I will have to adjust our flow a bit, but we'll be ok. All remains the same- just lop off week one (and to an extent, chapter one) from your mind.
That being said: there is material- and your leader's comments- from week one that are key to understanding and living this epistle. Most notably: the relationship between the life of faith and trials (you'll have them). Do not be deceived: Godly men and woman can go through the worst suffering. This world is not all there is. Your trials are leading to something better, in this life or the next.
Secondly (key to the whole book): we are not called to merely hear the Word of God and smile at how wonderful it is, or in the case of a sermon (by Father Ken or others) nod or contemplate our appreciation at the fine turn of a phrase or impressive vocabulary of the preacher. Scripture- and key, the whole of our life in Christ- is meant to produce action!
Based on where we are, I will briefly mention perhaps both of these points and move on, next week. We will not have time for authorship, occasion of writing, or date-all issues that I find more interesting than perhaps you do. Consider yourself spared! Quickly:
Author: for many years, the consensus has been "James" is the brother of Christ, as found in Matthew 13 (yes, Mary had several other children, the plea to perpetual virginity by our RCC friends notwithstanding). I see no particular reason to challenge that, I will l just say I do not find the evidence overwhelmingly compelling. James (Jacob in Hebrew) was a very common name- there were several in the early church that would have had the prestige to produce an epistle that was generally accepted as weighty enough for the whole church. It is interesting enough to note that if this James was the brother of the Lord, the book of Jude, also, was likely penned by another brother. "All In The Family," indeed.
Occasion Of Writing: I find this quite fascinating, more than most of you would have. It is good we must skip it! It seems the letter is quite pastoral in tone- it certainly is not a general theological treatise, in the manner of a Romans or Ephesians. Some have mused it is a response to the earliest persecution after the death of Stephen (and before the ascendancy of the apostle Paul in the life of the church). I'm not convinced. The whole parallel to Proverbs..the superb Greek construction of the underlying text..the hebrew loan words...it all adds up to a mixed bag of uncertainty, at least to me. Most simply, I believe it fair to mildly say James was written by a pastor to a group of Christians struggling to keep their faith active and in step with the heart of God.
Date: It seems rather clear to many that James was written sometime before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD by the Roman general Titus- some say much earlier for reasons we do not have time to consider. Again, I suppose I generally agree, but as a student of history the whole concept of "there is no way this could be after 70ad as the events thereof would have taken center stage in the text" I find less than totally convincing. Still other internal evidence agues strongly for a very early date- perhaps the oldest book or second oldest in the New Testament?
