Richard Bauckham notes that “The letter of James begins: 'James, servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Messiah, to the twelve tribes in the diaspora.' … The twelve
tribes in the diaspora whom James addresses must be Jewish Christians
throughout the Jewish diaspora. He writes to them as head of the mother church,
at the centre from which God's people Israel is being reconstituted as the
messianic people of God in the last days.” (http://richardbauckham.co.uk/uploads/Accessible/James%20at%20the%20Centre.pdf)
He goes on to explain that communication
between the diaspora and the centre (Jerusalem) was constant at that time: “It
had long been customary for Jewish authorities and leaders at the centre to address
circular letters to the diaspora. The Temple authorities, for example, might
write about the dates and observance of festivals. We have a letter from the
great Pharisaic rabbi Gamaliel, James's older contemporary and former teacher
of Paul, on matters of sacrifice and the calendar, addressed to 'our brothers,
people of the exile of Babylonia and people of the exile of Media and people of
the exile of Greece and the rest of all the exiles of Israel.' Presumably
Gamaliel writes as an acknowledged Pharisaic leader at the centre to Jews of
Pharisaic sympathies throughout the diaspora. Not unnaturally, then, the custom
of letters from the centre to the diaspora was continued in early Christianity.”
Bauckham also writes about James, the
author of this letter, who he understands to be the brother of Jesus and leader
of the early Church. “Only one James was so uniquely prominent
in the early Christian movement that he could be identified purely by the
phrase: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 12:17;
15:13; 1 Cor 15:7; Gal 2:9, 12)” (p. 16). In fact, the epithet ‘servant of God
and the Lord Jesus Christ’ in James 1:1 is not meant to distinguish him from
other Jameses, but to indicate his authority for addressing his readers.”
Bauckham
highlights a reference to James in the Gospel
of Thomas in relation to the authority he had within the early Church: “Jewish
theology could say that the world was created for the righteous and therefore
that it was created for the sake of the righteous person, the
representative righteous person, Abraham, so the saying in the Gospel of
Thomas can call James: 'James the Righteous, for whose sake heaven and
earth came into being.' James, it seems, was esteemed in his later years, not
merely for his authority over the church, but more for his exemplification of
the life of service to God and humanity to which the messianic people of God
were called. As Abraham the righteous person par excellence modelled the
righteousness of faith for his descendants, so James modelled the messianic
righteousness of faith in Jesus the Messiah. What that righteousness entailed
we can see nowhere more appropriately than in James's own letter.”
A
wise person once said, “There is only one way to acquire wisdom. But when it
comes to making a fool of yourself, you have your choice of thousands of
different ways.” James states, “If any of you lacks wisdom,
you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
will be given to you” (1.5). Wisdom is a gift given by God that must be
wholeheartedly sought and asked for. Once received, it must be relied upon to
help one persevere, live a godly life, and have hope. More than just insight
and good judgment, wisdom is “the endowment of heart and mind which is needed
for the right conduct of life.” (http://www.galaxie.com/article/atj29-0-03)
“James,
as a disciple of Jesus the sage, is a wisdom teacher who has made the wisdom of
Jesus his own, and who seeks to appropriate and to develop the resources of the
Jewish wisdom tradition in a way that is guided and controlled by the teaching
of Jesus.”
“James
shares Jesus special concern with the heart as the source of words and actions;
the teaching of James, like that of Jesus, is paraenesis [an exhortation] for a
counter-cultural community, in which solidarity, especially with the poor,
should replace hierarchy and status, along with the competitive ambition and
arrogance that characterize the dominant society.” (http://www.representationalresearch.com/pdfs/bauckham.pdf)
James distinguishes between Christian
wisdom and that of the worldly-wise. The worldly-wise are full of selfish
ambition, eager to get on, asserting their own rights. God reckons a person
wise when s/he puts selfishness aside and shows disinterested concern for
others. This kind of wisdom is seen in a person’s personality and behaviour –
not in mere intellectual ability. Accordingly - and this is one of the main
themes of this letter – genuine faith in Christ always spills over into the rest of life. It affects basic
attitudes to yourself, other people, and life in general meaning that there
should be no discrepancy between belief and action. (The Lion Handbook to the Bible)
This all comes across very clearly in
Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this passage in The Message:
“Live Well, Live Wisely
13-16
Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what
you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way
you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you
are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t
wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish
conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better
of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.
17-18
Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by
getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy
and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can
develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its
results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating
each other with dignity and honor.”
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Let The Day Begin.
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