Tag Archives: Early Christianity

1 Timothy 4 Encouraging Timothy and Correcting False Teachings

1 Timothy 4

¹ Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, ² through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. ³ They forbid marriage and abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵ for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

⁶ If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. ⁷ Have nothing to do with profane and foolish tales. Train yourself in godliness, ⁸ for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ⁹ The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. ¹⁰ For to this end we toil and suffer reproach, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. ¹³ Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. ¹⁵ Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. ¹⁶ Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

The apostle Paul’s ministry involved him seeding and supporting churches throughout modern day Turkey, Greece, and beyond. These churches, likely meeting in the homes of individual members, received some formation during the duration of Paul’s presence with them but as Paul’s attention is spread across a larger number of cities and churches the need for instruction becomes apparent. Thankfully for later generations, Paul did a lot of this instruction and correction through letters attempting to continue to guide and shape this young but rapidly growing and evolving church. Paul now writes to Timothy as he attempts to counter the false teachings and practices which are dividing the church in Ephesus both to encourage his younger counterpart and to support his work in correcting these beliefs which are infiltrating the life of the community.

The early Christian community did expect God to speak through the Spirit in prophecy, proclamation, and in acts of healing and power. In Corinth Paul had to counsel that congregation on how to utilize these gifts of the Spirit, but the assumption throughout Paul’s letter is that the Spirit is active and communicating with this young community of faith. Now Paul’s instructions are framed within the statement of the Spirit, presumably through prophecy, that in later times some will renounce (Greek apostesontai, where we get the English word apostate) the faith and that behind these deviant teaching are deceitful spirits and demons. Modern readers may be uncomfortable that Paul is ‘demonizing’ these false teachers, but for Paul this is a matter of critical importance to the life of the church and the individuals. The actions of these teachers is causing strife within the church, leading some down paths which are contrary to the faith, and likely leading others to walk away from these communities in conflict. Paul feels that the gospel is at stake and this is a matter of life and death. The hypocrisy of liars (Greek hupokrisei pseudologon, where our word hypocrisy comes from and ‘false words’) has cauterized the consciences of these teachers. As Jouette M. Bassler can state about the Greek word behind cauterized/seared with a hot iron:

Burning with a hot iron (Gk. Kausteriazein) was done to numb or cauterize a wound, to punish, or to identify ownership (NEB, cf 2 Tim 2:26). Any of these meanings could apply here; the essential point is one of contrast between those whose consciences are good (1:5, 19) or pure (3:9; 2 Tim 1:3) and those whose consciences are rejected. (Bassler, 1996, p. 80)

The two false teachings and practices highlighted in the letter are forbidding marriage and abstaining from certain foods. The forbidding of marriage may have led to some of the instructions on widows in chapter five, but it also fundamentally undermines the social structure of the ancient world. In the ancient world there were few opportunities for women to be self-supporting (outside of prostitution or being a courtesan among the upper class). It is possible that these teachers are anticipating the advent of Christ’s kingdom in a short period of time and view the current time as unworthy of investing in, but Paul may view their actions as turning away from God’s intent for relationships in creation. The actions of these teachers may also be causing these young churches to be viewed with suspicion by their neighbors and placing a stumbling block before those who need to hear the gospel. Paul wrestled with controversies around eating throughout his ministry, both within a Jewish context attempting to maintain the distinctive eating practices of the Jewish people and imposing dietary and other expectation on early Christians but also within the Greco-Roman world where meat was often associated with communal sacrifices to other gods. Paul explicitly wraps both marriage and eating of food under the things God created for humanity to be received with thanksgiving (Greek euchapistias, the word where our English eucharist comes from). These eucharistic gifts are made holy/sanctified (Greek hagiazetai) by God’s word and prayer. This language reminds me of Luther’s discussion of the sacraments where he connects the receiving of the physical element (water, bread, wine) with the Word and command of God.

Paul expects Timothy to place the contents of the letters before the Ephesian congregations, and in doing so Timothy is a good servant (literally deacon) of Christ Jesus. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the title of deacon and the act of serving are used interchangeably in the early church and the roles are not rigidly defined. Timothy can be a representative of Paul charged with overseeing the congregations in Ephesus, and yet always remains a servant. Timothy has received faithful teaching in contrast to the false words of the troublesome teachers operating in Ephesus. Yet, even Timothy is charged to stay away from profane teaching and ‘foolish tales’ (literally old women myths). I can understand the NRSVue’s discomfort, feeling that ‘old wives tales’ is a translation pejorative to women, but through most of history there have been ‘old wives’ tales’ that were a place where stories, beliefs, and practices, some which may have contradicted the teaching of the church and other authorities, were handed down. Critical to 1 Timothy is the Greek eusebias which means piety, religion, or as the NRSVue renders it godliness. I prefer religion here although it is also an imperfect translation since many think of this either in terms of religious belief or practice within a church. In modern American thought godliness is next to cleanliness and this term’s connection with religious practice has been lost. Piety is an important idea in the Greco-Roman world, but it’s reception in English is often limited to actions that happen in the context of worship and prayer rather than the more wholistic idea the eusebias points to. Eusebias for Paul is something that’s value far exceeds physical training, which Paul uses in several metaphors in his letters, but this term for Paul seems to encompass faith and practice, including but not limited to worship and prayer. Just as the athlete endures physical toil and suffering, so the person training in religion/godliness will endure toil and suffering from the surrounding world as it resists these practices and beliefs as well as the demonic/false teachings of those causing divisions among the community of faith. As James D. G. Dunn articulates:

The writer makes clear that such growth and development depend on training and the discipline involved (vv. 7-8); they involve hard work and sweat-inducing exertion (v. 15). Here again a choice once made has to be repeatedly reaffirmed and lived out. (NIB XI: 816)

The saying is sure (the Greek is literally faith(ful) the word pistis ho logos) and worthy of all acceptance appears for the second time highlighting the statement of faith that the faithful suffer and toil over. Previously in 1 Timothy 1: 15 the faithful saying was that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now, their hope is in the living God who is the Savior of all people. It is a common biblical belief that the God of the bible (as well as of Israel and the people of God) is a living and active God who is actively engaged in the world. Savior, as mentioned in the first chapter, is a common Old Testament title for God and was likely utilized in the communities in Ephesus. That God is the Savior of all people may point to the idea of a universal salvation or it may be intended to expand the horizon of God’s salvation beyond Israel. The idea of God saving all being indicative of a universalistic hope is congruent with the follow on phrase which declares especially those who believe. Some readers view this phrase as correcting the previous one, but I read this as highlighting those who believe within the larger set of those who God intends to save. Although the method of argumentation is different, since the question is likely different in Ephesus, it has a similar logic to Paul’s rationale for God utilizing the faithlessness of Israel to include the Gentiles and then the grafting of the Gentiles onto the holy tree to point to God regrafting on the branches of Israel that have fallen off so that along with the Gentiles all Israel will be saved (Romans 11).

The instructions to Timothy starting in verse eleven encourage him to not only command and teach but set an example in speech and conduct. Although authenticity is a word of our time, the expectation of congruity between one’s proclamation and one’s actions was very important in rhetorical expectations of the Greco-Roman world. As Luke Timothy Johnson states:

We are reminded of how seriously ancient philosophers regarded the responsibility of teachers to live in accord with what they professed…Since philosophy in the Hellenistic period was considered to be essentially a matter of integrity of life, and since virtue was thought to be learned first and best by the imitation of living models, the teacher has no greater duty than to live in a manner consonant with the principles he enunciated. (Johnson, 2001, p. 255)

The speech, conduct, love, faith and purity which Timothy exhibits will be as crucial in his work to bring healing and wholeness to the community as the commands and teaching he does. Timothy may be young among the elders of the Ephesian church, but his example should demonstrate his worth along with the calling he has received through prophecy[1] and laying on of hands. Paul and the council of elders (presbyteriou where the term Presbyter comes from and the Presbyterian church gets its name). It is not clear whether the prophecy came at the moment of the laying on of hands by the council of elders or before, and whether this council of elders was in Jerusalem, in Ephesus, or in some other place in the Pauline mission area, but Timothy has been set aside for his ministry representing Paul, but more essentially representing Christ. Timothy is called to live a public life which bears witness to the teaching entrusted to him in word and in action which forms a powerful example for his hearers.

The formation of the overseers and deacons in the previous chapters and the expectations of Timothy in our current chapter point to the public life of those set aside for roles of leadership in the church. The life of a leader in the church expects that their faith and practice will be an example of the faith and practices they are attempting to cultivate in their communities. Yet, we live in a time where postmodernity and other forces have made talking about standards both for the church and its leaders difficult. Luke Timothy Johnson continues his statement from earlier stating:

The widespread unwillingness in contemporary Western culture to provide direct and unambiguous moral instruction or to assume responsibility for acting in a manner that can be exemplary for others would have been unintelligible in antiquity. (Johnson, 2001, p. 255)

The damage done both to the community’s reputation and the trust within the community when leaders and members do not act in a way that reflects the faith they proclaim is profound. The church has always had divisions, but only a leader who embodies the faith for the community can begin to rebuild trust and authentically proclaim the gospel. Timothy, and faith leaders who follow him into broken communities, brings light into the darkness of division, clarity into the confusion and clashes over practices and beliefs, and healing so that the gospel can be heard both in the church and in the surrounding world. Failure to attend to a life that embodies the gospel places unnecessary stumbling blocks before the entirety of the world that the living God of the gospel desires to save.

[1] Paul also mentioned the prophecy over Timothy in 1:18.

James 3: 13-18 What Wisdom Looks Like in Action

2 Replies

Creation: Lady Wisdom in Creation by Connor White (Cover image for Creative Words)

James: 3: 13-18 What Wisdom Looks Like In Action

¹³ Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. ¹⁵ This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶ For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James has been talking about wisdom throughout the letter, and just as faith requires faithful works for James, so wisdom requires works done in gentleness. Faithful behavior and speech is shaped by humble wisdom that seeks peace. The bible often uses wise and knowledgeable as a shorthand for teaching (McKnight, 2011, p. 299) and Deuteronomy, for example, begins with seeking wise and knowledgeable ones who can serve alongside of Moses and Joshua together:

Choose for each of your tribes individuals who are wise, discerning, and reputable, and I will make them your leaders.’ You answered me, ‘The plan you have proposed is a good one.’ So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable individuals, and installed them as leaders over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officials, throughout your tribes. Deuteronomy 1: 13-15.

James continues to have his gaze centered on those who are leaders of the community and instructs them on the type of fruit that leaders are expected to bear. Like Jesus, James believes that wisdom will be vindicated by her deeds (Matthew 11:19). Those deeds of gentleness emerge from the vine of wisdom.

For James wisdom and foolishness are not a passive way of thinking but are demonstrated by a life of goodness or wickedness. Like faith, for James, wisdom and or foolishness are about what they generate rather than some cognitive content. As in wisdom literature, wisdom is always tied to practices and actions. Foolishness bears envy and selfish ambition, wickedness and disorder. Jesus would rebuke Peter for putting his mind on earthly things instead of divine things (Matthew 16:23 and parallels) and here James shows the difference between an earthly, unspiritual, and devilish (or demonic) foolishness of envy and selfish ambition bearing the fruit of wickedness and disorder and wisdom from above. These earthly, unspiritual, and devilishly oriented people generate words and actions which distort and falsify the truth.

In contrast, the wisdom from above is described with seven ‘fruits’ of wisdom similar to Paul’s fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 19-23). Purity only occurs here in James and in 4:8 in a verbal form (to cleanse) yet James has been seeking a faith and wisdom whose life is ethically and morally completed in mercy and humility. Peace is a central idea to this section and goes back to the Hebrew concept of shalom which is more than the absence of conflict but reflects a wholeness and harmony with God’s will for the world. In contrast to the envy and self-ambition of the earthly foolishness is the gentleness and willingness of yield of the heavenly wisdom. Mercy is strongly connected for both James and Jesus with their understandings of righteousness, and here it is connected to the fruits of wisdom. The final two characteristics are in Greek adiakritos and anypokritos. When you place an ‘a’ at the front of a Greek term it negates it or turns it into its opposite. Diakritos is to judge and so it becomes without judgement and anypokritos is ‘without hypocrisy.’ While the fruit of the earthly, unspiritual, and devilish foolishness is disorder and wickedness, the fruit of wisdom is sown in peace by peacemakers.

Another inspiration for James may be the personification of wisdom and foolishness in Proverbs 7 and 8. James has frequently utilized the patterns and language of wisdom literature in his letter and although he does not explicitly allude to the adulterous woman and lady wisdom, the contrast between this earthly, unspiritual, and devilish antiwisdom in contrast with the pure, peaceable, truthful, prudent knowledgeable, orderly, just and righteous lady wisdom of Proverbs eight. Even if James does not intend to evoke this specific image he demonstrates confidence in utilizing the practical wisdom of Proverbs and other wisdom literature to help his audience shape their lives.

The brief descriptions of James in the book of Acts describe him as a peacemaker. As Martha L. Moore-Kiesh states:

The emphasis on peacemaking comports well with the image of James, the brother of the Lord, in the book of Acts. Named there as a leader of the church in Jerusalem, James offers a compromise on an important controversy about how to respond to the “Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19). In Acts 21, he also works to diminish conflict between Paul and certain Christian Jews in Jerusalem who are spreading rumors that Paul is teaching Jews living among the Gentiles to “forsake Moses” (Acts 21:21) (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 135)

James was likely struggling with divisive forces in his society and within the rapidly evolving community of Jesus followers. If the letter of James was written in the late 50s or early 60s of the first century, the time between the crucifixion and resurrection and the Jewish War, when Paul and other apostles are doing successful if controversial ministry among the Gentiles, and the followers of Jesus are trying to navigate their place in Judea and the diaspora, he likely encountered several leadership struggles that threatened to divide the community. But the church of Christ in every age has struggled with those who mistook earthly for divine things, who distort and falsify the truth with their words and actions, who are driven by envy or selfish ambition and who bear fruits of wickedness and disorder. Jesus would tell his followers, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5: 9) and James points to a heavenly wisdom which bears the fruit of righteousness sown in peace by those who make peace. Just as a good tree is known by the fruit it produces, so wisdom is vindicated by its peaceful deeds.

James 2:14-26 Faith Without Works is Dead

1 Reply

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

3 Replies

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

1 Reply

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.

The Place of Authority 2-5: The Constantinian Revolution Part 1-The Rise of Power and the Crisis of Authenticity

The Place of Authority 2-4: The Practices of the Early Church

The Place of Authority 2-3:The Early Church’s Identity Problem

4 Replies

Image of Christ Pantocrator (Almighty or Lord of Hosts), Hagia Sopia, Istanbul, Turkey

When a movement is centered on one person who is no longer present in a corporeal (bodily) form that the members of that movement can continue to speak to and learn from eventually there will come an identity crisis where people begin to ask, “Are we following the right Jesus?” “Are we being faithful to his vision?” “Are we still following the God he pointed to?” As the church entered the second century it was dealing with heavy pressures from the empire around it and at the same time this early church had to figure out who it was from pressures from within.

It was still early in the church’s young life; the canon (the selections of works that would come to make up the bible) was not fixed. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were in wide circulation as well as many of the letters associated with Paul, but depending where you went the Shepherd of Hermas or the Letters of Clement or the Didache may also be present (which would later be viewed a positive works but not held at the same level as scripture). The challenge to how to tell the story of being the people of Jesus arose from within and to react to this challenge the church adapted and changed.

One of Christianity’s greatest gifts was that it was not tied to one language or culture. As it spread across the known world at that time it would be quickly translated into Greek (the language of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire) and eventually into more and more languages and cultures. The reason that the books that are a part of the New Testament are in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic, is that by the time the stories of Jesus are written down and as Paul and others wrote letters they were going to churches that primarily spoke Greek (at least as a second language). With this encounter with the Greek world and language also came an encounter with Greek thought which was much different from the Jewish or Hebrew worldview that Jesus and all the original apostles came out of. As Greek speaking and thinking individuals encountered Christianity and they translated the message they would both be changed by it and in their own way they would transform the message as well. The question has to emerge what is a valid transformation and what is not? Two long lasting assumptions that many Christians include as central to their thought: the immortality of the soul or the absoluteness of God are Greek ideas not Biblical ones and yet with the introduction of Greek culture they become a part of the thought of the early church.

One of the early challenges came from a wealthy Christian named Marcion. While Hebrew thought has no problem with contradictions and gaps, a Greek thinker like Marcion could not abide contradictions. Among other things, Marcion felt that the God of the Old Testament was not reconcilable with the God of Jesus. Marcion read how in the Old Testament that God called for wars which wiped out entire populations, called down judgments in a harsh and unforgiving manner and came to the conclusion that in combination with these things he read and the reality of suffering in the world that the creator must be evil and different from the God of Jesus. In contrast to almost every other church leader at the time, Marcion read Old Testament literally rather than allegorically. Marcion felt that the Old Testament should not be a part of the Christian scriptures and therefore it should be thrown out. In addition to this, in a Greek way of thinking that viewed sex, childbirth and the body in general as bad, Marcion could not accept that Christ was born of a woman-even if it was a virginal birth God could not be born of a woman. For the first time we begin to see in a very powerful way the emergence of theology more than narrative as formational for a way of thinking about God and Jesus. Marcion quickly identified the contradictions and the differences in the New Testament gospels that were being held in most churches, so he eliminated Matthew, Mark and John and seriously redacted Luke to try to remove anything “impure” to be put alongside of Paul’s letters (also purified of Jewish “interpolations”). These modifications were viewed to be unorthodox by the leaders of the church in Rome and in 144 CE he was expelled from the early church. Marcion became one of the earliest to try to put together a canon, a list of texts that would form the basis for the church’s authority and the church would continue to deal with his followers for decades.

Another threat to the view of who Christ was came from those often referred to as Gnostic Christians. Gnostics are so named because they believed that they had secret knowledge that others, including other Christians, did not have. I am not convinced that there is one direction among the groups and the scriptures that we might label Gnostic, in fact they seem to represent a wide range of things. We are the beneficiaries of the rediscovery of several of the Gnostic gospels at Nag Hammadi in 1945 which give us a window into what Gnosticism may have looked like. Some of these, like the Gospel of Thomas, are very similar to many of the sayings in Matthew and Luke and portray Jesus as a wisdom teacher. Others like the Gospel of Truth associated with the Gnosticism of the Valentinians develop a whole cosmology that put Jesus among many heavenly beings and looks very little like anything we would recognize as Christian. Like Marcion they held the body as bad and the soul as good (or divine spark would be a term you might see in Gnostic gospels) and the purpose of having the proper Gnostic knowledge is for that soul or divine spark to be liberated from the body. Again the early church made the decision that this was not an accurate representation of the faith and the Gnostic gospels would not become a part of the canon.

Each time a crisis presented itself between a Greek way of thinking and a Jewish way of thinking the church attempted to remain with the Jewish way. At the same time, even while trying to remain close to the Jewish origins of the story, the questions that were being asked were no longer the questions of the Hebrew mind, they were the questions of the Greek world. The Bible began to be viewed in terms that were familiar to the Greek way of thinking, so God had to be omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent (all powerful, all knowing and present everywhere) and this rather than the narrative became decisive for decisions. The biblical hope of a bodily resurrection at the return of Jesus, the participation in the new creation and all the images that populate the gospels and Paul’s letters began to be read in terms of the soul joining God in heaven. The story when it was read was often interpreted allegorically (there are gifts and challenges that come with this) and theology and a few common practices became the points where identity was formed for the early church. It is to these practices we will turn next.

Sign of the Rose

Searchings: Sacred and Secular