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EAGLE BIBLE SERIES Introduction Is there any special relationship between James, Jude, and Jesus? The New Testament gives us some concrete evidence regarding the relationships existing between these three persons: First, we know that James and Jude were brothers (Jude 1); second, we know that two of Jesus’ four brothers were named James and Judas—or Jude—(Mark 6:3); and third, we know that the Lord’s brothers became Christians (Acts 1:14). The evidence, therefore, seems to point rather directly to the conclusion that the James and Jude who wrote these two epistles were the brothers of Jesus. Before their spiritual conversion, however, Jesus’ brothers were very much troubled about his ministry. John 7:5 plainly says that they did not believe in him. Perhaps that helps us to understand why Jesus said in Mark 6:4 that a prophet is without honor “among his own kin, and in his own house.” But, in the course of time, things changed. The Lord’s unbelieving brothers became his faithful servants. We know, for instance, that the resurrected Christ appeared to James (1 Corinthians 15:7). And Acts 1:14 says that the Lord’s brothers were among the 120 in the Upper Room “devot[ing] themselves to prayer” as they awaited the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The biblical evidence, therefore, shows us that James and Jude finally came to believe wholeheartedly that Jesus, son of their mother, was truly the Son of God and the Redeemer of Israel. Even though they had known Jesus as a playmate and were devoted to the Jewish religion, they came through the resurrection and Pentecost to believe that Jesus was truly the Messiah and that the Church was the new Israel. Having encountered the resurrected Lord and having experienced the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, these two brothers of the boy Jesus became servants of the glorified Christ. They, too, had been redeemed by Jesus, the Christ of God. Having been convinced by the Resurrection that Jesus was the Redeemer, they were equally convinced by Pentecost that the Church was the Redeemer’s people. And how are the Redeemer’s people to live? That is the crucial question that James and Jude set out to answer. Chapter 1
Some have raised questions as to whether James is a Christ-centered book. The name of Jesus Christ appears only twice (James 1:1 and 2:1). The number of references is not the crucial issue, however, but rather the message of the references. In James 1:1 Jesus is referred to as the “Lord Jesus Christ.” Furthermore, James, once an offended and troubled brother, now refers to himself as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in 2:1, James amplifies his view of Christ the Lord, referring to him as “the Lord of glory.” But even beyond these two explicit references, James has the Redeemer in mind throughout the whole epistle. For instance, in 5:7 he refers to the return of our Lord; and in 1:18 he speaks about God bringing us forth by the “word of truth.” This latter passage has to do with the Church’s being “a kind of first fruits of his creatures” (1:18), brought into existence by the gospel of Christ. He is the good news. He is the word made flesh. He is the divine truth. He is the “word of truth.” In the little epistle of Jude, made up of only twenty-five verses, we find Jesus explicitly referred to six times. In verse 1, Jude, like his brother James, calls himself a “servant of Jesus Christ.” Also, in the same verse he refers to Christians as those who are “kept for Jesus Christ.” Further on, in verse 4, reference is made to “our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” “Our Lord” is mentioned again in verses 17 and 21. And then the lovely doxology in verse 25 focuses all praise to God through Christ: “to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.” James and Jude, the redeemed brothers of Jesus who lovingly remember their Redeemer, call upon all redeemed people to do likewise. Focus on Us… When redeemed people forget their Redeemer they become as confused and as discordant as an orchestra that ignores its director; they become as doomed to failure as a football team that forgets its coach; they become as pointless in their associations as a happenstance crowd on any main street. No church that treats Jesus Christ like a sentimental decoration for its gatherings will be blessed of God. Jesus Christ will be Savior and Lord of the Church or he will be nothing. To forget the Redeemer is to cease being redeemed people. A good friend of mine often expresses something akin to exasperation in his frequent comment about the inevitability of Christ-talk in the Church. He says: “I’ve grown up in the Church and have heard thousands of sermons. I’ve noticed that no matter from what point they start, or what subject they deal with, they always get around to the same conclusion, Jesus Christ. Therefore, one already knows the destination of the sermon even before the opening sentence.” Of course, I always agree with my friend. I am glad that he has at least noticed what Christian preaching is all about. At first, however, I was troubled by his observation. He made me feel guilty, as though the church were thoughtlessly boring him by running the same special feature week after week, year in and year out. Should the Church try to find something new and different? The absurdity of the question is obvious as soon as it is verbalized: something newer and better than Christ? Jude 4 says it: Jesus Christ is “our only Master and Lord.” There is none other. The excitement of listening to a sermon—or of preparing and preaching one, for that matter—is not to be found in the surprising discovery of some new “Master and Lord.” Rather, the