James

James the Servant

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: James the Servant

Genre: Sermon

Lesson: 1 of 16

Track: #19

Year:

Dictation Name: RR328K19

[Rushdoony] Let us worship God. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto Thy name oh most high, to show forth Thy loving kindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father we come before Thee at the close of another year, mindful of Thy mercies, mindful of Thy protecting care, mindful oh Lord` of how great is Thy love unto us, sinners saved by grace. In gratitude we come into Thy presence looking ahead to the year to come, knowing that as Thou hast been so shalt Thou be unto us. Thy mercies indeed shall surround us, and Thy care go before us to make the way straight in the midst of all kinds of adversities, for as Thou hast been so Thou shalt be, according to Thy word. Oh Lord our God how great Thou art, and we praise Thee. In Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture this morning James 1 verse 1, our subject “James the Servant”. James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” Our lesson this morning is a rather different one and somewhat a technical one. We are continuing the same subject as the book of Hebrews. As we saw Hebrews has an intensely practical emphasis and so too does James, so that it is fitting that the one follows the other in the Bible. There is a question however, often raised, about the book of James- Who is the author? Now it doesn’t matter to us who wrote Kings or Chronicles, the books are equally the word of God, but it does make a difference who wrote James. The author of the epistle of James is said to be, by some scholars, the brother of our Lord. William Hendrickson saw striking similarities between the Sermon on the Mount and James epistle, and indeed the striking resemblances are very much there.

Some scholars see this as the very first book written of the New Testament writings. Of course there are contrary opinions that this is not the work of our Lord’s brother. The Luther scholar R.C. H. Lenski dated the letter between 35 and 52 A.D. and held that the author was the apostle James, one of the twelve. Lenski however did not believe that Mary had any other child than Jesus, and that the reference to our Lord’s brothers in Matthew 12:46 could refer to Joseph’s sons by an earlier marriage ; of course we have no evidence of any such thing.

John Wick Bowman suggested that the ascription to James, the brother of Jesus, may be perhaps the very best answer. Then too according to R. V. G. Tasker, and I quote, “The authorship of James the brother of the Lord is not only constant with a note of authority, which sounds throughout the epistle, and with the possible echoes of the speech of James at the counsel of Jerusalem, but also with the extent to which the writer has obviously been profoundly, personally, impressed by the teachings of Jesus, as we know it today, in the Sermon on the Mount.” Alexander Ross pointed out that there are only three men in the New Testament bearing the name James, which by the way is another form of the Old Testament name Jacob. First there is the disciple James the son of Alphaeus, but we know little about him. Second there is James the son of Zebedee, but he was martyred in the year 44 as Acts 12 tells us. Then third there is James the brother of the Lord, his status bore authority and he here writes very authoritatively. James the brother of Jesus was martyred in A.D. 62 and the letter was probably written much earlier, and F Bertram Cog {?} has said that it was the earliest book of the New Testament.

In verse one James writes “James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings.” This is an unusual beginning unlike all other epistles in the New Testament. The word “greeting” the concluding word, is the Greek “rejoice”. In Acts 15:23 we encounter its only other New Testament use, and both instances are connected with James. The reference to the Lord Jesus Christ is here, and again in James 2 verse 1. We find here an interesting fact in that: First, the letter assumes without question the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is not an open question, not a matter of debate. All the people, the twelve tribes everywhere are addressed by the Lord’s brother, and everything we know about James the brother of our Lord indicates that he was a strict keeper of the law widely respected in the church and out of the church. The line of division between the temple and the church was not yet clearly drawn and so this is addressed to the twelve tribes of Israel. At this point the converts were all Jews. James was still regarded by all, in the church and out of the church, as a very holy man. Then second: James writes his letter with a full sense of continuity with the Old Testament. He does not see a difference between the Old Testament revelation and that of the New. The Lordship of Jesus Christ and the revealed scriptures of God are seen as part and parcel of one revelation, and the whole of James letter assumes this fact.

A.T. Robertson called attention to the use of the word “Lord”, Kurios in the Greek. In the Septuagint, or the Greek version of the Old Testament, it was used either for Elohim or Yahweh, for God. The Romans applied the same word, kurios, to their emperor in emperor worship, it meant God. The letter is addressed to the twelve tribes, Israel in its fullness and completeness. Because the letter addresses the Jews of the Diaspora, as well as the Palestinian Jews, it was written in Greek, the language everyone was familiar was. There is a tremendous presupposition in this first verse. All Israel, all Jews everywhere, are addressed in the name of Messiah, king. This means that to separate oneself from Jesus Christ, or to repudiate Him was implicitly, in James eyes, to separate oneself from Israel.

