James

In the history of Christian thought, two opposite tendencies have plagued the church with respect to human obedience in salvation. From Jewish circles especially, the early decades of the Christian era saw strong influences to conceive of human action as producing relationship to God after the fashion of obedience under the Mosaic Law. The apostle Paul strenuously opposed that effort, especially in his letters to Rome and Galatia.

Perhaps our prayer life most accurately indicates the level of our spiritual development. It is no surprise, then, to find James including encouragements about prayer in his letter to Christians beset by self-centeredness (1:5-8, 16-18; 4:2-3, 13-15; 5:13-18). They needed to convert their complaining, self-determination, and self-interest into prayer, dependence on God, and concern for one another. In this connection we have selected for special consideration the effectiveness of prayer, the importance of divine guidance, and the prayer ministry of elders.

I. External Citation and Authorship Evidence (see Salmon, pp. 473ff.)

Religion is not good for some people; it just makes them worse by putting God on their side. Because they know the truth, they look down on other people’s ignorance with greater boldness. The tendency to consider themselves better than their neighbors is reinforced by the status they have as one of God’s people. That phenomenon is curious since sin is always some kind of self-centeredness. If “getting religion” only reinforces such attitudes, what good is it?

Introduction

      The New Testament contains several literary genres:

            gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)