Apostles Anglican Church
Fr. John A. Roop

The Epistle of St. James: Basic Christian Living 101
Introduction and Chapter 1

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Let us pray.

Collect of Saint James of Jerusalem
Grant, O God, that, following the example of your apostle James the Just, kinsman of our Lord, your Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Introduction
If you want to become an electrical engineer — to master the physics and mathematics that are foundational to that profession — you go to college for four years, and more likely five. But, if you want to know how to change the lid switch on your washing machine, you go to a four to five minute video on YouTube: no theory, just the hands-on, nuts-and-bolts technique you need to get the job done. Both college and YouTube have their place.

If you want to know Christian theology, you spend years in St. John’s Gospel, in Romans, in parts of Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. But, if you want to know the hands-on, nuts-and-bolts of daily Christian living, you might just turn to the Epistle of James. Romans is more like college or seminary, and James is more like YouTube: each essential, neither really more important than the other. Think of James as Basic Christian Living 101 and you get the idea.

You probably know that the Old Testament book of Esther never mentions God. Yet, God isn’t absent from the story; he is the “Hidden One” influencing and directing everything that happens. Similarly, James mentions Jesus only twice, and these two mentions are almost in passing. Yet, Jesus suffuses every page of the letter. It has been said — and I think there is some validity to it — that James is the practical outworking of the Sermon on the Mount and that those two texts should be read side-by-side.

So, we are not looking for deep theology in James — whatever that means — but for how we are to live out deep theology in the struggles of life in the world and life in the Christian community. With that, let’s turn to the text.

Greetings
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Who is this James? There are several candidates: James the Apostle and brother of John, the first of the Apostles martyred, or James the Lesser, also an Apostle. But the Church has long associated this letter with a different James — James, the brother (kinsman) of our Lord. This James appears in Matthew 13:55 in a listing of Jesus’s brothers: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” Though James apparently disbelieved Jesus during his ministry, he received a post-resurrection appearance of the Lord which changed everything. St. Paul mentions it in 1 Cor 15:7: “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” From that time, James assumed a leadership role in the Jesus movement, in the Church in Jerusalem, where he presided as what we would call the Bishop of Jerusalem. St. Paul mentions him in Gal 1:19 as being in Jerusalem and as being counted among the Apostles. St. Luke documents James’ leadership role in the Jerusalem Church in Acts 15, in the account of the Jerusalem Council where James presides over the council and where he judges and speaks for the Church in the decision regarding Gentile inclusion apart from the full Mosaic law. This much we know about James from the New Testament.

Extra-biblical sources tell us that James was a devout Jew, a Nazirite noted for personal righteousness and piety and especially prayer. He was nicknamed “James the Just” for his integrity and “Camel Knees” because of the thick callouses he developed on his knees from time spent kneeling in prayer. The Church historian Eusebius documents James’ martyrdom in 62 A.D. (Eusebius, The History of the Church, II. 23).

James was an instrumental figure in the first three decades of the Church, spanning the transition from the Church as a Jewish-only sect to a body comprised of Jews and Gentiles together — often uncomfortably together — to a primarily Gentile body. His letter was likely written early in that period; some place it as early as 42 A.D. which would make it the first of the New Testament writings. Even if it were written a decade later, it still gives us a window into the early age of the Church when a large segment of it was still very Jewish in character. The letter itself has the style of Jewish wisdom literature — e.g. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach — and is more a collection of loosely related topics than a unified theological treatise, a boots-on-the-ground manual of Christian behavior.

Notice how James identifies himself in his greeting: not as the brother of Jesus but as a servant/slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. This attitude is a reflection of Jesus’ own example and his teaching to the Twelve:

25 “…You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:25-28).

This humility is a hallmark of true Christian leadership. Where it is absent, beware. This kind of humility does not diminish authority in leadership; remember that a slave could act with authority on behalf of the master. But, it acknowledges the delegated nature of all Christian authority and leadership and puts it in subjection under God and the Lord Jesus Christ. James does have authority — he is the bishop of the mother Church in Jerusalem — but his authority is a dual act of servanthood: the obedience of a slave to his master, and the service of a slave to the master’s children.

