THE LETTER OF JAMES

 CHAPTER 1:1-8: YA'AKOV, SERVANT OF GOD

 

Beloved Heavenly Father,

Your faithful love for mankind has endured throughout the ages.  You are the God of the Patriarchs of ancient days: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  In Your infinite wisdom, Lord, You chose Jacob to be the physical father of the 12 tribes of the people You would form into the holy nation of Israel.  It was from the holy remnant of these 12 tribes that You established the Catholic Church as the New Israel whose mission is to call the whole earth to come to repentance and faith in the Gospel of salvation through Jesus the Messiah.  Lead us now, Lord, as You led these faithful men of ancient times, and send Your Holy Spirit to guide us, Father, as we study the letter of Your servant James to the faithful of the universal Church down through the centuries, calling all believers to submit to a life of righteousness, obedience, and love. We pray in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

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An excerpt from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's famous Erasmus lecture of January 27, 1988. His conclusions concerning Biblical exegesis remain an important guide for the study of sacred Scripture: "Finally, the exegete must realize that he does not stand in some neutral area, above or outside history and the Church. Such a presumed immediacy regarding the purely historical can only lead to dead ends. The first presupposition of all exegesis is that it accepts the Bible as a book. In so doing, it has already chosen a place for itself which does not simply follow from the study of literature. It has identified this particular literature as the product of a coherent history, and this history as the proper space for coming to understanding. If it wishes to be theology, it must take a further step. It must recognize that the faith of the Church is that form of "sympathia" without which the Bible remains a closed book. It must come to acknowledge this faith as a hermeneutic, the space for understanding, which does not do dogmatic violence to the Bible, but precisely allows the solitary possibility for the Bible to be itself."  [Joseph Ratzinger is now our beloved Pope Benedict XVI].

 

Technical terms applied to the study of sacred Scripture:

·        Hermeneutics: [Greek, hermeneutilos, from hermeneus =an interpreter (from Hermes)]. Applied to the study of Scripture: The art and science of Biblical interpretation.  The "science" involves study of the Biblical ancient languages and the etymology of individual words in which a Biblical passage is written.  The art involves unfolding the significance of a passage by discerning what the inspired writer meant to convey to the reader, taking into consideration the historical period, the culture of the times, and information within the entire context of the text.

·        Exegesis: [Greek,  exegeomai, = ex "to explain", or "to take from"; and hegeomai, "to lead", "to guide"].  Applied to the study of Scripture: Taking from the Biblical text the information upon which to base an interpretation.  Exegete: One who interprets a Biblical passage or text. 

·        Eisegesis: [Greek, eisagogilos, from eisago, "to introduce" = eis, "in", "into", and ago = "to lead." Reading into the Biblical text what isn't there in order to conform the interpretation of the text to certain preconceived ideas or theories.

 

James the Just, kinsman of Jesus, stepped onto the stage of Salvation History at a crucial time in the growth of the New Covenant people of God.  It was essential that the leader of the mother church in Jerusalem be a man who would command the respect of Old Covenant Jews with his piety and knowledge of the Law of Moses.  If James was indeed a lifetime Nazirite who wore the robes of a Levitical priest and serve God in the Temple as he is described by the Jewish-Christian historian Hegesippus, he would have had the required credentials to elicit the kind of respect that would be necessary.  It is obvious from the titles given him by Jews and Christians alike, James the Just or the Righteous, Zaddik and Oblias, ("Protection of the people" /"Bulwark"/ "Fortress"), that James, Bishop of Jerusalem was both revered and loved.  What better man to help swell the ranks of Jewish New Covenant believers so that the prophesized "faithful remnant" of Israel could fulfill the destiny Yahweh had given the holy covenant people of the 12 tribes of Israel, to bring the lost Gentile nations of the Tower of Babel back into Yahweh's covenant family, reborn as sons and daughters through water and the Spirit.

 

There is speculation that James may have been the legendary Teacher of Righteousness who led the religious community at Qumran, the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls which are copies of multiple Biblical texts and other documents that are dated to between 250 BC and 68 AD.  Dead Sea Scroll scholar Robert Eisenman is one of those scholars who is convinced that James "the Righteous" first Bishop of Jerusalem is also the Teacher of Righteousness of the Qumran community.  Dr. Eisenman, professor of Middle East Religions and Director of the Institute of the Study of Judea-Christian Origins at California State University, Long Beach, sees connections not only between the descriptions of James the Bishop and the Qumran leader but also parallels in the Letter of James and the community documents which are believed to be written/ influenced by the community leader.  Dr. Eisenman writes: "The known details regarding James' life and position are not inconsiderable.  In many ways we have more independent documentation concerning him than any other New Testament character, except perhaps Paul.  [...].  James was a Righteous Teacher-type, and even a casual perusal of the documents at our disposal testifies to the integral connection of the Righteousness-ideal to his person. The letter associated with his name is saturated with what should be called the works/Righteousness approach, as opposed to more Pauline/Hellenistic "free gift of Faith"/ "Grace" doctrines.  For the author of James, it is unquestionably Righteousness which, to use the terminology of 1QpHab [1 Qumran Habakkuk Pesher], viii2, and xii14 "saves", just as it is for the author of 1 QpHab and the Qumran Hymns."  The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians, page 116-117.

