The Only “Place” That Matters

James 1

St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
August 27 2023
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes

Are you where you’re supposed to be?

For many in our society, place = success.

I grew up a few miles from downtown San Antonio. It was a three-room house. Our neighborhood was known as depressed area because of the poverty, drug-addiction, prostitution, and homelessness. Conversely, living in Alamo Heights area was the most desirable place to live. The stores that catered to people who could afford quality food, such as Whole Foods and HEB Marketplace and others were located in the Alamo Heights area. You could find enclaves of mansions with neatly manicured lawns and fancy cars. Living in Alamo Heights means you’re a success.

When we moved to Grand Junction we lived in the Riverside area, where the first settlers who worked in the railroad lived, it was in a section by the river, a lower area, topographically social-economically speaking. That’s where God called us to restart a church, Bethel Church at Riverside. Half a mile from Riverside was the Redlands, the up-and-coming exclusive community next to the Colorado National Monument. Houses in the Redlands were unaffordable for most residents in Grand Junction, I was told. Where do you identify success with place? If you could change your “place” in life, how would you? A newer, larger house? Area? Address? Office location? “Place” in life–job, title, salary, social strata?

We are right: there is a “place” which defines success. The book of James tells us where it is and how to get it.

What kind of literature is this?

A letter: the book of James is addressed “to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings” (1:1b).

“Greetings” demonstrates the epistolary nature of this book.

This was a formal way of opening correspondence, found in the NT only here; with the opening of the letter from James and the Jerusalem Council to the Gentile Christians (Acts 15:23); and in the opening of the letter regarding Paul sent by Claudius Lysias, a Roman centurion, to Governor Felix (Acts 23:26).

A pastoral letter: James is “a quasi-prophetic letter of pastoral encouragement and, no less, of pastoral rebuke, proceeding from an unquestioned right of pastoral vocation and authority. It was most natural that James, as first ‘Bishop’ (or whatever we may style him) of Jerusalem, should address his charges, not only in Palestine but also in their many and great centers elsewhere” (Adamson 20).

Wisdom literature, like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (thus less systematic than Romans and similar literature):

James often uses a proverbial style: “he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (1:8); “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (1:22); “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (4:17).

• He juxtaposes good and evil (cf. 3:13-18).

• He uses “wisdom” with emphasis (1:5; 3:13-17).

• He quotes Proverbs. 3:34: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (4:6).

Other parallels can be cited (cf. 1:5 with Proverbs 2:6; 1:19 with Proverbs 29:20; 3:18 with Proverbs 11:30; 4:13-16 with Proverbs 27:1; 5:20 with Proverbs 10:12; Burdick 164).

A treatise on the Sermon on the Mount:

• Rejoice in trials (1:2; Matthew 5:12)

• Ask and it will be given to us (1:5; Matthew 7:7)

• Be perfect and complete (1:4; Matthew 5:48)

• Be peacemakers (3:17-18; Matthew 5:5, 9)

• Show mercy or be judged (2:13; Matthew 5:7; 6:14-15; 7:1)

• Refuse oaths (5:12; Matthew 5:33-37)

• Be meek (3:13; Matthew 5:3)

• Refuse to hoard (5:2-3; Matthew 6:19)

• Deal with anger (1:20; Matthew 5:22)

• Be honest (2:14-16; Matthew 7:21-23)

• Refuse divided loyalty (4:4; Matthew 6:24)

• Refuse slander (4:11; Matthew 5:22; 7:1-2)

• Claim the blessing of the poor (2:5; Matthew 5:3)

• Follow the example of the prophets (5:10; Matthew 5:12; Martin lxxv-lxxvi).

A sermon: the book displays an amazing coherence with typical preaching methods in the first century (see Robertson 6-7, Barclay 27-30). Parallels with Greek sermons:

• Began with a paradox which would capture the attention of the listeners (1:2)

• Carried on imaginary conversations with opponents (2:18f; 5:13f)

• Introduced transitions with questions (2:14; 4:1) and used rhetorical questions frequently (2:4, 5; 2:14-16; 3:11, 12; 4:4)

• Fond of imperatives (nearly 60 in James’ 108 verses)

• Personified virtues and vices (1:15; 2:13; 5:3)

• Used figures of speech (the bridle, rudder, and forest fire were standards; 3:3-6)

• Used the examples of famous men and women (2:21-23, 25; 5:11, 17)

• Often concluded with a vivid antithesis, setting the right way beside the wrong (2:13; 2:26).

