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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780687058167 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 10/01/1998 |
| Series: | Abingdon New Testament Commentaries Series |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.01(h) x 0.46(d) |
About the Author
C. Freeman Sleeper is Professor Emeritus of Religion, Ronaoke College, Salem, Virginia, and Visiting Professor of New Testament, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia.
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Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: James
By C. Freeman Sleeper
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 1998 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-687-05816-7
CHAPTER 1
Commentary
Salutation (1:1)
The letter opens with a salutation typical of ancient letters. It identifies the sender as James (Iakobos in Greek, so that the adjectival form in English is Jacobean) and the recipients as "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion." It then adds the simple "greetings" (chairein, an infinitive form of the Greek word meaning "rejoice"). Many other New Testament letters have a more elaborate greeting: "grace and peace" or "grace, mercy, and peace." In most of Paul's letters, this salutation is followed by a thanksgiving, the body of the letter, exhortation, personal greetings, and a benediction. Except for the body, those other features are missing in James, but nevertheless it is a real letter, the purpose of which is to instruct the recipients about Christian moral character.
* * *
Despite the information contained in this verse, what do we really learn about the author and his audience? He tells us nothing about himself except that he is a servant or slave (doulos) of both God and Jesus Christ. The same term is used as a self-designation by Paul (Rom 1:1; Phil 1:1; cf. Titus 1:1) and by the author of Revelation (1:1); and it is also used as a more general term for Christians (Acts 4:29; 16:17; Rev 1:1). It is significant that the author does not claim to be one of the twelve or, in contrast to Paul, to be an apostle (Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; so also in Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastoral Letters, works often considered to have been written in Paul's name). In other words, James does not claim any ecclesiastical authority other than that of a teacher (3:1-2). The fact that he does not try to establish his credentials suggests that his original audience would have known which James was meant, although this argument from silence is used both to prove and to disprove his authorship of the letter. For reasons given in the introduction, the implied author is James, the brother of the Lord and leader of the church in Jerusalem for nearly twenty years. Even if we do not believe that he actually wrote the letter, it is convenient to continue using "James" as a shorthand for the author. Nothing else in the letter speaks directly about the author's identity or his location at the time of writing.
He addresses his audience as "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion." The biblical description of the settlement in Canaan identifies the twelve tribes as the sons of Jacob. After the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 BCE and the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 587 BCE, leading citizens of the tribes were carried into exile and eventually came to be known as those living in the Dispersion or Diaspora. Later the term was extended to all Jews who chose to live outside the Holy Land. By the first century CE, large Jewish communities existed in such cities as Alexandria, Syrian Antioch and Damascus, and Rome, where they were much more exposed to hellenizing influences. Acts describes Paul's contact with such communities in the cities that he visited.
Does the phrase "the twelve tribes" tell us anything about the identity of James's audience? There are three major possibilities, each with some nuances. "Tribes" may refer to (1) ethnic Jewish communities; (2) Jewish-Christian communities, whom James understands to be the true successors of the tribes of Israel; or (3) the entire church, also understood as the new Israel. Assuming that this is a Christian document, the first solution is unlikely, since James makes no appeal for conversion. The last solution presupposes a late date for James when the distinction between Jewish and Gentile churches had been resolved or when Jewish Christianity was no longer a viable option. Such an inclusive view of the church is clear, for example, in 1 Peter and Ephesians. For James, however, the most likely solution is the second one. The letter was originally intended for those Jews who accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ, wherever they lived.
Does the term diaspora tell us anything about the location of James's audience? The same term appears in 1 Pet 1:1, where it is specifically addressed to Christians in the provinces of Asia Minor (Elliott 1981, 30-31). Thus 1 Peter broadens the term theologically (to represent the church as an inclusive community), but narrows it geographically (to the provinces of Asia Minor). James, however, mentions no specific location. It is tempting to see "dispersion" as a reference to those who were "scattered" by the persecution in Jerusalem (Acts 12:19). However, in the introduction I argued that the implied audience consisted of hellenistic-Jewish congregations wherever they might be located.
* * *
As noted earlier, this opening verse is an important clue to John's theology. James affirms the lordship of God and Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Cor 8:6). The article is missing in both cases, so that some commentators read it as "Jesus Christ, God and Lord"; but such a statement about the divinity of Christ seems to reflect later christological concerns rather than the early confession that "Jesus Christ is Lord" (Phil 2:11) and its various permutations in the New Testament. The suggestion of some commentators that this verse and 2:1 were added to a previously Jewish document in order to "Christianize" it has no textual evidence to support it.
Christian Character: Growth and Single-Mindedness (1:2-8)
James begins at once to offer moral advice or exhortation, the technical word for which is parenesis. However disjointed or unconnected the units in this chapter appear to be at first glance, they introduce the themes that are then developed later in the letter. In one way or another, they all deal with the moral life that Christians are to develop and emulate.
