Study Notes on James/Introduction

Study Notes on James

James 1:1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. This James is believed by most scholars to be the half-brother of Jesus. We know that Jesus’ mother was the Virgin Mary, and that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit into her womb. Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph at the time of Jesus’ conception. Mary went on to marry Joseph which made Jesus his step-son. Then Mary and Joseph went on to have children of their own of which James is one of them. It is interesting to note that because of his life spent growing up with Jesus that James did not immediately recognize his half brother Jesus to be the Messiah until after Jesus rose from the dead and sought him out to make sure of his belief in Him as Messiah. Once James saw his half brother Jesus raised from the dead he became a devout believer. He calls himself “a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” A bondservant is not a forced slave at all, but one who lovingly bonds himself to his master which makes him free indeed.

James’ letter is written to Jewish Christians. It is believed to be one of the earliest letters written to the newly formed church because there are no mentions of Gentiles in the writing. James is highly regarded in the Jewish church and was said to hold great influence among the leaders of the non-Christian Jewish church as well as the congregation of newly converted believers to Christ as Savior which is no small task for sure. He was known as James the “Just or righteous one” by the people and highly regarded as a man of inward character and outward piety. As a matter of fact he was allowed in the Holy Place of the Temple and was often found there on his knees praying for the forgiveness of the sins of his people. He also had the nick-name of “camel knees” because they had become so callous and worn from days and days of praying prostrate before the God of heaven.

It was his great influence with the Jewish synagogue leaders who had not converted to Christianity that got him killed as a Martyr for Christ. These leaders mistakenly thought they could have James use his authority and influence to have people stop from believing in Jesus as Messiah. So they gave him a platform to speak to the people about not converting to Jesus, and true to his faith James stood up and boldly declared that Jesus was the Messiah and is now sitting at the right hand of the Power of Majesty on High (God the Father). The Jewish leaders were enraged by what he had done and stoned him to death on the spot while he rolled on to his camel-knees and started praying for the Father to forgive them because they did not know the damage they were doing by stoning the messenger of God. How ironic that the half brother of Jesus who was not convinced of Jesus as the Messiah while he lived as a man on the earth, but was now being stoned to death for his overwhelming conviction of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior even though Jesus was now in heaven.