YI. Sixthly, Concerning the title catholic or general epistle, which is the title given all the seven latter epistles ; I answer, in some copies it is KavoviKT), canonical ; but probably that is an error. Why then catholic ? Many reasons are given. (Ecumenius, and out of him Beza, thinketh it is because they were not inscribed to any particular nation or cit}', as Paul's are to Rome, Corinth, &c. But this holdeth not in all, some of John's being dedicated to private persons, to Gaius and the Elect Lady; and then there must be more than .^evcn, that to the Hebrews being directed to the same persons to wliich Peter and James wrote theirs. Some say, because they contain universal doctrine, or the public treasure of the universal church ; but that would seem to derogate from the other epistles, and to prefer these before them. Parens thinketh they were merely called so by an inconsiderate cus- tom ; but most probably the reason is to vindicate their authenticity, and to distinguish them from the epistles of Barnabas, Ignatius, Clemens, and Polycarp, which, though ancient, never made up any part of the rule of faith, and so not derogate from the other epistles,2 but to join these to them. These things premised, I come, by God's assistance, to handle the epistle itself.
* 'Excitata fiiit tempore apostolorum opinio, Bufficere solam fidem ad salutem obti- nendam, si vel maxime bona opera ncgligerentur, contra quam opinionera Apostolicao Epistolae Petri, JohanniH, Jacobi, Judtc, ni.ixinie dirigiint intentionem, ut vebementer adstriiant fidem Bine operibus iiibil pro<le.sse.' — Avf/. Lib. dc Fide ct Operibus.
* ' Ecclesia vetus bae epiatolas canonica.s et catbolica.s appellavit, non ut aliisquidquam adimeret, ecd ut has illia coatra nonuuUoruta aenteatiafl adjungeret,' — Junius in Judam, p. 10.
AN EXPOSITION WITH NOTES
UPON THE
EPISTLE OF JAMES.
CHAPTER I.
James, a servant of God, and oftlie Lord Jesus Christ, to tlie twelve tribes lohich are scattered abroad, greeting. — James I. 1.
JA3IES, there were two of this name, the son of Zebedee, and the son of Alpheus ; the latter is the author of this epistle, as in the pre- fatory discourse on the title more fully appeareth.
A serva7it of God. — The word 8ov\o<; is sometimes put to imply an abject and vile condition, as that of a slave or bondman ; so the apostle Paul, when he saith, Gal. iii. 28, ' bond or free are all one in Christ,' for bond he useth the word SouA-o? ; and this great apostle thinketh it an honour to be SovXo^, the servant of God. The lowest ministry and office about God is honourable.
But why not ajjostle ? Grotius supposeth the reason to be because neither James the son of Zebedee, nor James of Alpheus, was the author of this epistle, but some third James ; not an apostle, but president of the presbytery at Jerusalem ; but that we have disproved in the preface. I answer, therefore : He mentioneth not his apostle- ship — 1. Because there was no need, he being eminent in the opinion and repute of the churches ; therefore Paul saith, he was accounted a pillar and main column of the Christian faith, Gal. ii. 9. Paul, whose apostleship was enviously questioned, avoucheth it often. 2. Paul himself doth not in every epistle call himself an apostle. Some- times his style is, ' Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,' Philem. 1 ; sometimes, ' Paul, a servant of Christ,' Phil. i. 1 ; sometimes nothing but his name Paul is prefixed, as in 1 Thes. i. ], and 2 Thes. i. 1.
It followeth, a7id of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some take both these clauses in a conjoined sense, as applied to the same person, and read it thus : A servant of Jesus Christ who is God and Lord ; as indeed this was one of the places urged by the Greek fathers for the God- head of Christ against the Arians. But our reading, which dis- joiueth the clauses, is to be preferred, as being least strained, and
16 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 1.
more suitable to the apostolic inscriptions; neither is the dignity of Christ henby impaired, he beinj:; proposed as an object of equal honour with the Father ; and as the Father is Lord, as well as Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ is God as well as the Father. Well, then, James is not only God's servant by the right of creation and pro- vidence, but Christ's servant by the right of redemption ; yea, espe- cially deputed by Christ as Lord, that is, as mediator and head of the church, to do him service in the way of an apostle ; and I suppose there is some special reason of this disjunction, 'a servant of God and of Christ.' to show his countrymen that, in serving Christ, he served the God of his fathers, as Paul pleaded, Acts xxvi. 6, 7, that, in standing for Christ, he did but stand for 'the hope of the promise made unto the fathers, unto which promise the twelve tribes, serving God day and night, hope to come.'
It followeth in the text, to the ticelvc tribes; that is, to the Jews and people of Isi-ael, chiefly those converted to the faith of Christ ; to these James writeth, as the ' minister of the circumcision,' Gal. ii. 9. And he writeth not in Hebrew, their own tongue, but in Greek, as being the language then most in use, as the apostle Paul writeth to the Romans in the same tongue, and not in the Latin.