PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude
Plummer, Alfred · 146,075 words · 198 reading sections
_The Epistle Of St. James._
Transcriber's Note. An advertisement for the Expositor's Bible series has been shifted to the end of the text. Apparent typographical errors have been corrected; inconsistent hyphenation has been retained. Small capitals have been replaced by full capitals while italics are indicated by _underscores_. EDITED BY THE…
607 wordsSECTION 2_The Catholic Epistles._
CHAPTER XXX. THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE 365 CHAPTER XXXI. THE PURPOSE OF THE EPISTLE.--THE FAITH ONCE FOR ALL DELIVERED AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 377 CHAPTER XXXII. THE PERSONS DENOUNCED IN THE EPISTLE.--ITS RELATION TO 2 PETER 388 CHAPTER XXXIII. DOUBTFUL READINGS AND THE THEO…
694 wordsSECTION 3_The Catholic Epistles._
The Epistles are called "Catholic" because they are not addressed to any particular Church, whether of Thessalonica, or Corinth, or Rome, or Galatia, but to the Church universal, or at any rate to a wide circle of readers. This is the earliest Christian use of the term "catholic," which was applied to the Church itself…
707 wordsSECTION 4_The Catholic Epistles._
That this meaning was well understood, even after the misleading title "Canonical Epistles" had become usual in the West, is shown by the interesting Prologue to these Epistles written by the Venerable Bede, _c._ A.D. 712.[5] This prologue is headed, "Here begins the Prologue to the seven _Canonical_ Epistles," and it …
1,050 wordsSECTION 5_The Catholic Epistles._
How enormous would have been the loss had the Catholic Epistles been excluded from the canon of the New Testament it is not difficult to see. Whole phases of Christian thought would have been missing. The Acts and the Epistles of St. Paul would have told us of their existence, but would not have shown to us what they w…
655 wordsSECTION 6_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. James._
[6] Westcott _On the Canon_, pp. 362, 417, 3rd Ed. [7] Westcott and Hort, II., p. 321; Scrivener, _Introduction to the Criticism of the N.T._ pp. 70, 74, 3rd Ed. "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."--JAS. i. 1. The question of the authenticity of this Epistle resolves itself into two parts--Is th…
718 wordsSECTION 7_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. James._
Do not let us forget what the epithet "disputed," applied to these and one or two[9] other books of the New Testament, really means. It does _not_ mean that at the beginning of the fourth century Eusebius found that these writings were _universally regarded with suspicion; that is a gross exaggeration of the import of …
778 wordsSECTION 8_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. James._
That the Epistle should at first remain very little known, especially in the West and among the Gentile congregations, is exactly what we should expect from the character of the letter and the circumstances of its publication. It is addressed by a Jew to Jews, by one who never moved from the Church over which he presid…
658 wordsSECTION 9_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. James._
But the conclusive fact in the external evidence respecting the Epistle is that it is contained in the Peshitto. This ancient Syriac Version was made in the second century, in the country in which the letter of James would be best known; and although the framers of this translation omitted 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Ju…
983 wordsSECTION 10_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. James._
[8] The date so frequently given, A.D. 363, cannot be substantiated, and on the whole is not probable. See Hefele, _History of the Church Councils_, II. vi. 93. [9] The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse. [10] γνωρίμων δ' οὖν ὅμως τοῖς πολλοῖς (_H. E._ III. xxv. 3), where γνώριμος, as usual, indicates _familia…
476 wordsSECTION 11Chapter Iii.
_THE AUTHOR OF THE EPISTLE: JAMES THE BROTHER OF THE LORD._ "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."--JAS. i. 1 We have still to consider the second half of the question as to the authenticity of this letter. Granting that it is a genuine Epistle of James, and a writing of the Apostolic age, to which…
690 wordsSECTION 12Chapter Iii.
The difficulties under which this theory labours are mainly these:-- 1. It depends on an identification of Clopas with Alphæus, which is uncertain, though not improbable. 2. It depends on a further identification of Christ's "mother's sister" with "Mary the wife of Clopas" in John xix. 25, which is both uncertain and…
995 wordsSECTION 13Chapter Iii.
Therefore, without further hesitation, we may assign the Epistle to one of the most striking and impressive figures in the Apostolic age, James the Just, the brother of the Lord, and the first overseer of the Mother Church of Jerusalem. Whether James was the brother of the Lord as being the son of Joseph by a former m…
678 wordsSECTION 14Chapter Iii.
It would be part of his strict Jewish training that he should pay the prescribed visits to Jerusalem at the feasts (John vii. 10); and he would there become familiar with the magnificent liturgy of the Temple, and would lay the foundation for that love of public and private prayer within its precincts which was one of …
802 wordsSECTION 15Chapter Iii.