excitement is to be found in lifting up “our only Master and Lord,” who is “the word of truth” and in his light to discover fresh answers to the questions that we either do or should have as Christians. Indeed, boredom does set in when Jesus Christ the Redeemer is constantly proclaimed without allowing his divine “truth-fullness” to probe our minds, our churches, our homes, our neighborhood relationships, our occupational involvements, our moral and ethical lives, and our citizenship. The trouble is not with the answer (Christ) but with our use of the answer. If the redeemed forget to allow the Redeemer into their daily lives, they will become bored. On the other hand, if the redeemed will keep their Redeemer in mind not only as they worship him but also as they meet to study, fellowship, and conduct business; if the redeemed will keep him in mind as they work and play, buy and sell, live and let live; if, indeed, the redeemed will keep him in mind, and allow him to be the “word of truth” for this, that, and all situations, then the life of the redeemed will be wonderfully exciting. Our Redeemer is to be remembered as we worship him on Sunday but also as we go about our weekly routine. James and Jude look at a whole gamut of practical matters in the light of Jesus Christ. If they had looked at these practical matters apart from Jesus Christ, what they wrote would have been pharisaical. What, you say, does that mean? The Pharisees in the New Testament were committed to the ideal of living their everyday lives so as to please God, but they did so without any knowledge of the Redeemer who alone has the power to make our daily lives pleasing to God. Because they didn’t know the Redeemer, they became religious nags. To be pharisaical is to be a religious nag. James and Jude would have been religious nags had they not approached the practical affairs of right living with their hearts and minds focused on the Redeemer himself. The Pharisees focused on the rules, but James and Jude focused on the Redeemer. Therein was the difference. The Church doesn’t need religious nags. Such people are perfectly pleased so long as people are obeying all the rules. But let us not misunderstand. To be sure, James and Jude are concerned with practical guidelines that help to discipline the people of God. Their eyes, however, are fixed on the Redeemer as they talk about the way the redeemed ought to live. Not so with the Church’s religious nags. Their eyes are fixed only on the rules as they talk about the rules. They love neither the Redeemer nor the redeemed. They love the rules. And since there is no spirit in rules, religious nags are spiritually lifeless and loveless. James and Jude talked about what Christians ought to do but they did so with a passionate love for both the Redeemer and his people. Purpose of This Chapter:
Chapter 2 Focus on the Text… James addresses this epistle “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” Old Israel had consisted of twelve tribal divisions. The ten northern tribes, however, were removed from their homeland by Assyria in 722 B.C. and the two southern tribes were removed by Babylon in 586 B.C. Many of those taken into the Babylonian exile later returned to the homeland to reestablish their national life. But compulsory transplantation was to take place again when Pompey of Rome conquered Jerusalem in 63 B.C. Besides these compulsory removals from the homeland, many Jews migrated to Egypt, to Syria, to Asia Minor, as well as to other places in search of a better life. Literally millions of Jews lived outside Palestine. The technical word used to refer to these people, Diaspora, is a Greek word meaning “a scattering.” The phrase “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion,” is a Jewish way of saying: all the people of God scattered throughout the world. James, in harmony with other first-century Christians, conceived of the Church as the new Israel. For that reason he addressed his epistle “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” That includes us. We are a part of the “twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” This first section (1:1–18) includes a few gloomy sounding statements, the gloomiest of which is verse 15: “Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.” James is addressing Christians who continue to have all the natural desires common to humankind in general. Becoming a Christian does not eradicate desire. It is an innate gift of God. Desire, however, can either be fulfilled wholesomely under God or it can become the urge for selfish gratification. James has in mind the latter. The kind of desire that is the urge for selfish gratification, if not brought under the control of God, will finally give birth to a sinful act, and sinful activity, when allowed to become “full-grown,” brings forth death. James is talking about the inner life of Christians: Private desire leads to love of sin, which in turn leads to spiritual death. Does a Christian automatically die spiritually when he or she has a lustful desire? James answers no. Does a Christian automatically die spiritually when he or she sins? Again, James answers no. Can a Christian ever die spiritually? James answers yes. “Sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.” When is sin full-grown? It is full-grown whenever one loves one’s sin instead of the Savior. Sin is full-grown whenever one is possessed by sin instead of by the Holy Spirit, who convicts of sin. Sin ignored, sin tolerated, sin loved, sin unconfessed to the Advocate Jesus Christ, sin unrepented of, sin not turned away from, is sin “full-grown” which “brings forth death.” That is gloomy, but it is true. These first eighteen verses of James, however, have a bright