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1 Timothy 2 Prayer for All and the Actions of Men and Women

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Woman in the orans position at the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome. www.catacombepriscilla.com

1 Timothy 2: 1-7

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For
 there is one God;
  there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
 Christ Jesus, himself human,
  6 who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time.7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.

Among the communities that Timothy is attempting to shepherd we have already seen evidence of divisions and factions in this letter. Paul is working through Timothy to address the harmful teachings and practices which have distracted these followers of Christ from their participation in God’s mission in Ephesus and likely, as we will discuss in the next section, damaging their reputation among their neighbors. It is easy for conflict to divide the community into groups rallied around different leaders, different practices, different beliefs and beginning to view one another as enemies. Paul’s advice to this congregation begins with reshaping their prayers to be for “all.”

In my final year of seminary, twenty-two years ago, I took a course that went through Jaroslav Pelikan’s five volume treatment of the Christian Tradition where he adapts the traditional phrase lex orandi, lex credenda (literally law of prayer, law of belief). His basic point was that the way the church worshipped and prayed throughout history shaped the beliefs of the church and that many of the beliefs adopted began in local practices. Paul here is shaping their practice of prayer trusting that praying rightly will help transform some of the unhelpful beliefs. The key word in this section is the Greek word pas “all, everyone.” In contrast to praying only for my small group of believers who may look, think, act, believe and practice like me now supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings are to be made for “all” (NRSVue everyone).  

Prayer for all may be the beginning of repairing the divisions in the community and transforming “us” and “them” into a “we.” It reminds the praying community that “all” are a part of the people we lift up in prayer and thanksgiving before God. Yet Paul does not stop with the wall of the community but pushes these prayers beyond the community walls into the public square. These communities of faith are not to withdraw from the community. As Thomas Long memorably states:

The Pastor knew well that being Easter people did not mean renouncing the world, donning white robes, going to the mountaintop, and singing “I’ll Fly Away.” Rather it meant the harder task of living the gospel every day in the rough and tumble world of pagan neighbors and worldly powers. (Johnson, 2001, p. 60)

The followers of Jesus will be confined to Israel where everyone will be expected to be faithful to the God of Israel and the law.[1] From the time of Jeremiah onwards, the faithful scattered throughout the world have been encouraged to “seek the welfare of the city where they have been sent.” (Jeremiah 29:7). Within Judaism the prayer for kings, other than the kings of Israel or Judah, goes back to at least Ezra.[2] Paul continues this practice and this will continue throughout early Christian writings. Followers of Christ would pray for the emperor, but they would not pray to the emperor which would be something they would be persecuted for in later times, but here as elsewhere Paul encourages them to find a way to be good citizens within the political order of the day.[3] There may have been some among the early followers of Jesus who were advocating for a more contentious position in relation to the empire, similar to the Jewish movements occurring in the time leading up to the Jewish War with Rome (66-73/74 CE) but Paul advocates for a quiet and peaceable life. Even Revelation, which advocates for withdrawing from Rome, does not view conflict with Rome as the role of Christians. Paul and most early Christians likely viewed Rome as a reality that would be replaced by the advent of the kingdom of God, but that coming kingdom was something they prayed for and did not revolt to bring about. Yet, Paul’s extension of the “all” to include the emperor and those in authority is probably less about appeasement and more about the expansive desire that the emperor and those in high positions would also be saved by the God who desires to save “all.”

This is the only time Paul uses the language of ‘mediator’ in relation to Christ. In Galatians the law came through a ‘mediator’[4] and this is a way that Paul distances to law from God. The only other place in the New Testament that uses mediator language for Christ is the Letter to the Hebrews where Christ is the mediator of a new covenant between God and the people.[5] Most translations will show verse five indented like poetry, and many believe this is quoting a pre-existing teaching or fragment that would be known in the community. It is likely that the mediator language was known in this community.

The language of ‘ransom’ where Christ presented his fully human self for is an evocative image with a long history of debate in Christianity. Paul and the early Christians deployed a wide range of vocabulary to try to describe what Christ’s life, death, and resurrection meant both for believers and the world. This word for ransom (Greek antilytron) is only utilized here in the New Testament,[6] although Paul can utilize the word apolytron (NRSVue ‘redemption) to similar effect in several places.[7] Ransom in Roman society was a rich image because it was the primary way a slave could be granted freedom. Roughly 10-15% of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves, many of them captives from Rome’s various wars. The proportion of people who were slaves was highest in Rome and in urban areas, so there would be a large slave population in Ephesus (see chapter six). A slave could be freed by someone paying a ransom on the slave’s behalf, and so in a community of slaves (and slave holders) the ransoming of a person would be well known. Later Christian thinkers would focus on who the ransom was paid to (God, the devil, etc.) but for early Christians the experience of bondage and the hope of freedom are what this image evokes. Once again the ransom is paid for “all.”

Paul is a witness and declarer of this new reality mediated and paid for by Christ for “all.” This is all occurring within God’s appointed (kairos) time which is not measured in the minutes, hours, days, weeks or years of chronological (from the Greek chronos) time. Paul’s phrase “I am not lying” (Greek ou pseudomai) occurs, as Luke Timothy Johnson notes, “with perhaps disconcerting frequency in Paul’s letters; in addition to Rom 9:1, see 2 Cor 11:31 and Gal 1:20.” (Johnson, 2001, p. 193) For Paul’s, and by extension Timothy’s, ministry his call to be a teacher of the faith to the Gentiles (or nations) is central to both his ministry and his authority in times of conflict.

In a time of community division where false teachings and practices have created problems Paul begins by correcting the prayers of the community. The practice of praying for “all” within and beyond the community. Seeking the welfare of the city, the empire, and its leaders as citizens of both Ephesus and the kingdom of heaven because all of creation is caught up in the mediation of Christ and the ransom of Christ. The prayers of the faithful for “all” reflect the saving desire of God for “all.”

2 Timothy 2: 8-15

  8 I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument, 9 also that the women should dress themselves in moderate clothing with reverence and self-control, not with their hair braided or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, 10 but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. 11 Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve, 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

1 Timothy has several passages that evoke passionate discussions among modern readers, none more than the current one in relation to women in the community of faith. The text in the hands of its original readers was a tool that was helping to repair the divisions in the community, but many women may have been in environments where this text was wielded like a weapon to keep women out of leadership, to maintain power arrangements the way they are constructed, and even in some cases quoted to sanction abusive treatment. Just because a passage is difficult or has been used in a harmful manner does not mean we should ignore it. Sometimes it is precisely these difficult texts which can produce the richest dialogues.

Paul begins with speaking to men in the community and beyond. Paul’s desire that men in “all” places pray with hands lifted up to God continues the expansive theme of prayer in the previous section, and may seem initially like a contrast with the limiting words that come immediately afterwards. Yet it is worth noting what Paul is desiring and not desiring. Paul desires pray with hands raised from “all” places but also indicates that this is to be done without anger or argument. As Thomas Long frames this action:

Praying with hands open and lifted is a sign of humility and dependence on God. Men who have their hands open and raised in prayer cannot close their fists in rage. (Long, 2016, p. 72)

Anger in both ancient literature and in modern society is an emotion normally associated with men. Anger (Greek orge) is not merely a feeling of passion but the feeling or passion put into action verbally or physically. (Johnson, 2001, p. 199) As Paul has done throughout this chapter, right prayer is to lead to right belief and disposition. Instead of the anger and arguments present in the Ephesian community this posture of prayer symbolically lets go of the anger, voices are turned to prayer instead of argument, and in this posture new ways can be learned and a broken community healed. The church becomes a community that prays for not only their fellow members in the body of Christ but for “all.” In a church caught up in God’s desire that “all” will be saved, prayer is lifted up for “all” and in “all” places.