James writes to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion, that is to Jewish Christians scattered abroad throughout the empire. This address makes two important points: (1) either that at this time the Church was still primarily Jewish or that James’s ministry was primarily to the Jewish Church, and (2) that James identified the Jewish followers of Jesus as true Israel, as the faithful remnant of Israel — the twelve tribes — for whom the promises of the covenant had been fulfilled in Jesus. This latter point — that Jewish Christians are the faithful remnant of Israel on whom the fulfillment of the covenant falls — is taken up by Paul, not least in Romans 9-11 in a bit of heavy theology, and then extended to include faithful Gentiles.

Testing of Your Faith
As we move farther into the text, let’s begin with a question: Why are you here? I don’t mean, “Why are you here in this class this morning?” but rather “Why are you here at all?” Why has God given you this day? What is your purpose? What is your reason for being?

What are some answers we might hear if we asked the random person on the street?

What are some answers we might hear if we asked the random Christian in the pew?

How might we answer it after some reflection?

There are many ways to frame a Christian answer. My purpose is to (1) put on Jesus Christ, (2) be transformed in Christlikeness, (3) be fully sanctified, (4) love God supremely and my neighbor as myself, (5) become a saint. James, as we will see, answers this way: to be perfect and complete [in Christ], lacking nothing (James 1:4). Now, here is the key: if this is truly your goal, then you will welcome, you will treasure anything that helps you achieve it. If I were an Olympic-hopeful athlete, for example, if my goal were to stand on the gold medal podium, I would embrace anything — long hours and hard days of training, exhausting routines, painful workouts, even injuries — anything that would lead to my goal. If that is true in a physical sense, how much more so in a spiritual sense. So, James writes:

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Great athletes, great artists, great scholars are both born and made; they have certain inherent gifts from birth which they perfect through rigorous and disciplined training, practice, and study. The French poet Émile Zola said, “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” Likewise, saints are both born and made. They are born again of water and the Spirit and given gifts by the same Spirit. Then they develop those gifts most often through askesis — disciplined spiritual training — and through trials and suffering. Few of the saints the Church honors had easy lives. But, if the Christian goal is to be a saint, and if sainthood is achieved through trials, then the Christian should count trials — the testing of faith — as joy. We see this attitude throughout the New Testament: when Peter and John are beaten by the Council and rejoice that they were counted worth to suffer for the Name of Jesus; when Paul and Silas are beaten with rods and imprisoned in Philippi and yet sing and pray throughout the night; when Paul boasts of the marks of Christ he bears on his body.

Trials will come to all of us: the ordinary trials of life and the specific trials somewhat peculiar to Christians. And there are trials specific to Christians, aren’t there? What are some of them? [Obedience, particularly when costly; forgiveness, which is always costly; mercy when we would prefer judgment; shared burdens of living life together in the Church]

How we deal with these trials makes all the difference. James says to accept them with joy, endure them with faith, and persevere through them with patience/steadfastness until they have done their good work. When we are in the midst of a trial, what is the greatest instinct we have? What do we most want? To escape it, to get out from under it. But that might well short-circuit the good work that the trial is doing on us and for us. Perseverance, patience, and steadfastness are what’s needed. It is important to think through all this beforehand, to prepare for the difficult days to come. This is probably not an attitude you can develop ex nihilo in the midst of suffering. It requires spiritual wisdom carefully worked through ahead of time. So, James writes:

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

We noted earlier that James is a New Testament example of wisdom literature, so it’s not surprising that James mentions wisdom here. In times of trials we often find ourselves confused and internally badgered by questions: Why is this trial happening? Is this something I am to accept or something I am to work and pray against? Is this from God or Satan? Is this a consequence of sin for which I must repent or else a mark of favor meant for my sanctification? It is not always clear exactly how we are to understand a trial; St. Paul’s thorn in the flesh is an example. So, when we don’t understand fully, we ask God for wisdom — not an earthly wisdom or a wisdom based on human reason, but wisdom as a spiritual gift. St. Ignatius of Loyola teaches that God allows trials or desolation to come upon us for three fundamental reasons: (1) to alert us to our sinful behavior and to call us to repent, (2) to wean us from an inordinate attachment to God’s blessings and to help us cling to God alone, or (3) to encourage growth or sanctification in us which could be brought about in no other fashion. We need God’s wisdom to discern which of these is the case. There may be many other reasons as well, but the principle holds; we need God’s wisdom to understand trials. And we have to acknowledge that that wisdom is not synonymous with understanding, with a cognitive rationale for what is happening to us and why. It is the wisdom to trust in God’s character in the midst of trials that might seem to question it, and the wisdom to submit to the God who works only for our good.

When we ask for wisdom, we are to ask in faith, not doubting, with no wavering. In his commentary on James (Universal Truth: The Catholic Epistles of James, Peter, Jude, and John, Ancient Faith Publishing (2003)), Orthodox priest Fr. Lawrence Farley makes the point that the wavering spoken of here is not a intellectual or emotional uncertainty, but a wavering between two options, two points of view, two moral or faith positions — those of following God or not following God. Unless you are firmly committed to following God, even in the midst of great trials, you have no reason to expect that God will grant you the wisdom you half-heartedly request. St. James’ use of the word double-minded gets at this; it is exactly as Jesus said: You cannot serve two masters.

Now, James seems to switch topics for a moment — a brief excursus into wealth and poverty — before he returns to the theme of trials. But, it might also be that he is simply providing an example of the very kind of trial some of his readers are experiencing: the lost of position, property, and wealth as a result of following Jesus. It’s not difficult to imagine his readers’ exclusion from the synagogue and ostracism from life in the Jewish community. Their faith in Jesus as Messiah would have had serious social and economic repercussions.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

You who were high and rich now find yourself low and poor for the sake of Christ. But, you have really been exalted in the Kingdom; it is the great reversal that Jesus insists on in the Beatitudes, the turning right-side-up of reality. Earthly riches fade, but the treasure you lay up in heaven is eternal, which is the next point that James makes.

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Now, James needs to make a subtle but essential distinction: God does — from time to time and only for our good — test us, as a good coach tests the training of an athlete or a teacher tests the knowledge of a student, looking for weaknesses that need to be addressed. God tests us, yes, but only for our good and for our growth. But God never tempts us to sin.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Where does temptation come from? It comes from our own disordered desires which the Tradition calls the passions. You might think of the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. When we are subject to these disordered passions we are enticed and tempted; we desire to have these passions satisfied. We will talk much more about this when we reach James 4. That internal disorder leads to sin, and sin leads to death. This is the fallen human dilemma that Paul agonizes over in Romans 7: I know what is right; I want to do what is right; but there is a power within me that acts contrary to that and does what is wrong in and through me. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? And what is the answer that Paul proposes? God has intervened in Christ to do what the Law and the human will were unable to do. A new birth in the Spirit is required, a redeemed nature within us. And that is gift, as James writes.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

This is the gift; that is where it starts; we are brought forth by God according to the word of truth. This is a good and perfect gift. But rememberÉmile Zola: “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” Apart from God we can do nothing; that is St. Paul’s great insight. But with God, as his fellow workers inspired and empowered by the Spirit, we can and must do something, we can and must lead holy lives; that is James’ great insight. And so he writes:

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger: isn’t our culture today characterized by the exact opposite of this? Every person seems slow to hear but quick to take offense, anxious to speak/shout, quick to anger. Scripture and the Tradition are clear; there is a place for anger: anger directed against our own sin; anger directed against true injustice as defined by God. This kind of anger leads not to wrath and vengeance, which do not produce the righteousness of God, but rather to humility and redemption. Godly anger over my sin leads to repentance and mercy toward others who are still captive to their own sin. Godly anger over injustice leads to service: How can I, in God’s name, help bring justice to bear in this dire situation? This is a holy anger, the recognition of a wrong that should not be in the kingdom of God. Anglicans for Life has a holy anger against the culture of death, for example, and it works, in God’s name, to right that. Tools for Hope has a holy anger against poverty and hopelessness that should not diminish human beings that God loves, and it works against those evils. And so on throughout countless ministries and vocations across the Christian centuries. Anger that leads to wrath and bitterness and distraction is of the devil. Anger that leads to mercy and peace and restoration and healing and redemption is of the Lord.

