By: Natalie Ricks
The Book of James in the Holy Bible is considered by many to be proverbs for us to live by in the New Testament. Who wrote the Book of James?
Duh! Yes, that’s correct, James did. However there are four men named James mentioned in the New Testament. By the process of deduction, we know that the author of the Book of James was our Lord’s brother. If you want to dig into the proof for this, speak up. Otherwise we will continue with the introduction. Jesus Christ is mentioned only twice in this book, the cross is not mentioned at all, neither is the resurrection or the Holy Spirit. Martin Luther, founder of the Lutheran Church considered this book to be an epistle of straw because he thought James was saying that we have to do works to receive salvation. What James was saying is "walk your talk" Do what you know to do and don’t just talk about it.
Researchers think that James was the brother born after Jesus Christ. Mary was his mother, Joseph was his father. How would you like to have heard, "Why can’t you be a good boy like your brother?"
A perfect brother? It must have been quite a problem for James. Just imagine, a brother who never did anything wrong that you could blame him for! He put his clothes away, kept his room clean, always obeyed his parents, didn’t mess around, and was a nice guy. Can you imagine Mary and Joseph saying to James as he was growing up, “Why can’t you be like your older brother?” Jesus family did not believe he was the Messiah. If you look in John 7:5 you will notice that his brothers did not believe in him.” For neither did his brethren believe in him.” James was probably very happy when the Lord left home at age thirty. But wait, Jesus came home a little later and claimed to be the Messiah. How would you like it if your big brother came home and claimed to be the Messiah? James was bitterly opposed to his brother. Can you imagine the neighbors teasing him?
The members of Christ’s family were opposed as well. Let’s take a look at Mark 3:20-21. “Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” They thought he wascrazy.
What was it that finally changed James? James was not at the cross when Jesus died. He would have been the one that our Lord would have asked to care for Mary his mother. According to Jewish Law it would be James’ responsibility. But our Lord had to ask John to care for his mother. The Bible never mentions that James was at the empty tomb either. But before Pentecost something happened to him. His half- brother, our Lord and Savior appeared to him!! 1 Cor. 15:7 says “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” This appearance after Christ’s resurrection changes James’ heart and mind. James became a leader of the early church and was a presiding elder at the counsel at Jerusalem in Acts 15. He wrote the first book of the New Testament. It was written between 45 and 50 A.D. Since his book was the first, he had no pattern. This makes the Book of James truly unique.
The book of James was written to scattered Jewish Christians scattered abroad and, of course to us as well. At this time the early church was being severely persecuted and had fled from Jerusalem. (Acts 8:1) They didn’t want to leave but were forced to by persecution.
The theme of the Book of James is that real faith will produce real works. According to the historian, Josephus, James was stoned to death during the reign of Herod in A.D. 62. Tradition says that upon his death, his knees were worn hard as camel’s because of his constant habit of prayer on his knees.
- James was the half-brother of__________________
- James always believed that his brother was the Christ. yes or no (circle one)
- What made James finally believe in Jesus Christ?__________________
- What did Martin Luther call the Book of James__________________
- Which book of the New Testament was written first?__________________
- The theme of the Book of James is:__________________
- To whom was the Book of James written?__________________
- What does John 7:5 show?__________________
- Why did our Lord have to ask John to care for his mother?__________________
- Write a short paragraph describing how our Lord’s family felt about him before his resurrection.
