The Letter of James
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When was James Written? and To Whom? James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. James 1:1 To Whom is James Sent? James is one of the "catholic" or universal letters in our New Testament. By this we mean that the letter is written to the church universal, rather than to a specific local Christian community, like Paul's letter to the church at Rome, or the church at Corinth. The greeting is typical of letters of this time, starting with the author and then the audience. The audience is identified as the twelve tribes in the Dispersion. 1 Peter 1:1 is addressed to the exiles of the Dispersion in five named towns, while John 7:35 refers to the Dispersion among the Greeks. We know that there was extensive Jewish population throughout Rome in the first century, commonly referred to as the diaspora. This diaspora was the audience for the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Some of the Many Centers of Jewish Population Outside Israel: the 'Dispersion' or 'Diaspora' Map courtesy of Gordon Smith from http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/JBPhillips.htm So is James writing to Jewish Christians in the area surrounding Jerusalem? Or to Jewish Christians throughout Rome? Scholars who favor a later date for the Letter of James also suggest that all Christians, Gentile or Jew, are part of a spiritual diaspora--that is we are far from the Kingdom of God. When was James Written? Clearly WHO wrote James is connected to WHEN the letter was written. If James is one of the disciples, or a child of Mary, brother of Jesus, or a tax collector who followed Jesus, than the letter writer actually witnessed Jesus' ministry. James, the brother of Jesus, for example, was martyred in 62 CE (Moo 25). If he wrote the letter it is among the earliest New Testament writings. If, however, a later Christian writer used the name James to give authenticity to their letter, than it is likely James was written between 75 and 125. It is then one of the latest New Testament writings (Childs 434). Scholars in favor of the later date for James argue that a first century Palestinian Jew is unlikely to use such polished Greek (Johnson 183). The letter reveals a familiarity with the Greek, rather than Hebrew, Old Testament. The text parallels 1 Peter and other later Christian writings in many ways. The descriptions of James in Acts and Galatians do not match closely with the James of this letter (Childs 435). (Acts 1:13, 12:2-17, 15:13, 21:18 and Galatians 1:19, 2:7-14.) Yet the writer of James knows the teachings of Jesus as from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and the earlier text scholars call "Q". James presumes that new Christians will accept the Torah as scripture in 1:24-25 and 2:8-13. This view was common before the Apostolic Council in 48 or 49. And wouldn't a letter written after the Apostolic Council grapple with Paul's theology of justification by faith alone? James' Letter also includes a strong eschatology, or belief that the end is coming soon. Concern for the end times is rare in Christian writings after the first generation. Who wrote James, and when, continues to be an issue in the church as the New Testament canon is formed and reformed over the ages. Luther's commentary calling James an "epistle of straw" has reduced the authority of James in Protestant churches today, but he did not invent the doubt surrounding the text. Resources Brevard S. Childs, The New Testament as Canon: An Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1994). Luke Timothy Johnson, The Letter of James in The New Interpreter's Bible Volume XII, Leander E. Keck et al, editors. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000). Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James in The Pillar New Testament Commentary, DA Carson, general editor. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000).

This article is written by Elizabeth M. Magill ©Women's Division,United Methodist Church, 2002.