The Epistle of James is a book of the New Testament, best known for its teaching that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26 KJV). The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally: according to Matthew, Greek: kata Maththaion) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Mark is traditionally the second of the New Testament Gospels. ... The Gospel of Luke is the third of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. ... The Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the sequence of the canon as printed in the New Testament, and scholars agree it was the fourth to be written. ... The Acts of the Apostles, (Greek Praxeis Apostolon) is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. ... The Epistle to the Romans is one of the epistles, or letters, included in the New Testament canon of the Christian Bible. ... See also: Second Epistle to the Corinthians and Third Epistle to the Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians is a book of the Bible in the New Testament. ... See also: First Epistle to the Corinthians and Third Epistle to the Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a book of the Bible New Testament. ... The Epistle to Galatians is a book of the New Testament. ... The Epistle to the Ephesians is one of the books of the Bible in the New Testament, traditionally said to be written by Paul at Rome about the same time as that to the Colossians, which in many points it resembles. ... The Epistle to Philippians is a book included in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The Epistle to the Colossians is a book of the Bible New Testament. ... The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, also known as the First Letter to the Thessalonians, is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, also known as the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. ... This article or section should be merged with Second Epistle to Timothy The First Epistle to Timothy is a book of the canonic New Testament, one of the three so-called pastoral epistles (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and the Epistle to Titus). ... This article or section should be merged with First Epistle to Timothy The Pastoral Epistles are often considered together, as each throws light upon the others. ... The Pastoral Epistles are often considered together, as each throws light upon the others. ... The Epistle to Philemon is a book of the Bible in the New Testament. ... The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbreviated Heb. ... In Christianity, the First Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament. ... The Second Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament of the Bible. ... The First Epistle of John is a book of the Bible New Testament. ... The Second Epistle of John is a book of the Bible New Testament. ... The Third Epistle of John is a book of the Bible New Testament. ... The brief Epistle of Jude is a book in the Christian New Testament canon. ... The Book of Revelation or The Apocalypse of John (IPA: , from Greek revelation), is the last and only prophetical book of the New Testament in the Bible. ... The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ... This article discusses faith in a religious context. ...

Authorship

The author identifies himself in the opening verse as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ". Of the several people named James in the New Testament, three have garnered support as being this James: The term God is capitalized in the English language as a proper noun when used to refer to a specific monotheistic concept of a Supreme Being. ... // Jesus, or Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus, is Christianitys central figure, both as Messiah and as God incarnate. ... James */dʒeɪmz/ is a popular name worldwide, and the most popular name for a male in the United States. ...

James the Just

1. From the middle of the third century, patristic authors cited the Epistle as written by James the Just, the brother of Jesus. This James was not one of the Twelve, but Paul described him as "the brother of the Lord" in Galatians 1:19 and as one of the three pillars of the Church in 2:9.
2. John Calvin and others suggested that the author was James, son of Alphaeus, apparently the brother of Matthew, aka Levi. It is feasible that James of Alphaeus is the same person as the author of Mark 15:40. Since very little is known about this person, this proposal does not tell us very much about the author.
3. It is rarely but occasionally argued that this James was the apostle Saint James the Great, brother of John, son of Zebedee. However, most conclude that the author was not the apostle James, because he died too early. Specifically, James must have been killed before 44, but the Epistle of James seems to be written in order to clear up misconceptions about Paul's teaching on justification by faith in the 50s.

Many modern, critical scholars consider the epistle to be pseudepigraphical and so the author could have been anyone, but they generally agree that "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" was intended by its author to refer to James the Just, the patriarch of the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... James the Just Saint James the Just also called James Adelphos (יעקב Holder of the heel; supplanter; Standard Hebrew YaÊ¿aqov, Tiberian Hebrew Yaʿăqōḇ) (died AD 62) was the first bishop or patriarch of Jerusalem and first of the Seventy of Luke 10:1-20 according to most Christian teaching. ... James the Just Saint James the Just also called James Adelphos (יעקב Holder of the heel; supplanter; Standard Hebrew YaÊ¿aqov, Tiberian Hebrew Yaʿăqōḇ) (died AD 62) was the first bishop or patriarch of Jerusalem and first of the Seventy of Luke 10:1-20 according to most Christian teaching. ... // Jesus, or Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus, is Christianitys central figure, both as Messiah and as God incarnate. ... The Epistle to Galatians is a book of the New Testament. ... John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a prominent Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation and is the namesake of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism. ... For people and places called Saint James, see the disambiguation page. ... Rembrandts The Evangelist Matthew Inspired by an Angel Matthew the Evangelist (מתי Gift of the LORD, Standard Hebrew and Tiberian Hebrew Mattay; Septuagint Greek Ματθαιος, Matthaios) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Matthew. ... The Gospel of Mark is traditionally the second of the New Testament Gospels. ... For people and places called Saint James, see the diambiguation page. ... St John the Evangelist, imagined by Jacopo Pontormo, ca 1525 (Santa Felicità, Florence) John the Evangelist (? - c. ... Zebedee is a name used in several contexts. ... For alternate uses, see Number 44. ... An early portrait of the Apostle Paul. ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 0s - 10s - 20s - 30s - 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Sometimes the 50s is used as shorthand for the 1950s, the 1850s, or other such decades in various centuries Events... Pseudepigrapha (from the Greek words pseudos = lie and epigrapho = write) is a text or a number of texts whose claimed authorship or authenticity is incorrect. ...

Date and place of composition

If written by James the Just, the place and time of the writing of the epistle would be Jerusalem, where James was residing before his martyrdom in 62. If pseudepigraphical, then any time from 50 to 200 is possible. It was first definitely quoted by Origen, and possibly a bit earlier by Clement of Alexandria in a lost work if Eusebius is to be believed. Jerusalem (31°46′ N 35°14′ E; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic: القدس al-Quds; see also names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s - 60s - 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s Years: 57 58 59 60 61 - 62 - 63 64 65 66 67 Events A great earthquake damages cities in Calabria including Pompeii. ... Events Londinium is founded by the Romans, taking over as capital of the local Roman province, from Colchester (approximate date) Roman Emperor Claudius appoints Agrippa II governor of Chalcis. ... For other uses, see number 200. ... Origen was a Christian scholar and theologian and one of the most distinguished of the Fathers of the early Christian Church. ... Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens), was the first member of the Church of Alexandria to be more than a name, and one of its most distinguished teachers. ... Eusebius is the name of several significant historical people: Pope Eusebius - Pope in AD 309 - 310. ...

Canonicity

In the first centuries of the Church the authenticity of the Epistle was doubted by some, and amongst others by Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia; it is therefore deuterocanonical. It is missing in the Muratorian fragment, and because of the silence of several of the western churches regarding it, Eusebius classes it amongst the antilegomena or contested writings (Historia ecclesiae, 3.25; 2.23). St. Jerome gives a similar appraisal but adds that with time it had been universally admitted. Theodore (c. ... Among Christians, the Muratorian fragment is known as a copy of perhaps the oldest known list of New Testament books that were accepted as canonical by the churches known to its anonymous compiler. ... Eusebius is the name of several significant historical people: Pope Eusebius - Pope in AD 309 - 310. ... , by Albrecht Dürer Jerome (about 340 - September 30, 420), (full name Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. ...

Its late recognition in the Church, especially in the West, may be explained by the fact that it was written for Jewish Christians, and therefore not widely circulated among the Gentile Churches. There is some indication that a few groups distrusted the book because of its doctine. However, it was included among the 27 New Testament books first listed by Athanasius of Alexandria and eventually confirmed by a series of councils in the fourth century. Athanasius of Alexandria (also spelled Athanasios) (298–May 2, 373) was a Christian bishop, the Patriarch of Alexandria, in the fourth century. ...

In Reformation times a few theologians, most notably Martin Luther, argued that this epistle was too defective to be part of the canonical New Testament. This is probably due to the book's specific teaching that faith alone is not enough for salvation, which Luther saw appeared to contradict his doctrine of sola fide (faith alone). The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Lutheran, Protestant and other Christian traditions (a broad movement composed of many congregations and church bodies). ... Sola fide (by faith alone), also historically known as the justification of faith, is a doctrine held by some Protestant denominations of Christianity, which asserts that it is on the basis of their faith that believers are forgiven their transgressions of the Law of God, rather than on the basis...

Most denominations of Christianity today consider this book to be a canonical epistle of the New Testament. See Biblical canon. The Biblical canon is an exclusive list of books written during the formative period of the Jewish or Christian faiths; the leaders of these communities believed these books to be inspired by God or to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and his people (although there may...

Contents

The epistle was addressed to the Jews of the dispersion, "the twelve tribes scattered abroad."

The object of the writer was to enforce the practical duties of the Christian life. The vices against which he warns them are: formalism, which made the service of God consist in washings and outward ceremonies, whereas he reminds them (1:27) that it consists rather in active love and purity; fanaticism, which, under the cloak of religious zeal, was tearing Jerusalem in pieces (1:20); fatalism, which threw its sins on God (1:13); meanness, which crouched before the rich (2:2); falsehood, which had made words and oaths play-things (3:2-12); partisanship (3:14); evil speaking (4:11); boasting (4:16); oppression (5:4). The great lesson which he teaches them as Christians is patience, patience in trial (1:2), patience in good works (1:22-25), patience under provocation (3:17), patience under oppression (5:7), patience under persecution (5:10); and the ground of their patience is that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, which is to right all wrong (5:8). Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ...

"Justification by works," which James contends for, may be contrasted with the doctrine of "justification by faith", which Paul contends for in his own New Testament epistles. One way that Christians reconcile these perspectives by viewing that of James as a justification before others, that is to say the justification of a Christian's profession of faith by a consistent life; while Paul's emphasis was a justification before God, being regarded and accepted as just by virtue of the righteousness of Christ, which is received by faith. Another way that some Church fathers reconciled the two was to view true saving faith as faith that is energized by love, and that therefore is accompanied by good works, as opposed to a faith that is only intellectual assent to a set of beliefs. An interesting cross-reference is Acts 26:20, where Paul says that he has been preaching "that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance" (NASB, emphasis added). Some use this passage as evidence that Paul agreed with James that all true (or "living") faith is accompanied by works. An early portrait of the Apostle Paul. ... The Acts of the Apostles, (Greek Praxeis Apostolon) is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. ...

With this in mind, James should be considered didactic rather than kerugmatic. The writer does not attempt to present the Gospel kernel (I Corinthians 15:3-8, Acts 10:38-43), but rather a system of ethics, affirmatives and negatives. Other early parallels that illustrate this dualistic paradigm (the two ways, light & darkness, right & wrong) appear in the teachings of Jesus, the Qumran documents, and the first part of the Didache. This observation places the audience, and this epistle, within an early Jewish context, before 70 C. E. The meeting place is still the Synagogue (2:2). The Didache ( in Greek) or Teaching— short for Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles ()— is a short treatise, considered by some of the Church Fathers as part of the New Testament but rejected as spurious by others and in the outcome, not accepted into the...

James' epistle is also the chief biblical text for Anointing of the Sick (sometimes, misleadingly, called "Last Rites"). James writes, "Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven." (5:14,15). The Anointing of the Sick is one of the sacraments of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Oriental Orthodoxy, and is also practiced in some Protestant churches. ...

External links

Online translation of the Epistle of James:

• James at Bible Gateway of Gospel Communications (various versions)