 

Whether or not James was indeed the Teacher of Righteous who was murdered, like James the Bishop, by the "Wicked Priest" [the title the Qumran community gave the High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem] cannot be proved but it cannot be denied that the faithful remnant of Israel that was the church in Jerusalem grew vigorously under James' leadership:  "You see, brothers, how thousands of Jews have now become believers, all of them staunch upholders of the Law..." was James, Bishop of Jerusalem's testimony to St. Paul and his companions on their visit to Jerusalem circa 58AD.  Scripture and secular documents support James' claim.  The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded that there were about 5,000 Pharisees in Judea prior to the revolt against Rome in 66AD.  Acts 2:41 records that about 3,000 men came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah after Peter's great homily at Pentecost in c. 30AD, later that number swelled to include a large group of priests [Acts 6:7], and still later the number swelled to 5,000 men [Acts 4:4], with Christians at that time equal in numbers to the Pharisees in Judea.  One can imagine the concern and consternation of the Old Covenant authority which stood in deadly opposition to the New Covenant faith, lead by the group of Galileans known as Simon-Peter and "the Twelve" and locally governed by James the Just, kinsman of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

 Scholars do not agree as to which James mentioned in the Bible wrote the Letter of St. James nor do they agree as to the date it was written.  Some scholars place the writing of the document prior to the Council of Jerusalem in 49/50AD while others place it after the council and still others who do not believe James the Bishop wrote the letter, place its composition to the 2nd century AD.  The Letter of James also had some difficulty being accepted into the canon of New Testament Scripture.  James' letter seems to have been revered by the Catholic communities in the East where Church fathers quoted from it in their letters.  Origen [185-253/4AD], the great Biblical scholar of the Christian school of theology in Alexandria, Egypt, quotes St. James as inspired Scripture.  However, Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea in the early 4th century observed that the Letter of St. James was still contested as inspired Scripture by some bishops, the Letter of James was not quoted in the earliest documents of the West.  It was not included in the list of the New Testament books known as the Muratorian canon, a list compiled circa 155/200AD, probably in Rome.  As far as the universal letters are concerned the Muratorian document includes both the letters of St. Peter I, and St. Jude and two letters of St. John [although not the 3rd letter and not 2 Peter], and John's Revelation.  It is possible that James' letter simply was not widely circulated in the West and therefore was not widely quoted simply because it was not available to early Church Bishops and scholars outside of Asia Minor. The Letter of St. James was not accepted into the canon of the Universal Church until the mid to late fourth century AD.

 

Dating James' Letter to the universal Church is also a problem.  There are no internal clues as there are in St. Paul's letters.  There are no references to historical events nor are there references to people known to history which might help date the letter.  St. Paul mentions both Roman officials and makes allusions to certain historical events like Emperor Claudius' expulsion of Jews and Christians from the city of Rome that give a fairly accurate guide to dating a number of his 14 letters.  However, the event of the first universal council of the Church known as the Council of Jerusalem may be a useful clue in dating James' letter.  This first Great Council is not mentioned in the James' letter nor is there any mention of the controversies that were central to that council, nor is there any mention of the decisions that were reached and sent out to the Church in Asia Minor in the Church's first Apostolic decree referenced in James' letter.  The complete absence of any reference to the issues discussed and decided upon at the Jerusalem council leads some scholars to conclude that since the issue of Gentile inclusion into the covenant remained a hot topic for debate from circa 49AD, when the Jewish-Christian delegation from Jerusalem visited the church in Antioch, Syria [Acts 14:19-28], until after the Church became predominantly Gentile, sometime between 73 - 100AD, it is more reasonable to assume that James wrote his letter while the New Covenant Church was still largely Jewish, and so the letter must have been written fairly early, say sometime after Jesus' Resurrection in 30AD but not later than 49/50AD, the year the church at Antioch, Syria sent Paul and Barnabas to confer with the Apostles concerning the requirements for Gentile converts. 

 

There are also scholars who take the position that St. James' letter was written prior to St. Paul's letters to the Galatians [circa 54AD] and to the Romans [circa 58AD].  They believe that those letters reflect a disagreement between James' doctrine of the necessity of good works in the plan of salvation and Paul's doctrine of salvation by faith alone, especially the passages in Galatians 2:16; 3:2,5 & 11; and Romans 3:20-31.  Other scholars take the opposing view and see James' letter as a polemic opposed to Paul's doctrine of justification by faith.  It cannot be denied that St. James' letter presents a firm obstacle to Martin Luther's theory of justification by "faith alone."  Luther so disliked the Letter of St. James that he labeled it "an epistle of straw" and would have liked to have stricken it from the New Testament canon, but he didn't dare to take that step.  While Luther added the word "alone" to the text of Romans 3:28 so that his translation read: "We hold that a man is justified by faith alone apart from works of the law", it is James' letter that completely refutes Luther's doctrine of justification by being the only book in the New Testament to use the literal words "faith alone."  James wrote: "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" James 2:24. But Paul's letters can hardly be a polemic against James or visa versa since neither inspired writer mentions the other, and it has always been a teaching of the Church that Holy Spirit inspired text cannot refute another text but only support it.  In fact, James and Paul are in complete agreement concerning the doctrine of justification.  Paul's concern is for the Old Covenant "works of the Law" [Romans 2:12-13, 25-29; 3:19-26; etc.], like the Old Covenant sacrament of circumcision and other rites which are the legal ritual embodied in the 613 articles of the Old Law, many of which no longer have any validity [according to the Council of Jerusalem] because the New Law of Jesus Christ has circumcised the hearts of believers [Jeremiah 31:31-34] and has established covenantal purity through claiming His sacrificial death and resurrection. Paul writes that justification cannot come through works of the Old Covenant Law which was incapable of offering salvation and could only identify sins, but he clearly teaches in Romans 2:6-10 that the works of God applied to the life of the believer is necessary for salvation and that God will judge everyone according to his or her works: "He will repay everyone as their deeds deserve.  For those who aimed for glory and honor and immortality by persevering in doing good, there will be eternal life; but for those who out of jealousy have taken for their guide not truth but injustice, there will be the fury of retribution.  Trouble and distress will come to every human being who does evil---Jews first, but Greeks as well; glory and honor and peace will come to everyone who does good, Jews first, but Greeks as well.  There is no favoritism with God."

