Journey Through James and 1 2 3 JohnSample

Intro

Nicole introduces this lesson about James’ view on faith and works as it compares to Paul. You may be surprised how similar they are, going back to Abraham as an example.

James & Scripture: In the Text

James is not only aligned with the Old Testament Wisdom literature. His letter “sits on top of” the Torah—especially Leviticus, but also Deuteronomy. Furthermore, it echoes many of the lines from the Gospels and Paul’s Epistles.

Leviticus & James

The book of James reinforces this idea by revisiting themes from Leviticus, whose moral commands are alive and well in the Early Church. See some NIV comparisons between Leviticus and James as follows.

Leviticus: Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. (19:15)

James: My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. (2:1) But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. (2:9)

Leviticus: Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. (19:18b)

James: If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. (2:8)

Leviticus: Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD. (19:16)

James: Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. (4:11)

Leviticus: Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight. (19:13)

James: Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. (5:4)

Leviticus: Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people. (19:18a)

James: Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! (5:9)

Leviticus: Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. (19:12)

James: Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned. (5:12)

Leviticus: Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. (19:17)

James: Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (5:20)

Table adapted from: J. Michael Walters, James, 1997, pp. 74-75.

James reminds us that concepts like “Law” and “works,” as well as those like “love” and “freedom,” are common to both Testaments. We heard from Jesus in the passage from Matthew above that, “whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:19, NIV).

So if we were tempted to misread Paul as contradicting Jesus, James provides a helpful correction. He reminds us that long before the Gospel of God’s love in Christ and his Spirit, there was the “Law of Love,” illustrated clearly in Leviticus 19.

One of the more striking examples of James’ “sitting on top” of earlier Scripture is his deliberate echoing of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from Matthew. Some of these connections are listed in the graphic which follows.

For reference, the following are other passages in James that parallel sayings of Jesus:

• 1:6 (cf Matt 21:21)
• 1:9 and 4:10 (cf Matt 23:12)
• 1:12 (cf Matt 10:22)
• 1:21 (cf Mark 4:14)
• 4:9 (cf Luke 6:21, 25)
• 4:17 (cf Luke 12:47)
• 5:1-6 (cf Luke 6:24)
• 5:9 (cf Matt 24:33)
• 5:17 (cf Luke 4:25)

Matthew & James: Faith in Action

The following pairs of ESV verses highlight the main themes:

Common theme/message

Faith and doubting

Matthew: And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.” (21:21)

James: But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (1:6)

Common theme/message: Divided loyalty

Matthew: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (6:24; 12:39)

James: You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (4:4)

Common theme/message: Purity of heart

Matthew: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (5:8)

James: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (4:8)

Reference: John Painter and David A. deSilva, James and Jude, 2012, pp. 36-38.

Overlapping message: On becoming doers of the word

Matthew: Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock ….
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (7:24, 26)

James: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. (1:22-23)

Overlapping message: A criticism of lip service

Matthew: Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (7:21-23)

James: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? (2:14-16)

Overlapping message: A call to perfection

Matthew: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (5:48)

James: And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (1:4)

Reference: John Painter and David A. deSilva, James and Jude, 2012, pp. 36-38.

James & Paul: Faith & Works