For many modern readers they can cruise along with what Paul is saying through the first eight verses of this chapter, but when he begins speaking about women everything said before can be lost for many readers. The Paul who has been committed to “all” now appears to be a different Paul who is silencing a large group within the community. As we enter these verses which have been utilized to silence women and keep them from leadership in the church I’m going to slow us down and try to engage them in the time when Paul writes them and why the same person who says in Christ there is no male and female would now speak of how women dress, how they are to be silent and submissive, and not to be in a role of teaching. The final step of any interpretation of scripture should be how we utilize this scripture in our own time and where it both challenges us and may even help us articulate what we believe and why we believe it.

When one engages writing from an author in a different time and with a different worldview than our own it can be easy to dismiss them as irrelevant, uninformed, prejudiced, and unworthy of our time or consideration. It should not be surprising that views on men and women were different almost two thousand years ago than they are today. The role of women today would be unrecognizable to my grandparent’s generation which grew up in the 1930s, and continues to evolve rapidly.[8] There are limits to what we know about life two thousand years ago, and there is lively debate about the role of women in the early church and in Roman society. What we do have is the writings of people who lived in the time around Paul and how they expressed the role of women as well as historical examples of women who did not fit the pattern expressed by these writers.

Paul is not unique in asking women to dress modestly and to let her good works be her ornamentation. This type of language is common in both Greco-Roman and Jewish writings of the time. (Johnson, 2001, p. 199) The book of James can critique the wealthy man who comes in wearing gold rings and fine clothes (James 2: 2) and 1 Peter echoes many of the things Paul prohibits here: braided hair, gold ornamentation, and fancy clothes. Although there is positive the description of the woman of substance in Proverbs 31: 10-31 who dresses in fine linen and purple (22), this is not the norm.

There are two feasible interpretations of how the women’s dress is being interpreted by others in the church and the surrounding community. One possibility, highlighted by Elsa Tamez, is that the women are attempting to appear as rich. (Long, 2016, p. 74) Clothing and ornamentation have always been a way of communicating status and prosperity and that may have been the women in Ephesian community’s intention, but there is also another role that these women may be assuming. Kathleen Corley in her book Private Women Public Meals: Social Conflict in the Synoptic Tradition draws a contrast between private women and public women. Wives, daughters, and widows were private women. Public women were sometimes thought of as prostitutes, but there were also courtesans who were educated and would be present at meals with men. In contrast to the moral piety recommended by emperor Augustus (who reigned at the time of Jesus birth) the women we know from this era include names like “Cleopatra, Julia, Poppaea, Sempronia, and Messalina who were hardly known by Romans for their virtue.” (Corley, 1993, p. 43) These women who are braiding their hair, wearing fine clothing, pearls and gold, speaking up in gatherings of men were likely being viewed by their neighbors as moving into this space of courtesans/public women and impacting the reception of these communities of Christ by their neighbors.

In the ancient world family was the foundation of society, a reality reflected in most ancient religions. Marriages in the ancient world were an economic relationship which may have romantic inclinations in contrast to modern marriages which are thought of as being held together by love and economic implications are thought of as secondary. Most marriages at this time were arranged marriages and a woman who portrays herself as a public woman and speaks freely may by dress and behavior be harming their future livelihood. We also know that one of the things Paul is writing about is a false teaching forbidding marriage (1 Timothy 4:3) likely in anticipation of Christ’s return.

There is a non-canonical book known as the Acts of Paul and Thecla which is written sometime prior to 190 CE which embraces some of the ideas Paul warns against in 1 Timothy: a life of perpetual virginity, abstinence from certain food, and world renouncing ideas. For Paul life engages with God’s work in creation and “truth and grace reverberate in the mundane realities of everyday life and relationships.” (Long, 2016, p. 80) Paul’s view of marriage as a place where men are subordinate to Christ and women are subordinate to their husband, while perhaps unpopular today is consistent in his writings. (1 Corinthians 11: 2-3; Ephesians 5: 21-33; Colossians 3: 18-25) Paul also uses a similar interpretation of Genesis 3 in 1 Corinthians 11: 8-9 and 2 Corinthians 11: 2-3 and it is also a pattern utilized by the contemporary Jewish philosopher Philo. Most modern readers will come to a different reading of Genesis, but Paul’s interpretation is consistent with his time viewing Eve as the one who was the transgressor and deceived one.

The passage ends with the statement that women will be saved through childbearing provided they continue in faith, love, holiness and self-control. In our culture this is another statement that is hard to comprehend, but in the ancient world it was much easier to hear. Children in the ancient world were associated with being blessed by God and infertility was a crisis to a woman’s identity. There is a reason the barrenness of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, the unnamed mother of Samson, Hannah, the wealthy Shunammite woman, and in the New Testament Elizabeth are viewed as a crisis for the woman and her place in the family. There has been a massive swing in the view of children in the past century mainly due to the shift of work away from the household and into the workplace. For most of history having children was viewed as a source of security (children would take over the home and care for aging parents) and labor from a young age. In recent years children may still be viewed as a blessing but also as a burden due to the cost of raising and educating a child to prepare them for life in the modern world. Many modern families choose not to have children to allow both partners to pursue their careers and in most places a woman’s value is no longer associated with her bearing and raising children. Thomas Long approaches this statement by saying, “childbearing is not a means of salvation for women; it is one of the arenas in which salvation occurs.” (Long, 2016, p. 81) I believe he is right that Paul views salvation as not some escape from this world but woven together with God’s actions bringing life to women, men, and children in the mundane everyday acts of provision and nurture in God’s creation.

I am a part of a church that has ordained women for fifty-five years, and I have never known a church where women could not serve as pastors. The majority of my colleagues in seminary were women and I know many excellent women who are both pastors and lay leaders in the church. Yet it took a long time for individual churches to be open to women in pastoral and other leadership roles. There are also many churches that still do not allow women to be pastors or teachers. People of faith have always had to wrestle with what portions of scripture are unique to a specific moment in history and what aspects still apply in our time. It is inescapable, both in the bible and our own time, that the surrounding culture will impact how we practice our faith but it is worth spending the time reflecting why we practice and preach the way we do.

Throughout this chapter the goal has been for the people to live a peaceful and quiet life within their society. Paul in his ministry in the Hellenistic world is conscious of the values, dress, beliefs, and behaviors of his surrounding world. In many ways Paul models what the Jesuits will later adopt in their missionary work where he utilizes the common language and attempts to find common ground between the local traditions and the gospel he is entrusted with. Paul believed women were firmly equal with men in membership in the church and identity in Christ, but Paul also did not want the actions of women and men in the community to place additional stumbling blocks for their neighbors encountering the saving God of the gospels.

I do think this uncomfortable passage still has questions for us to wrestle with in our own culture. In our time we are highly individualistic while in Paul’s time they thought primarily in terms of family and community and this passage makes me think about where we have neglected the common good for our own individual fulfillment. Paul’s discussion of prayer for “all” including political leaders has prompted me to think about how unprayerful my language can become for political leaders who I disagree with. Prayer permeates this passage and I have often moved directly into dialogue or even confrontation without prayer. The well-known proverb that ‘clothes make the man’ in combination with Paul’s words about women’s dress here allow an opportunity for considering what message our clothing and ornamentation are sending to our neighbors. I have seen in my lifetime a phenomenal change in societal dialogue around masculinity and femininity, and I do think that we as people of faith do need to consider how we shape women and men for both the world they encounter and their relationships with one another. I know a lot of young people are hesitant to have children for economic and other reasons and I think this can give us encouragement to wonder at a world where children are viewed as blessings and potential instead of an economic burden. None of these reflections have easy answers and they touch on core portions of our lives, but for me this chapter reminds me of how God’s salvation impacts “all” of life for me, my neighbor, my nation, and my world.

