Article: Who Wrote the Epistle of James?

I have posted audio versions of my article "Who Wrote the Epistle of James?" which appeared in Sword & Trowel, Issue No. 1 (2021): 13-16.

You can also read the article here on academia.edu.

JTR

The Vision (12.2.20): The Patience of Job

 

Image: Fall sky, Virginia, November 2020

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 5:10-12:

Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord (James 5:11).

In his epistle, James exhorts the “brethren” to maintain the fruit of patience (longsuffering), by placing the example of Job before their eyes.

When we are faced with afflictions, can we say as Job did, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return thither: the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (1:21)?

When even those closest to us tempt us to despair, will we say, “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (2:10)?

When the Lord speaks to us from the whirlwind, will we, like Job, say, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth” (40:4)?

Notice James adds in v. 11 that the brethren have not only “heard” of the example of Job, but also “have seen the end of the Lord.” The Greek word for “end” here is telos. It does not mean “end” as in “conclusion” (e.g., “the end of a play”) or “last thing” (e.g., “the end of a series”). Rather, it means “goal” or “plan” or “design.”

His point: God had bigger plans or goals or designs to be worked out in his sanctification of Job that required Job’s suffering and affliction.

This same spirit is expressed by Joseph when he revealed himself to his brothers, saying, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen 50:20). Can you say to the person who has treated you the worst, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”?

Consider Paul’s great statement in Romans 8:28, a comfort to so many saints over the years: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Friends, let us look to the example of Job and trust the good “end” God has purposed when he allows his saints to suffer affliction.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.27.20): Be ye also patient

 

Image: Holly berries, Sanford, North Carolina, November 2020

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on James 5:7-10.

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (James 5:8).

In v. 8 James exhorts: “Be ye also patient.” In v. 7 he offered the mini-parable of the patient farmer: “Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth….” James is saying look to the farmer as an example of one who is longsuffering even though he does not see any immediate growth on the surface, but also, most importantly, learn from the patience of the Lord himself.

He adds a second exhortation: “stablish your hearts” (v. 8b). The verb here is sterizo, meaning to strengthen. Make strong and vigorous your hearts, the center of your affections. The Christian faith is for those who know that when they are weak, then he is strong, but the Christian life is not for the spiritually faint-hearted, for spiritual weaklings. In Christ’s parable of the sower, the seed that fell on the shallow soil did not last (Mark 4:5-6).

There are just too many difficult things one will have to encounter in this life to think that he can breeze through it all without ever exercising the spiritual disciplines that will result in the strengthening of his heart. Why are we baptized? Why do we come to the Lord’s table in the context of God’s people? Why do we read and memorize God’s word?  Why do we attend to the preaching and teaching of the Scriptures? Why do we learn the practice of prayer? It is so that we might have our hearts strengthened, so that, by God’s grace, when we face resistance, obstacles, setbacks, opposition, and suffering our hearts are strong. It is so that we might face such things and not be undone and destroyed by them, but that we might be patient even in afflictions.

Finally, James adds at the end of v. 8: “for the coming of the Lord drawth nigh.” I’ve mentioned before driving once on some back roads towards the beach in NC and passing a sign that read, “Jesus is coming soon!” The problem was that the sign was faded, the paint was peeling, and the sign board was warped. It was a mixed message at best.

But we must remember what Peter said: “one day is with the Lord like a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 90:4).

Our job is not to know when he coming. Christ himself said that no man knows that day or that hour (Mark 13:32-33). Our job is to know that God is at work in the world and that he is coming and that in the meantime (the in-between time) we are to be found faithful, so that we are not ashamed when he does come.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.13.20): For what is your life?

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 4:13-17.

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away (James 4:14).

I am glad to be a Christian, because we get to ask the ultimate questions of life, as James poses it here: “For what is your life?”

He begins to answer that question by stressing the brevity and fragility of life. James says that life is like a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Where we live close to the mountains it is not unusual to wake up in the early morning to find a hazy vapor hanging low in the air, which soon disappears as the sun rises. James says that life is like this. It is brief. It is fleeting. It is fragile.

A similar point had been made earlier in his warning to the rich in 1:10-11 where the brevity of life was compared to the flower of the grass that soon passes away (cf. Isaiah 40:6-8).

There are many other places in the Old Testament, in particular, where this point is made. One of the most vivid is Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses the man of God, in which we read this petition: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

In our prayer meeting last Wednesday evening we briefly discussed and prayed for the family of Canadian Christian blogger Tim Challies whose 20-year-old son suddenly and unexpectedly died last week. This young man was a believer, a student at Boyce College, a Christian college connected to Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. One moment he was playing a game with some friends, including his sister and his fiancé, and the next moment he collapsed and died, leaving behind grieving family and friends.

Week before last I was at the funeral of my 52-year-old cousin. He had been a gifted athlete in his younger years, voted most likely to succeed his senior year in high school, had a good job as an engineer, loved to build and fix things, had a wife and three young adult children, was expecting his first grandchild, and was a Christian man devoted to his local church. But cancer took his life away in a year’s time.

We also recently prayed for the family of Pastor Gary Hendrix who died last week at age 73 after 50 years as a pastor at Grace RBC in Mebane, NC. Pastor Hendrix was active on twitter and on October 23, 2020 he sent his last tweet which read, “I have kept vigil by many death beds, now it is my time to lay on one of my own. Sobbing.”

Friends, we will all one day keep vigil at our own death bed, whether we be 20, 52, or 73, or whatever.

For what is your life? The time to ask is now.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.6.20): Cleanse your hands ... and purify your hearts

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 4:8-12.

Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded (James 4:8b).

James’s instructions here may have been taken from Psalm 24, which asks, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place?” (3) and then answers, “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart” (v. 4a).

In his commentary on James, the Puritan Matthew Poole notes that this is a call to reform one’s actions and to amend his life. He notes that the call to cleanse the hands, as the principle instrument of bodily actions, is a call to “innocency of outward conversation [conduct].” Correspondingly, the call to purify your hearts is a call amend one’s “thoughts and inward affections, from whence the evils of your outward actions proceed.”

In the beatitudes of Matthew 5, Christ taught: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (v. 8).

And in Luke 6:45 Christ said: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

Our words are indeed a window into the condition of our heart.

We are to heed James’s exhortation to reform both our outward actions (hands) and our inward thoughts (heart), knowing that in this life we will not fully attain to clean hands and pure hearts. Yet we also know one who had clean hands and a pure heart, one who was tempted in all points even we are, and yet remained without sin. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and if our lives are hid in his, we too may be found blameless in God’s sight.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.30.20): But he giveth more grace

 

Image: Sunrise, North Garden, Virginia, October 30, 2020

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 4:5-7.

James 4:6: But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

In James 4:1-5, the apostle describes man’s dilemma in sin, including the lusts that war in his members (v. 1).

In v. 6, however, there is relief: “But he giveth more grace.” This refers to God’s saving grace (cf. Eph 2:8-9). He gives to those who are his own grace that is greater than all our sin. John 1:16 says: “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” Some modern versions render that last phrase in John 1:16 as “grace upon grace.” The idea here is grace piled on grace, grace heaped on grace.

What if you had a huge debt. It was like a cloud hanging over your head every day. It made you to lose sleep. The harder you worked the further behind you got. But then someone comes along and says, I have paid off all your debt and, what is more, there is a huge surplus left over, and I have transferred this to our account also.

Our sin is great, but God giveth more grace.

James cinches his point by citing Proverbs 3:34, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” This fits with Christ’s teaching in Matthew 23:12: “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

Likewise, in Matthew 18, we are told how Christ once set a child into the midst of his disciples and said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:3-4).

A child is generally not too proud to ask for help. An infant will, in fact, wail and cry till his needs are met. Even though a toddler cannot articulate the words, he can extend his arms and ask to be picked up and comforted. It seems the older we get, the more prone we are to pride. The man who stiffens his back in pride against God will be broken in his obstinance, but the man who humbles himself will be saved.

Yes, our sin is great, but God giveth more grace. Let us then humble ourselves, child-like, and extend our arms to him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.23.20): Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss

Image: Rose, North Garden, Virginia, October 2020

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 4:1-4.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3).

James here suggests that one reason for unrest in the heart is faulty prayer, immature prayer, self-serving prayer, described here as “asking amiss.”

He reminds us that mature prayer, born of mature faith, does not center on the satisfaction of our good pleasure but in doing God’s will, giving him glory and in giving blessing to our neighbor.

So, Christ taught: “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13; cf. John 16:23; 1 John 3:22).

The reason to pray for an education is to love God with your mind.

The reason to pray for a job is to serve God with your vocation.

The reason to pray for a good salary is so that you can be a faithful steward for the kingdom of the resources with which you have been entrusted.

The reason, if single, to pray for a spouse is so that you might serve him or her and establish a household where Christ is at the center.

The reason to pray for a home is so that you can extend hospitality in the name of Christ and wash the feet of the saints.

