letter is marked out by a focus on three key words: “word [of God]” (esp. 1:19-27), “law” (esp. 2:1-13), and “works” (esp. 2:14-26). After a warning about loose speech and anger (1:19-20), James encourages his readers to “accept the word planted in you” (1:21) and then expands this exhortation by showing that true receiving of God’s word involves doing it (1:22-27). As an important instance of “doing the word,” James cites the need for Christians to be impartial in their treatment of others. Only so will they fulfill the “royal law” and escape judgment (2:1-13). The significance of Christians’ actions in avoiding judgment sparks James’s famous discussion of faith and works (2:14-26). James insists that true faith is always marked by obedience and that only such faith evidenced in works will bring salvation.
Dissensions within the community (Jas. 3:1-4:12). No obvious breaks distinguish the third section of the letter. But we may view James’s warnings about improper speech (3:1-12; 4:11-12) as indicative of an inclusio in which James focuses generally on the problem of dissensions among Christians and its roots in envy. Harking back to a topic touched on earlier (1:19-20, 26), James uses a series of vivid and memorable images to warn Christians about the power and danger of the tongue (3:1-12). He then tackles the problem of dissensions headon, tracing such external unrest to the wrong kind of wisdom (3:13-18) and to frustrated desires (4:1-3). The passage 4:4-10 issues a stern warning about a compromising kind of Christianity and summons the readers to repentance. The section ends with a final exhortation about speech (4:11-12).
Implications of a Christian worldview (Jas. 4:13-5:11). This section is the least obvious, but we may suggest that its major general theme has to do with a Christian worldview. One such implication is the need to take God into account in all the plans we make (4:13-17). Another is the recognition that God will judge the wicked rich (5:1-6) and reward the righteous (5:7-11) at the time of the Lord’s return.
Concluding exhortations (Jas. 5:12-20). James finishes with exhortations about oaths (in keeping with Jesus’ teaching, James urges that they be avoided [5:12]); prayer, especially for physical healing (5:13-18); and the responsibility of believers to look after one another’s spiritual health (5:19-20).
Contribution
Chief among James’s contributions is his insistence that genuine Christian faith must become evident in works. He resolutely opposes the tendency all too common among Christians to rest content with a halfhearted, compromising faith that seeks to have the best of both this world and the next. Double-mindedness is the basic sin for James (see Jas. 1:8; 4:8), and he insists that Christians repent of it and get back on the road to the whole and perfect character that God desires.
The very strength of James’s assertions on this point raise questions about the theological standpoint of the letter, particularly when James pursues his point to the extent that he ties justification to works (Jas. 2:14-26). For at this point he appears to contradict Paul’s insistence that justification comes by faith alone (see Rom. 3:28). Many are content to find here an indication of the deep diversity within the New Testament, thinking that Paul and James say different and conflicting things about how a person is justified before God. But so damaging an admission in unnecessary; there are at least two legitimate ways of harmonizing James and Paul on this point. The first, and more popular of the two, argues that James is using the verb “justify”…in the sense “vindicate before people” (the verb is used this way in, e.g., Luke 7:29). Paul and James, then, are talking about different things: Paul of the declaration of our righteousness and James of the demonstration of our righteousness. Another possibility is to take “justify” in James to mean “vindicate at the last judgment,” a force the word often has in Judaism (see Matt. 12:37). On this view, both Paul and James are referring to the sinner’s righteousness before God, but Paul is focusing on the initial reception of that status and James on the way that status is vindicated before God in the judgment.
Such theological harmonization is, we think, absolutely necessary, but it should not lead us to ignore the important contribution made either by Paul or by James. When faced with legalism, with the attempt to base salvation on human works, Paul needs to be heard—as he was so powerfully at the time of the Reformation. But when faced with quietism, with the attitude that dismisses works as unnecessary for Christians, James needs to be heard—as he was equally powerfully in the time of the Wesleys.