[1] In fairness, Israel/Judah was always in contact with other cultures, beliefs, and values.

[2] Ezra 6:10, see also Baruch 1:10-12 which prays for King Nebuchadrezzar.

[3] Romans 13: 1-7; Titus 3: 1-2.

[4] Galatians 3: 19-20.

[5] Hebrews 8:5; 9:15; 12:24.

[6] Both Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28 utilize the Greek word lutron which has a similar meaning.

[7] Romans 3:24; 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1: 30; Colossians 1:14.

[8] Those advocating for change may not feel that it is occurring rapidly, but from a historical perspective the opportunities for education, employment, equality, participation in the political process, leadership in religious organizations, and beyond for women are a tectonic shift in only a couple of generations.

1 Timothy 1 Paul Encourages Timothy in Ephesus

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The Library of Celsus in Ephesus Photo By Benh LIEU SONG – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15578063

1 Timothy 1: 1-2

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
  2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
  Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Letters in the ancient world begin with the identification of the sender and the recipient. Paul begins by making a strong claim to authority, “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope.” When Paul begins with the title of apostle (e.g. 1 Corinthians, Galatians) he is often writing to communities dealing with crisis and where his authority is needed. In letters like Romans or Philippians where he is not addressing significant behavioral issues or where he wants to be more diplomatic he utilizes the title of servant/slave (doulos) of the Lord. Paul also immediately leans into the title of God as our Savior. God as Savior is a common theme in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures[1] and it is worth remembering at the time these letters are written the stories of the gospels are likely circulating but they have not been collected and distributed throughout these young communities of faith. The Scriptures for these early Christian are the Hebrew Scriptures.

Timothy is described as Paul’s ‘true child,’ an adjective that normally defines a child born in wedlock. A legitimate child as opposed to an illegitimate one (NIB XI: 790). Yet, when the letter continues ‘in the faith’ most readers would probably understand Timothy as Paul’s true and authentic delegate, that Timothy and Paul share the same faith and that Timothy is being empowered to speak with Paul’s authority. Paul’s also utilizes the term for ‘true’ (gnesios) in Philippians 2:20 to speak of Timothy’s true concern for the welfare of the Philippians. Timothy is Paul’s trusted representative before the Ephesians, one who is like a son to him.

Paul concludes the greeting with a blessing. Grace (charis) is a distinctive Pauline term, and the vast majority of this term’s occurrences happen in Paul’s letters. Here the term is combined with two additional terms: peace (eirene) and mercy (eleos). Peace brings forward the Hebrew idea of shalom and mercy (eleos) is the normal term used to translate in both Greek and English the Hebrew term hesed. These three rich terms are brought together to bless Timothy and his community. God is referred to here as Father, a common way of referring to God in both the teaching of Jesus and occurs frequently in Pauline benedictions, and Christ Jesus our Lord is placed in parallel usage of God the Father.   

1 Timothy 1: 3-11

  3 I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different teachings 4 and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith. 5 But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 6 Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.
  8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately; 9 this means understanding that the law is laid down not for the righteous but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who engage in illicit sex, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.

In many of Paul’s letters there would be a thanksgiving for the community, but here the letter moves immediately into instructions. Paul has done this in Galatians, so this is not unheard of, and like Galatians Paul is concerned about the continuation of the community. Verse three gives us the setting where Timothy receives the letter, Ephesus where he is instructed to remain, and Paul at some earlier time departed for Macedonia. In Acts Paul sent Timothy on to Macedonia while he stayed in Ephesus (Acts 19:22) and later proceeds to Macedonia. Later he will gather with the Ephesian elders in Miletus (Acts 20:17). This letter is likely between Paul’s departure from Ephesus and his later meeting with the elders.[2]  

Among the early Christians in Ephesus there are different teachings emerging. We have glimpses into the challenges that the early churches face through letters like this 1 Timothy, the book of Acts and the book of Revelation. The Book of Acts portrays Ephesus as a city where the early Christ followers meet resistance both from within the synagogue and from the followers of the Greek gods, particularly the followers of Artemis. Revelation’s letter to the Ephesians points to a community that has learned to test those claiming to be apostles and continuing to deal with groups, like the Nicolaitans, who are viewed as harmful by the author of Revelation. Yet, in Revelation these conflicts have sapped the energy of the churches in this large city. We may not be able to identify specifically the ‘myths and genealogies’ that some are teaching but to Paul they are leading people away from the central witness of Christ. The ‘myths and genealogies’ may be focusing on the wrong things in scripture, since Paul indicates that some are desiring to be teachers of the law, but they may also be a distortion coming from outside of the scriptures. Another possibility is that these teachers who are leading people into “meaningless talk” have separated teaching from action. They may be so focused on some knowledge they are attempting to wrestle from the scriptures or from the surrounding culture that they have stopped the distinctive practices that shaped the early Christians.

Paul then focuses on the law and how it is utilized. Paul’s declaration that the law is good is similar to statements he has made in Romans[3] but also indicates that the law is not for the righteous. Perhaps Paul intends something similar to the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians where “There is no law against such things.” (Galatians 5: 32) Paul likely composes the vice list in verses nine and ten while reflecting on the ten commandments. Godless and sinful refer to someone behaving blasphemously towards God while unholy and profane likely reference the commandment on keeping the Sabbath holy and profaning the name of God. Killing of father and mother and murderers bring together the commandment to honor father and mother and murder. The commandment on adultery also references both the ‘sexually immoral’ and ‘men who engage in illicit sex.’ The Greek term pornos (NRSVue sexually immoral) is the prefix for the English word pornography. As Luke Timothy Johnson notes, “In the LXX and the NT, the term is used for the sexually immoral without specific reference to homosexuality.” (Johnson, 2001, p. 170) The Greek arsenkoitos (NRSVue men who engage in illicit sex) is literally one who has sex with a man. As James D.G. Dunn notes,

Today the most controversial of these is the putting of homosexual practice (v. 10; the term almost certainly comes from Lev 18:22; 20:13) under the prohibition of adultery; the teaching is consistent with Paul’s views expressed earlier in Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 6: 9-10 (NIB XI:791)

This is the first of many times where 1 Timothy will come into conflict with elements of our culture, just as it was likely in conflict with elements of Paul’s time. Many Greek authors write about relationships between a man and an adolescent youth (pederasty) but there is some debate about how often these relationships were sexual. Paul viewed the existence of same-sex relationships as one of the many examples of how far humanity and creation had been corrupted by sin.

On a personal note, the larger church I am a part of has struggled with the question of homosexuality within the larger picture of sexuality since before I entered seminary in 2000. It has been a divisive issue within the larger church and within congregations I have served. I also have a non-gender binary child and my perspective on this issue has shifted throughout my life. When I entered seminary, I would have agreed that LGBTQ+ people have a place within the congregation but I would have been opposed to them having leadership roles whether as pastors, deacons or in positions of authority. Through experiences, wrestling with scripture, and faithful conversations I am now open to LGBTQ+ people who are trying to live faithfully serving in the leadership of the church but I also understand why others struggle to accept them into leadership, just as some do not accept women in leadership (see chapter 2).

Returning to the vice list: stealing is not simply stealing but “slave dealing.” I will talk about slavery more in chapter 6, but although slavery was an accepted part of the Roman empire “slave traders” have normally been viewed with disdain. Liars and perjures point to the commandment on bearing false witness. Paul concludes with ‘whatever is contrary to the sound teaching’ which returns us to the questions about different teaching which began this section. Paul is asking his hearers to measure the teaching they are receiving against the gospel he shared with them for its conformity to Christ and scripture in both teaching and living.  

1 Timothy 1: 12-17

  12 I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

For Paul his call to serve Jesus was transformational. He went from someone who, out of ignorance, was acting against God’s will to one whose life is completely committed to the gospel. One of the rhetorical effects of this narration of Paul’s transformation from a faithless one (apistis-without faith, NRSVue ‘unbelief’) to one overflowing with faith and love, from a man of violence to a man of peace, from a blasphemer to a servant of God is to provide hope that those lost to these different teachings can be reclaimed to God and Christ.

Paul talks about faith (Greek pisitis) more proportionally in 1 Timothy than in any other letter except Galatians and Romans.[4] Sometimes English translations obscure the occurrences of ‘faith’ as occurs in verse fifteen. Normally English translations render this verse similar to the NRSVue, “the saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance.” A literal translation of the Greek would be, “the word of faith (or faithful word) and worthy of all acceptance.” What word is faith worthy of all acceptance? That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul’s transformation becomes the model of what Christ is doing with those who were once estranged from God. Jesus is at work in Paul showing the patience of God that is for all who have faith in God.

The Greek word aionios (eon) occurs four times in the final two verses of this section. It occurs at the end of sixteen paired with life (zoe)-into life of the eon/age. Most translations render this ‘eternal life’ and while Paul, I believe, does believe that the age God is creating is eternal he is not thinking of an existence in heaven. For Paul, and the other New Testament authors, God’s kingdom and age is coming to earth. The next occurrence of eon is in the title for God, the king of the eon/age. Life in the eon/age is linked to the king of the eon/age who rules the eon of eons/age to age. God is also described as immortal/incorruptible, invisible and the only God. God being the one God goes back to the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), the central confession of faith of the Jewish people. God is also frequently referred to as unseen in both the Old and New Testament and while God being unending or incorruptible is assumed but rarely spoken throughout the scriptures. It is possible that Paul is using a title for God that is frequently utilized by the communities in Ephesus.   

1 Timothy 1: 18-20

  18 This charge I commit to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19 having faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith; 20 among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have turned over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

The chapter closes with a personal note to Timothy intended to be overheard by the community. Paul reaffirms the closeness with Timothy using the familial language of father to child but also links Timothy’s calling to prophecies made in the church. Timothy is the chosen one, chosen both by Paul and by God. The language shifts to military language. “Fight the good fight” is literally (military) service in this good campaign/battle. Dealing with church conflict is challenging. In my own story I was an officer in the U.S. Army prior to seminary and my job as a leader in the Army may have been harder physically, but leading a congregation through conflict was more emotionally draining.

Hymenaeus and Alexander were people Paul excluded from the community of the faithful. The early communities may not have a word like excommunication for this disfellowshipping of a former member of the faith but even at this early stage there is a need for boundaries. Hymenaeus will be mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17 along with Philetus as spreading a teaching that the resurrection has already occurred. Alexander the Coppersmith is listed in 2 Timothy 4: 14 as one who did Paul great harm[5] and both are people for Timothy to avoid. In Greek these individuals are handed over by Paul to ‘the satan.’ In Matthew’s gospel which also has this type of disfellowshipping (Matthew 18:17) the desire is that the person changes and they are returned to fellowship. The use of the definite article (the) with the title satan may refer to this role of the accuser in the Old Testament, particularly Job. Here ‘the satan’ is ultimately God’s agent. Martin Luther would sometimes refer to the devil as ‘God’s devil’ because even though the devil may be opposed to God’s designs, even his opposition to God was brought into God’s design.

One of the hardest things for a community to do is to remove a member, but it can also be one of the most important things for the life of a community. Whether it is false teaching, bullying, or other unsafe behavior the failure to address the person who has been corrected and refuses to change will undermine the community. Timothy, in our letter, likely dealt with a very challenging moment in the life of the community and may need the support of Paul, his spiritual father. He may need to be reminded of his calling that God has placed on him as he attempts to bring this community back to faithfulness and peace.

[1] E.g. Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 27: 1, 9; Isaiah 45:15, 21; This is also the background for this usage in Mary’s Song commonly called the Magnificat in Luke 1:47.

[2] In this reflection my assumption is that Paul wrote this letter. Many scholars believe 1 Timothy is written by a later author after Paul’s death and therefore the letter comes from a later time. I am also assuming that Acts narration of Paul’s life is generally accurate but incomplete, not capturing every detail of Paul’s ministry.

[3] Romans 7: 7, 14, 21; in Galatians Paul’s language about the law is less friendly but in Galatians 3: 21 the use of the law is in a limited manner like he utilizes here.

[4] 1 Timothy has eighteen uses of pistis in six chapters, Galatians has twenty-two in six chapters and Romans thirty-seven in sixteen chapters. (Johnson, 2001, p. 158)

[5] This may be the same Alexander mentioned in Acts 19:33.

Psalm 139 Asking the God who Knows and Sees Me to Respond to the Injustice on Earth

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The Nativity of Christ, Icon by Ranosonar

Psalm 139

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
 you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
 and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
 O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
 and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
 it is so high that I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?
 Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
 if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
 and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
 and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
 and night wraps itself around me,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
 the night is as bright as the day,
 for darkness is as light to you.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
 you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
 Wonderful are your works;
 that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
 when I was being made in secret,
 intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
 In your book were written
 all the days that were formed for me,
 when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
 How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
 I come to the end—I am still with you.

19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
 and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously
 and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
 And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
 I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
 test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
 and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139 is a paradox. The first eighteen verses in poetic and beautiful imagery describe the psalmists experience of being fully known by God. The language of the final six verses describes the psalmist’s reaction to the jarring reality that there are many who oppose the ways of God. Many readers of this psalm are surprised at the sudden change from the sense of wonder and awe in the first three stanzas of the psalm to the imprecatory voice of the final stanza. Most readers may be familiar with the first eighteen verses while the final six will rarely appear in the worship of most churches. Some scholars feel that these verses were later added into the beautiful and comforting message of God’s full knowledge and encompassing of the speaker, but I feel the psalm makes sense as we have received it as I will share below.

A key word in this psalm is “known/knowledge” which occurs seven times (vv. 1-2, 4, 6, 14, 23 twice) and while the seven occurrences may be random, Hebrew poetry like to utilize numerical occurrence to make a point. Seven is traditionally a number of completeness. So, in addition to the thematic complete knowledge of God it may also be structurally reinforcing this message. (NIB IV: 1235) The verbs attributed to God including “know,” “search,” and “test” often appear in imagery when God is described as a judge, and this image of God is often used when one is calling on God for intervention or help. (Mays, 1994, pp. 426-427) Throughout the psalm the psalmist wrestles with the reality that they are known, searched, and tested completely by God and yet the wicked ones who resist God’s way still endure and God is called to judge these ones who the psalmist ‘hates’ (see below).

In the first stanza God knows the psalmist’s thoughts, words, and actions completely. Whether the psalmist is coming or going, waking or sleeping, standing or sitting, God knows their path, their thoughts, and even the words that have not left their mouth. They live their life surrounded by God’s presence and comforted by God’s touch. They respond in an appropriate sense of awe and wonder that the God who created the heavens and the earth can know them. The psalm is not interested in constructing a doctrine of omnipotence and omnipresence but instead deploys its language to try to express their wonder that God knows them, comforts them, is present with them and protects them.

The second stanza continues the wonder at God’s presence throughout the creation. The most surprising line of this stanza is that the psalmist includes God’s presence in Sheol, a place in other psalms where people are cut off from God’s hand (Psalm 88). Yet, for the psalmist even this place where God had been thought absent God is present. Heaven to Sheol, from the rising sun to the farthest edges of the sea, and even in the darkest night they are seen and known by God. There is nowhere in all creation, the heavens, the earth and under the earth, where they can escape God’s spirit or God’s sight. For the psalmist this is an awe-inspiring reality but primarily in a comforting rather than an ominous sense.

The third stanza turns the reflections to God’s deep involvement throughout the duration of their life. The beautiful language of God knitting the psalmist together in their mother’s womb, shaping and forming them for their life in God’s presence and protection. They wonder at their body and mind created by the hand of God and the days of their life are numbered according to God’s plan. The psalmist is less concerned with an idea or predestination than poetically describing the wonder at their life shaped by God’s hands and lived within God’s presence.

It may be a paradox, but for me the first three stanzas set up the final stanza. The psalmist looks upon God’s active presence in their own life and experience and then turns outward to the world where injustice and wickedness persist. The language does not seem to indicate that the psalmist is personally under threat or attack but instead seems to be broken-hearted by the ways in which others are treating God and God’s commandments. They are heartsick by the idolatry and injustice they see at work in the world and they call upon the God who is profoundly present throughout their life to extend that presence throughout the world and judge the wicked and those who oppose God’s ways. The language of ‘kill’ and ‘hate’ are jarring to our ears. The word translated ‘hate’ (Hebrew sane’) refers to an emotional aversion to something or someone. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 966) Throughout the psalms and wisdom literature in the bible the wicked pose a threat, leading astray others from following God’s way and threatening the peace of the society. The psalmist in their own way is calling on God for God’s will to be done on earth. The God who is present throughout the life of the psalmist and whose spirit is present throughout the world is asked to judge the earth and be as deeply involved throughout the creation as they perceive God being within their own life. Like the other psalms calling on God to judge an enemy, the enemy is committed into God’s hands. Yet the psalmist joins those throughout the generations calling upon God to establish God’s justice on earth and to heal the society from the damage done by the wicked, the bloodthirsty, those who speak maliciously, and who rise up against God.

Psalm 133 Images of Unity

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Consecration of Aaron and His Sons, illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible

Psalm 133

A Song of Ascents.

1 How very good and pleasant it is
  when kindred live together in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
  running down upon the beard,
 on the beard of Aaron,
  running down over the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
  which falls on the mountains of Zion.
 For there the LORD ordained his blessing,
  life forevermore.

Bolded words have notes on translation below.

This short psalm utilizes two images of fluids flowing down as a metaphor for the good and pleasant experience of unity among kindred. Every world religion I am aware of utilizes familial imagery and then expands the imagery of family to the expectations of community life. Here within the pilgrims coming into Jerusalem and reciting these songs of ascent they are surrounded by other travelers who have come from other towns and perhaps other countries. Yet, for the Hebrew people they were all children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were all an extended family. They were all kin.

As the travelers move towards the temple the first good and pleasant image remembers the anointing of Aaron as the high priest for the people. The pouring of oil on the head is common in the ancient world and had both provided moisture to the scalp and skin as well as a pleasant odor. Yet oil is precious and the image here is of fine oil being used lavishly. The oil flows down (Hebrew yored) from the hair to the beard to the collar of the robes. The anointing of Aaron is imagined as a special and lavish event, and the pilgrims going up to Jerusalem are joined to this good and pleasant memory from the past as they come together in unity to worship the LORD in Zion.

Mount Hermon is roughly 200 kilometers north of Jerusalem and the snow and water that collects there is the source of the Jordan River. The water from Hermon flows down (NRSVue which falls on)[1] to the mountains of Zion as God provides life for the land and people. The LORD utilizes both the normal events of rain and snow and the ritual events of anointing priests to provide a good and pleasant place for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to live in unity and prosperity forevermore.

Adele Berlin suggests that the imagery of Psalm 133 may invoke a hope for the reunification of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah by poetically having the “dew of Hermon” in the northern kingdom flow to Zion in the heart of Judah. (NIB IV: 1214) Whether the psalmist imagines a reunification of Israel and Judah is uncertain, but within the context of a pilgrimage to Zion the bonds of family are extended to new kindred from different starting points but sharing a common destination. They all come together to experience the good and pleasant reality of kindred living together in unity under God’s blessing.

[1] This is the same Hebrew verb yored utilized in verse two for the oil flowing down to Aaron’s beard and robes.

Psalm 131 The Humble Child of the Mothering God

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Statue of a mother with children at the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa. Photo by Alessandro Giudice CC by SA 4.0

Psalm 131

A Psalm of Ascents. Of David.

1 O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
  my eyes are not raised too high;
 I do not occupy myself with things
  too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
  like a weaned child with its mother;
  my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
3 O Israel, hope in the LORD
  from this time on and forevermore.

This short psalm is striking for its central metaphor where the faithful one is a dependent child and LORD is the mother who is the safe and comforting place the child goes to. Jesus will later tell his disciples

Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18: 3-5

Humility plays a central role in both the posture of the psalmist and the posture that Jesus is encouraging in his disciples. The hearers are encouraged to have, “Utter trust in and childlike dependence on God for life and the future.” (NIB IV: 1209) The first verse points to the humble and childlike stance of the psalmist, while the second verse introduces the central metaphor of the childlike speaker and the mothering God who comforts and quiets the speaker’s being, and the third verse expands this posture to Israel whose hope is in the nurturing presence of God.

The heart in Hebrew thought is not the seat of emotion but the seat of will and direction, so the heart not being lifted up is not about being in an exalted emotional state but instead the inner intention of the psalmist is to remain in one’s proper state. The eyes are the outward facing representation of this stance, and they are also not raised too high. The psalmist focuses on the simple things and rather than concentrate their will and striving on great and marvelous things, they rest in their dependence on God. The triple negative of the first verse demonstrates verbally the stance of humility the psalmist has towards God and the world. If this psalm comes from David, as its attribution indicates, it paints the picture of a king who understands their limits and who places honor where it belongs. The king becomes the child needing to be quieted by the nurturing mother God.

The use of feminine imagery for God is relatively rare in the bible, but it does occur. Isaiah uses a similar image of a mother and a nursing child:

Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will never forget you. Isaiah 49: 15

The psalmist has been calmed and quieted in their innermost being. The Hebrew nephesh, rendered soul by the NRSVue, is the most essential part of life and the self but it does not have the sense of soul that is separate from the body and continues beyond life.[1] The Hebrew gamal translated by the NRSVue as weaned can mean either ‘sated’ or ‘weaned.’ If the word is translated ‘sated’, the image of the child is that of an infant who is relaxing after feeding where the hands and legs relax and the child may fall asleep on the mother’s breast or look up at their mother with a satisfied look. If the word is translated ‘weaned,’ as most translations do, the child is coming to the mother for comfort, nurturing, and a loving embrace instead of food. Normally in the bible the context indicates that gamal be translated as a weaned child but here the context allows for either interpretation. With the theme of humility, I like the translation of ‘sated’ with a completely dependent infant on the mother for nutrition, care, and love but ultimately either translation serves the metaphor.

The psalm concludes with the expansion to the people of Israel. The declaration for Israel to hope in the LORD echoes the identical declaration in Psalm 130:5 linking the two psalms together in their conclusions. The God who provides rescue from the desperate situation is the same God who quiets the inner being of humble on like a mother comforts her child. In de Profundis (Psalm 130) the petitioner waits on the LORD more than one who waits for morning, but in Psalm 131 the comforted child can be at peace in the present moment and know that their hope for the future is in the steady, comforting mother-like love of God which calms and quiets them both in the present and forevermore.