The reason to pray for children is so that you might be able to raise disciples for the Lord.

The reason to pray for good health is so that you might serve him with your body.

The reason to pray for a church is that you might join with like-minded brothers and sisters to worship the Lord and serve the brethren.

The reason to pray for the peace and security of the world is that the Great Commission might be fulfilled.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.16.20): The Wisdom that is From Above

 

Image: Pear tree, North Garden, Virginia, October 2020

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 3:14-18.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (James 3:17).

James 3:14-18 describes two types of wisdom. First, there is the false “wisdom” from below, that is “earthly, sensual, and devilish” (v. 15). In contrast, there is the true wisdom that is from above (v. 17). It is marked by seven characteristics:

First, it is pure.

It is not sullied. It is not cynical. It is not suspicious. Christ said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt 5:8).

Second, it is peaceable.

Christ taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matt 5:9). In Romans 12:18 Paul exhorted, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live at peace with all men.” Above all we must have peace with God (Rom 5:1).

Third, it is gentle.

The wise man is not like the proverbial bull in the china shop. He is not a steamroller. He is not a “it’s my way or the highway” type of man. The same term is used in Philippians 4:5 to promote “moderation”, and it is used in 1 Timothy 3:3 to describe a bishop as one who is “patient.”

Fourth, it is easy to be intreated.

The man who has this wisdom is eager for reconciliation and swift to pursue it. When reconciliation is achieved, he keeps no record of wrongs. The NKJV renders the term here as “willing to yield.” It refers to one who has a teachable spirit, rather than insisting on his own way.

Fifth, it is full of mercy and good fruits.

Christ taught, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt 5:7) and “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful (Luke 6:36).

Good fruits are good works that overflow and abound from the life of the man that is truly converted (cf. Eph 2:10).

Sixth, it is without partiality.

The wisdom that is from above is not judgmental. Yes, there is a place for judgment and discernment (1 John 4:1). But the wisdom that is from above is not overbearing in judgment of others. It is impartial in the sense that is not quick to jump to conclusions without first weighing all the evidence. It is a spirit that hopes for the best in the other, rather than assuming the worst.

Seventh, it is without hypocrisy.

It does not teach one way, then act in another way. It does not have an integrity gap between words and actions (cf. Matt 7:1-5).

May the Lord give us the grace to live with the wisdom that is from above.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.9.20): Taming the Tongue

 

Note: Devotional taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 3:6-13:

James 3:7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. 8 But the tongue no man can tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

James begins by describing the mastery that God has given to man over all the other creatures (v. 7). This takes us back to the dominion mandate given to man on the sixth day of creation (see Gen 1:16-27). Genesis 2:19-20 even describes how God brought the animals to Adam and had him name them.

“But,” James continues, in v. 8, “the tongue no man can tame.” Massive animals, elephants, rhinos, giraffes man can subdue. Fierce animal, lions, tigers, and bears (Oh my!), man can subdue. But he cannot tame the tongue. I imagine a lion tamer standing with his whip and chair before the tongue, but not able to tame it!

Notice James does not say it is very difficult for a man to tame the tongue. Nor, it takes a lot of work and practice and patience and humility and discipline to tame the tongue. No. He says that no man can tame the tongue. That is, no sinful man will be able in this life fully to manage his tongue.

He adds two more very, very vivid metaphors:

First, the tongue is “an unruly evil.” The word unruly (akatastatos) can mean restless or disorderly. Imagine an incorrigible child running around in a grocery store knocking items off the shelves, taking bites out of fruit, upsetting shopping carts. The tongue is like that. It is an unruly evil.

Second, the tongue is “full of deadly poison.” It is lethal. It can bring about the ruin of a man’s life.

James description is strong, vivid, and foreboding. Little help is offered men, apart from God’s grace, in the management of the tongue.

But there was one man who perfectly tamed the tongue.

This is best exemplified when he went to the cross, fulfilling Isaiah 53:7, “as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” That took perfect self-control.

Peter says he did not sin and no guile was found in his mouth (cf. 1 Peter 2:21-25). When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he committed himself to the one who judges righteously.

Christ controlled the tongue so that we, as his followers, might be conformed unto his image (cf. Rom 8:29).

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.2.20): The tongue is a little member

 

Note: I failed to post last Friday's Vision (10.2.20) devotional to the blog, though it was sent out on our church's email list, and am posting it now. The devotion is taken from the 9.27.20 sermon on James 3:1-5.

James 3:3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.

