Parkview Christian Church invited me to come spend a day with some folks for what I called “A Day with the Letter of James.” The pastor of spiritual formation, Casey Tygrett, invited me — and we fired up just after 8am and didn’t finish until 3pm. So, it was a full day.

And it was a lively, energizing, and I hope mutually beneficial session. I really enjoyed the folks at Parkview — and it was good to see Casey again.

James is a one-of-a-kind letter, springing as it does from the messianists of Judaism, written (so I think) by a brother of Jesus, not utilizing the typical salvation categories of Paul, Peter or Hebrews, and striking its ground in the wisdom tradition.

Here are some themes we dipped into — James and Jesus, the meaning of “trials” in James 1:2 (economic oppression), a possible temptation to use violence, how Christian James is — in my commentary I argue Luther got this wrong, and the Christian life as a life of doing good works. I was surprised I didn’t even get through all my notes, but that was mostly because the folks at Parkview had so many good questions.  (See our James.)

Mike Bird who, along with my colleague Joel Willitts, blogs here at Patheos at Euangelion, interviewed me about the James commentary (The Letter of James (New International Commentary on the New Testament)), and now that he’s published it I thought I could post it here.

What was your first experience with James as a Christian and as a Teacher?

I read James in high school, but it was in college – as a sophomore – that I took a serious interest in James. I memorized in the KJV and read it – with my Greek text next to me (which I could barely read) – with Lenski’s commentary. It was an exhilarating experience for me.

When I was a young professor at TEDS I asked permission to teach James as the second course in exegesis, got that permission, and began teaching it then – and taught it annually for about a decade. Those first few years involved concordance work on everything, careful sorting of commentary options, and constant chasing down of questions that occurred to me and to my students.

I’ve not taught James as a book study since leaving TEDS, though I’ve sketched every year in our survey courses.

There’s a story about this commentary. I was scheduled to write the Baker commentary on James but, when I couldn’t meet the deadline – and had actually missed it and knew that it was going to be more than a few years down the road before I could get to it, I felt the honest thing to do was to tell Moises Silva that I couldn’t meet the deadline. He accepted my resignation, assigned it to someone else, and Dan McCarthy, as it turns out, did complete it – and it was actually in print before mine was. Several years later after failing to meet the deadline for Baker, after dinner with Gordon Fee, he asked me if I was interested in writing James for the NICNT … and I said to him, “Yes, I can do it now because I have nothing on my schedule for the next few years of that magnitude.” So, I took up the NICNT after not being able to meet the deadline for the BEC James. [Read more...]

Kris just discovered the James commentary is now available…

I got copies this week but didn’t expect Amazon to have them available until next week. So, folks, I’m very happy to see this book, which involves several years of writing — and a career of teaching, now available.

The Letter of James (New International Commentary on the New Testament).

A little back story for me. As a college student in Grand Rapids in the 70s I frequented “The Bookstore” at Eerdmans weekly — if not more often than that. My frequency improved my chances of finding major discounts on slightly damaged copies of Eerdmans books, and some of my finds were NIC commentaries. I confess to dreaming that someday I’d get a chance to write one of those commentaries.

When James arrived this week I admit to wandering back to those days and giving profound thanks to God for all that has happened.

We come to the end: James 5:19-20:
 

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring them back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the way of error will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

The book ends on an unexpected note: wandering, if not apostasy, and the pastoral summons to bring the wandering back.

Here are my observations about this text:

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James explores healing through prayer and anointing. What he urges, and here we clearly hear resonances of faith in James 1:6-8, is to pray in faith — to pray trusting that God can heal and that God will heal.

Here are James’ words:

And the prayer offered in faith will make them well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so
that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful
and effective.Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it
would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half
years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

[Read more...]

We are looking at the last passage in James, James 5:13-20.

James urges the messianic community to summon elders to pray over the sick:

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to
pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

The word “sick” means just about what you and I think it does: sick. Probably sick enough though to stand out from ordinary sickness that humans both expect and typically recover from; in fact, the passage goes on to use words that may well indicate the person is seriously sick — perhaps near death. The elders, which shows there is some kind of leadership over messianists in the communities to which James writes, are to pray and anoint with oil.

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We turn to our last week on the book of James, which we have explored through the angle of it being the wisdom of Jesus’ brother. Our next study will be on the Book of Acts, and we will be exploring Acts through the lens of missional praxis and theology. To facilitate that discussion, I recommend you purchase and read Beverly Gaventa, The Acts of the Apostles (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries).

Now back to James. Some folks think James finishes off cleanly; I’m one of those who doesn’t agree with that judgment. Instead, I think the book ends on various ideas, some of which bear slight resemblance to what precedes in the letter. Here are the last verses (5:13-20):

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Out of nowhere James says this in James 5:12:

Above all, my brothers, do not swear–not by heaven or by earth or by
anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be
condemned.

He has virtually quoted Jesus here. Here are the words of Jesus from Matthew 5:33-37:

Again, you
have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your
oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

There are differences between the two, but the similarities are so strong one has to see James as dependent upon his older brother.

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I mentioned three possible responses to suffering yesterday but there is probably at least one more: turning against one another under stress. So James 5:9-11:

Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As
you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard
of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought
about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

It surprises a bit to hear James speak about grumbling because his focus has been on the rich farmers and the oppressed, unpaid laborers. But anyone who has pastored (or coached a sports team) knows that stress can lead to turning against one another, and we see that clearly also in James 4:1-6.

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There are three basic approaches to suffering: violent reaction, passive absorption, or the Jesus-following alternative of living aright while waiting for God to bring about justice. James prefers the third option, so it seems to me. Notice the emphasis on God’s just judgment that is coming in 5:7-9:

Be patient,
then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for
the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the
autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

I believe there is a needed emphasis for some today on the importance of life now and a de-emphasis on trying to escape this life. Yes, with that needed emphasis there can be a total eclipse of final justice. Both Jesus and James do not surrender final justice in their radical commitment to justice now.

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