The opening section (1:2-8) consists of two units that are closely linked in at least two different ways. One link is thematic. The first unit (1:24) shows how a person develops character by dealing with obstacles. The next (1:5-8) then demonstrates that true character requires single-minded devotion to God. Thus both units deal with Christian character. Another way of linking the two units is stylistic. There is a series of word-linkages, technically called sorites, which are obvious in the Greek text but not in English translations. A word in one verse (or even in part of a verse) is then repeated either by the same word or by a cognate form, thus creating a chain effect. "Greetings" (chairein) in 1:1 is related to "joy" (charan) in 1:2. "Faith" in 1:3 reappears in 1:6. A more immediate link is the word translated "endurance" in 1:3 and 1:4. The Greek word teleios occurs twice in 1:4, although in the NRSV it is translated once as "full" and then as "mature." Different forms of the word "lacking" link 1:4 and 1:5, while "asking" links 1:5 and 1:6. "Doubting" appears twice in 1:6. The words translated "like" in 1:6 and "expect" in 1:7 are not the same, but they sound very similar. Different words for "man" occur in 1:7 and 1:8, one a generic term and the other designating the male gender. All of these linkages can easily be understood in the context of oral communication, which is typical of wisdom and proverbial literature. Since presumably most of James's audience could not read, these mnemonic devices would help listeners to remember what they heard. The whole section is tightly constructed.
* * *
Testing Produces Character (1:2-4)
As we have seen, James typically addresses his audience as "my brothers" (1:2). In part, this phrase has a rhetorical function of establishing a close bond between him and his hearers/readers. The authority of the letter derives from the author's role as a teacher who is able to impart traditional wisdom as well as new insights into the meaning of what it means to be Christians.
He begins his discussion of Christian character by telling his audience to consider it "all joy" (the NRSV's "nothing but joy" conveys the same meaning) when they encounter various "trials" (peirasmoi). Apparently these trials will be externally imposed, but nothing is explicitly said about suffering or persecution. By way ofcontrast, 1 Pet 1:6-7 also speaks of rejoicing (not the same Greek word) and of maintaining faith in a time of trials. In that letter the audience is told to expect acute suffering (being tested by fire) but is promised an eschatological blessing "when Jesus Christ is revealed." Both emphases (suffering, apocalyptic) are absent, or at least muted, in James.
James clearly does not suggest that these trials are valuable for their own sake. Rather, they become the occasion by which Christians can grow in faith. The progression here begins with a testing of faith; the noun dokimion in 1:3, which usually has the sense of a means of testing, is to be preferred to manuscripts that have the adjective dokimon. This leads to "endurance" or "perseverance" (hypomone), a characteristic of Christian virtue in Revelation (see 2:2, 3, 19; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12). For James, though, this endurance is not complete until it leads to perfection. The term teleios is repeated twice in 1:4. The first time it modifies the term work. In 2:22 it appears again in a verb form, combined with the same two words: "and faith was brought to completion by the works." The second time it is used in 1:4 it is complemented by another word with the same meaning (holokleros) and the two terms are translated as "mature and complete." "Mature" does a better job of conveying to us James's concept of the development of character than the traditional word "perfect." The adjective "perfect" will also appear in 1:17 (God's "perfect gift") and in 1:25 ("the perfect law"). In this unit, then, the progression is: trials or tests of faith that produce endurance, which lead to maturity.
In some respects, the progression in Rom 5:3-4 is similar: suffering produces endurance, which produces character, which produces hope in God's grace. However, it is a mistake to read this passage of James in light of Rom 5, 1 Pet 1:6-7, and Matt 5:11-12 ("Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you," etc.) as Davids (1982, 65-70) seems to do. All three of those passages focus explicitly on either suffering or persecution, or both, which are not mentioned in James. Also, all three of those passages occur within an apocalyptic setting: "for your reward is great in heaven" (Matt 5:12); "we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God" (Rom 5:2b); and an inheritance kept in heaven awaiting the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:4, 7). In Jas 1:4 the idea of perfection may have an eschatological overtone, but it is not stated. The primary meaning seems to be much closer to the moral sense found in Matt 5:48: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." To put it differently, this unit in James does contain a teleology, a movement of growth in wisdom and in faith; but there is no explicit picture of divine judgment or reward.
The growth or progression described in these verses is not intended only for individual Christians. The community as a whole needs to develop the same discipline (Johnson 1995b, 183-84). For that reason, this unit anticipates the concluding verses of the letter (5:19-20), which stress the importance of bringing back another Christian from error and death.
In James the "trials" relate to two aspects of their situation that are spelled out in the next two units. One is their religious search for wisdom (1:5 and again in 3:13-18). Jewish wisdom literature frequently admits that there are many obstacles to its attainment. Sirach 4:17, for example, describes how Wisdom will treat a seeker; she "will torment him by her discipline" (RSV); cf. T. Jos. 2:4-7, which includes the comforting statement that God does not abandon those who are seekers or God-fearers. The other aspect is sociological. The crises and frustrations that James mentions, as we shall see, are a result of the fact that those who experience them are poor and marginalized (1:9-11; 2:5-7; 4:13–5:6).
God's Gift Demands Single-Mindedness (1:5-8)
In Greek the next unit begins emphatically with "but if" and addresses those who lack wisdom. The author's assumption is that many of those who hear his message will identify themselves as ones who need greater wisdom, a theme that anticipates 3:13-18. This unit is linked to the previous one by a repetition of the word "lack" (1:4). It immediately sets up a contrast between those whose goal is to lack nothing (1:4) and those hearers ("If any of you") who lack something essential, namely wisdom. The Wisdom of Solomon contains a remarkable parallel: "For even if one is perfect among the sons of men, yet without the wisdom that comes from thee he will be regarded as nothing" (9:6 RSV).
Verse 5 focuses first on God as giver; the verb didomi occurs twice. This theme reappears in various forms in 1:17 (God as the source of every perfect gift), in 1:21 (the "implanted word"), and in 3:17 (God as the source of "wisdom from above"). The focus then shifts to the need to ask in faith, without doubting (1:5-6). James contrasts the person who never doubts and the one who does, using the same word twice in an identical form in 1:6; in the NRSV "the doubter" is repeated in 1:7 to make a smoother translation, even though the word does not appear in the Greek text. The adjective "doubleminded" (dipsychos) appears in 1:8 for the first time in any literature; see also 4:8. The phrase "wretched are the double-minded" appears in 1 Clem. 23.3-4 as part of a quotation from "scripture" and in 2 Clem. 11.2-3 is cited from "the prophetic word." It also appears in different forms in 1 Clem. 11.2 and 2 Clem. 11.5, as well as more than forty times in the writings attributed to Hermas (particularly in Herm. Man. 9–10).
In contrast to 1:1, "the Lord" in 1:8 clearly refers to God the giver, not to Christ.
* * *
The unit has a double focus. The first is on God as giver (1:5). We are told what God gives, namely wisdom. This view appears frequently in wisdom literature (e.g., Wis 7:7; 8:21; Sir 1:1; 17:11). We are also told how God gives: completely and without reservation (NRSV: "generously and ungrudgingly"). Finally, we learn to whom God gives. Our first impression is "to all" (pasin), which would make wisdom a universal gift from God and part of human nature, but the following verses make it clear that there are some conditions for receiving God's gift. (On wisdom in James see Felder 1982.)
In the rest of the unit (vv. 6-8), the focus shifts from God to the asker, and in particular to the way in which we should ask. The first condition is that we should ask in faith. This saying is strikingly similar to Jesus' teaching about prayer, notably in Matt 21:22 ("Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive") and Mark 11:24 ("So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours"). Other parallels may be found in the saying ask/seek/knock (Matt 7:7 = Luke 11:17) and also in John 16:23.
Linked with the need to have faith when we ask God in prayer is another condition. We should not doubt! James reinforces that claim with two vivid images. If we doubt, we are like a wave during a storm at sea, tossed back and forth. In Wis 14:1-7 and in classical sources there are numerous references to a ship on a storm-tossed sea, but in this passage the focus is on the waves themselves. The image is a standard one in the wisdom tradition, but it would have particular meaning for anyone who had experienced such a storm. James uses it to show that such a person who doubts has lost control over his or her life and cannot expect any gifts from God. This image, then, contrasts sharply with the more serene picture of a ship and its rudder in 3:4-5. The other image is that of the person who is "double-minded and unstable in every way" (v. 8). The use of the term dipsychos has already been discussed, but there is one other striking parallel: "But those who are perfect in faith make all their requests trusting in the Lord, and they receive them, because they ask unhesitatingly, without any double-mindedness" (Herm. Man. 9.6). Dibelius describes this statement as "the best commentary on our v. 6" but stops short of seeing any literary dependence (Dibelius and Greeven 1976, 79-82).
* * *
In this opening section, then, James has given both positive and negative clues to developing Christian character. Faith (vv. 3 and 6) is the key to both units. When we are faced with trials, faith enables us to build up our endurance and so to mature (cf. 5:7-11). This is a process of growth in learning how to deal with unexpected challenges or personal hardships. Faith is also the key to developing a relationship to God in prayer, particularly when we ask for wisdom. To ask in faith means to practice an unswerving devotion to God. The negative example is that of the doubter, the person who is uncertain or insecure about his or her relationship to God.
True Rewards: The Poor and the Rich (1:9-11)
This section stands between the two parallel sections of 1:2-8 and 1:12-18. It is not tied closely to either of the others, but it does introduce the contrast between rich and poor, which is discussed in greater detail in 2:1-7, 14-16 and 4:13–5:6. Internally, the unit is linked by different forms of the word "lowly" (1:9, 10) and the words "flower" and "field" (1:10, 11). The image of withering and fading is clearly based on Isa 40:6f, which is quoted at greater length in 1 Pet 1:14.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: James by C. Freeman Sleeper. Copyright © 1998 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword,Preface,
List of Abbreviations,
Introduction: Reading James,
Commentary,
Select Bibliography,
Index,