{"id":5567,"date":"2014-09-23T01:43:26","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T01:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=5567"},"modified":"2014-11-04T04:57:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T04:57:18","slug":"james11-james-the-bond-servant-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=5567","title":{"rendered":"James1:1\u2014James the bond-servant of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.<\/em> James 1:1<\/p>\n

Much of Christian tradition holds to the belief that James, who wrote the letter in the Bible bearing his name, was a half-brother of Jesus. Although other followers of Jesus were also named James, here are a couple of Scriptures which support the belief that\u00a0this author likely was<\/em> the brother of the Lord:<\/p>\n

Mark 6:2-3: “And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and <\/em>brother of James<\/strong>, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?<\/em>” The first of Jesus’ four brothers mentioned here is James.<\/p>\n

Galatians 1:19: “But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother<\/strong><\/em>.” Here the apostle Paul refers to the brother of Jesus, whom he identifies as James. Notice that this<\/em> James was not one of the original twelve disciples, but Paul categories\u00a0him with the other apostles nonetheless. Obviously, James\u2014who along with the rest of Jesus\u2019 family may have once thought that\u00a0Jesus was in dire need of a family intervention (see Matthew 12:46-50)\u2014not only became a believer himself, but also emerged as an apostle and a great church leader.<\/p>\n

Another clue to James\u2019 sibling connection\u00a0with Jesus is found in the similarity\u00a0of thought and\u00a0style\u00a0shared by the two. None of the other writers of the New Testament letters besides James express their ideas with such striking\u00a0resemblance to the preaching found in\u00a0Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. More than a few excerpts from James\u2019 letter read like a sequel to\u00a0the Lord’s\u00a0well-known hillside message.<\/p>\n

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

James identified himself in this greeting, not as Jesus\u2019 brother, but as His bond-servant and the bond-servant of God. By describing himself in this way, he was declaring to one and all that he had given himself over to the will of the Lord to serve Him and to advance His cause on the earth (see http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/Lexicon\/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G1401&t=KJV<\/a>). He did not wrap himself in accolades; he didn\u2019t name-drop or pad his resume with his\u00a0unique connection to his Brother, the Lord; he simply identified himself as a servant of Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u2026 to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bible commentator David Guzik explains James\u2019 audience like this: \u201cTo the twelve tribes<\/strong>: What James means by the reference to the twelve tribes<\/strong> is difficult to understand. Is James writing a letter just to Christians from a Jewish background, or to all Christians? Certainly, this letter applies to all Christians. Probably, James wrote his letter before Gentiles were brought into the church, or before Gentile Christians emerged in any significant number\u201d (see http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/Comm\/guzik_david\/StudyGuide_Jam\/Jam_1.cfm<\/a>).<\/p>\n

As you read the Book of James, remember that James\u2019 readership was largely made up of Jewish<\/em> believers, indicating that they were very familiar with Hebrew laws and customs. But also remember that his readers were\u00a0Christian<\/em>; knowing this eliminates any excuse\u00a0someone might come up with to weasel out of the more \u201ctoe-stomping\u201d portions of this epistle.<\/p>\n

It is my hope that you will enjoy this verse by verse adventure in the Book of James\u2014but wear your steel-toed boots. James didn’t mess around.<\/p>\n

Until tomorrow,<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. James 1:1 Much of Christian tradition holds to the belief that James, who wrote the letter in the Bible bearing his name, was a half-brother of Jesus. Although other followers of Jesus were also named […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5567"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5599,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5567\/revisions\/5599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}