In Galatians 6:16 Paul refers to the church as the Israel of God, this is implicit in James 1:1. Now in James 2:2 the word “assembly” is the Greek form of the word synagogue, the earliest name for the Christian church. So in the early years the church was known not by the term “church”, which came in just a little later, but by the name “synagogue”, it was the true synagogue of God. So again we see the assumption of continuity between the Old and the New. If the temple and its people reject Jesus Christ then they depart from God’s chosen people Israel and from the true synagogue. In Hebrews the rejection of Christ’s high priestly status is stated to be the point of departure. In James, the earlier epistle probably, the true Israel of God is totally tied to the person of Jesus Christ, this is an important fact. One of our staff, John Lofton, angered a very liberal Jew very much when they got into a dispute over the Christian faith and John asked him “are you a Jew, do you claim to be one?” The man said “of course” and he said “When was the last time you went to a synagogue?” He had not ever gone. And he said “Do you observe the dietary laws? And the man laughed at the idea, and so John said “don’t call yourself Jewish, I’m the true Jew.”

Well this is what we have here in James’s usage.

Well Israel, in its fullness, James in essence is saying, cannot now exist without its Messiah, it’s Lord Jesus Christ. James goes on immediately to speak of the trials of the problems of the faith. The troubles that befall them as believers, and yet his essential word is his greeting, “rejoice”; you are on the winning side, you are on the side of eternal victory therefore rejoice. The great redeemer King has come.

M.R. Vincent has written that the key words in James’s letter are “rejoice”, “joy”, “patience”, “perfect”. In verse one James calls himself a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the word servant, doulos is the term used by the apostles and their associates to describe their relationship to Jesus Christ. James never uses his relationship to the Lord to claim any honor, it is his privilege to be a servant.

Now in the epistle of Jude, in verse one, Jude calls himself the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. In Mark 6:3 we are told that James and Jude were two of Mary’s four sons. We thus have two portions of the New Testament apparently written by brothers of our Lord who did not mention their relationship to Him. Their standing as a relationship to Him James and Jude saw as one of grace and service. Unlike other and later churchmen, they made no claims on the basis of blood and in fact avoided any such claim. They identified themselves as servants of Jesus Christ and saw in this their dignity and honor. The status of James in the earliest days of the church was central and powerful, but it rested entirely on his service, not on blood. Because the church and its leaders represented God’s new human race on earth their status and dignity rested on God’s grace, and no more. There is an authoritarian aspect to James, but also a very great humility. He writes in an authoritarian manner because there is no question about it, he is setting forth the inspired truth of God. But in all humility he never, never, refers to the relationship; he is the servant, and he is also apparently mindful more than any of the other writers of the New Testament, that before the resurrection he and his brothers were doubtful of our Lord.

And so there is a humility about James as well as a sense of authority.

I pointed out that this a very practical book, Hendrickson sighted verse after verse which was a parallel to, or a virtual quote of the New Testament Sermon on the Mount. James book has the closest times to the Old Testament and its law, he is imbued with the word of God. It is no surprise that very early he came to a place of authority in the church, and it is interesting that in the two places where we meet him in the New Testament, in the council of Jerusalem, and in his epistle, he begins with the word “greeting” or in English “rejoice”, rejoice. Our word greeting has lost its meeting and the implication of joy is no longer there, except in the carols. So the book of James is very important for us. It comes from a most remarkable man, it comes with a most remarkable and totally practical message. One of the problems in the church, especially in the last century and century and a half is that too often the church has stressed doctrine and belief without application so that people can say they believe them Bible from cover to cover who show no evidence of a faith that works. And the message of James throughout is, faith without works is dead. Let us pray.

Our Father we rejoice in this, Thy word. We thank Thee that its message is rejoice. We are the people of victory; we are the people of eternal life. Makes us ever joyful in our faith, teach us in all our adversities to be ever mindful that Thou art closer to us than we are to ourselves, how great Thou art oh Lord, and we praise Thee. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Yes?

[Audience member] In relationship to your expose on humility, I think everbody should apply Corinthians 1, 13:1-13 a lot more in their lives.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Same audience member] The modern Bibles today are diverting the meaning of that by substituting charity for love, the word love.

[Rushdoony] Yes?

[Audience member] If this is written by the brother of Christ then his referencing verse two to “my brethren” would be a very ingratiating statement.

[Rushdoony] Yes, very good point. He writes with humility, and yet authoritatively. There’s a curious fact here in that in a sense he’s writing as a Jew, and yet he’s writing totally as a Christian. In effect he is saying “you’re not really a Jew, unless you’re a Christian.” So “my brethren” all of you, “count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations.” And this is a remarkable passage that follows which we will deal with next week.

Any other questions or comments?

Well if not let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we thank Thee that Thy word unto us through Thy servant James is “rejoice”. Make us ever mindful that we are rich in Christ, that ours is a joy for time and for eternity, a victory. Keep us from being overly concerned with ourselves, and our problems, and our burdens, Thou art more mindful of them then we ourselves are. Give us grace day by day to walk by faith, to keep hands off our lives because Thou art better able to work in them then we ourselves are. And so our Father we commit ourselves into Thine omnipotent, all gracious, and all merciful hands. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.