 

Paul defines the necessity for faith working through love [see Galatians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11], and that the "good work" of loving one's neighbor fulfills the old ritual Law [Romans 13:8].  Paul defines faith as the initial step in one's journey of salvation and James affirms the link between genuine faith and the moral behavior of good deeds that flow from a heart attuned to God once grace has been conferred.  Paul defines this initial grace in terms of "first justification", or the union with God that is the result of the initial grace that leads one to faith and faith to baptism by water and the Spirit and a life time of continually turning to God and away from sin.  Never in James' letter when he speaks of good works does he mention "works of the law"'he only writes of works that flow from the living, active faith of a sanctified believer [also see Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 22:19; the Catechism of the Catholic Church #s 1987-2005]. 

 

The format of the letter also presents some problems for scholars.  The Letter of St. James does not have the customary formal outline of a letter written in the 1st century AD.  St. James' letter only has a very short address and greeting.  Unlike the letters written by St. Paul, after the greeting there is no introduction/thanksgiving nor is there a closing and farewell at the end of the epistle.  Compare the format of James' letter to Paul's letter to the Romans:

Paul's Letter to the Romans

The Letter of St. James

Address and greeting: Romans 1:1-7

Address and greeting: James 1:1

Introduction/thanksgiving prayer: Romans 1:8-15

Body of the letter: James 1:2-5:20

Body of the letter: Romans 1:16-15:3

 

Conclusion and greetings: Romans 15:4-16:15

 

Farewell and postscript: Romans 16:17-27

 

 

Instead of reading like a formal 1st century letter, James' letter reads more like a homily that was copied and sent out to the various Jewish Christian communities in the Gentile world.  In its form it is similar to the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews, which is attributed to St. Paul and which also reads like a homily.  Like the other ancient document attributed to St. James known as The Protoevangelium of James, and like the Letter to the Hebrews but unlike the Gospels or the other New Testament letters, James' letter to the universal Church is written in excellent koine Greek, which has caused some scholars to insist that a man raised in the humble circumstances of 1st century Galilean society could not have written this document. But a Galilean would be more likely than a Judean to have a good understanding of Greek.  The neighboring province was comprised of 10 Hellenistic cities known as the Decapolis in which Greek was the principle dialect.  The Galilee had a diverse populating.  It was at the crossroads between east and west with the great Via Maris, the road known as "the Way of the Sea" passing directly through the Galilee with travelers passing from Egypt up through the Galilee and on the Asia Minor.  Then too, Nazareth was only five miles from the regional capital Sepphoris, a largely Gentile city in which Greek, not Latin, and not the local Aramaic was the international language.  Or like St. Paul, it is possible that the Bishop of Jerusalem availed himself of the services of a well educated secretary to transcribe his letters and possibly his homilies. There were well educated Jewish and Gentile Christians who were members of the early Church.  One leader of the Christian community at Antioch, a Jewish Christian named Manaen [Acts 13:1], was a man educated in the royal school of the Herodian princes, and Jewish scribes and members of the Levitical priesthood, like St. Matthew the former tax collector, were not only well educated in the Scriptures but studied the international language that is the common Greek of the New Testament documents, as well as being versed in an ancient form of shorthand known as oxygraphos or tachygraphos .

 

Oxygraphos and tachygraphos are the Greek terms for a scribal shorthand that was in use in ancient times.  The Hebrew term for this form of writing is sofer macher.  Scribal shorthand writing was a compulsory skill for the trained scribe.  The Apostle Matthew-Levi would have had knowledge of tachygraphos which would have made it easy for him to transcribe Jesus' longer homilies like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7.  The technical term oxygraphos must have been commonly used among Jews who were fluent in Greek. In the modern translations of Scripture the 'expert scribe of Psalms 45:1-2 [New Jerusalem Bible] or "skilled writer of the Revised Version Bible translation is in the Greek Septuagint translation an "oxygraphos" a synonym for the tachygraphos, or shorthand writer.  In Ezra 7:6 the translator used the term grammateus tachys to describe the expertise and qualification of Ezra. [see The Secretary in the Letters of Paul, E. R. Richards and Eyewitness to Jesus, Carsten Thiede and Matthew D'Ancona].

 

Biblical scholars do agree that the recipients of the Letter of St. James and the two letters of St. Peter, the letter of St. Jude, and the three Letters of St. John are unlike the targeted audience of St. Paul's letters.  St. Paul's letters were to particular faith communities or to individuals but these other letters, by the end of the second century, were given the title "universal" or "catholic" because they are "universal" in their address to the faithful who compose the Church worldwide.  Among these "catholic" letters James' letter stands out in its approach to unite the Old Covenant definition of righteousness to the New Law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  James skillfully uses the teachings of the "wisdom" literature so dear to 1st century Jews and illuminates those teachings by the light of the Sermon on the Mount to bring the faithful remnant of Israel into the light of the New Covenant which he believes is the destiny of the New Israel, the Universal Church. 

 

SUMMARY OF THE LETTER OF SAINT JAMES

Biblical period

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth: the Universal Church

Covenant

New Covenant in Christ Jesus

Focus of message

Living God's law of righteousness in the light of Jesus Christ

Scripture

1:1--------1:2---------------2:14---------------3:13------------5:7-------------------5:20

Division of Text

Greeting

and summons

to faith

True religion

 

True faith

 

True wisdom

The eschatological discourse

Topic

-Value of trials

and temptations

-Prayer

-The rich vs. the poor

-Temptation

-Doers of the Word

-Respect for the poor

 

-Definition of true faith;

justification through living, active faith

-Real wisdom vs. worldly wisdom

-Disunity among Christians

-Warning to the rich and proud

-Parousia of the Lord

-Judgment

-Oaths

-Prayer, confession, Sacrament of the sick

(Sacrament of Anointing)

 

 

 

Location and author

 

Jerusalem; James Bishop of Jerusalem, kinsman of Jesus

 

Time

 

Sometime between 34 – 62/64 AD

Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2006 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

 

ADDRESS AND GREETING

James 1:1: "From James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Greetings to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion."

James' Hebrew name and his greeting would have a significant symbolic impact on the Jews listening to him.

Question: James Bishop of Jerusalem shared the same name as what Old Testament Patriarch?  What was that man's destiny?

Answer: His Hebrew name is Ya'akov (Ya'akob), which in our English Bibles is translated as "Jacob."  Jacob in the Old Testament was the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. The covenant God formed with Abraham continued through his son Isaac and was reestablished in his grandson Jacob who God renamed "Israel", "struggles with God."  Jacob/Israel was the father of 12 sons who would become the 12 physical fathers of the 12 tribes that would form the nation of Israel, the name which would be born by the nation created to be God's holy covenant people and the Old Covenant Church.

 

Biblical scholars have long noted the parallels between Old Testament and New Testament servants of God.  For example there are similarities between the lives of King Saul in the Book of 1 Samuel and the apostle Saul of Tarsus. Both men shared the same name, both were members of the tribe of Benjamin, both men experienced conversion experiences traveling down a road, and both had persecuted God's anointed.  King Saul persecuted God's anointed David and Saul of Tarsus persecuted David's heir the Messiah [anointed one] Jesus of Nazareth by persecuting His Church: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me" Acts 9:4.

 

Comparisons have also been made between Joseph of the Old Testament and Joseph the foster father of Jesus.  Both men shared the same name, both men received prophetic dreams, both men went into Egypt, both men practiced chastity and moral purity, and both men fulfilled a role in salvation history in the establishment of the people of God that was realized after their deaths.

 

Question: In addition to a shared name what other parallels can you see between the life of the Patriarch Ya'akov/Jacob and the life of the Bishop James?

Answer:

Typology of Ya'akov/Jacob son of Isaac and Ya'akov/James kinsman of Jesus

OLD TESTAMENT JACOB

NEW TESTAMENT JACOB

His name, according to Genesis 25:26 means "he will trip by the heel."  His name was prophetically fulfilled when he supplanted his elder brother in receiving the birthright promises and covenant blessings.

Bearing the same name, James/ Ya'akov supplanted his "brother" [in terms of kinship] when as the New Covenant Bishop of Jerusalem his authority made null and void the authority of the Old Covenant Jerusalem High Priest over the people of God.  His "brothers" in the Old Covenant received temporal blessings but James' New Covenant blessings were eternal.

This man God renamed "Israel" received a vision of God that transformed his life 

This "son" of Israel received a vision of the risen Christ that transformed his life

He became the "father" of the 12 tribes known as the Israelites who formed the Old Covenant Church that would be established in Jerusalem.

He became the "father" of the Israelites who were the "faithful remnant" of the 12 tribes who formed the New Covenant Church in Jerusalem.

He steadfastly stood against opposition from his brother Esau, put his faith in the promises of God, and established his family in the holy land God had promised him and his descendants.

He steadfastly stood against opposition from his Jewish "brothers"/kinsmen, put his faith in God and faithfully shepherded the New Covenant people of the family of God that had been entrusted to him so that they might one day come to the true Promise Land of heaven.

Michal Hun, Copyright © 2006 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

 

If this letter is a homily St. James delivered in Jerusalem one wonders what occasion might have led James to open his address with such a greeting: "From James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Greetings to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion."  According to the Law of Moses 3 of the 7 annual holy days of obligation: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles were deemed to be "pilgrim feasts" in which every man of the Old Sinai Covenant 13 years or older must present himself before Yahweh at the Tabernacle/Temple in Jerusalem [see Exodus 23:14-17; 34:18-24; Deuteronomy 16:1-16; Chart: The Seven Sacred Feasts of the Old Covenant].  When celebrating these pilgrim feasts Jews from all over the Greco-Roman world, which the Jews called the Diaspora, came to the holy city of Jerusalem.  Normally 1st century Jerusalem boasted about 100,000 citizens but during these feasts the numbers would swell to over 2 million [see Josephus, The Jewish Wars, 6.9.3(424-425)]. 

 

Question: Read about the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in the Upper Room during the Jewish feast of Pentecost [Shavuot] in Acts 2:5-13.  How many different regions of the Diaspora are mentioned?  Consult a map of the 1st century Roman Empire and identify the different regions.

Answer: Acts chapter 2 names 15 different regions: there were Parthians [beyond the Euphrates which marked the border of the Roman Empire], Medes and Elamites [region of Persia/Iran and the Persian Gulf], Mesopotamians [the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers], Judeans [region of the holy land that was the old kingdom of Judea].  There were travelers from Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of the Libyan coast near Cyrene.  There were also pilgrims who were residents of Rome, both Jews and Gentile proselytes, as well as pilgrims from the island of Crete and Jews from Arabia. James may have used a pilgrim feast as an opportunity to address Jews from the Gentile world who would return home to spread the Gospel of salvation.

 

Question: Compare the greeting in St. James' letter to the covenant people of the Diaspora to St. Peter's greeting to the universal Church in 1 Peter 1: 1-2. 

Answer: Peter identifies himself as "Apostle of Jesus Christ", and he directs his letter to "all those living as aliens" in the Dispersion of Asia Minor [modern Turkey].  By "aliens" Peter does not mean only Jews or Israelites but all Christians whose true home is not this world but whose home is instead the Promised Land of heaven [Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1-4; Hebrews 11:8-16; 13:14] and who must endure a temporary exile on earth before being "called home".  The Greek word for "exile" is paroikia, the word from which our word "parish" comes [1 Peter 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8].

 

Question: In James' greeting what do the 12 Tribes of Israel prefigure?  See Acts 26:7 and Revelation 7:4.

Answer: The 12 Tribes of Israel prefigure the universal kingdom of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant believers who inherit the kingdom through the sacrament of Baptism.  12 physical Israelite fathers, the sons of Jacob/Israel brought about the old Israel and now 12 spiritual Israelite fathers, the 12 Apostles have spiritually fathered the New Israel-the universal/catholic Church of Jesus Christ.

 

Question: But would these men of the Diaspora [the world outside the Promised Land] be Israelites or Jews or both?  What is the difference?   How does St. Peter characterize these pilgrims in his homily in Acts 2:14-41?  What is the significance of the term "Israel" and what would the use of the phrase "12 tribes of Israel" invoke in those hearing James' address?  When did "Israel" cease to exist [hint: see 2 Kings 17:5-9, 15-18, 20-23]? What Old Testament prophet's unfulfilled prophecy might come to mind to the assembled Jews being addressed as "Israelites" by a holy man named Ya'akov?  See for example the prophecies of Isaiah in chapter 41which begins the theme of "the servant" which is more fully developed in the section of the Book of Isaiah known as "The Servant's Song" in Isaiah chapters 42-55.

·        Isaiah 41: 8-10: "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham my friend, whom I have taken to myself, from the remotest parts of the earth and summoned from countries far away, to whom I have said, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you, I have not rejected you, do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be alarmed, for I am you God."

·        Isaiah 43:1: "And now, thus says Yahweh, he who created you, Jacob, who formed you, Israel: Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine."

·        Isaiah 44:1-2: "And now listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen.  Thus says Yahweh who made you, who formed you in the womb; he will help you. Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.  For I shall pour out water on the thirsty soil and streams on the dry ground." [note: "Jeshurun" or in Hebrew Yashurun, is a poetic name for Israel found in Deuteronomy 32:15; 33:5, 26 and Ecclesiasticus 37:25.  The Hebrew etymology is uncertain but it may mean "loyal" [from yashar] or "honest" or "righteous" as opposed to Ya'akov which means "he who supplants."

·        Isaiah 44:21-23: Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, since you are my servant.  I formed you, you are my servant; Israel, I shall not forget you.  I have dispelled your acts of revolt like a cloud and your sins like a mist.  Come back to me, for I have redeemed you.  Heavens, shout for joy, for Yahweh has acted!  Underworld, shout aloud! Shout for joy, mountains, forests and all your trees!  For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob and displayed his glory in Israel."

·        Isaiah 49:5-6: "And now Yahweh has spoken, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and to re-unite Israel to him;'I shall be honored in Yahweh's eyes, and my God has been my strength. 'He said, 'It is not enough for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel; I shall make you a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach the remotest parts of earth."

 

Answer:  In his great homily on Pentecost Sunday Simon-Peter addressed his kinsmen as "men of Judea", "men of Israel", and as "brothers."  But Israel as a unified nation has ceased to exist since 930BC and as a separate Northern Kingdom since 722BC.  The 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been dispersed into the Gentile world by their Assyrian conquerors in 722AD.  A few Israelites had drifted back to the Galilee, the first area where the Assyrian exile had begun in 732BC [see 2 Kings 15:29].  This is where Jesus began His restoration of Israel by centering his ministry in the Galilee and choosing the majority of His Apostles from among the Israelite Galileans.  Nevertheless, the majority of Old Covenant faithful were Jews, members of the Southern Kingdom of Judah which was composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin [see 1 Kings 12:20-24] and which had continued to be ruled by Davidic kings until the exile to Babylon in 587/6BC.  Isaiah prophesied the destruction and dispersion of the Northern kingdom of Israel into the Gentile nations and he also prophesied the destruction of the Southern kingdom of Judah but promised a return and a restoration after the exile which lasted 70 years.  In these passages Isaiah equated the name "Jacob" or James with Israel the chosen people.  The restoration after the Babylonian exile did take place but it was a very incomplete restoration with only a fraction of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin returning to rebuilt Judah, Jerusalem and the Temple and an even smaller faithful remnant returning to the Israelite territory of the Galilee.  The vast majority of Jews [those of the Southern Kingdom of Judah] and Israelites [those of the Northern Kingdom of Israel] never returned to the Holy Land.  But now the Christian Bishop of Jerusalem, whose very name evokes the nation of Israel, is greeting the Israelites scattered among the Gentile nations by identifying himself as God's servant and the servant of Jesus the Messiah in whom the complete restoration of the people of God has been promised by the prophets like the great 6th century BC prophet of the Babylonian exile Ezekiel: 

·        Ezekiel promised a full and complete spiritual restoration of the people which up to the time of the 1st century had not been fulfilled: Ezekiel 36:24: "For I shall take you from among the nations and gather you back from all the countries, and bring you home to your own country.  I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of all your false idols.  I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead.  I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws, and respect and practice my judgments." 

·        Ezekiel also promised a full and complete physical restoration of the divided covenant people: Ezekiel 37:21-22, 25c-28:"The Lord Yahweh says this: I shall take the Israelites from the nations where they have gone.  I shall gather them together from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil.  I shall make them into one nation in the country, on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms.  [...]. David my servant is to be their prince for ever.  I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them.  I shall resettle them and make them grow; I shall set my sanctuary among them for ever.  I shall make my home above them; I shall be their God, and they will be my people.  And the nations will know that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever."

 

St. Ya'akov's/ James' call to the Israelites that had been scattered into the Gentile nations would have evoked the memory of these promises.  They will be restored under the kingship of Jesus the Messiah and His universal Kingdom of heaven on earth in which all of Israel, even those lost Israelites who married into the Gentile clans and tribes, are to be brought back into the family of God with those Gentiles to form one nation and one universal kingdom-the Catholic Church.  This is St. Paul's theme in Romans chapters 9-11'that all of Israel will be restored by bringing in the Gentile peoples into whom the lost tribes of Israel have been scattered: "I want you to be quite certain, brothers, of this mystery, to save you from congratulating yourselves on your own good sense: part of Israel had its mind hardened, but only until the Gentiles have wholly come in; and this is how all Israel will be saved." Romans 11:25-26a

 

Why does St. James, as the inspired writer of this letter to the Covenant people, identify himself by the title "servant of God"?   The prophets, kings, and priests of Israel were all called "servants" of God.  The apostles certainly saw themselves as the successors to the prophets and as God's divine order of priests of the New Covenant.  However, there may be another reason James identifies himself by this particular title.  On a 1st century AD ossuary discovered in Jerusalem the Aramaic inscription identifies the bones of the woman interred within the ossuary as the wife and mother of priests who were "servants" of God in their congregation/ synagogue. Archaeologists can date this ossuary to prior to the destruction of Jerusalem because internment of the bones of the deceased in bone boxes [after the body was place in a tomb for a year and the flesh had fallen away from the bones leaving the desiccated bones] was only practiced in Jerusalem from the early 1st century AD until the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, the same period of time James served as Bishop of the Christian community.  The inscription on the woman's ossuary is in Aramaic, the common language of 1st century Judea, and the word used to describe the priests as "servants" of God is "hazzan."  This word which was used to describe the official title of a priest serving a congregation has been encountered in other ancient inscriptions which dated from the fourth or early fifth century AD but this particular inscription has provided evidence of the use of this official title for a priest leading a faith community dating before the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70AD is significant.  The hazzan of a Jewish congregation in the first century was more than an ordinary priest.  The hazzan served the people not only at the time of the synagogue liturgical service as God's covenant representative but also held the responsibility as guardian of the sacred scrolls, principle teacher and executor of the covenant obligations of the congregation. In Jewish synagogues today the title hazzan used differently; it is the cantor who chants the service and leads the congregation in prayer.  Some scholars have maintained that this letter could not be from James, Bishop of Jerusalem because he does not identify himself as the leader of the Jerusalem faith community but by using the title "servant" the Jews and Israelites of the Dispersion would have clearly understood that James serves as the highest ranking New Covenant priest of the Jerusalem New Covenant community and serves as hazzan of the Lord Jesus Christ the one mediator between man and God! [For more information on the use of the word hazzan see Biblical Archaeology Review, "Engraved in Memory: Diaspora Jews Find Eternal Rest in Jerusalem", May/June 2006, pages 53-57].

 

The Letter of St. James

Chapter 1:2-8: The Privilege of Suffering as a Conduit for Prayer and Spiritual Growth

 

"But the souls of the upright are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them.  [...]. God was putting them to the test and has proved them worthy to be with him; he has tested them like gold in a furnace, and accepted them as a perfect burnt offering." Wisdom 3:1, 5-6

 

"For Yahweh himself is giver of wisdom, from his mouth issues knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 2:6

 

As the Hazzan of the faith community in Jerusalem, St. James offers sound and practical advice on how to live in righteousness guided by the light of the New Covenant Law of Jesus the Messiah.  His major themes will be the righteousness of true religion, true faith, and true wisdom, and he will close his discourse with a warning concerning the second advent of the Messiah.

 

Please read James 1:2-8

James 1:2-4: "My brothers, consider it a great joy when trials of many kinds come upon you for you well know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, and perseverance must complete its work so that you will become fully developed, complete, not deficient in may way."

 

What a way for James to begin his address!  We love to receive the blessings of faith but all of us shrink and cringe at the prospect of suffering!  The Greek word peirasmos in this passage can be translated either as "trial" or as "temptation."  The majority of the Fathers of the Church preferred to interpret this passage as referring to the trials a Christian must face as he makes his faith journey through this life.  James will continue in this theme in verses 12-14 where he will assure Christians "Never, when you are being put to the test, say, 'God is temping me', God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not put anybody to the test." God allows trials to test us and to teach us lessons in faith and perseverance but He does not tempt us with evil.  We allow ourselves to fall into temptation and to act upon it.  The inspired writer of the Book of Wisdom warns: "Do not court death by the errors of your ways, nor invite destruction through the work of your hands." Wisdom 1:12.

 

Question: Who is it that James addresses as his brothers in this passage? 

Answer: His kinsmen and kinswomen who are Christian descendants of Jacob/Israel.  The Greek word for "brother" in the plural can mean both "brothers" and "sisters".  In this statement James offers words of consolation to 1st century Jewish Christians who were suffering at the hands of their Jewish countrymen who rejected the New Covenant of Jesus of Nazareth.  In many cases families were being torn asunder and New Covenant Jews were being barred from worshipping with their kinsmen in the local synagogues.  This is not what New Covenant Jews and Israelites expected in the promised Kingdom of the Davidic Messiah.  They expected restoration and covenantal peace, instead they experienced painful emotional disharmony and personal suffering.  Was this the bitter fruit of restoration to be expected?

 

Question: What did the prophet Simeon reveal to the Virgin Mary concerning Jesus' destiny when she brought her son to be dedicated at the Temple in Luke 2:34?  What did Jesus say about the kind of suffering that a New Covenant believer would have to endure for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven on earth?  See Matthew 10:17-25; 34-36.

Answer: Simeon prophesized in Luke 2:34:  "Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed..."; and Jesus warned that families would be divided between those who came to accept Him as the Messiah and those who rejected Him.  Jesus' mission was to prepare the new Israel to fulfill her destiny to being salvation to the Gentile nations.  Fulfilling this mission was to bring hostility and persecution from His own people upon Him and His followers.

Question: What promise does Jesus make to those who persevere?  See Matthew 10:26-33, 40-42.  What promises are made to those who remain faithful and persevere in the midst of trials in the 7 letters to the 1st century faith communities in Asia Minor from the Book of Revelation chapters 2-3?  See 2:7; 2:10-11; 2:17; 2:26-29; 3:5-6; 3:12-13; 3:21-22.

Answer:  In every case Jesus promised victory to the 7 churches in Asia Minor, but please observe that in these passages Jesus doesn't only call for confessing belief in Him by words alone.  Words must be followed by deeds.  This is St. James' central theme, not only to hear but to live out faith in action.

 

Question: How did these words give hope to the Jewish-Christians who received James' message?  What was happening to St. Paul and other Jewish Christians when they tried to share the Gospel of salvation with Jews in the Diaspora?  See Acts 13:50-51; 14:4-5; 17:5-9; 18:12-17.

Answer: Some Jews openly accepted the message of the risen Messiah but others were violently opposed to the New Covenant teachings.  In many towns and villages New Covenant Jewish believers were being beaten, excommunicated from the local Synagogues and rejected by their families.  In many cases local Synagogues were formed around certain trades or guilds so this separation was not only emotionally wrenching but was economically disastrous for Jewish Christian families. 

 

James will elaborate on this theme of perseverance in times of trial in James 1:12-15, but here he introduces the concept that although we have been reborn into the family of God we are not yet fully developed in our spiritual life.  This is an important teaching.  Sometimes crisis for the Christian is not so much from a lack of faith as from a misunderstanding of expectations.  St. John the Baptist, suffered in his dungeon of doubt formed not by the walls of Herod Antipas' prison but by his misunderstanding of the scope of God's plan.  John sent emissaries to Jesus asking in essence, "Did I get it wrong; are you really who I though you were?" John was experiencing a crisis of expectation not a crisis of belief in God [see Matthew 11:1-5].  And perhaps Simon-Peter's crisis the night Jesus was arrested was more a crisis of expectation than a crisis of faith [John 18:10-11; 25-27]'after all why would God allow lowly humans to so abuse and revile Him?  James wants his kinsmen in the New Covenant to understand that this is part of the process of our journey to salvation, that we need to be trained by our Father through trial and suffering to grow in faith and righteousness. 

 

Question: It seems a paradox that trial and suffering could be good for us, James even goes so far as to say that Christians should rejoice in their trials.  Why?  Hint: see what St. Peter and St. Paul taught about trials in 1 Peter 1:6-7; Romans 5:3-5; Colossians 1:24.

Answer:

·        St. Peter wrote that trials strengthen and refine our faith: "This is a great joy to you, even though for a short time yet you must bear all sorts of trials; so that the worth of your faith, more valuable than gold, which is perishable even if it has been tested by fire, may be proved to your praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

·        St. Paul teaches in Romans 5:3-5 that trials are meant to help Christians "toughen up" and develop the virtue of perseverance which will develop character and a good character rooted in divine grace preserves us from sin, strengthens our faith, and faith gives us hope.  

·        In Colossians Paul admonishes us that Jesus suffered in order to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and anyone who is willing to continue this work must share this suffering.  Paul is therefore happy to associate himself with the trials of Jesus through his suffering in his apostolate, living in imitation of Christ.  The sacrifice of the suffering of God's servants is the way in which God has always intended the Church to grow and develop.  This is part of what has been prophesized in the Messianic era [see Matthew 24:8; Acts 14:22; 1 Timothy 4:1].  Our suffering united to Christ gives us the compassion and humility we need to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

 

Question: What is the last petition of the prayer known as the Lord's Prayer and how is this petition related to our trials and sufferings?

Answer: The last petition of the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray makes the plea: "Deliver us from evil."  The petition is not "deliver us from suffering or trials."  In the trials God allows us to experience, we recognize our weakness and our need for God.  The first beatitude Jesus preached in Matthew chapter 5 is "Blessed are the poor in spirit" 'blessed are those who recognize that they are not self-sufficient; blessed are those who know that they need God!   It is when we realize that we are weak that we turn to God for the strength He can give us.  Is has been said that God whispers to us in our pleasures but He shouts to us in our pain.  It isn't self-sufficiency of spirit that yields humility and prayer but it is suffering that brings us to the feet of the Master.  Just look at God's creation, where is all the growth in nature; on the mountain tops or in the valleys?  It is the same for each of us.  We are energized by our emotional spiritual highs but all the real spiritual growth comes from those deep valleys when like David in the 23rd Psalm we "pass through the valley of the shadow of death" when we have to completely rely on His strength to show us the way, when we deeply feel His presence and can pray as David prayed: "I shall fear no evil, for you are at my side!" [see The Sermon on the Mount Study, Lesson #2: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit].

 

In 1 Corinthians 3:9 St. Paul writes, "After all, we do share in God's work; you are God's farm (laborers), God's building," and in Romans 8:17 Paul writes, "And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory." Let those words sink in, we share in His glory IF we allow ourselves to share in His suffering!  To share in the work of the Father and to inherit the glory He has promised us God has provided a unique way for us to experience the work of Christ when in our suffering we offer up and unite our earthly sufferings to the suffering of Jesus Christ.  Jesus created for us a space in His own suffering for us to join Him and in that sacrifice of our suffering to be purified and refined in our spiritual condition.  Suffering and trials offered up to Christ yields compassion and humility, enabling us to be prepared to let the works of God flow through us.  It is in this way that we become useful tools in the hands of the Master so that, as St. James assures us, "perseverance must complete our work so that you will become fully developed, complete, not deficient in any way."

 

Question: What does James mean when he refers to the necessity of "our work" being completed?

Answer: It has always been a consistent teaching in sacred Scripture that faith must be perfected in deeds'in the Old Covenant and in the New.  This teaching is James' central theme, and he will more fully develop it in chapter 2.  St. Paul was also consistent in this teaching.  In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul wrote to the faith community in Thessalonica: "We remember before our God and Father how active is the faith, how unsparing the love, how persevering the hope which you have from our Lord Jesus Christ."

 

Question: In order to share in His kingdom what did Jesus ask of every Christian in Matthew 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; and 14:27?

Answer: To take up our cross and to follow Him.  St. Rose of Lima understood what Jesus asks of us in uniting our love and suffering with His, and what Paul was teaching in Romans 8:17 when she wrote "the cross is the only ladder to heaven!"

 

Question: When we ask to be relieved of the burden of suffering does Jesus always comply with our petition?  Why not? Read St. Paul's account of personal suffering and his petition to be released from his burden in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Answer: Three times St. Paul pleaded to be healed but God denied his request as He will sometime deny our petitions.

Question: In that case what promise does He give us that he also gave St. Paul?  See 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 2 Corinthians 12:9.

Answer: We have our Lord's promise:

·        1 Corinthians 10:13: None of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand.  You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it."  

·        2 Corinthian 12:9-10:  "...but he has answered me, 'My grace is enough for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness.'  It is then, about my weaknesses that I am happiest of all to boast, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me; and that is why I am glad of weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions and distress for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong." 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] # 2015 teaches: "The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross.  There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.  Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes..."  Accepting trial and suffering becomes for the Christian, who offers his or her suffering up as a sacrifice to God, a participation in Jesus' work of salvation [see CCC # 307; 618; 1508, 1521; Romans 14:8; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:13; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Colossians 1:24; 1 Peter 2:21].

 

James 1:5-8: Praying with confidence

"Any of you who lacks wisdom must ask God, who gives to all generously and without scolding; it will be given.  But the prayer must be made with faith, and no trace of doubt, because a person who has doubts is like the waves thrown up in the sea by the buffeting of the wind.  That sort of person, in two minds, inconsistent in every activity, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord."

 

James speaks of wisdom.  Webster's dictionary (1969) defines "wisdom" as "The quality of being wise; the power or faculty of forming the fittest and best judgment in any mater presented for consideration; sound judgment and sagacity; prudence; discretion; right judgment concerning religious and moral truth; godliness."

Question: How does the Bible define true wisdom and where can one go or what must one do to receive wisdom?  Hint: see Job 28:20-28; Proverbs 2:6; 15:33-16:2; Isaiah 11:1-2 and CCC 1831; Wisdom 1:4-5; 8:20-21a; 1 Corinthians 1:24-31.

Answer: Christian wisdom is not found in human understanding; it is found in Christ, a member of the human race through His mother, but in being fully God as well as fully man it is His divinity which imparts wisdom to mankind.  His wisdom imparted to man is of eternal salvation, saving justice, sanctification and redemption.  Wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit and to live in wisdom is to live in union with the will of God. 

 

Question: Is wisdom a gift given only once that never needs to be replenished?  In 1 Kings 3:5 young King Solomon was told he could make a petition of God and it would be granted to him.  He asked for and received divine wisdom [see the spirit of Solomon's prayer for wisdom in Wisdom 9:1-18].  Was Solomon forever wise?

Answer: No. He began his reign depending on the wisdom of God but later he came to depend on his own "wisdom" which proved to be folly.  He broke every limitation Yahweh had placed on the monarchy and his ambition proved to be ruinous for the Kingdom of Israel, which broke apart into 2 kingdoms after his death.  See Deuteronomy 17:14-20 for the "Law of Kings" and 1 Kings 5:6; 10; 26-28 for Solomon's failure to keep the Kings Law.

 

Wisdom is a gift from God and James gives assurance that God in His goodness desires to grant our petitions.  In this he echoes Jesus' teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, and as his address continues James will return again and again to that significant teaching on the New Covenant Law and apply it to the Old Covenant teachings with which the Jews are familiar.  In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus promised God's generous response to our prayers when He said: "Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.  Everyone who seeks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened."

Question: But what condition does James say must accompany the petition for divine wisdom in James 1:6?

Answer: Prayer grounded in faith.

 

Question: Why does James say that a person with doubts will fail in his petition?

Answer: One who prays doubting God is one who possesses a divided heart. 

·        God knows the depth of our hearts which is the center of religious awareness and our morality [Psalms 51:10, 17; Jeremiah 4:4; 31:31-33; Ezekiel 36:26]. 

·        It is from our hearts that we seek God [Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalm 105:3; 119:2, 10], and

·        It is from our hearts where we, when we are still, can listen to Him [1 Kings 3:9; Ecclesiasticus 3:29; Hosea 2:16], and

·        It is from our hearts that we offer Him true worship and service [1 Samuel 12:20, 24; Psalm 111:1; Deuteronomy 6:5]. 

Anyone who has a divided heart and is not fully committed to loving and serving God in works of faith will be easily influenced by the world and its values tossed about like the waves and pulled between God and the ways of the world.  Such a person stands upon a precipice between heaven and destruction and such a person must get right with God before the gift of wisdom can be given or the gift will be abused and discarded. 

 

Question: If true wisdom comes from knowledge of God, what does it mean to "know" God according to sacred Scripture?

Answer: Knowledge of God is the intimate relationship with the Most Holy Trinity through the covenant He has formed with His holy people.  True wisdom is the knowledge of the will of God for one's life and that knowledge can never contradict the moral and spiritual laws of that divine covenant.  It is the Church who defines the covenant duties, obligations, and blessings of God's people.  One who lacks covenant knowledge of God cannot make wise choices and can not possess wisdom as defined in divine terms.  St. James will return to a discussion of true wisdom in chapter 3.

 

Question for group discussion:

If wisdom is defined as knowledge of God which allows one to discern the will of God for one's life how can one discern what action to take in any given circumstance based on this definition?  What is a good starting point? And if the righteous decision is difficult and painful, or even brings loss and sacrifice, what does God promise through his apostle St. Paul in Romans 8:28-30?  Can you share some examples of making difficult decisions based upon the wisdom of God?  Is a "cafeteria Catholic" a participator in the divine life of the Trinity or only a part time companion with a divided heart?

 

Catechism references for James 1:1-8 [*indicates Scripture passage quoted in catechism reference]:

1:2-4

#307; 618; 1508; 1521; 2015

1:5-8

#1831; 2633*; 2737*

 

Resources used in this lesson:

1.      One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, Kenneth D. Whitehead

2.      Teachings of the Church Fathers, John R.Willis, S.J.

3.      Church History, Bishop Eusebius

4.      Church History, Father John Laux, M.A.

5.      The Anchor Bible: The Letter of James, Luke Timothy Johnson

6.      Sacra Pagina: James, Father Patrick Hartin

7.      Navarre Bible Commentary: Catholic Letters

8.      The Faith of the Early Fathers, William A. Jurgens

9.      Strong's Concordance

10.  The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians, Robert Eisenman

11.  Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, edited by Gerald Bray

12.  Catechism of the Catholic Church

13.  Many Religions-One Covenant, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

14.  Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, Venerable Bede