The Jewish sermon possessed an additional characteristic: it was deliberately disconnected. Speakers were instructed to jump quickly from subject to subject, so as to keep their hearers’ attention. Such preaching was called charaz, which means “stringing beads.” The letter as sermon would explain its lack of systematic theology, as James was speaking on the subject of practical Christianity.

Perhaps a sermon by James, later transcribed as a letter in the best Greek in the NT (with the possible exception of Hebrews). Some hold that James wrote the transcribed letter himself: “James both writes and thinks in Greek better than any other NT author” (Adamson 52). Others suggest that the letter was written by an amanuensis who recorded his sermon in excellent Greek (Barclay 33).

Inspired revelation, despite Luther’s assessment.

Luther’s Preface to the New Testament concludes: “the gospel and the first epistle of St. John, St. Paul’s epistles, especially those to the Romans, Galatians and Ephesians; and St. Peter’s first epistle, are the books which show Christ to you. They teach everything you need to know for your salvation, even if you were never to see or hear any other book or hear any other teaching. In comparison with these the epistle of James is an epistle full of straw, because it contains nothing evangelical.” Luther thought that James ascribes salvation to works, criticizes him for mentioning Jesus only twice, and considered the work non-apostolic in value.

But the date of the letter (see below) precludes the possibility that James contradicts Paul. The two wrote to very different audiences, for very different purposes.

When was it written?

Some believe the letter to have been composed before AD 50, and consider it perhaps the first book of the NT to be written. Evidence:

Jesus’ return is expected quickly: “Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” (5:7). Some scholars consider this assertion to argue for an early date, believing that the expectation of Jesus’ imminent return faded somewhat as his Coming was delayed (an assertion I would dispute; cf. Revelation 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon'”).

The letter does not mention the Jewish/Gentile controversy, perhaps indicating that it was composed before Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council. This suggestion would date the letter before AD 47/48 (Moo 26).

The meeting place of the church is still identified as the sunagoge (2:2, translated “meeting” in the NIV). Later the church gathering would be called the ekklesia, dropping the Jewish “synagogue” identity.

Elders are mentioned (5:14), but no bishops or deacons, perhaps indicating a very early stage in the church’s development.

The famine in Judea of AD 46 (Acts 11:28) is a likely backdrop for James’ discussion regarding the poor and the rich.

Others believe the letter to have been composed later in the life of James, for these reasons:

There are only two references to Jesus, suggesting to some scholars that the letter was composed in an era when the early, evangelistic preaching about the Lord had become more didactic, assuming knowledge of his life and work.

The rich are discussed often (1:9-11; 2:1-3; 5:1-6). In the earliest church there were apparently few wealthy members: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth” (1 Corinthians 1:26). Thus, some believe the letter to have been composed during a period when more influential people had joined the church.

Many theologians accept a very early date for the letter (perhaps the mid-40’s), and believe James to be the first book of the NT to be written.

Many students of the bible believe that James’ lack of references to Jesus is a function of the letter’s purpose, and do not accept the assertion that the relative poverty of the Corinthian church precludes the existence of wealthy members in the Jerusalem congregation.

People from across the Roman Empire had gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Ac 2), families with enough means to make such a journey.

Many who trusted Christ that day apparently stayed in the city to compose the Jerusalem church, providing the social and cultural variety which James reflects.

Concluding applications:

• Commit daily to his Lordship and will.

• Invest eternally, using your resources where they can best serve the Kingdom.

• Serve effectively, utilizing your gifts where you are placed in ministry.

• Are you in the will of God today? Baker James Cauthen: “The only ‘place’ that matters is the center of the will of God.”

• Are you faithful to serve God where you find yourself? We all have seen the poster or heard the saying: “Bloom where you are planted.” Mother Teresa says it better: Success = faithfulness in love.

• Are you close to God spiritually, wherever you are located physically?