message: Christians don’t have to die spiritually. God has provided abundant divine resources that will make one confident and assured, not threatened by spiritual death. Focus on Us... James mentions five divine resources for redeemed people. First, the testing of your faith (verse 3). What?! you may ask with astonishment. Perhaps you have always considered the testing of your faith as anything but a blessed gift from God. Nevertheless, James says that you should “count it all joy.” The New International Version translates the Greek: “Consider it pure joy.” James views the testing of our faith as one of God’s divine resources for us. Faith is to Christians what wings are to birds. Just as a bird couldn’t function as a bird without wings, a Christian can’t function as a Christian without faith. But what if a bird never tested its wings? The answer is obvious. Its ability to be a bird, to fly, would dissipate. And without the testing of our faith, our spiritual lives would shrivel. Trials test our faith. Such tests produce steadfastness, which ultimately leads to perfection and completeness, until we are lacking nothing as God’s redeemed people. That experience of “lacking in nothing” comes with spiritual maturity created out of the stuff of many trials, and it is describable only in experiential terms as the overwhelming awareness of the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. When we experience Christ’s all-sufficiency in our lives we know that our Lord is sufficient for every challenge. Second, divine wisdom (verse 5). This, too, is one of God’s resources for his redeemed people. God often channels wisdom through the fellowship of his church. Our modern culture is drunk on knowledge and starved for wisdom. We guzzle the intoxicant of knowledge on a stomach empty of wisdom. We carelessly overlook the elderly as sources of wisdom. While wisdom does not automatically come with long life, people with many years of experience are an excellent potential resource for wisdom. Let us not foolishly bypass the elders of the church. As much as the people of the church talk among themselves, those seeking wisdom surely should be able at least sometimes to discover God’s wisdom in the midst of all the talk. Verse 5 is a promise: God will give his wisdom “generously” to “all” who ask. James says that it will be given, but the person asking must ask “in faith, with no doubting” (verse 6). Third, redeemed people have fellowship with a trustworthy God. That is why verses 7 and 8 say that a “double-minded” person will not receive anything from the Lord. God is worthy of your whole mind of faith, not just a part. Double-mindedness is an insult to God’s trustworthiness. Fourth, redeemed people have heavenly riches. Middle-class Christians for whom life is going reasonably well and who have had few heartaches, tragedies, disappointments, or radical reverses may not have great interest in heavenly riches. In fact, they may rather despise the concept, even though it is biblical. But for the Christian who is going through a nightmare of tragedies, the heavenly riches may take on new dimensions of blessedness. As a teen-ager, I never liked popular love and heartache songs. In fact, I always turned them off, until lovesickness happened to me. Then those songs became meaningful and I could listen to them for prolonged periods of time. My personal need had given me a new appreciation. The biblical truth is that earthly riches are less important than heavenly riches. As we shall see later in our study, that in no way gives us license for disinterest in the welfare of other persons. Nevertheless, verses 9 and 10 set the priorities: Heavenly riches are more important. Verse 9 says, “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation.” Why? Because he shall gain the riches of heaven. And verse 10 says: Let the rich boast in their “humiliation.” Why? Because they shall leave behind the riches of the earth for the riches of heaven. Fifth, the redeemed people of God “will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him” (verse 12). Persons who are redeemed by faith in Christ are given divine life, which includes joy, eternal royalty, Christ’s righteousness, and divine wisdom. These, then, are some of the “good endowment[s]” and “perfect gift[s]” (verse 17) that God gives us. Of course the word of truth, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, spoken of in verse 18, is the perfect gift among all perfect gifts. Through him, we can enjoy each good endowment and perfect gift of God. God’s redeemed people have abundant resources: the testing of our faith; divine wisdom; fellowship with a trustworthy God; heavenly riches; and a life full of joy, heavenly royalty, and Christ’s righteousness. With resources like that, if we die spiritually, we do so because we do not will to live on the bountiful resources of God. We die spiritually when we do not will to live in Christ. Purpose of This Chapter: to introduce James