So, James encourages us:

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

This cuts to the heart of the matter, doesn’t it? If you listen to the word and don’t do it, you are deluding yourself into thinking you are in Christ. Imagine watching a series of YouTube videos on, say, playing baseball. But, you only watch. You never pick up a bat. You never throw a ball. You never put on a glove and play catch. Would you have the audacity to call yourself a baseball player? What would happen the first time you got on the diamond to play a real game with real equipment against real players? It is the doing, the training, the practice that makes a player. This is common sense everywhere it seems but in some parts of the Church. Some of our brothers and sisters in some parts of the Church are so focused on God’s action, God’s grace, that they forget that one of God’s actions, part of his grace, is to fill us with the Holy Spirit and to empower us for good and transforming works. We cannot be saved by good works, nor can we generally be saved in the absence of them. Much more about this as we work our way through this letter.

Now, let’s get very practical. What does James tell us to do if we claim to be religious?

If you want to be truly religious — and notice that he doesn’t shy away from that word “religious” like so many “spiritual but not religious” types do today — if you want to be truly religious, get control of your speech; watch what you say, and say only that which is good and true and helpful. And, while you’re at it, help the weakest among you: the widows and orphans — perhaps the homeless, the unemployed, the addicted, the refugee, and on and on the list goes. This is Matthew 25. As I noted earlier, James doesn’t directly mention Jesus often, but Jesus haunts every page, every thought in the epistle. While you are helping others, James cautions us, don’t neglect your own spiritual welfare. We can easily be drawn into the world and stained by it, not least when we adopt the ways of the world in a futile effort to accomplish the things of God.

Discussion
I have claimed that James is a sort of Basic Christian Living 101, more interested in the practice than the theory of the faith. So, let’s end with a focus on a practice that we might cultivate a bit more. I’ll start with music and a story. [Play Spiegel im Spiegel]

Arvo Pärt is a modern composer of classical music, born in Estonia in 1935. He is also a devout Orthodox Christian. From 2011 to 2018 and again in 2022 he was the most performed living composer in the world. During that time, in May 2014, Pärt was given an honorary doctorate by St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary. He began his acceptance speech (https://vimeo.com/221011528) — reminiscences from his musical diary — with this story.

It was 25 July 1976 when Pärt was sitting in the garden of Puhtitsa Monastery in Estonia, sitting on a bench underneath some trees with notebook and pen in hand. A young girl, ten years old or so, walked up to him and asked, “What are you doing? What are you writing there?” Pärt answered her, “I’m trying to write music, but it’s not turning out well.” And then the girl asked a question that has stayed with Pärt for the rest of his life: “Have you thanked God for this failure already?”

“Have you thanked God for this failure already?” Out of the mouth of babes: this is the wisdom of James in the mouth of a child.

James 1:2–4 (ESV): 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

All of us have known failure; if God grants us more life we will know more failure. All of us have experienced trials and testing of our faith; if God grants us more life we may experience more trials and testing. We may be in the thick of it now. The little girls’ question is the right one: Have you thanked God for it already? I may not be able to count it all joy yet, but I can, as an act of faith and obedience, thank God for it already. So, if you are the kind of person who likes homework, may I very humbly suggest this: find a failure, a trial, a test of faith that you have not already thanked God for, and thank Him, asking him for wisdom to see it as it truly was and is.

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Let us pray.

Almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, giver of every good and perfect gift: give us joy and steadfastness in trials, wisdom in the midst of confusion, and deliverance from temptation; give us ears to hear you and a mouth to speak only what is good and true; give us holy anger that leads to righteousness and redemption; and grant that we might do the word which we have heard, to the glory of your holy Name and to the welfare of your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

One of Arvo Pärt’s most well-known and beloved pieces is Spiegel im Spiegel written upon his leaving of Estonia. It is an example of a new form of music Pärt created in response to his mystical experience with Orthodox chant: tintinnabuli. You may listen to it here: