Who Is James?
One thing that shocked me when I first became a believer, besides how wholly incompetent I was to be good enough to save myself, came when I realized that Jesus Christ actually had siblings. This was something that had never been taught to me the times that I did go to church and I had the assumption that He was an only child. However, when you look at Matthew 13:55 you clearly see that Jesus did in fact have half siblings,“55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is His mother not called Mary, and His brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?” In fact, it was one of these half-brothers who wrote the book of James, which is where I am wanting to go next with our study. But before we begin the study into the book of James, I feel it is important to understand who exactly he was.
As mentioned above, James was the half-brother to Jesus, the child of Mary and Joseph. However, in spite of having the Son of God as his older brother, James did not at first believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” John 7:1-5. James is a great example of those who have the head knowledge of how to be saved but have never had that personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. James lived with Jesus, was around for his ministry, and yet did not believe. Through James, we see that if we have godly parents, godly spouses, or godly friends it does not make us a Christian. Without personally repenting of our sins and asking Jesus Christ to forgive us, we will not enter the kingdom of God, we cannot get there based on our relationship to anyone or anything else.
Unlike with Saul, who became the Apostle Paul, we don’t have a record of when this disbelief moved to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. What we do know about James is after he received this faith, James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem once Peter was released from prison (Acts 12:17) and chaired the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:13). James was a deeply prayerful man who was on his knees so often that his knees grew calloused. And his introduction in James 1:1 shows more of his character, “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” James 1:1a. James does not mention that he is the brother of Jesus, showing his humility in acknowledging that he is a bond-servant meaning that he was devoting his obedience and loyalty to Jesus Christ.
Through reading the book of James, you can see that he was a man who desired for the church to grow in the Lord. He also did not sugar coat issues in the church, something we will see as we begin our study. He did not ask people to change, he demanded it. He was practical in his writing, James didn’t just tell people that they needed to be wise, but showed how to discern wisdom from folly.
Now that we understand a little more about who James was, I feel it is important to discuss why he wrote the book of James. “To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.” James 1:1b. James intended his letter for Christian Jews who were scattered outside of Jerusalem. James was writing to them because they were being tested and facing temptations to sin. In short, they were failing to live up to what they professed. The Jewish Christians were living for the world, not controlling their tongues, and were disobeying God’s Word. These are all issues that are still prevalent in the church today, this is why I believe that the book of James need to be studied. James was dealing with an issue then that is common today, spiritual immaturity. We do not have enough churches and church members coming together to grow one another. We either have churches who refuse to do Bible studies or small groups or we have individuals who believe that Sunday morning is the only amount of nourishment that they need for the week. Therefore, we have Christians who lack the ability to defend what they believe and are incapable of guiding others in their faith with Jesus Christ, they are failing to be as Proverbs states, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17. As we begin our study in the book of James, I hope this study will highlight areas that need growth.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex