An Overview of the Book of James
The Book of James may be one of the most needful encouragements and exhortations to believers in our day. Of course, every book of the Bible seems that way when you’re teaching through it verse by verse. That’s because every part of the Bible is supremely powerful to address us according to what’s most needed in our lives at that time (2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12). This is why we must preach the whole counsel of God.
Rather than viewing the book of James as an epistle of straw that lacks a clear presentation of the gospel, I have found the book of James to be particularly reassuring in encouraging believers who may be beginning to face greater suffering from a culture that increasingly opposes the gospel. And it is particularly poignant in exhorting believers who may be presuming upon the truths of justification by faith through grace alone. James is guarding against an opposite error that is common in our day.
“As long as there are professed Christians who are prone to separate profession and practice, the message of James will continue to be relevant.” (D. Edmund Hiebert, James, 41)
If you want a book of the Bible that combats legalism, look to Galatians. But if you want a book of the Bible that combats license, look to James.
“The epistle of James demands that Christian faith must be functional. A living faith is a working faith.” (Hiebert, 13)
In fact, the book of James is held together by this theme: tests of a living faith. Rather than being a book of a bunch of random proverbs, the book of James is very carefully constructed and tightly unified. James begins (1:1-18) and ends (5:1-18) the book addressing the situation of suffering the believers face (an inclusio—like bookends). It is within the context of suffering that too many of us can excuse not living out the faith; we can be tempted to excuse our sinful inconsistencies.
Within this context of suffering, James addresses his overarching concern: the professing believer’s response to the Word of God (1:19-27). After exhorting believers to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, James gives three primary examples of being a doer of the Word, evidencing genuine religion/a living faith:
- bridling the tongue
- visiting orphans and widows in distress/caring for the suffering righteous poor
- keeping oneself unspotted from the world
Note well that James has just outlined the topics that he specifically addresses and unpacks in the rest of his epistle:
- treatment of the righteous poor without partiality (2:1-13) correlates with being a doer of the Word in line with James’ second example
- a theological explanation of the relationship between faith and works in light of judgment (2:14-26)
- wise speech and conduct (3:1-18) correlates with being a doer of the Word in line with James’ first example
- worldliness expressed in a variety of ways—failure to live in reference to God (4:1-5:12) correlates with being a doer of the Word in line with James’ third example
James concludes with the situation of suffering and how to rightly respond in reference to it with a God-dependent life (5:13-18).
What motivates James to write such an epistle? James 5:19-20 pinpoints James’ main concern: to rescue professing believers from straying to the point of damnation. He wants to rescue people from being deceived that their faith allows them to live according to a dead and false faith. James, the pastor of Jerusalem, is concerned for his scattered, persecuted flock. He addresses them as my brothers to begin almost every new subsection of the book. But James’ loving concern also drives him to sternly confront worldliness: calling the professing believers adulteresses parallel to the disobedient nation of OT Israel. In fact, the book of James can be noted for its terse language. It contains 54 imperatives in 108 verses—the highest percentage of any other biblical book. He is known as the Amos of the New Testament, warning of coming judgment and commanding believers to actually obey God.
James was a slave to God, radically transformed. He is calling us to be God’s slaves too by demonstrating a total commitment to Him through the fruits of our lives that follow from true repentance and true living faith (Matt. 7:15-23). In fact, James is rightly applying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (with clear parallels in virtually every subsection). Douglas Moo says, “James depends more than any other NT author on the teaching of Jesus.” (Moo, James, 7) In this earliest epistle of the NT (AD 45) James is contending for believers to live out the ethic of Jesus (Matt. 5:19-20; 7:24).
“Therefore, whosever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man” (Matt. 7:24).
Kevin Collins has served as a junior high youth leader in Michigan, a missionary in Singapore, a Christian School teacher in Utah, and a Bible writer for the BJU Press. He currently works for American Church Group of South Carolina.
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