They are as follows : (1) the epistolary salutation z^'fit*' (•^a 11, Ac 16'^) found in only one other prussajre of tlie NT, the letter of Lysios to Felix (.-Vc 2o'*») ; (2) the curious phrase, Iwrroweii from the LXX, which occurs in NT only in Ac 15^' ijj •Cr ixiKiKXyTBtt TO itouM [xau iw' flturcuf, and Ja 2^ r* JucAtfr o>cuJt T» ivixy^ii't* ($' vua.i ; (3) ittu-jfttrt i.il>.;ai fjtMt found in Ja 23 alone in the Kpistles, compared with ix»3^f; fcdi^;«; «xM>r«ri fiMj in Ac 15'3 ; (4) iT<^«iirTiff-fl«i Ja 1"^^ Ac 15'* ; (6) io-,rr>»(;it» Ja .'ii!'- '■»', .\c 1519 ; (6) r%n',% and »i«ir/in>. Ja l-"' imkt, i«i/T..
TXptit (KTO T«W xirfHt/, Ac l[t-* i£ »* il^mpiVITtC tXtfTci/t !!■ T^flC^iri ;
(7) BtyxTtirif occurs in Ac only in 16'^*L» Twf iyxvrraii Rxfi*et^^ Kxi llatAaf, while ix3fA;«/ cMv KyawnTti is found three times in our Kpislle ; (8) the prepnant use of the word «>#.ua jn Ja 5'" iX«Ati«'«i I, T* i»ijXMr, Kvpttu, v.l* (cAli'^aiTlr !>.«/«» if rm i*tu^7i, 27 ri «aX«, Srcuu, and in Ac 151* X«,il7i if i^.M Aitti T* iietuLri
we ni.iy compare also the use of J«»«»«* in Ac 21-^, prolwilily epokeii by St. James <Ja*«»,;r«» i«' abra7(), with our K|>i9tle i-i 'i*» (, rxU r,ittx,( vuMf itcTxtrfr.n. aud the occurrencv of ityyi^tt in the same vene with its occurrence in Ja 4!*.
An objection may be raised to the iilentilicAtion of the writer of the Epistle with the brother of our Lord on the ground that no claim is made to this title in cither of the Epistles which go by the name of the brothers James and Jiule. It they were really brothers of the Lord, would they not have laid stress on the authority derived from this relationship, just as St. Paul lays stress on his apostlcshi]! '! liut what was Christ's own teniliing on the matter? When his mother and brothers sought on one occasion to tise the authority which they assumed that their kinship gave them, they were met by the words, ' Who is my mother or my brethren?' And ho stretched out his hands to his disciples and said, * Itehold my mother and my brethren.' St. Paul expresses the same idea of the disappearance of the earthly relationship in the higher spiritual union by which all the niem- liers of the liody are joimd to the Head, in the words 'though we have known Christ after tho flesh, yet now know wo him so no more' (2 Co 5"). Surely it is only what wa« to lie ex|iectitl that James and Jude would shrinkfromvlaiuiinganutlK-
M4
JAMES, EPISTLE OF
JAMES, EPISTLE OF
name thnn that of ' servant ' to express tlie relacion • in wliirli they stood to their risen Lord, after hav- ing failed to nckiiowledj^'e him as their Master in tile days of his Immiliation.
So far the evidence seems to show that the writer of the Epistle was James the Just, the brother of the Lord. Let us see what further li{,'lit this fact, if it bo one, will throw upon the Ejiistle. The word ' just,' which is also used of his father Josei)h, implies one who not only observes but loves the law ; and we may be sure that the reverence for the law, which is so marked a feature of the Epistle, was learnt in the well-ordered home of Nazareth. There, too, he may have acquired, with the full sanction of his parents (who would pladly devote the eldest-bom of Joseph in such marked way to the future service of the Messiah), tliose strict ascetic habits which tradition ascribes to him. But the constant intercourse with him who was full of grace and truth in childhood as in manliood, must have prepared James to find in the Ten Com- mandments no mere outward regulations, but an inner law of liberty and love written in the lieart. That deep interest in the mysteries of the king- dom, that earnest search after truth which led the child Jesus to remain behind in the temple, must surely have had its eti'ect upon his brother. Whatever means of instruction were within reach of the home at Nazareth would, we may feel sure, have been eagerly taken advantage of by all its inmates. AViiile, therefore, accepting the view which seems lo be best sup2)orted, tliat Jesus and his brothers usually spoke Aramaic, we are not bound to suppose that, with towns like Sepphoris and Tiberias in their immediate vicinity, with Ptolemais, Scythopolis, and Gadara at no great distance, they remained ignorant of Greek. In the eyes of the scribes they might ' never have learnt letters,' since they had not attended the rabbinical scliools of Jerusalem ; but the ordinary education of Jewish children, and the Sabbatli readings in the synagogue, would give a sulUcicnt start to enable any intelligent boy to carry on his studies for hiiniell ; while the example of Solomon and the teaching of the ' sapiential ' books, with which the writer of the Epistle was intimately acquainted, held up the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom as the highest duty of man.
There are other characteristics of our Epistle which find their best explanation in the sujiposition that the >vriter was the son of Joseph and Mary. The use of parables was common among Jewish teachers, and especially common in Galilee (cf. Neubauer in Studia Bihlica, i. p. 52) ; but it was carried to an unusual length by our Lord, both in his preaching to the multitude, of which it is said ' without a parable spake he not unto them,' and in his ordinary conversation, which constantly ran into a parabolic or figurative form to the great bewilderment of his disciples, as when he bid them ' Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.' One distinctive feature of our Lord's use of parables is that there is nothing forced either in the figure or in the application : natural phenomena and the varied circumstances of human life are watched with an observant eye and a sympathetic and loving heart, and the spiritual analogies which they suggest are seen to How naturally from them. Such a habit of mind could not have been acquired alter manhood. The love of nature, the sympathy in all human interests, the readiness to rind ' ser- mons in stones and good in everything,' must have cliaracterized the child Jesus, and coloured all his intercourse with his fellows from his earliest years. It is interesting therefore to find the same fondness for figurative speech in the Epistles of his two brothers, St. James and St. Jude.