Unless there is a reference to St. James in Heb. xiii. 7, as among those who had once "had the lead over you," but are now no longer alive to speak the word, we must go outside the New Testament for further notices of him. They are to be found chiefly in Clement of Alexandria, Hegesippus, and Josephus. Clement (_Hypoty…
1,152 wordsSECTION 16Chapter Iii.
"Now, the younger Ananus, whom we stated to have succeeded to the high-priesthood, was precipitate in temper and exceedingly audacious, and he followed the sect of the Sadducees, who are very harsh in judging offenders, beyond all other Jews, as we have already shown. Ananus, therefore, as being a person of this charac…
664 wordsSECTION 17Chapter Iv.
[20] Comp. _Strom._ VI. viii., where Clement speaks of James, Peter, John, Paul (note the order) as possessing the true _gnosis_, and knowing all things. [21] Hegesippus evidently distinguishes James the brother of the Lord from any of the Twelve. [22] It is incredible that he should be allowed the privileges of the …
703 wordsSECTION 18Chapter Iv.
It is quite out of place to quote such passages as the sealing of "the hundred and forty and four thousand ... out of every tribe of the children of Israel" (Rev. vii. 4-8), or the city with "twelve gates, ... and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel" (Rev. xxi. 12).…
774 wordsSECTION 19Chapter Iv.
Scarcely any of these seven points, taken singly, would be at all decisive; but when we sum them up together, remembering in how short a letter they occur, and when we add them to the very plain and simple language of the address, we have an argument which will carry conviction to most persons who have no preconceived …
717 wordsSECTION 20Chapter Iv.
To suppose that the rich oppressors so often alluded to in the Epistle are _heathen_, as Hilgenfeld does, confuses the whole picture, and brings no compensating advantage. The heathen among whom the Jews of the Dispersion dwelt in Syria, Egypt, Rome, and elsewhere, were of course, some of them rich, and some of them po…
1,139 wordsSECTION 21Chapter Iv.
The enormous significance of the Dispersion as a preparation for Christianity must not be overlooked. It showed to both Jew and Gentile alike that the barriers which had hedged in and isolated the hermit nation had broken down, and that what had ceased to be thus isolated had changed its character. A _kingdom_ had beco…
482 wordsSECTION 22Chapter V.
_THE RELATION OF THIS EPISTLE TO THE WRITINGS OF ST. PAUL AND OF ST. PETER. THE DATE OF THE EPISTLE. THE DOCTRINE OF JOY IN TEMPTATION._ "Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations, knowing that the proof of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may…
913 wordsSECTION 23Chapter V.
It remains to examine the relations between our Epistle and the First Epistle of St. Peter. Here, again, one of the coincidences occurs in the passage before us. St. James writes, "Count it all joy, when ye enter into manifold temptations; knowing that the proof of your faith worketh patience;" and St. Peter writes, "Y…
807 wordsSECTION 24Chapter V.
In deciding between the two periods (A.D. 45-49 and 53-62) for the date of the Epistle of St. James, we have not much to guide us if we adopt the view that it is independent of the writings of St. Peter and of St. Paul. There is plenty in the letter to lead us to suppose that it was written before the war (A.D. 66-70) …
665 wordsSECTION 25Chapter V.
It is just possible that "_all_ joy" (πᾶσαν χάραν) is meant exactly to balance "_manifold_ temptations" (πειρασμοῖς ποικίλοις). Great _diversity_ of troubles is to be considered as in reality _every kind_ of joy. Nevertheless, the troubles are not to be of our own making or seeking. It is not when we inflict suffering …
678 wordsSECTION 26Chapter V.
This doctrine of joy in suffering, which at first sight seems to be almost superhuman, is shown by experience to be less hard than the apparently more human doctrine of resignation and fortitude. The effort to be resigned, and to suffer without complaining, is not a very inspiriting effort. Its tendency is towards depr…
689 wordsSECTION 27Chapter V.
[30] In order to do justice to these coincidences one must look at them in the original Greek; but to those who cannot read Greek the accuracy of the Revised Version gives a very fair idea of the amount of similarity. 1. γινώσκοντες ὅτι τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως κατεργάζεται ὑπομονήν (James i. 3): εἰδότεσ ὅτι ἡ θλί…
367 wordsSECTION 28Chapter Vi.
_THE RELATION OF THIS EPISTLE TO THE BOOKS OF ECCLESIASTICUS AND OF THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. THE VALUE OF THE APOCRYPHA, AND THE MISCHIEF OF NEGLECTING IT._ "But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, no…
877 wordsSECTION 29Ecclesiasticus. St. James.
Let us endeavour to form an opinion for ourselves; and the only way in which to do this with thoroughness is to place side by side, in the original Greek, the passages in which there seems to be coincidence between the two writers. Want of space prevents this from being done here. But some of the most striking coincide…
697 wordsSECTION 30Ecclesiasticus. St. James.
