01 Who Was James, and Why Did His Letter Shake the Early Church?

Speaker: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. This is the first lesson in a series on the Book of James. Who was James and what was going on in the early church as he wrote to them? Join us as Krisan takes us through an overview of the Book of James. Krisan Marotta: It's very easy today to be someone you're not. All you have to do is create a Facebook account, and you can be anyone you want to be. You can carefully select only the pictures that you want shown, the comments, the interest, the background that you want people to see. And in fact, scientists or social scientists are starting to talk about what they call Facebook depression. And it's it's a phenomenon where because we tend to post only the good things and the happy things on Facebook and we present this polished perfect image, other folks look at that and compare their lives to the perfect Facebook image and go, well, my life's not like that. And they get depressed. But it's not just Facebook, of course, news is a matter of spin. Polsters and politicians boast about their skill and distorting the truth to fit the image they want to project, or they pad resumes, and lies are no longer lies, we just misspeak, and political good intentions. You know, they count for more than results. And then you get to things like movies and photography, and now we have this special effects technology that allows us to create these elaborate fantasy worlds, and you can create photographs that could never happen in real life. You know, we crop and recolor and lengthen and shorten and slim, and so you get this image that's just impossible. No one ever, no real people don't look like that. And then we have virtual relationships with people we've never met and may never meet face to face. In my I have a home business and I've worked for a couple people since 1994. We've never met face to face. And with each technology, it becomes easier and easier to project this image and pretend to be something you're not and to make others believe it. So it seems to me that fantasy, distortion, falsehood are becoming the currency of our new technology. And as believers, we're called to be different. Hypocrisy is pretending to be something we're not, and it's condemned in the Bible. In Galatians, we see Paul confront Peter for failing to live out what he believes. And in Luke 6.46, Jesus confronts his disciples with the same question. He says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? And I think that's the question of James. So if I could sum up James in one verse, it would be actually Luke 6.46. Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I want you to be? And this, I think as we go through this book, what I want you to look for is this kind of central question of are you living what you claim to believe? So James is generally a letter about living out your faith. And today I want to introduce you to it. We can't get into the text yet, which is the real exciting stuff to me. But the I want to cover three things. Who was James? How do we know that's who he was? That's all one thing. Then what was happening in the church at the time he wrote the letter? And then thirdly, what do we know about the relationship between James and Paul? Because as you'll see when we get into chapter two, there's this debate in the theological world. Do James and Paul agree? I'll give you the answer right now, they agree. But we want to look in terms of background of how do we know that, how can we conclude that. So we're going to kind of set the stage for our study. Some of this may be review with your homework, which is great. You can say, yay, I got that in my homework. But it's necessary, kind of the necessary first step to approach a letter. So we're going to talk about who was James, what was happening at the church at the time he wrote, and what do we know about his relationship with Paul. Alright. So James was one of the earliest of the New Testament epistles, if not the earliest. It was probably written very close to the writing of Galatians. There are four James mentioned in the New Testament. So the question is, which James is this? Most scholars believe that our author is James, who is the brother of Jesus and the leader of the Jerusalem church. And I agree with that. If that is indeed the case, then this letter had to be written before 62 AD because James was martyred that yeah. We have two accounts of how he died. One comes from Josephus, who was a resident of Jerusalem at the time, and he wrote a book called Antiquities, which is a huge historical account of what was going on at the time. And he tells us that the high priest at the time seized the opportunity of the death of Festus to get rid of his political enemies. So Festus was the Roman governor over the region. He died, and the high priest said, Great, now's the time. So Josephus records, thinking he had a suitable opportunity, with Festus now dead and Albinius still on his way, he convened a session of the Judicial Sanhedrin and brought before this court James, the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ, and some other men. Accusing them of breaking the law, he handed them over to be stoned to death. So the high priest says, Festus is dead, his replacement, Albinius, is not yet here. I'm going to take this opportunity to get rid of my enemies. He calls James in and some others. This is in violation of Roman law, it's in violation of Jewish law. He exercises capital punishment on his own without involvement from Rome, which he is not allowed to do. And he carries it out without waiting for the new procreator. So very similar to kind of the problems with Jesus' trial being illegal, James had his own illegal trial. The other account of his death comes from the Christian writer, I can't pronounce his name, Hegessippius, but his writings are recorded in Euspius, who was who wrote ecclesiastical history and was one of the earliest historians. And he tells us that after refusing to deny Jesus as Lord, James was thrown from the pinnacle. So we've got one thing that says he was stoned, one thing that says he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple. Probably both were true. So he was probably stoned and then his body thrown off the temple, or else he was thrown off the temple and then they threw stones down after him. In either way, you could describe an account of his death with those with those facts. So both accounts agree it was 62 AD, and he was martyred for not renouncing Jesus and not renouncing Jesus as Lord. So if he's our author, this letter had to be written before 62 A.D. It's also likely that it was written before the Council of Jerusalem, which was around 48 to 50 A.D. And scholars think that because if that if the council had already happened, people think James would have mentioned it. So that dates this book about 45 to 48 A.D., which is one of the earliest of the New Testament epistles. And in that, so what we're looking at is one of the first letters, the first applications of the gospel. This book was written by a Jew, two Jews. The language and phrasings are very Jewish, and the text is very educated, proper Greek. So some scholars say, oh, well, James couldn't have written that because he was a Jew, but he could have written it in Aramaic and had a Greek scholar translate it into Greek, and that would account for the proper language. Or, and this is the one I favor, James probably learned Greek. As the leader of the church in Jerusalem, he had to deal with people. Greek was the language of the day, and a Jew learning Greek would learn the proper form, not the street language or the slang language. But in either case, the content's decidedly Jewish. So I already told you I think our author is the brother of the Lord, but I want to show you how we reached that conclusion and set the stage for the situation in the church at the time he's writing. So get out of your Bibles because we're going to go through a lot of verses. As we go through these, I want you to make note of how James is changing. So the first one we're going to look at is Matthew 13. And this is the first time we meet James in the Gospels. So we're going to look at Matthew 13, 53 to 56. And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there. And coming to his hometown, he taught them in their synagogue. So they were astonished and said, Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? Are not his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, and are not his sist all his sisters with us? Where did this then did this man get these things? So he speaks in his hometown, and they're going, This is the kid that next door. How does he know anything? But notice they list his brothers by name, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. So we know Jesus had a brother named James. You'll notice that Jude is a nickname for Judas. So most scholars think the book of Jude is also written by a brother of the Lord, and yet neither of them mention it in their introductions. But most likely they're both Jesus' half-brothers. Okay, so turn over to Mark 3. James isn't mentioned by name here, but his family, Jesus' family is. So this is Mark 3, verses 20 and 21. Then he went home, that is Jesus, went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard of it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying he's out of his mind. How's that for confidence? You start your public ministry and your family's like, can we just get him off the stage? Can we get rid of him? He's crazy. So James isn't mentioned here, but he was certainly most likely the oldest brother and part of the family, and it's likely he would have been the leader of this event. So we can conclude this is early in Jesus' ministry, his earthly ministry, that James thinks his brother is crazy. Alright, turn over to John 7, because in that suspicion is confirmed. This is John 7, verses 2 through 5. Now the Jewish uh the Jews' feast of Booth was at hand. So his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works you're doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world, and then James or John 7, 5, for not even his brothers believed him. So what we see in this passage is his brothers are kind of provoking him, they're chiding him. Essentially they're saying, okay, if you're such hot stuff, let's see it. Do something spectacular. Go to Judea and display your works and display your power. So if you're the Messiah that you're claiming, just go prove it. So they're baiting him because they doubt he is who he thinks he says he is. They don't believe he's the Messiah. So the evidence we have so far suggests that James and his brothers did not believe Jesus was the Messiah during his earthly ministry. So we have to ask the question then well, how did he end up writing this letter? Okay, I think the answer comes from 1 Corinthians. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. Paul is writing this section, he's arguing for the resurrection from the dead. There are people who are teaching that the resurrection didn't happen. And as part of his evidence for the fact that yes, the resurrection did happen, he lists people to whom Jesus appeared. So this is 1 Corinthians 15, 3 through 8. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for your sins in accordance with the Scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture. I'm sorry, I read that twice, didn't I? And then he appeared to Cephas, which is also Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me. So he's trying to convince his readers that the resurrection is in fact, and he lists these people, one of whom is James. And you'll notice he mentions James without introduction or explanation. There's no James the brother of so-and-so, James the son of so-and-so, it's just James, and he expects his readers to know who he means. So this is probably James, the leader of the Jerusalem church and the brother of the Lord, because at the time Paul was writing, that was the most famous James in existence. So it's the same way today, if I mention Barak without explanation, all of you conclude that I'm talking about the president. Because at the time I'm speaking, he is the most famous person of that name. And that when Paul's writing, the most famous James was James, the brother of the Lord, the leader of the Jerusalem church. So we have this early evidence that James did not believe Jesus was who he says he was. He scoffs at his brother, he mocks his brother, and then church history clearly and unambiguously teaches that James ends up in a very significant role in the church. He becomes the leader of the Jerusalem church. So what changed? And I think it's the resurrection. So in, what is it, in 1507, then he appeared to James. So Paul tells us these post-resurrection appearances, noting some groups of people and three individuals who meet the risen Lord. So it's Peter, James, and Paul himself. And we know about Paul's experience on the road to Damascus because he writes about it and he tells about it. We know about Peter's experience because it's recorded in the Gospels. So that's the you're probably familiar with the story where he's on the beach and Jesus appears to him and serves him breakfast and asks him three times, Do you love me? That was Peter's experience. I think James had the same kind of experience, but we don't know the details because no one wrote it down. So it's quite likely that when Jesus appeared to him, he had his own Damascus road or his own breakfast on the beach. And this some kind of dramatic conversion where he believes, he sees Jesus as who he says he is, and then he's commissioned for a very specific role. So just like Peter was commissioned to be the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul was, I mean, to the Jews, Paul was commissioned to the Gentiles, James was commissioned to be the leader of the church. Now we're speculating because we don't have that written down, but it's pretty likely, can we know from church history that's where he ended up? Now the other thing I think that's really fascinating about these three people is think about it. You've got Peter the denier, Paul the persecutor, and James the scoffer. What do they have in common? They're failures. They are all failures, and not just, oh, minor failures, big, public, dramatic failures. And all of them have that healed after the resurrection, and all of them that go on to serve Jesus in great, amazing ways. Now I think that ought to encourage us because if Peter the denier and Paul the persecutor and James the scoffer can be forgiven and used greatly for the kingdom, then we can too. And it shows us that our Lord is in the business of using failures for the kingdom. So failures just like them and like us. Okay, and in fact, we see that in Acts 1. Turn to Acts 1. We can see this dramatic change. This is Acts 1, 13 and 14. And when they had entered, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, Simon the Zealot, Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers. So this is after the ascension. This text lists the large group of people who, which includes not just the eleven apostles, but also Mary and the brothers of Jesus, and they are now believers. They are with one accord devoting themselves to prayer, so we know that he has now come to faith in the and probably in a dramatic conversion like the Damascus Road. Okay, let's look a little bit more at the situation of the church then and the relationship James has with Paul. Because that's one of the big issues we're going to talk about in chapter two. In Galatians, Paul says we're justified by faith and not by works. And in chapter two, James says we're justified by works and not by faith alone. They use very similar language, and they both appeal to Abraham to say, see, this is my point. So they may, and yet they seem to make virtually opposite claims. We're going to talk about that a lot in chapter 2. As I said earlier, let me just say, I believe they agree that when you take their statements in context, they are not in conflict. But to set the stage for that debate, I want to look at what do we know about the relationship? What does the evidence suggest about how they got along? And at the same time, we're going to kind of go through what was happening in the church. So turn to Acts 8. 8.1. We are, this passage is on the martyrdom of Stephen, and Saul, of course, that is, who is later to become Paul, approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. So here we see Saul, who will become Paul entering the picture. He's not a believer at this point. This is after the martyrdom of Stephen, and believers are scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. So because of the persecution that arises after that event, the Jerusalem church is broken up and the believers scatter. So in James 1:1, when he says, I'm writing to the dispersion to those who are scattered, these are the people. This is the beginning of that dispersion and the event that led to it. So the Jews that scattered and fled Jerusalem when the persecution began after the martyrdom of Stephen. So Paul has his Damascus road experience. He goes away to Arabia, and then he comes back, and this is in Galatians 1, 15 through 19. He's talking about his own autobiography here, his conversion experience. And he says, But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who are apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, that's Peter, and remained with him fifteen days, but I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. So here we get an explicit statement that James the Lord's brother is counted among the apostles and the leaders of the early church. And when Paul comes to Jerusalem, he meets James and Peter. And then Peter has his vision, and in his vision he learns that the Gentiles are fellow believers and fellow heirs of the gospel and part of the kingdom, and he learns that he can stay and eat with them, which was of course forbidden. And when he gets back to Jerusalem, they question him. So this is Acts 11, 11.1. Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter began and explained it to them in order. So he recounts his vision, how God told him the Gentiles are fellow heirs of the gospel, and when he finishes, look at 11 18. When they heard these things, they fell silent, and they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. Now James isn't explicitly mentioned here, but we know he's the leader of the Jerusalem church. So when Peter goes to Jerusalem, he's likely meeting with the leaders of the church, and James is going to be in this group. So we can assume that James has heard this story. He's heard from Peter the Gentiles are receiving the Spirit and being blessed by God, and he agrees. He's got to be part of this group that says they glorified God and praised him for what was happening. And this begins one of the biggest struggles in the early church because Jewish believers now start to wrestle with how do we think about Gentile believers? How do we bring them in? Do we make them become circumcised and start keeping the law? Do we just accept them? Do we drop all our Jewish practices? Do we drop some and not others? So this big controversy is starting to boil up. So remember, the the initial scattering was Jewish believers, and now the Gentiles are becoming part of it. And at this part, we can assume James knows what's going on. He knows the Gentiles are being incorporated into the promises of the gospel, and he is in wholehearted agreement with that. So look, um, going on with the story, Acts 11, 19. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews. So this is our audience. These are the people he's writing to. They traveled to Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, speaking to no one except Jews. But some of them, but there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, that's the Greeks, also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem. Now, who would that be? James. And they sent Barnabas to Antioch, and when he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful in the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. Now wouldn't you love that to be written about you in the Bible? He was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when they found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. So this is a circumstance at approximately the time James is writing. The believing Jews were leaving Jerusalem, they were traveling to these other territories, they're staying in largely Jewish enclaves, speaking only to other Jews, and they're forming pockets of Jewish congregations outside of Jerusalem. And then they get to Antioch and something different happens. The Gentiles hear and start believing as well. And the Antioch Church becomes this mixed Jewish-Gentile church. So Barnabas hears about this. He goes looking for Saul to teach them and brings him back. And then you have, of course, Paul fulfilling his role as apostle to the Gentiles in this mixed congregation. And I think we can assume James is aware of this, as a is the report came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, had to include James, and he's in agreement. Okay, going on at 1127. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabas stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. So this is Paul's second trip to Jerusalem, and it's going to be a second encounter with James. So they hear that a famine is coming through Agabas. They decide to take an offering for famine relief, and they commission Paul and Barnabas to take that offering to Jerusalem. And then Paul describes this event in Galatians. So turn to Galatians 2.1. Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation. So that revelation is probably what we just read, the revelation of Agabus that was mentioned in Acts 11, 28. So I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so they might bring us into slavery, to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential, what they were makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality, those I say who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John, that is James and Peter and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and lay the circum to the circumcised. So on this trip to provide family relief, Paul meets privately with the Jerusalem leadership. And he tells us at the end that James is in that group. And he says, Okay, here's the gospel I'm preaching. This is the message I've been teaching. Listen to it and make sure that we're on the same page, that we're preaching the same gospel. And they all agree they are. And Paul gives specific evidence that they agree. He says they didn't compel Titus to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek, and they extend the right hand of fellowship. So we've got confirmation that James is a leader in the church. I love his language about pillars, makes no difference to me. And we have confirmation that James and Paul agree, that they have reviewed the gospel with each other, and they're saying, yep, we're on the same page. And we also know that James has had two encounters now with the issue of whether the Gentiles are required to keep the law. So when we get to his statements about works of the law, keep in mind he's had two encounters now, Peter's vision and Paul's visit. And in both passages, we're told James is aware of this controversy, and he does not think that law-keeping is required. Okay, Acts 12.1, just to bring up a different James for a moment. About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. So this is not our James. This is James, the brother of John, the son of Zebedee, who is one of the apostles. He is a potential author. Some of the commentaries will try to make a case that he's the author, but he's executed so early in church history most people think he didn't have time to write the letter. And also, um, the fact that he's listed as the brother of John, well, yes, there was a brother of Jesus that might have been named John, but it's it's pretty unlikely. It's a little too early. And the fact that our James is identified only as James, and every time this James appears, he's identified as the son of Zebedee or the brother of John, kind of rules him out. Okay, so moving on with the story of what's going on in the church. Peter is arrested. He miraculously escapes, and when he escapes, he goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, and tells his story. This is Acts 12, 17. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison, and he said, Tell these things to James and to the brothers. Then he departed and went to another place. So Peter says, Tell James and the brethren what happened. And Luke, this is actually the first mention of James in Acts, and Luke again mentions him without explanation. He expects his readers are going to know which James he's talking about, because James, the leader of the church, is the one who is most famous at this time. And he said, Well, that requires no explanation. So again, he's probably talking about our James. Again, confirming he was one of the elders and the people in authority at the time. Okay, now a problem, the problem gets worse. This is back in Galatians 2. When Cephas, that is Peter, came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. I'm starting in verse 11. For before men, certain men from James, certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? Okay, so this is this growing controversy over how do we incorporate Gentiles into the flock. So we're in Antioch, we've got this mixed congregation, and the question is, do these Gentile converts have to be circumcised and keep the law? Peter visits, he freely mixes with the Gentile congregation, he eats with them and worships with them, and then we're told these men from James come and he steps back. Now we know that Peter's had this vision from Cornelius, and he knows it's okay, so the question is what's going on with Peter? And I think we don't have to conclude that he's changed his theology. I think he's just trying to avoid a scene. So these men come, he thinks they're going to be scandalized. If he's eating with the Gentiles, it's going to kind of create a big scene, and so to avoid a scene, he stops eating with the Gentiles. I don't I think his theology remains the same, but he's trying not to give offense. And Paul says, No, you know better than this. You're sending the wrong, the wrong message. Your actions are not in congruence with your beliefs, they're in conflict. So I think he's just in order to keep the peace, he's withdrawing and he hasn't changed his theology, and Paul has criticized him because he's saying, No, you're sending the wrong message. Now notice these men are identified as men from James, who's the leader of the Jerusalem church. So what does that mean? Is James changed his theology? Does he now think that the Gentiles shouldn't be included? And I think that again is a wrong conclusion. He sent these men as emissaries from Jerusalem. So saying men from James or men from Jerusalem is probably the same thing. And he could have sent them so that they learn a lesson. Maybe they didn't, they we know they're scandalized by the practices of eating with the Gentiles, and maybe he wanted them to see here's it, this in action, see what God is doing so that they would change their mind. So some of these men who came were Judaizers, they're scandalized when they get there, but I don't think James would have been scandalized. I think he would have known or seen, yep, this is the hand of God. So he sent them to learn what was going on in the church, and he could have sent them so they learn a lesson. That the Gentiles are included. I don't think we have to conclude that he sent them to stir up trouble, or he sent them because he's changed his mind. Okay, soon after this, then the issue becomes such a big controversy, the church decides it has to be settled, and they call what we now know as the Council of Jerusalem. And this is recorded in Acts 15, starting in verse 1. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, I love that phrase, no small dissent that that was a heated conversation. Anyway, Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them. Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. And when they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, It is necessary to circumcise them in order to keep the law of Moses. The apostles and elders were gathered together to consider this matter. So the controversy is growing. Paul and Barnabas say, We've got to settle this. They go to Jerusalem, they convene a council of the apostles and the elders and the leaders. We know that James is there. Peter speaks about his vision and what God has taught him. Paul and Barnabas explain what God has been doing through them. And then skip down to Acts 15, 13. After they finished speaking, James replied, Brothers, listen to me. And you'll notice James gets the last word. He speaks, they listen, and they do what he says. Again, cooperating that he is the leader. So in 1513 he says, Listen to me. In 1519, therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those Gentiles who turn to God. So he says, Therefore it's my judgment. He outlines, he says, write a letter that includes these things, and they write a letter that says exactly what James said it ought to say. So he's the one who settles the matter. We know he agrees with Peter. We know he agrees with Paul and Barnabas, and he's clearly the leader of the church. Okay, so we have one more recorded meeting between James and Paul, and this is in Acts 21. This is years later, after Paul's missionary journeys. It's Acts 21, starting in verse 18. A new controversy is erupted. Well, it's the same controversy with a new twist, really. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry, and when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, they are zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. So this is our last recorded encounter between James and Paul. They both agree that the Gentiles don't have to, do not need to keep the law when they become believers. We know that Paul feels free to ignore the law when he's with the Gentiles. He eats with them. He writes about that in 1 Corinthians. But now the controversy has changed a bit. Now they're saying, well, look, Paul is abandoning Judaism. He is advocating that Jews completely stop being Jewish in all ways. And they're that's not what he's teaching, but it's the message he's being accused of teaching. And I don't want to get too much into that because we don't really have time to go into that. It's kind of a side issue. But what happens is Paul agrees to do some very Jewish rituals to communicate that he is not against the law, that he does not think the law is a bad thing. But for our purposes, what we see here is James and Paul are again in agreement. And they they are teaching and believing the same gospel and they are practicing the same gospel. So just to close, let me summarize then kind of what we can pull out of all these verses to learn about James and the churches he is addressing. So he says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in the dispersions, greetings. So he describes himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He very humbly does not mention that he is Jesus' earthly brother, or that he was most likely called into ministry by Jesus himself, and he is at the fact, in fact, one of the most important leaders of the church in Jerusalem. So very humble beginning. He addresses the letter to the twelve tribes, i.e., the Jews who were dispersed after the martyrdom of Stephen, so the historical scattering of the Jews around the Mediterranean. He's involved in a very Jewish ministry. So he's the leader of the Jerusalem church. He's writing to a Jewish congregation. The ministry to the Gentiles is something he hears about when Paul comes to town, or when Peter comes with his vision, but they are not his flock. So we're going to see, as we saw, many of the Jews stayed in these Jewish communities, and these pockets of Jewish believers developed outside, but remain connected to the Jerusalem church. So the evidence is that his flock, the people he's concerned with, are primarily Jews, not Gentiles. So remember who his flock is, he's writing to, as opposed to say who Paul's flock was when he was writing Galatians. Also, then all the evidence we have suggests that James and Paul agree. Every time we see them together, they are discussing theology, and every time we are told they agree, they extend the right hand to fellowship, they're glorifying God because of the work they're doing. So they agree, but they are called to different