[1] The Greek philosophical idea of soul, which many Christians assume is the biblical idea, where the soul is imprisoned in the body and is liberated at death is not the perspective of the Old or New Testament. This enters Christian thought through theologians in the church influenced by Neo-Platonic philosophy (like Augustine).  

The Letter of James

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Martyrdom of James the Just By Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators

Introduction to the Letter of James

James 1: 1-8 The Wisdom of the Letter of James

James 1: 9-15 Blessings in a World of Reversals

James 1: 16-27 Religion the Cares for the Vulnerable

James 2: 1-13 Faith, Favoritism, and the Royal Law of Love

James 2: 14-26 Faith Without Works is Dead

James 3: 1-12 On the Danger of Being a Teacher and the Destructive Power of the Tongue

James 3: 13-18 What Wisdom Looks Like

James 4 Addressing the Cause of Conflicts in the Body

James 5 Harsh Words for the Rich and Encouragement for the Faithful

Reflections After Walking Through the Letter of James

Reflections After Walking Through the Letter of James

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James the Just, 16th-century Russian icon

The message that James wants to impart to his readers is designed to be clear and practical. Yet, I always find myself amazed at what I discover in these reflections when I walk through a portion of scriptures, the connections that get made with other portions of the text, the ways in which there is depth and richness that a casual reader may miss. James, like most of the New Testament letters not attributed to Paul, were barely touched upon in my studies in seminary, nor have they been a part of my regular preaching or study. I was amazed at the ways the letter of James connects with the law, the prophets, wisdom literature, and the words of Jesus as he attempts to shape the faithful practice of his Jewish Christian audience.

Prior to coming to this reflection on James has been a series of reflections on a significant portion of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament which have nurtured a love within me for the depth and riches of law, the history, the prophetic witness, and the wisdom tradition which all attempt to speak to the experience of the people of Israel with their God. When I worked through the Gospel of Matthew and Revelation several years ago, those reflections were shaped by the wisdom accumulated through those journeys, and now the same is true of James. I am thankful for both my own heightened awareness of the language of the scripture that the early Christians read but also for the patient work of scholars who dedicate their lives to the study of specific books. I was impressed by the richness that I had previously overlooked in James’s short letter to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora. Part of the paradox of scripture is that it can be both clear and practical and at the same time deep and profound.

James is attempting to cultivate in his hearers an authentic and living faith that is demonstrated through practices of compassion and mercy. Sometimes James can appear as judgmental to a casual reader, but fundamental to the witness of James is mercy. James does have some challenging words for our context, and his language is often like that of an Old Testament prophet, but sometimes the challenging words are the ones we need to wrestle with the most. This is a short letter, but it challenged me, it was like doing a steeper climb but for a shorter duration than my experience of some other books. This may be because I am more of a New Testament scholar than a Hebrew bible scholar, but I think it is also due to the wide number of topics James covers in this short letter. I am thankful for the witness of James and the way in which his attempts to cultivate a living faith in the communities he is writing to in his time continue to challenge us to an authentic living faith two millennia later.

James 2:14-26 Faith Without Works is Dead

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Stained Glass in Norwich Cathedral depicting St Paul, Christ (as Saviour of the world), and St James the Less. The lower panels show St Paul dictating, Jesus in the Temple, and St James at the Council of Jerusalem. The glass is by Wailes, 1852, and is in memory of James and Barbara Hales.

James 2: 14-26

  14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
  18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is worthless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and by works faith was brought to completion. 23 Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

“Do this and you will live.” In Luke’s gospel these words come between the lawyer’s answer to what scripture says one must do to inherit eternal life[1] and Jesus’s parable commonly known as the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37). I reference the beginning of this well-known parable since it quotes both the commandment to love God and the love of neighbor, both of which occupy James’s attention throughout this chapter. A faith that merely knows about God for James is useless, impotent, empty, and ultimately dead.

Joel Green quotes the novelist Ursula Le Guin at the beginning of his commentary on James:

The fantasy novelist Ursula Le Guin wrote, “To learn a belief without belief is to sing a song without the tune.” She goes on: “A yielding, an obedience, a willingness to accept these notes as the right notes, this pattern as the true pattern, is the essential gesture of performance, translation, and understanding.” (Green, 2025, p. 1)

A faith that does not work on behalf of the vulnerable sister or brother may know the words of the song but it lacks the notes and the action to perform it faithfully. It may be able to echo the words of the Shema, that God is one, (Deuteronomy 6:4) but knowing God is one and loving God with all of one’s being are two different things. Stating one loves one’s neighbor and being unwilling to help the naked and hungry brother or sister would be the double-minded faith of the previous chapter.

I appreciate the inclusive goal of the NRSVue (and the NRSV that came before it) in translating the Greek adelphos as brothers and sisters, since James intends his words for both male and female listeners. Unfortunately, in verse fifteen we have one of the rare instances where the Greek does have both brothers and sisters (adelphos e adelphe) and it is likely that James wants us to intentionally focus on both men and especially women who are hungry and naked. Women had far fewer opportunities in the ancient world to provide for their needs and this is why widows in particular are linked with orphans and resident aliens throughout scriptures as a vulnerable and easily oppressed population.  James who previously stated that undefiled religion includes caring for the widows and orphans now links faith to the practices of neighbor love which provide for the needs of the naked and hungry men and women in their midst. Just as religion that does not care for widows and orphans is defiled for James, faith that merely says keep warm and eat your fill without acting in response to the needs of the neighbor is unable to save and dead.

James contrasts a faith which is merely knowledge with a faith that involves practices/works/ and deeds of mercy in a stark manner. Like wisdom literature often does we are given a choice between a wise path and a foolish path. For James the wise path is the path of the royal law of liberty, of Jesus, of Abraham and Rahab while the foolish path is that of demons. The demons know that God is one and tremble but they do not act in mercy or love toward the neighbor. James is trying to hammer the point home that faith merely as knowledge is worthless/ineffective[2] and reveals an empty[3] (NRSVue senseless) person.

James proceeds to his two examples: Abraham and Rahab. One man and one woman, one a central figure in the story of Israel and one an outsider who becomes a part of the community, but both who are reflected on in the Hebrew tradition as people who showed hospitality. Abraham is an obvious choice because of his central position in the story of the Jewish people and the likely use by people who James directs his letter at (see below). By referencing the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac to God in obedience to God’s instructions James may be attempting to link this action with loving God with all of one’s being. Abraham was a man of wealth who had slaves and flocks, but Rahab was a woman who lived on the edge of Jericho, a prostitute, and not a part of Israel when she shows hospitality to the Israelite spies in Joshua 2. Like the Samaritan in Jesus’s parable, she is the one who shows hospitality and mercy to God’s people in a moment of need and binds herself to God and God’s people by her actions. It is her actions (works) of hospitality (including protecting the spies) which link her to God’s community.

I want to be careful how I say this next piece because it could easily be misread, but I do think one of our mistakes as people who live in the aftermath of the optimistic view of the enlightenment, where we strive to create a better world and better society, is that we focus more on the systems that surround us than the vulnerable ones in our midst. As a Lutheran Christian I am a part of the magisterial reformation which attempted to have the church partner with the government to shape a better world. This is not a bad thing, but it is also not what James is thinking of. Luke Timothy Johnson is worth quoting at length here:

James does not rail against an economic system that oppresses the poor. Instead, he calls precisely for the formation of communities gathered by the faith of Jesus in which the poor are honored and cared for by others who are themselves “poor” in the eyes of the world. Nor does James suggest the those who are impoverished need to be relieved of their poverty before they can claim human dignity. Just the opposite. The poor have been chosen by God to be the heirs of the kingdom. To say that the poor need to get possessions to become more fully human is to accept the equation of being and having characteristic of the world. For James the hope of the poor is the God who gives every perfect gift without grudging, and a crown of glory to those who love God (1:12). (NIB XII: 200-201) emphasis mine.

Or in the words of José Antonio Olivar’s song “Cuando el pobre (When the Poor Ones”:

           When the poor ones, who have nothing, still are giving;

          when the thirsty pass the cup, water to share;

when the wounded offer others strength and healing:

          We see God, here by our side, walking our way;

          we see God, here by our side, walking our way.[4]

James does not wait for the members of his community to be wealthy before they care for the needs of the hungry, naked, and vulnerable. In James’s view this community which may have nothing still is giving and God is there providing in their poverty and walking with them in the way.

This is also the appropriate spot to discuss the different ways Paul and James deploy similar vocabulary in a very different manner for different communities and issues. Paul in Galatians 2 mentions James (along with Cephas/Peter and John) as one of the pillars of the community that sends him to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:9) only asking that he remember the poor. Some time afterward “some people from James” cause Cephas to stop eating with the Gentiles (for fear of the circumcision faction) which leads Paul to confront Cephas. In Galatians 3, along with Romans 4, Paul argues for faith in contrast to the works of the law. It is worth noting that the ‘works’ Paul is arguing against are the boundary markers like circumcision and dietary restrictions, items which James never addresses in his letter. Just as Paul dealt with ‘people from James’ it is likely that James is dealing with followers of Paul whose language of faith without works, and even Paul’s utilization of Abraham as an example of this saving faith may be causing a different problem among the Christians in the communities James is addressing. Paul and James would agree that the poor and the vulnerable are both worthy of respect[5] and should be cared for within the community. The differences between Paul and James in their language have often obscured the strong resonances that both share. These two early church leaders conducted their ministry in different communities, and both were concerned in shaping practices of faith with different challenges.

[1] The Greek zoea ion which is rendered ‘eternal life’ in most English translations, but I do not believe that is what the gospels are trying to communicate. See my discussion on Afterlife, Eternal Life, and the Kingdom of God.

[2] The Greek arge is the opposite of the Greek word erge (work/deed) [a + erge] and this is part of the wordplay that James is utilizing

[3] Kenos primary meaning is empty. It can be used metaphorically for senseless or foolish.

[4] Translated by Martin A. Seltz in Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Hymn 725.

[5] See for example Paul’s condemnation of those in Corinth whose practices at the Lord’s Supper, “show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing.” 1 Corinthians 11: 22.

James 1: 1-8 The Wisdom of the Letter of James

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Jan Hus Memorial at Old Town Square in Prague built in 1915. Photo by Jorge Royan. Shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

James 1: 1-8

Words highlighted have notes below on translation.

 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
  To the twelve tribes in the dispersion:
  Greetings.
  2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face various trials, consider it all joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.
  5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. 6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7, 8 For the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

James, the author of the letter, has traditionally been understood as James the Just or James the brother of our Lord who was one of the influential early leaders of the church in Jerusalem.[1] Throughout this reflection my assumption will be that this is an early Christian letter, written in a similar time period to the letters of Paul, from a leader of the church in Jerusalem to the Jewish followers of Jesus scattered throughout the world. James introduces himself as a servant (literally slave in Greek) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the translation of the Greek doulos as ‘servant’ in most English translations makes sense, especially with the history of how slaves were treated in the United States, it is worth noting that most of the apostles claim to be slaves/servants of Christ or God. In the ancient world a slave could exercise authority on behalf of their master, yet unlike a servant who is employed and can quit a slave was owned by the household. From a contemporary perspective in an individualistic society where personal freedom is highly valued it is worth being reminded that in the ancient world you were always bound to your family or the household you served. I do think for James the sense of obedience and servitude are an important part of how he sees the life of wisdom.

James and the author of 1 Peter are the only two New Testament authors to address their letters to the diaspora. Although at the time of the writing of James, assuming that the biblical James is the author, Israel and Jerusalem are not yet in rebellion against Rome, there are still more Jews living outside of Palestine in the diaspora than who live inside it. (Moore-Keish, 2019, pp. 20-21) At this early time, prior to 62 CE when James the Just is killed, the boundaries between Judaism and Christianity are still porous and many of the early followers of the way of Jesus Christ considered themselves a part of the Jewish people. Yet, there is also throughout the New Testament an adoption of the titles and language used for the Jewish people throughout the Old Testament to speak about the role of the new followers of Jesus throughout the church. Although James is writing in a manner that is highly reflective of the Hebrew Scriptures and Torah obedience, it is also likely that his audience may also include the churches of Paul and others among the Gentiles. James never mentions Sabbath-keeping, circumcision, or diet. Like the Gospel of Matthew, James attempts to write about a faith that is connected with Torah observance the letter is also shaped by a merciful reading of scripture which is shaped by both the teachings of Jesus and the prophetic witness before him.

Most modern translations will translate the Greek adelphos/adelphoi with ‘brothers and sisters’ rather than the generic ‘brother/brothers’ since James was addressing both men and women with the letter. What immediately strikes me as we enter into the letter of James is the way many of the early Christian writers are sharing a common vocabulary as they address the new followers of the way of Jesus Christ. James’s brief encouragement to find joy in their trials echoes Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5: 11-12

Although James has been often read in opposition to Paul, his language throughout this letter often uses the same language and rhythms as Paul. Here in verses three and four you can see a similar pattern in Paul’s letter to the Romans:

And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5: 3-5[2]

In verse four we have the first appearance in the letter of the Greek teleios (NRSVue ‘mature’/NRSV ‘perfect’). This is an important word for James; the word is used twenty times in the New Testament; five of those uses occur in this short letter. Additionally, James utilized both the verbal form teleo twice and the substantive telos once. (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 28) When I was working through Matthew’s gospel this was a word I wrestled with because I don’t believe that the word intends the sense of moral perfection that is often read into it.[3] Teleios is a word of destination and completion, and I like the NRSVue’s adoption of ‘mature’ for this word. James does want his readers to live a complete and mature life shaped by the path of God’s wisdom.

The letter of James shares many similarities with the wisdom literature in the Old Testament with its interest in shaping a life that is faithful to God’s intent as outlined in the law. Wisdom literature often contrasts the path of wisdom with the opposing path of foolishness. James contrasts the single-minded way of faith with the double-minded way of doubt. Faith and doubt are opposing ideas in James, and I believe that Joel B. Green captures the essence of James’s thought when he states that for James, “faith has more the sense of confidence.” (Green, 2025, p. 30) In the Gospel of Matthew ,faith had more the sense of openness and in Matthew’s gospel worship and doubt often coexisted, but James is approaching faith and doubt as opposites. James’s definition of faith is, ironically, incredibly close to Luther’s famous explanation of the first commandment, “We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.” Faith and wisdom are a single-minded confidence in God and God’s ways. For those lacking in wisdom they are told to ask God confidently for the wisdom they need to lack nothing. The parallel use of ‘lacking nothing’ in verse four and ‘lacking wisdom’ five form an interesting parallel between ‘enduring trials’ and ‘asking God for wisdom.’

James targets those among his readers whose practice does not match their profession. They are double-minded because they want to be friends of God and friends of the world at the same time. (NIB XII:182) James’s thoughts echo Jesus’s words contrasting between those who try to serve two masters,[4] and it is telling that Jesus is contrasting those who serve God and wealth as James is about to contrast those of humble means and the rich.  

Martha L. Moore-Keish quotes a portion from the final letter of the Jan Hus, a reformer in Czechoslovakia (1369-1415) before he was burned at the stake that I want to close this portion of the reflection with because it wrestles with the themes of James in the concrete moment of temptation/trial:

Surely it is difficult to rejoice without perturbation, and to esteem it all joy in various temptations. It is easy to talk about it and to expound it, but difficult to fulfill it. Even the most patient and valiant soldier, knowing that on third day He would rise, conquering by His death the enemies and redeeming the elect from damnation, after the Last Supper was troubled in spirit…O most kind Christ, draw us weaklings after Thyself, for unless Thou draw us, we cannot follow Thee! Give us a courageous spirit that it may be ready; and if the flesh is weak, may Thy grace go before, now, as well as subsequently. For without Thee we can do nothing, and particularly to go to a cruel death for Thy sake. Give us a valiant spirit, a fearless heart, the right faith, a firm hope, and perfect love, that we may offer our lives for Thy sake with the greatest patience and joy. Jan Hus, from a letter written just prior to his being burned at the stake on July 6, 1415. (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 25)

[1] Mark 6:3 indicates that Jesus has two brothers, James and Joses. James as a leader of the early church is mentioned in Acts 12:17; James plays a pivotal role in the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 (see verse 13) as well as meeting with Paul when he returns to Jerusalem in Acts 21: 17-26. Throughout Acts James is one of the leaders of the church and he often acts in a conciliatory manner between the church in Jerusalem and the Hellenistic mission of Paul and others. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, James seems to have enough influence and power to make Peter change his behavior.

[2] See also 1 Peter 1: 6-7:  In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

[3] See my reflection on Matthew 5: 33-48 and Perfection and Blamelessness in the Bible.

[4] Matthew 6:24.

Introduction to the Letter of James

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James the Just, 16th-century Russian icon

The Letter of James (or book of James) in the New Testament is either written by or attributed to James the brother of the Lord, one of the early leaders of the church in Jerusalem. If James the brother of Jesus, or James the Just as he is sometimes known, is the author of this letter then it is an early window into a Jerusalem based Christianity since James the Just was killed in 62 CE. Martha L. Moore-Kiesh expands on how early Christian writers elaborated on James’s martyrdom:

Eusebius, for instance, cites Clement of Alexandria, who say that James was “thrown down from the pinnacle of the temple and beaten to death with a fuller’s club.” Because of this legend, later iconography of James often portrays him with a club, recalling this alleged mode of his death. (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 6)

Scholars for generations have debated whether the Letter of James is an early Christian document from a leader of the young church or a latter document attributed to James for authority. Ultimately it is impossible to know which is true but many of the arguments for a later date are not viewed as being as conclusive as they once were. For the purposes of these reflections, I am going to assume an early date and that the letter does originate with James the brother of our Lord, although I don’t believe that assumption will drastically alter the interpretation of this letter.

Some may be surprised to see a Lutheran pastor doing a detailed reflection on James since, especially in the Lutheran but also broader Protestant tradition James has often been neglected. Much of this goes back to Luther’s famous “Preface to the New Testament” (1522) where Luther compares James unfavorably with several other New Testament books:

In a word St. John’s Gospel and his first epistle, St. Paul’s epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St. Peter’s first epistle are books that show you Christ and teach you all that is necessary and salvatory for you to know, even if you were never to see or hear any other book or doctrine. Therefore St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it. (Luther, 1989, p. 117)

Luther’s distaste for James emerges from his conflicts with the Catholic Church over ‘faith alone’ verse ‘works righteousness.’ James’s strong words about faith without works being dead (James 1:17) provided ammunition for Luther’s opponents to attack his theological perspective. These reflections will not remain bound to the binary way of thinking that characterized the debate over Reformation/counter-Reformation theology.

 A large part of my reflection with scripture is dealing with texts which I am less familiar with to attempt to engage with the breadth of the wisdom of scripture. I’ve been excited to dig deeper into James because it seems to resonate with a lot of my work on Matthew and Revelation. It is coming from early Jewish Christianity (or Judaic messianism since some hypothesize that there has not been a split from Judaism at the time the book has been written) in contrast to the Hellenistic mission of Paul and some of the other disciples. Like Matthew it quotes, alludes to, and echoes the law, the prophets, and the wisdom traditions that make up the Hebrew Scriptures. As Scot McKnight states:

Few dispute the Jewishness of this letter…It appeals to the Tanakh often (1:11; 2:8-10, 23; 4:6; 5: 4, 5), alludes to it constantly (e.g. 1: 13-15, 27; 2: 20-26; 3:9; 4: 7-10, 11-12; 5: 10-11, 17), and breathes throughout the spirit of biblical Judaism as it came to expression in diverse ways in the first century AD. The author chooses to call his audience something thoroughly biblical—“the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” (1:1) (McKnight, 2011, p. 25)

It also is deeply connected to several of the teachings of Jesus, particularly the sermon on the mount.

The letter of James is a book that seeks a practice of faith that is authentic and single-minded. It stands in the prophetic and wisdom tradition which privileges a faith that is practices mercy and impartiality, particularly to the vulnerable, over worship or theology. As Luke Timothy Johnson states, “James’s concern is with moral rather than manners.” (NIB XII:179) It can be subversive text to societies and congregations that have organized themselves around a moral order where those with wealth and power have been encouraged to maintain their privileged position. It can be an uncomfortable book. I enjoyed Scot McKnight’s playful adaptation of a famous Mark Twain proverb, “To ape the famous words of Mark Twain, it is not the lack of clarity of context of James that bothers me; it is the words in the text that bother me.” (McKnight, 2011, p. 4) The letter of James is not hard to understand but that does not make it easy to embody.

I have been random in the order I have engaged scripture and although the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures are significantly larger than the New Testament I did not anticipate or realize until recently how much more time I had spent in these fourteen years of reflections in the Old Testament. I realized recently that I had completed thirteen Old Testament books along with most of Psalms and only two New Testament books and that I had fewer books in the Old Testament that I had not written on. My plan going forward is to alternate between the New Testament and Old Testament. The New Testament books tend to go slower for me since I fully translate the Greek Text (with Hebrew I look at critical words and study multiple translations) and I have greater familiarity with the texts. The letter of James is only five chapters, but I am looking forward in learning from my engagement with this letter I have probably underutilized.  

Resources for this reflection

With each of these reflections I have taken multiple dialogue partners to learn from. For this journey I have selected:

Green, Joel B. (2025). James A Commentary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Johnson, Luke T. (1998) “Letter of James” in The New Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes. Nashville: Abingdon Press. (Referred to as NIB XII throughout the reflections)

McKnight, Scott. (2011). The Letter of James: the New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company.

Moore-Keish, M. L. (2019). James: Belief A Theological Commentary on the Bible. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Joel Green, Luke T. Johnson, and Scott McKnight were all New Testament scholars I was familiar with. Joel Green’s commentary just came out and I was excited to have him as one of my dialogue partners. Luke T. Johnson also wrote the much longer Anchor Bible commentary on James, but since he wrote the commentary in the New Interpreter’s Bible, I decided to capture his voice through a series I already owned. The New International Commentary (NICNT) by Scot McKnight is by far the longest commentary, and I’ve used the NICNT and NICOT commentaries in several of these reflections as a good, detailed commentary to assist with translation and other issues. The Belief series is a theological commentary, written by theologians instead of biblical scholars and I like it as a different voice coming with different questions.