6. Be swift in thy listening Let every man be swift to hear (ταχὺς ἐν ἀκροάσει σου); and (ταχὺς εὶς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι), slow with patience give answer (v. 11). to speak, slow to wrath (i. 19). 7. Thou shalt be to him as one that He is like unto a man beholding hath wiped a mirror (ἔσοπτρον), his natural face in a mirror (…
434 wordsSECTION 31Wisdom. St. James.
1. The hope of the ungodly is like He that doubteth is like the surge thistle-down carried away by the of the sea driven by the wind and wind; like a thin froth that is tossed.... As the flower of the driven away by the blast, and like grass he shall pass away.... So smoke is dispersed by the wind also shall the ri…
731 wordsSECTION 32Wisdom. St. James.
These facts go a long way towards proving that the neglect of the Apocrypha which is so prevalent among ourselves is a thing which cannot be defended, either by an appeal to Scripture or by the practice of the primitive Church; for both the one and the other show a great respect for these deutero-canonical writings. Th…
716 wordsSECTION 33Wisdom. St. James.
The neglect of the Apocrypha has been greatly increased by the widespread practice of publishing Bibles without it, and even of striking out from the margins of these mutilated Bibles all references to it. And this mischief has lately been augmented by the fact that the Revised Version omits it. Yet no portion of the B…
481 wordsSECTION 34Chapter Vii.
_THE EXALTATION OF THE LOWLY, AND THE FADING AWAY OF THE RICH. THE METAPHORS OF ST. JAMES AND THE PARABLES OF CHRIST._ "But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate: and the rich in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun ariseth, with the scorching win…
825 wordsSECTION 35Chapter Vii.
It is a baseless assumption to suppose that the rich man here spoken of is a Christian at all. "The brother of low degree" is contrasted, not with the _brother_ who is rich, but with the rich man, whose miserable destiny shows that he is not "a brother," _i.e._ not a believer. The latter is the wealthy Jew who rejects …
899 wordsSECTION 36Chapter Vii.
"Grass" throughout is a comprehensive term for herbage, and the "flower of grass" does not mean the bloom or blossom of grass in the narrower sense, but the wild flowers, specially abundant and brilliant in the Holy Land, which grow among the grass. Thus, in the Sermon on the Mount, what are first called "the lilies (τ…
792 wordsSECTION 37Chapter Vii.
It is manifest that in this matter St. James is partly following a great example, but partly also following the bent of his own mind. The first, without the second, would hardly have given us so many examples of this kind of teaching in so small a space. St. John had equal opportunities with St. James of learning this …
325 wordsSECTION 38Chapter Viii.
_THE SOURCE OF TEMPTATIONS AND THE REALITY OF SIN. THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE DETERMINIST._ "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love Him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God c…
796 wordsSECTION 39Chapter Viii.
At the present time there is a vehement effort being made in some quarters to shift the blame of man's wrong-doing, if not on to God (and He is commonly left out of the account, as unknown or non-existing), at any rate on to those natural laws which determine phenomena. We are asked to believe that such ideas as moral …
895 wordsSECTION 40Chapter Viii.
Is there, or is there not, such a thing as sin? That is the question which lies at the bottom of the error against which St. James warns his readers, and of the doctrines which are advocated at the present time by Positivists and all who deny the reality of human freedom and responsibility. To say that when we are temp…
737 wordsSECTION 41Chapter Viii.
When, therefore, we sum up all the known facts of the case, there is only one conclusion at which we can justly arrive. There is the nature of God, so far as it is known to us, utterly opposed to evil. There is the nature of man, as it has been debased by himself, constantly bringing forth evil. There is God's goodness…
582 wordsSECTION 42Chapter Ix.
_THE DELUSION OF HEARING WITHOUT DOING. THE MIRROR OF GOD'S WORD._ "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straig…
848 wordsSECTION 43Chapter Ix.
"Be ye doers of the Word." Both verb and tense are remarkable (γίνεσθε): "_Become_ doers of the Word." True Christian practice is a thing of growth; it is a process, and a process which has already begun, and is continually going on. We may compare, "_Become_ ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matt.…
675 wordsSECTION 44Chapter Ix.
The word here used for deluding (παραλογιζόμενοι) is found nowhere else in the New Testament, excepting in one passage in the Epistle to the Colossians (ii. 4), in which St. Paul warns them against allowing any one to "delude them with persuasiveness of speech." But the word is fairly common both in ordinary Greek and …
739 wordsSECTION 45Chapter Ix.
The spoken or written Word of God is the mirror. When we hear it preached, or study it for ourselves, we can find the reflexion of ourselves in it, our temptations and weaknesses, our failings and sins, the influences of God's Spirit upon us, and the impress of His grace. It is here that we notice one marked difference…
715 wordsSECTION 46Chapter Ix.
"Being not a hearer that forgetteth." Literally, "having become not a hearer of forgetfulness" (οὐκ ἀκροατὴς ἐπιλησμονῆς γενόμενος); _i.e._ having by practice come to be a hearer, who is characterized, not by forgetfulness of what he hears, but by attentive performance of it.[52] The unusual word "forgetfulness" occurs…
616 wordsSECTION 47Chapter X.
_THE CHRISTOLOGY OF ST. JAMES. THE PRACTICAL UNBELIEF INVOLVED IN SHOWING A WORLDLY RESPECT OF PERSONS IN PUBLIC WORSHIP._ "My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there …
1,073 wordsSECTION 48Chapter X.
But it is easy to go away with an exaggerated view of the so-called deficiencies of this letter as regards distinctly Christian teaching. The passage before us is a strong piece of evidence, and even if it stood alone it would carry us a long way. Moreover, the strength of it is not much affected by the ambiguity of co…
777 wordsSECTION 49Chapter X.
"My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." These words open a new section of the letter, as the renewed address indicates; and although the Epistle is not a set treatise, capable of analysis, but a letter, in which the subjects to be treated are loosely strun…
1,045 wordsSECTION 50Chapter X.
In the passage before us the repetition of one and the same word for "clothing" is possibly not accidental. The repetition accentuates the fact that such a thing as clothing is allowed to be the measure of a man's merit. The rich man is neither the better nor the worse for his fine clothes, the poor man neither the bet…
658 wordsSECTION 51Chapter X.
[53] Davidson, _Introduction to the Study of the N.T._ vol. i. pp. 327, 328, 2nd ed. (Longmans, 1882). [54] There is, however, a good deal to be said for Bengel's suggestion, that τῆς δόξης is in apposition with τοῦ κυρίου ἡμ. Ἰ. Χριστοῦ, _i.e._ "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, (who is) the Glory." Comp. Luke ii. …
274 wordsSECTION 52Chapter Xi.
_THE INIQUITY OF RESPECTING THE RICH AND DESPISING THE POOR. THE SOLIDARITY OF THE DIVINE LAW._ "Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to them that love Him? But ye have dishonoured the poor man. Do not th…
875 wordsSECTION 53Chapter Xi.
"The judgment-seats" before which these wealthy Jews drag their poorer brethren may be either heathen or Jewish courts (comp. 1 Cor. vi. 2, 4), but are probably the Jewish courts frequently held in the synagogues. The Roman government allowed the Jews very considerable powers of jurisdiction over their own people, not …
769 wordsSECTION 54Chapter Xi.
"Do not they blaspheme the honourable Name by which ye are called?" The last clause literally means "which was called upon you" (τὸ ἐπικληθὲν ἐφ' ὑμᾶς); and we need not doubt that the reference is to the Name of Christ which was invoked upon them at their baptism; _quod invocatum est super vos_, as the Vulgate has it. …
743 wordsSECTION 55Chapter Xi.
The law of loving one's neighbour as oneself is a "royal law," not as having emanated from God or from Christ as King, still less as being a law which binds even kings, or which makes kings of those who observe it. It is a royal law, as being sovereign over other laws, inasmuch as it is one of those two on which "hang …
690 wordsSECTION 56Chapter Xi.
Both defects are common enough still, and are likely to remain so. Paying respect to _persons_, _dignities_, and _positions_ is a frequent form of meanness, especially in the manner here condemned, of courting the rich and slighting the poor. It is a Christian duty to respect the rank or the office of those whom God ha…
251 wordsSECTION 57Chapter Xii.
_FAITH AND WORKS: THREE VIEWS OF THE RELATION OF THE TEACHING OF ST. JAMES TO THE TEACHING OF ST. PAUL. THE RELATION OF LUTHER TO BOTH._ "What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and in lack of daily food, and one of…
681 wordsSECTION 58Chapter Xii.
"What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? Can that faith save him?" "_That_ faith" is literally "_the_ faith," or "_his_ faith;" viz. such faith as he professes, a faith that produces nothing. There is no emphasis on "say." St. James is not insinuating that the man says he has f…
884 wordsSECTION 59Chapter Xii.
Dr. Salmon justly observes, "To a disciple of Baur there is no more disappointing document than this Epistle of James. Here, if anywhere in the New Testament, he might expect to find evidence of anti-Pauline rancour. There is what looks like flat contradiction between this Epistle and the teaching of St. Paul.... But t…
815 wordsSECTION 60Chapter Xii.
Moreover, was there any likelihood that the Jewish Christians would thus misinterpret St. Paul? Among Gentile Christians there was danger of this, because they misunderstood the meaning of the Christian liberty which he so enthusiastically preached. But with Jewish converts the danger was that they would refuse to list…
698 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.