4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Notice the flow of the argument here as we have two “beholds” (vv. 3-4) and one “even so” (v. 5).

The first behold (v. 3) makes a parallel between control of the tongue and the bridling of a horse. I am not a horseman, but just this summer we went hiking at Grayson Highlands and our path crossed a horse trail and we saw a group pass by on these magnificent large horses (especially larger in contrast to the small wild ponies we had also seen). Some of these horses were being ridden by young children. How were they able to direct and control these huge and muscular animals? The horses had been broken and tamed and they had the bit in their mouths to turn them wherever the rider would have them go. The point: a small bit can control and direct a massive horse.

The second behold is a nautical image (v. 4). We are asked to imagine a great ship out on the sea, even one driven by fierce winds. And yet it is turned with a very small helm or rudder. If I am not a horseman, neither am I a sailor or helmsman, but I have seen ships, and I have see the small rudder that directs the ship. The point: a small rudder can direct a massive ship wherever the governor (pilot) wishes it to go.

This takes us to the “even so” (v. 5). The tongue is a little member. It is a small part of the body. Just like the small bit in the mouth of the horse or the small rudder on the massive ship. But it boasts of great things. It can direct or drive the whole person. It can exercise a completely outsized impact out of all proportion to its tiny size

We might think James would provide a positive example, but he offers a negative for warning; “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” (v. 5).

Here the tongue is compared to one small spark that kindles a fire that consumes a great matter. They say the recent massive fires in California may have had one of their sources in a “gender reveal” party. There were unintended consequences for one small spark. Sometimes the tongue can set off massive unintended consequences.

By God’s grace and the Spirit’s help, may we direct that little member towards that which edifies rather than that which destroys.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.25.20): How can James say that Abraham was justified by works?

 

Image: The Sacrifice of Isaac, by Rembrandt, 1635, oil on canvas, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 2:20-26.

Romans 4:2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

The question posed by James in James 2:21 is provocative and easily misunderstood. What does James mean when he says that Abraham was justified by works? Does this not contradict Paul? Is the Scripture broken?

Paul had a lot to say about Abraham, the first patriarch (cf. Gen 12:1-3). Paul claimed Abraham was the spiritual father of all believers, whether Jew or Greek (see Gal 3:26-29). He also saw Abraham as the model of those who were saved by God’s grace and justified by faith, citing Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom 4:3). Abraham was justified by faith, not by works (cf. Eph 2:8-9).

How then can what Paul says is Romans 4:2 possibly be made to square with James 2:21: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works….?”

Are the Scriptures broken here? Are they in a hopeless state of self-contradiction?

Insight is needed in order rightly to divide (interpret) the word. Notice two things:

First, the same word in the Bible can have more than one meaning.

We’ve seen that already with respect to the word “believe.” This verb can refer to “saving faith” as in the Ethiopian’s confession in Acts 8:37: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” But it can also mean to have an intellectual understanding apart from saving faith, as in James 2:19 when James says the devils also believe in God and tremble.

When Paul says that a man is justified by faith and not by works, he is referring to the fact that man is made right (just) in the sight of God, by grace, through the means of faith.

When James says a man is justified by works, however he is not talking about salvation, but he is talking about how a saved man acts in a righteous (just) manner through the doing of good works.

Second, context is key.

Notice the Old Testament reference used in James 2:21 to illustrate how Abraham was “justified” by works. It was when he offered up his son Isaac upon the altar in Genesis 22, one of the greatest narratives in all the Scriptures.

Here is the key point for our purposes: In Genesis 22 Abraham was already a believer. Genesis 15:6 (Abraham’s saving faith) comes before Genesis 22 (his good work of obedience).

Genesis 22 is not an account of Abraham’s salvation but his sanctification. It does not tell us how he was saved. It tells us how he lived out his salvation. It does not tell us about the root of his faith, but about the fruit of his faith. Abraham was justified (made righteous) by faith (Gen 15:6, Paul’s point), and he was justified (proven to be righteous) by works (Gen 22, James’s point).

Again, Paul and James are not in conflict. As Spurgeon responded when asked to reconcile divine sovereignty and human responsibility, “There is no need to reconcile friends.”

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.18.20): Must we reconcile Paul and James?

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 2:14-19 (audio not yet available).

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:17).

In the opening sermon in our current preaching series through James I noted that one of its key themes is the importance of good works in the Christian life. The apostle James declares that a faith without works is a dead faith (see 2:17).

This is one of the most controversial aspects of this epistle. How can it be reconciled with Paul’s teaching in Romans 3:28: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”? Or what about Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ….”?

