James, the Brother of Jesus



James 1:1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Today we begin a study of the Book of James. While this book is fairly short (5 chapters) it contains a great many thoughts that are worthy of meditation. Its place in the canon was disputed by the early church fathers, but it appears in our Bible today and as such needs to be embraced by us with the trust that God has and will always protect His Word.

James was most likely written by the brother of Jesus, James. He would have been born after Jesus, so it was His “little” brother. None of Jesus’ siblings believed in His position as Messiah before the resurrection. It was only after they had seen Him die and then again as the resurrected Lord that they came to understand what their mother had known all along. You have to admit, growing up with the perfect Son of God had to be a bummer. Gives new meaning to “you were always mom’s favorite”, right? Anyway, James came to know that Jesus was his Savior after seeing Him resurrected. He went on to become the leader of the church in Jerusalem as Christianity grew and held a position of great authority in the new Church.

Since James was martyred in 62AD we know that the book was written fairly early. Some have speculated that it was written just before his death, while most believe it could have been as early as 50AD. This belief is because the book is clearly written to Jewish Christians, who would have made up the bulk of the very early church. While Gentiles were becoming believers, it took a little more time to spread the Good News outside of Jerusalem. In Acts 1:8, Jesus even tells the disciples the path of the Gospel. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  So, that the earliest believers would be converted Jews is natural. The whole things started in their capital – Jerusalem. We know the book is address to those early Jewish Christians because of the wording of verse 1. “To the twelve tribes” is a direct reference to the Jewish people and everyone would have known that to be the case.

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