flocks, and those different flocks are going to have different issues and different struggles. And we see as the church grows, the apostles' understanding of the application and implication of the gospel grows, but we never see disagreement on the gospel itself. So when Paul rebukes Peter, it's for his application of the gospel, but not his understanding of the gospel. So we can assume that James would know the teaching of Jesus very well. In fact, probably teachings we don't know because he grew up. He had, you know, twenty-nine years or whatever with him before Jesus started his public ministry. So he's very steeped in the teachings of Jesus, and he's applying that understanding to these early Jewish Christian churches. So our letter is really one of the earliest applications of the gospel we have, and that makes it really interesting to me. And part of my goal as we go through this book is that we learn from James how to apply the gospel well. Because we have this tendency, I think, to reduce the gospel to questions like to all my questions, the questions I want answered, and sometimes my questions aren't big enough. And there's a sense in which the Christian the gospel doesn't work if it's just about this life. If we reduce it to helping me get through the things I'm already doing, only do them a little better, or helping me just survive till Friday, or you know, deal with this life as it's dealt to me. And I think we're going to see from James, that's not really what God's up to. He's up to something far bigger. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 19, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. That's in the context of speaking about the resurrection. But I think part of the application is if we look at Christianity and we say it's all about today and my life and getting me through Friday, and if we speak of Christ as, well, his touch on my life is just about getting me through, and mostly about me being me as I've always been, only now the new improved version, then we're to be pitied because there's a sense in which that doesn't work. In this life I will always be sinful, forgiven, on the on the road to maturity, but still sinful. And the gospel is about a lot more than getting me through today or tomorrow or this life, or getting better at this life. At the heart of the gospel's a miracle, and that miracle is that Christ died for us so that death and sin would ultimately die. And he's promising something far bigger than a better earthly life. He's giving us something far grander than techniques to make me a better person or to make a better city or a better world. He's promising an entirely new kind of life, a new heaven and a new earth, and one that includes this a new me that is no longer under the curse of sin. So the hope of the gospel goes beyond this life. But when we get into application in a practical book like James, we tend to start narrowing it down to how I get through today. And what I want you to look at as we go through this is how James is applying very practical things, but there's a backdrop of this far bigger hope, this far bigger picture. So it's bigger than the struggles of today. And we are called to see and believe that. And I hope we see from James how he applies it with that hope in mind. And you've probably run into people who look at your faith and go, oh, you know, I'm so glad that Christianity stuff works for you. You know, I'm glad you found that. You know, for me it's yoga or meditation or NASCAR or, you know, whatever. But but, you know, that Christian stuff that didn't work for me, but I'm really happy it works for you. And I think part of the reason we get that reaction is because sometimes the way we apply it makes it look like it's another 12-step program. It's just another technique that gets me through the day. But Christianity is not a technique. It doesn't work if it's just a technique to get me by, because it's about something far bigger. As Paul says, it's more than a hope for this life only. So it's really tempting to study the Bible, especially James, and start, you know, making my list of here's the things I'm gonna improve, here are the commands I'm gonna obey better, here's my list for what I'm gonna do in the next month, my resolutions. Because of course we all want to be better. We want to get through tomorrow better, we want to be more obedient. But James is about something deeper and something grander and bigger. And that's my hope as we go through this book that we'll not just see the tips or reduce Christianity to another 12-step technique, but see how profoundly the hope of the gospel changes everything in our lives today. Okay, let me pray for us to close. Father, we just thank you for this study, and that we live in a country where we can openly study the Bible and talk about it and proclaim your word. And just pray that you would bless our time in your word, that you would turn this knowledge and the study from just facts and details and and word studies into the real hope of the gospel and write it on our hearts so that it becomes who we are and not just knowledge that we've acquired. In Jesus' name. Amen. Speaker: We're glad you've been with us at Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. We hope you've been encouraged and challenged to depend on the Lord. Please let us know if you have questions about this study. We are on the internet at wednesdayintheword.com, where you will find this and other Bible studies.