The prophet asks in Amos 3:3: “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” Can Paul and James walk together? How are we to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory statements?

There have been some who have attempted to muffle one or the other. Some of our Roman Catholic friends have, as it were, wanted to silence Paul and his message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, as revealed in Scripture alone.

On the other hand, there have been some Protestants who have wanted to silence James. The great Reformer Martin Luther in a preface to the book of James wrote, “He [James] does violence to Scripture, and so contradicts Paul and all Scripture. He tries to accomplish by emphasizing law what the apostles try to bring about by attracting men to love. I therefore refuse him a place among the writers of the true canon of the Bible….” (in Dillenberger, Martin Luther, Selections, 36). Thankfully, his position on James eventually softened.

The truth is that the earliest believers saw no contradiction between Paul and James. They acknowledged both to be sacred Scripture, both as being breathed about by God. As Christ himself declared in John 10:35: “the scripture cannot be broken.”

I recently read one theologian who suggested that James was inspired by God and added to the Scriptures to serve the function of guarding against “a false reading of Paul” (Childs, The New Testament as Canon, 29). He might well have added that Paul’s letters were added to guard against a misreading of James.

We know there were those from the very beginning who misused Paul’s bold preaching and teaching of the doctrines of grace. Peter in 2 Peter 3:15-16 talks about the epistles of “our beloved brother Paul … in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [twist], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”

Paul even seemed to be aware of this himself. In Romans 6:1 Paul asks, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” He was asking, By my teaching about grace, am I saying that it does not matter how you live? Am I saying you should sin boldly so that grace may abound? Paul answers in Romans 6:2: “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Paul later adds that since we have been buried with Christ in his baptism and raised with him in his resurrection, “even so we also should walk in newness of life” (v. 4).

What Paul calls walking in newness of life is what James describes as a faith that is not alone, but which is accompanied by good works. What James calls “dead faith” is really no faith at all. It is what Paul calls being unregenerate or “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1).

Must Paul and James be reconciled? No, they stand in agreement, with one complementing the other.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.11.20): To offend in one point is to be guilty of all

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 2:10-13.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10).

James offers here a brief lesson on anthropology, the doctrine of man, and hamartiology [from hamartia, sin or missing the mark], the doctrine of sin.

He begins with a hypothetical: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law…” Does James really think it is possible that a man can keep the whole law? Think of the rich young ruler who said he had kept the law since his youth (Luke 18:18-23).

I remember a street preacher who came to my college campus and claimed he had not sinned in years. Of course, the moment he uttered those words he committed the sin of pride (see also 1 John 1:8-10).

Think about trying for one day to see how long you could go without falling into sin. What if you stayed in bed, as if in paralysis, so that your hands could not steal, your mouth could not lie, your tongue could not gossip…. Ah, but you would still have your thoughts, would you not? Barely a few moments would pass before you would be aware of some conscious sin.

We cannot insulate or cut ourselves off from personal sin. So James says that if a man keeps the whole law, “and yet offends in one point he is guilty of all.”

James is not saying here that all sins are the same. Question 88 of the Baptist Catechism asks, “Are all transgression of the law equally heinous?” And it answers: “Some sins in themselves and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.”

Christ taught that the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit was an unpardonable sin. Paul talked about fornication as a sin against one’s own body (1 Cor 6:18). John talked about “a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16). James was not “levelling” all sins.

His point: Our problem is not sins (plural) but sin (singular). Any sin, even the ones we rank lowest on our sin totem pole, our hierarchy of sin, condemns us a sinner deserving of God’s just wrath and punishment.

Our problem is not merely our sins (plural), our actual transgressions, but original sin (singular), the fact that we were born with a sin nature, so that before we ever commit any actual transgression, we are deserving of death.

So, David writes, “Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). Psalm 58:3, likewise, says, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”

The old saying goes, “We are not sinners, because we sin; we sin, because we are sinners.”

One mark of the presence of sin ruins a man’s life. Think of a proper suit or dress one buys for a big event. Let’s say it is a white tuxedo or a white evening gown. And you get just one spot on it. Once you do that where is your eye going to go everytime you look int the mirror? To that one spot, that one stain. And what will those see who look at you? That one blemish, that one imperfection.

Our problem, alas, is not that we have but one sin, but many. Their name is legion.

Thanks be to God, however, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the spotless Lamb of God. He perfectly kept the whole law for us, and he covers those who are his own with his perfect righteousness.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.4.20): The sin of "respect of persons"

 

Image: Pews, Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 2:1-9.

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons (James 2:1).

But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors (James 2:9).

In James 2:1-9, the apostle identifies the sin of “respect of persons” (cf. 2:1, 9). The phrase “respect of persons” does not mean being respectful to persons, or treating persons with dignity and charity. Such behavior is certainly not sinful. That phrase, as used here, refers to the showing of partiality or favoritism toward someone based on what appears to be his favorable outward appearance or standing, while at the same time neglecting or overlooking others who do not share in this favorable outward appearance or standing. James exhorts, in particular, that the brethren not show favoritism to the rich, while neglecting the poor.

The English phrase “respect of persons” renders but a single word in the Greek, which literally means “to receive the face” or “to look upon the outward appearance.”

Consider the Lord’s instructions to Samuel when seeking the man to replace Saul as king: “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).

Consider Peter’s response when he saw the faith of the God-fearing Gentile Cornelius: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34).

Paul, likewise, in Romans 2:11 writes, “For there is no respect of persons with God” (cf. Eph 6:8-9; Col 3:25).

James proceeds in vv. 2-3 to give a hypothetical example of how the believers might have exhibited “respect of persons.” Two men walk into an assembly of believers… (v. 2). Interestingly enough, the word here for “assembly” in Greek is synagogue. The first man has on a gold ring and “goodly apparel.” The second is a poor man in “vile raiment.”

Partiality or “respect of persons” is shown to the first man (v. 3). James says, “And ye have respect unto him that weareth the gay [stylish, expensive] clothing” and you find him a prominent and comfortable place to sit, saying, “Sit thou here in a good place.”

On the other hand, the poor man is told, “Stand thou there or sit here under my footstool” (v. 3).

When I read this I thought of some of the old colonial era Episcopal churches in Virginia, like the Bruton Parish church in Williamsburg, where the wealthiest families would pay an annual fee to rent their pews. The more money you paid the closer you could sit to the front, if not so much to hear the sermon, as to be near the stove in winter! If you were a poor man, however, you had to stand at the back, and if you were a slave you had to sit in the gallery (not a balcony).

Before we judge either the ancient Jewish Christians whom James addressed or the early Americans of Williamsburg, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we too are prone to offer preferential treatment to someone who might come into the church whom we might think will be able to help us financially or with respect to prestige? Do we cater to the impressive professional who might visit us with what looks like a solid intact family, a happy marriage, well-mannered children, etc. Do we size them up and say, “Wow, they might really be able to help us!”?

On the other hand, do we sigh when someone comes in whom we might perceive to be a liability, who might need to take more than he can give, who might tax our patience and stretch our generosity to the breaking point?

If we are a healthy church, I think God will send us, and we will welcome with open arms, both kinds of people. But James is warning us not to favor one of these over another.

If Christ received us when we were poor sinners, we should show no “respect of persons” to any man.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

James on believers as "a kind of firstfruits of his creatures"

 

Image: Morning Glory, North Garden, Virginia, August 2020

Note: More exposition from Sunday before last's sermon on James 1:17-20. In that message I suggested three themes: Who is God (vv. 17-18a)? Who are we in Christ? (v. 18b)? How should we live? (vv. 19-20). The exposition below addresses the second of those themes.

James 1:18b: …that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Again, notice the first-person plural pronoun: “We.” James is identifying with his Christian readers, of the first generation and every generation thereafter.

Believers are described in many different ways in the Scriptures. We are disciples, followers of the Way, Christians, saints, the elect, the redeemed, pilgrims, aliens, strangers, the called, the adopted, the sons of God, joint heirs with Christ, etc.

As with many things in James, however, the description here is somewhat unique. And I think there is a good argument to be made for the fact that this description especially relates to the first generation of believers.

He describes the believers to whom he wrote as “a kind of firstfruits [aparche] of [God’s] creatures.”

This seems to combine two ideas we see in Paul:

First, Christians are a new creation or new creatures in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Second, the risen Christ is described by Paul as a kind of “firstfruits” in 1 Corinthians 15:20: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits [aparche] of them that slept.”

The point seems to be: Just as Christ’s resurrection from the dead anticipated the general resurrection that all men will experience at the end of the ages, so the regeneration of that first generation of believers anticipated the regeneration of countless believers through many coming generation until the glorious return of Christ.

In that sense it can be applied to us also, anticipating the ones who will come after us.

We are new creatures in Christ, and we anticipate an even greater harvest that is yet to come. In our Father’s house there are many mansions!

JTR