The Letter of James is notable for its extensive use of scriptural references. At one time the letter's heavy reliance on Old Testament quotes seemed to imply the author was more Hebrew than Christian. Some scholars argued that James was not originally a Christian text. The letter may be commentary on Leviticus 19 or Psalm 12. Today we recognize that the letter uses significant texts from the Gospels and has a similar style and message as Paul's letters. Similarities with Matthew and Luke, without using the exact language of either Gospel, are sometimes used to argue that the writer James must have been an eye witness of Jesus preaching. James probably would have attempted to use the language of the Gospels if he had not heard the Sermon on the Mount or Sermon on the Plain himself.

References to Scripture
General Old Testament | Leviticus and Psalm 12
Sermon on the Mount | Paul's Letters | Top of Page

Background Pages
What's In A Word? | James uses Biblical Texts | Paul and James
Will the REAL James Stand Up? | When was James Written?
To Whom is James Sent? | Canon: Is James IN or OUT?
Read it Yourself: Comments on James in the Canon
Annotated Bibliography

James uses Old Testament
James refers to a number of Old Testament personalities, including Job, Elijah, Rahab and Abraham. The writer also uses Isaiah and Amos, along with four of the five books of Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. His message is that the Law is essential to living a Christian life. The people mentioned and the prophets quoted all are calling us back to righteous living, and are promising that endurance in the face of suffering will be rewarded.

James 5:11 offers blessing for Job's endurance in the face of suffering. The Greek is hupomone, most commonly translated perseverance rather than endurance. Before presuming that James is calling on the oppressed to accept their suffering without resistance, look again at the story of Job. He is resistant, argumentative, and demanding of justice. He perseveres in his arguments, and, importantly, remains righteous and faithful in the face of suffering.

Ezekiel and Sirach also use Job as examples. In Ezekiel 14:14 and 14:20 Job is listed along with Noah as an example of extreme righteousness. In Sirach 49:9 Job holds fast to all the ways of justice. Perseverance and endurance, then, are not calls to passive acceptance, but rather to radical justice and righteous living in the face of oppression. James 2:5 echoes the cry of Job in Job 30:25 Was not my soul grieved for the poor?

God is a refuge for the poor in Isaiah 25:4, who will gain a kingdom of plenty by verses 6-8. James 2:5 is likely a reference to this. The rich will be destroyed in James 5:1 and also in Amos 8:4-6. Isaiah 40:6-7 proclaims that the people, like grass, will fade away; James 1:10-11 limits the destruction to the rich.

Another prophet James mentions is Elijah. In James 5:17 Elijah is an example of praying for no rain (see 1 Kings 17:1 and 18:1, 45). In the story Elijah isn't praying until 1 Kings 17:20-22, where he cries out against God: O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son? James calls us to prayer, but the prayer is not one of acceptance, but of calling out for justice.

Abraham is mentioned in James 2:21 as an example of how actions, not only faith, are important to God. Abraham's faith in God guides him in his actions in Genesis 22:1-19. James 2:23 quotes Genesis 15:6 Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,and he was called the friend of God. We see righteousness as critical again, and that right faith leads to right action.

Rahab, mentioned in James 2:25, is also an example of faith leading to action. In Joshua 2:11 Rahab has heard of God's actions and proclaims the LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. It is her faith that calls her to her righteous action, hiding the scouts for the Hebrews. See the entire story in Joshua 2:1-21. James offers her as an example her actions justifying her with God. (Note that Rahab also appears as an ancestor of Jesus in Matthew 1:5.)

James' focus on actions and the law is also shown in his use of Torah. James 2:8 refers to the royal law, found in Leviticus 19:18. The ten commandments, specifically Exodus 20:13, 14, is quoted in James 2:11. We are not to speak evil against one another in James 4:11-12; this is from Leviticus 19:16. And Leviticus 19:13 contains the law against keeping a laborer's wages that James mentions in 5:4.

References to Scripture
General Old Testament | Leviticus and Psalm 12
Sermon on the Mount | Paul's Letters | Top of Page

Background Pages
What's In A Word? | James uses Biblical Texts | Paul and James
Will the REAL James Stand Up? | When was James Written?
To Whom is James Sent? | Canon: Is James IN or OUT?
Read it Yourself: Comments on James in the Canon
Annotated Bibliography

James as Commentary on Leviticus and Psalm 12
Some scholars have argued that James extensive allusions are because he was writing midrash on Leviticus, chapter 19, or on Psalm 12, verses 1-6. Midrash is essentially commentary on a earlier text, interpreted to meet the needs of a specific audience and community (W21). There are specific forms of midrash, but the point here is not that James follows a form, but rather that his writing has an intertextuality with the older writings. James uses citations, illusions, echoes and cues that will bring the Leviticus or Psalm 12 to mind when the letter is read (W21).

At least one scholar claims that James goal was to write a commentary on Psalm 12. In fact anyone who knew the Psalm would quickly note the similarities. Psalm 12, especially verses 1-4, complains about flattering lips, boasting and lying, double-minded and confident of their own worth. James addresses these same issues repeatedly: in 1:8, 1:19-27, 3:1-12, 4:11-12, 4:13-16 and 5:12. James and the Psalmist are both concerned that no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:8).

But beyond taming of our tongues, it is clear in Psalm 12 that those with boasting lips are wealthy or powerful. The promise of the Psalm is that the LORD will rise up against them, and in the defense of the poor (Psalm 12:5). In the same way, the promise of James is that God will reverse the situation and bring joy to the persecuted. James opens with this promise in 1:2 and 1:9-11, and then repeats it more forcefully at the closing in 5:1-6.

“Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now rise up,” says the LORD; “I will place them in the safety for which they long.” Psalm 12:5

Leviticus 19:15 defines the sacred community as one that does not favor rich over poor (W106), and thus gives them the safety for which they long. The entire chapter is considered key to the Holiness code, found in Leviticus 18-26 (F502). It also may refer to the Ten Commandments. The text is extending sacred law into a law for ordinary life, mostly about ethical relations between people (F600). Leviticus 19 is in some ways a summary of the whole of the Law, and James commentary encourages readers back to that law.

James looks closely at the law in 1:25-2:12. This section opens and closes with reference to the Law of Liberty, and uses the term Royal Law in 2:8. For the Royal Law James quotes Leviticus 19:18 You shall love your neighbor as yourself, but he does not give direct explanation of the term Law of Liberty. This section of James is about care of widows and orphans, and the preferential option for the poor (W94), and calls to mind Leviticus 19:15.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.

Wall argues that the use of the word liberty links this section to Leviticus 25 and the concept of Jubilee (W92). The letter mentions equal treatment and offers hope for the poor and persecuted, but is also calling the congregation back to the law. Jubilee requires that fields are left unplanted, debts are forgiven, and land lost in bad times is returned to its owners. Leviticus clearly has a strong preferential option for the poor, and James is alluding to this part of the law.

James makes references to many verses of the law in Leviticus 19. Above we have noted James 2:1 and 2:8 allude to Leviticus 19:15, 16, and 18. James 4:11 calls for fair treatment and honesty with your neighbor, also the message of Leviticus 19:11 and 19:13. Leviticus 19:13 and James 5:4 require that we pay laborers every day. James insistence that our yes be yes, without swearing, and 3:10-12 refers to Leviticus 19:12.

James knows the scripture of time, what we call Old Testament, intimately. We do not know whether his goal was to write a commentary on those texts. But it is clear that he considers these texts relevant, and that the message of Psalm 12 and of Leviticus inform his letter to this new Christian community.

References (Link to full Bibliography for web site)
Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses, (New York: Schocken Books, 1995).

Robert W. Wall, Community of the Wise: The Letter of James, (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1997).

References to Scripture
General Old Testament | Leviticus and Psalm 12
Sermon on the Mount | Paul's Letters | Top of Page

Background Pages
What's In A Word? | James uses Biblical Texts | Paul and James
Will the REAL James Stand Up? | When was James Written?
To Whom is James Sent? | Canon: Is James IN or OUT?
Read it Yourself: Comments on James in the Canon
Annotated Bibliography

James and the Sermon on the Plain/Mount
James uses the name of Jesus only twice, in 1:1 and 2:1. Yet we can see by the extensive use of the reversals, similar to those in the the beatitudes, that it is a thoroughly Christian text. James 1:12, 1:25 and 5:10 use a form of makarios or blessed. Scriptural texts that declare God's praise or blessing on an individual are called beatitudes, from the latin for blessed. While beatitudes are used throughout the Bible, they are most prevalent in the Psalms, Matthew, and Luke.

In the Psalms the blessing is a sign of God's nearness to those who trust, hope, love, and wait for God, and those whose sins have been forgiven. In the New Testament beatitudes take on a more eschatological joy--the promised blessing is connected to the Kingdom of God, and demonstrates a reversal of human values. Like the gospels, James' beatitudes have these new themes. Yet it is not just use of blessed that connects James to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, or the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6.

In Matthew 5:3 and Luke 6:20 we have the basic structure of a Beatitude: Blessed are the poor (in spirit) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Luke 6:24 adds woe to the rich. Compare this with James' language

Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. James 1:9-10

Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? James 2:5

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. James 5:1

The Magnificat, especially Luke 1:52-53 is also an example of the message of reversal that James mirrors. The lowly are lifted up; the rich are sent away empty, just like in James 1:9-10. In the Gospels and in James the promise is for the future, but for the present times as well. The believer can boast today in 1:9, the rich should weep and wail now in 5:1. The promises of theses verses are comfort for the persecution the Christian community is experiencing.

Matthew 5:10 offers a blessing for the persecuted, as does Luke 6:11-12. Luke 6:22-23 goes on to offer blessing when we are hated, excluded, reviled and defamed. In a similar way James 1:2-4 calls the community to joy when facing trials. James 1:12 offers blessings and the crown of life to those who endure temptation. And James 5:10 calls all who show endurance blessed.

Matthew and Luke each have additional beatitudes that are found in James. Matthew 5:9 says that peacemakers will be called the children of God and James 3:18 offers a harvest of righteousness for those who make peace. Luke 6:21 and 6:25 promises that the hungry will be filled, those who weep will laugh, the full will be hungry and those who laugh will mourn. Believers are exhorted to lament and mourn and weep, and to let laughter turn into mourning in James 4:9. James 4:6 is a similar reversal: God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

James uses additional teachings from the Sermon on the Plain and Mount. Luke 6:27 and James 2:8 repeat the Levitical law to love our neighbors as ourselves. Matthew 5:17-19 insists that the law and prophets are not abolished, while James 2:8-11 insists that breaking any one law is breaking the whole of the law. James 1:25 says that those who not only hear, but also DO the law will be blessed. In Matthew 5:21-22 it is not enough to avoid murder, even those who are angry are subject to judgment. James 1:19-20 says we must be slow to anger, for anger does not produce God's righteousness.

References to Scripture
General Old Testament | Leviticus and Psalm 12
Sermon on the Mount | Paul's Letters | Top of Page

Background Pages
What's In A Word? | James uses Biblical Texts | Paul and James
Will the REAL James Stand Up? | When was James Written?
To Whom is James Sent? | Canon: Is James IN or OUT?
Read it Yourself: Comments on James in the Canon
Annotated Bibliography