Epistle of James in Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) Author of, was James the Less, the Lord's brother, one
of
the twelve apostles. He was one of the three pillars
of the
Church (Gal. 2:9).
(2.) It was addressed to the Jews of the dispersion,
"the
twelve tribes scattered abroad."
(3.) The place and time of the writing of the
epistle were
Jerusalem, where James was residing, and, from
internal
evidence, the period between Paul's two
imprisonments at Rome,
probably about A.D. 62.
(4.) The object of the writer was to enforce the
practical
duties of the Christian life. "The Jewish vices
against which he
warns them are, formalism, which made the service of
God consist
in washings and outward ceremonies, whereas he
reminds them
(1:27) that it consists rather in active love and
purity;
fanaticism, which, under the cloak of religious
zeal, was
tearing Jerusalem in pieces (1:20); fatalism, which
threw its
sins on God (1:13); meanness, which crouched before
the rich
(2:2); falsehood, which had made words and oaths
play-things
(3:2-12); partisanship (3:14); evil speaking (4:11);
boasting
(4:16); oppression (5:4). The great lesson which he
teaches them
as Christians is patience, patience in trial (1:2),
patience in
good works (1:22-25), patience under provocation
(3:17),
patience under oppression (5:7), patience under
persecution
(5:10); and the ground of their patience is that the
coming of
the Lord draweth nigh, which is to right all wrong
(5:8)."
"Justification by works," which James contends for,
is
justification before man, the justification of our
profession of
faith by a consistent life. Paul contends for the
doctrine of
"justification by faith;" but that is justification
before God,
a being regarded and accepted as just by virtue of
the
righteousness of Christ, which is received by faith.
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