I have been working on reading several commentaries on the New Testament book of James in preparation for a sermon series that I am planning for the fall. It’s a book that I haven’t studied seriously before now.
Many student’s of the Bible, recalling Martin Luther’s judgment regarding James that it is an ‘epistle of straw” compared to Paul’s writings, have not known how to approach James. The result is that James is a Biblical book that is often ignore, especially by Lutherans.
Nevertheless, it is a part of the New Testament and that means that the church believes that it is a book that bears witness to the apostolic faith. It is part of the Scriptures accepted as authoritative in the church. That’s the reason I decided I should try to preach on it.
I’ve been discovering some things about James that underscore its value for us. For one thing, Paul and James were writing to two different situations. In several of his letters, especially Galatians and Romans, Paul is contending with opponents who insisted that Gentile Christian converts needed to observe the Jew laws of the Old Testament in order to be true Christians. Paul tells his readers that the law can’t save, that we are justified before God by faith alone.
James, on the other hand, is dealing with a different situation. He is speaking to Christians who have become ‘double-minded.’ They seek to be followers of Jesus while at the same time making friends with the world. James insists that faith must have content, that it necessarily will result in doing good work, in living a life in harmony with God’s law, especially the moral law that calls us to love our neighbor.
It seems to me that James has something to say to our day. There are many who are primarily admirers of Christ. They want the eternal salvation that Christ promises, but they don’t see any connection between faith and the way they live their lives. They don’t really trust Christ to shape the way they live their lives.
Paul has no quarrel with the notion that followers of Christ will do good works. He says that faith will naturally lead to good works. The works, themselves, are a gift of the Spirit working in our lives. That’s the key to understanding James’ emphasis on the need for works to show evidence of our faith. If the Spirit is working in our lives in order to create faith with in us, then the natural consequence of the Spirit’s work is that we do works that are an expression of God’s will for us and in harmony with our faith in Christ.
I am looking forward to this sermon series in the fall. It should be helpful for us all to listen to what James has to say to us. I think we need to hear it.
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