1:1–18; Chapter 3 Focus on the Text… If Christians entered into solitary confinement at conversion, this passage would be irrelevant. But the obvious fact is that we don’t. Of course, the Bible speaks of periodic solitude but it’s aim is always to ready the self for reentry into the stream of life. Permanent solitude is abnormal and dehumanizing. Even God himself is social in nature. He is Father, Son, and Spirit. Because God calls us to continued participation in the stream of life, we are inevitably related to other people. The question, then, for redeemed people is what the nature of this relationship should be in the light of their redemption. What code should guide them? What is the source of one’s ultimate authority in matters of social relatedness? James answers that question in this passage. In verse 20 he refers to the “righteousness of God.” In verse 21 he refers to the “implanted word,” and in verse 25 he refers to “the perfect law, the law of liberty.” Let us focus on these crucial phrases. First, what kind of righteousness is perfectly pleasing to God? There is only one biblical answer: the righteousness of Jesus Christ. As we look at him, we see “the righteous life that God desires” (New International Version). Second, what is the implanted word? It is none other than the “word of truth” spoken of in 1:18. It is the good news of Jesus Christ experienced in the heart by personal faith. Third, what is the perfect law “that gives freedom” (NIV)? Romans 8:2 states the witness of the New Testament in precise terms: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.” Take note: This scripture does not say that the “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” has set us free from God’s ethical commandments. His ethical commandments are eternal, and we shall never be free from those. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17: “Think not that I have come to abolish the law … , I have come not to abolish … but to fulfill … .” But he has come to set us free from the law of sin and death. Sin and death no longer rule our lives when the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ” rules in our hearts by faith. No other law can free us from the law of sin and death. That “law of the Spirit of life” is perfectly and fully revealed in Jesus Christ. In summary, Jesus Christ is the “righteousness of God,” “the implanted word,” and the “perfect law, the law of liberty.” He is our ultimate authority in every sphere of life, including, of course, our relationships with others. The question at this point, then, is: How does Jesus Christ want us to relate to other people? That is the question on which James focuses in this passage and on which we need to focus, also. Focus on Us… 1. What about interpersonal relationships? Redeemed people are, according to 1:19, to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” Verse 26 says that redeemed people should “bridle” their tongues. Gordon Poteat tells the story of some Chinese schoolboys who were asked by their teacher why, in a fit of anger, they had broken the dishes belonging to a cook who served them some food they disliked. “Because we didn’t like the food and couldn’t help ourselves.” Then the teacher asked: “If I were to invite you to my house and happened to serve you food that you disliked, would you also break my dishes?” “No, of course not,” they replied. “Why?” he asked. “Because,” they said, “we respect you as our teacher.” Their basic attitude toward the persons involved made the difference between conduct that was destructive and that which wasn’t. Or take another example. If we were driving behind a slow-moving vehicle on a two-lane road, very few of us would honk, squeal around, and give a dirty look to that driver if it were one of our grandparents. Yet how prone we are to do that very thing to those “slowpokes” whom we don’t know. The difference: We know and love one but not the other. We are expected to be “quick to hear.” The only way to know and love persons is to listen to them. You never know persons by talking to them. You know people by listening to them. In families, in groups of all kinds, in churches, there is far too much talking and not enough listening. Families break up and churches split apart because people don’t know how to listen to each other. A person may indeed know all the answers but destroy a relationship out of anger simply because he or she was slow to hear and quick to speak, instead of being quick to hear and slow to speak. 2. What about caring for people? Redeemed people, according to verse 27, should “visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” James is lifting up an obvious example of the caring responsibility of redeemed people. These orphans and widows probably had little monetary substance to give to the church. Redeemed people are ethically responsible to care about others and to do so without expectation of a return benefit. We are to care without having a hidden motive. We are to care regardless of what the people have to offer to us or to the church. Redeemed people care because they know that God cares. How often Christians say, “I want to help, but I don’t know what to do.” Our technological culture leads us to think that every problem must have an exact solution. And since we may not know “the” solution we stand back and hope that somebody will come along who does. But that is a misconception. There is not an exact solution for every problem. What is the exact solution for multiple sclerosis? for living with an alcoholic spouse? for caring for a senile loved one? for dealing with legal matters between divorced people when one party is uncooperative? If we wait until we have an exact solution for each of these problems, the people having these problems will never know that we care. Even when I do have some exact solutions for people’s problems, I find that the people often are not very interested. More than anything else, they want to know that I care and that I am willing to lead them to Jesus Christ, who can sustain and heal and guide and counsel. 3. What about our involvement in the world? Verse 27 says “to keep oneself unstained from the world.” The world in this context refers to any culture that does not conform to what we know to be the will and purposes of God as they are revealed in Jesus Christ. Let’s take some examples of attitudes that do not conform to the Christian revelation: Racism doesn’t conform; neither does our national preoccupation with alcoholic drinks; nor our devotion to the accumulation of things; nor gluttony; nor our glib attitude toward marriage and divorce. Even though the Christian lives in the midst of such attitudes, he or she seeks and finds and follows the lordship of Jesus Christ in these matters. To do otherwise is to be conformed to the world. We are to be involved with the world but not conformed to it; we are to be involved with and conformed to Jesus Christ. Purpose of This Chapter:
Chapter 4 Focus on the Text… Which does the Church value most—spiritual riches or worldly riches? This crucial question is answered in this passage. James leaves no doubt as to the answer. Spiritual riches are more valuable to the Church than worldly riches. In order to emphasize the point, he asks a rhetorical question in verse 5: “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?” James is not saying that God has chosen only the poor. Rather, he is pointing out that most of the people in the first-century church were indeed poor as far as worldly riches were concerned. Nevertheless, God had made them rich in faith. And since faith is what the Church is all about, richness in faith is of greater value to the church than richness in “gold rings” and “fine clothing.” James was speaking within the context of a particular situation, which was that most Christians happened to be poor in this world’s goods while the persecutors of the Church happened to be rich in this world’s goods. For that reason, it would be easy to misunderstand him. He does not say that all poor people are rich in faith, nor that all who are wealthy lack faith. (We should recognize along with James, however, that Jesus showed particular concern for the poor and often brought the motives of the rich into question.) In the light of these facts, how absurd it was for a congregation of Christians to show partiality in the seating arrangements for worship: for the person in fine clothing to get a seat of honor while the one in shabby clothing has to sit on the floor. Both are visitors. Neither is said to be rich in faith. Both need to hear the gospel of grace and need to be accepted graciously into the congregation. The sin against which James speaks is that of showing partiality to the rich over the poor. To do so is dastardly. Who knows which of the two will prove to be rich in faith? James makes abundantly clear that worldly riches do not guarantee that one will become rich in faith. To show partiality to the rich is to have questionable values. Focus on Us… As a first grader, I had a Sunday school teacher who had very little of this world’s riches. She was a crippled widow who lived in a rundown house. Our class met in a damp, dark church basement. We sat on old benches made for adults. There were no record players, no film strip or movie projectors; our church couldn’t afford them. Nevertheless, I remember that childhood Sunday school class with fondness because I sensed that my teacher was rich in her Christian faith and rich in love for me. She had a quality of richness that I enjoyed. Later, when I was a teen-ager, I had another Sunday school teacher who had plenty of this world’s goods. He had a good job. He was a respected member of the community. Our class met in an adequate church building and we could have whatever was needed to make the learning process more effective. I also remember him with fondness because I sensed that he was a genuine person who was rich in his Christian faith and rich in love for me. He, too, had a quality of richness which I enjoyed. Both of these people were valuable in my Christian development. But their value had nothing to do with either the lack of or the possession of worldly riches. The thing that made both of them valuable was their spiritual richness. If the two had lived in the same town, the poor widow might very well have been the wash woman for the man with plenty. The world would have placed them on different social levels. But what about the church? James insists that the church not make such social distinctions. Neither the wash woman nor the man with plenty should be treated with superior distinction in the fellowship of the church. The reason is simply that the church is a fellowship where spiritual riches—and not worldly riches—are of primary importance. Still today, some congregations are blotched with the same sin against which James cries out, gloating over the rich and rudely discriminating against the poor. However, there is another side to the coin which James does not mention simply because it wasn’t a problem in his day. I am referring to congregations that gloat over the poor and rudely discriminate against the rich; or they gloat over the uneducated and are rude toward the educated; or they gloat over nonprofessionals and are rude toward professional people. I have been in churches blotched with this sin, too. They made the rich or the educated or the professional person feel unwanted. They made them sit on the floor, so to speak. To these churches, James would say exactly what he said to those first-century churches: “My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2:1). The Jerusalem Bible translates this verse helpfully: “My brothers, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people.” Each Christian, poor or rich, educated or uneducated, professional or nonprofessional, is a gift that God gives to a congregation. To use class distinctions as a criterion as to whether a person is valuable to a congregation is non-Christian. It is contrary to the attitude of Christ. Persons are valuable to a congregation in proportion to their spiritual richness—that and that alone. James 2:9 bears out this strong assertion. Purpose of This Chapter:
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