• Tlio Banip view l» tAk«'n by I.. &laMM*)iicau In ui ut1c1« cntitlinl ' I.'r.pitrc dti Juimhh-h, cst-pllc I'.i'iivn* tl'un t'lir^tirn T' U'liicii appeared in the JUtnu dt rhUtoire tUt rv/itfioTU, l*aria, 18W.
B46
JAMES, EPISTLE OF
JAMES, EPISTLE OF
Epistles, addressed lo distant Churches, and deal- ing so much with personal questions, having been brought under the notice of St. .lames.
The main points of connexion between the Epistle.s are Ko 2" oi yip ol ditpoaTai i>iAU>t> SIkoioi wapa Tip Oc^t dXV ol TroiJjral vo/jlov SiKanod^troyrat, compared with Ja 1^ yiveaffc iroiijrai \6yov Kal p.ri aKpoarai libfov, and Ja 4" itoitjttis vbpLOv (the only other place in NT where this phra.se occur.s) ; the plirase irapa/SdTTjt »o'moi', occurring only in Ko 2-^-*' and Ja 2" ; Ko 7^ ji\(iru> trepov vhnov (f Tors pifXtaiv fxov dvTitrrparfvi^vov Tip vdfjiip tou voos fiov, compare<l with Ja 4^ Tr6d(y TdXefioi ; ovk ivTfvBfv iK tCiv ijOovCiv iipLijv Tujc ffrpaTtvo^fwi' iv rots /xAetrtc ifp.Civ ; Ko 14** ai> tIs cI 6 Kpiviav dXKbrpiov oU^ttjv ; Tip iSiip Kvpiip ffTTJKti fj irlTTTci, conipareu Nvith Ja 4" tU tsTiv vo/io- Wt7)S ical /cpi7T)s, a\) hi tIs el i Kplvuu rix irXijcrfoi- ; Ro 5''° Kavx"!^'^"^ ^' ''"■'^^ 6\i\ptiTii', eiSires Sri ij 8\tifit iirotiovT)v Karepr/d^fTai, i} S^ uwo/xovij SoKifiiji'^ ij 5^ SoKipLT) AttISo, 7j 5^ AttJs ov Karaiirxi'va, fin r/ dyiirr] ToO 5fo5 ^KK^x'^'"> compared with Ja P'* 7rd(rai' XopAi* ijy^aaaOe Urav vupaup^ois Trepiir^tnrTt voikIXoi^, yivu3<TK0VT(s Art t6 ^okL^ov Vfiwv t^5 TrftrTewt Kanpyd- frrat vtronovfjv, i] d^ vwofiov^ ^pyov t4\€iov ix^TU Xva ^T€ T^Xeiot ; v.* Kavx^'^^^ ^^ ^ dSeX^is o Tairctcij, ic.t.X. In these and other cases of resemblance it is easier to suppose that St. Paul works up a hint received from St. James, than that St. James omits points of interest and value which he found ready to his hand.
The crucial test, however, of the relation be- tween the two is to be found in the controversy as to faith and works. St. James ha<i .said over and over again that ' faith ivithout works is dead ' (2" etc.), his intention being (as is plain from v.", and the illustration in w."-" of a philanthropy which is limited to words, as well as from the whole tone and argument of the Epi.«ille), not to depreciate faith, which is with him, not less than with St. Paul, the very foundation of the Christi.an life (see 1»- « 2' 5'"), but to insist that faith, like love, is valueless if it has no effect on the life. St. Paul himself does the same in 1 Th 1', Gal 5', 1 Co 13^, Ro 2'""' and elsewhere ; but in arguing against his Judaizin" antagonists, who denied sal- vation to the Gentiles unless they were circum- cised, and in all other respects ' performed the works of the law,' he had maintained that it was impossible for men to be justified by these works, and that it was by faith alone that even the Jews and Abraham himself must be justified. He is therefore compelled to challenge the phrase of St. James, ^ Trftms x^P'-^ ^^*' ^pyi^^ ^pyn ^i^tlv, veKpd imp, by a direct contradiction, Xoyi^d/icBa yap SiKntovffdai iriffTei dudptotrov x^P^^ ?pywv v6fj.ov, in sup- port of which he appeals to the confession of the Psalmist (Ps 14. 143^; see Ro 'a">-'^, Gal 3'») that • by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.' If St. James wrote after St. Paul, must he not, with these passages before him, have either attempted to meet the arguments, if he dissented ; or if he agreed with them (as he certainly does in 2'*- " 3"), would he not have avoided the nse of phrases such as x"P'' ''wt' (pyuf, which were liable to be misunderstood alike by the followers and the opponents of the Apostle to the Gentiles ?
St. Paul goes on to argue that the blessings promised to Abiaham and all the families of the earth in him, and the covenant made with Abra- ham and his seed, are anterior to, and irrespective of, the law ; that the Scripture expres.sly attributes to Abraham a righteousness, not of works, but of faith, and slates generally that 'the just shall live by faith.' To tnese arguments no reference is made by St. James, except to the familiar quota- tion, ^TritrTtvacv 'A^padpi Tip 9€ip Kal i\oyicrdi^ avrtp eU SiKcuoavrn" (2*'- **), which was probably in common
use among the Jews, to prove that orthodoxy ot doctrine sulliied for salvation. His answer to the text so used is that Abraham's faith proved itself by action when he olfered Isaac on the altar: il he had not acted thus, he would not have been accounted righteous, or callcil the fiiend of (!od. It is interesting to observe how St. Paul deaU with tliis statement, to which he distinctly refers in Ko 4'. St. James had said, 'AfSpad/t 6 xorijp ((juuf OVK i( Ipyoir idiKaiwffT) ; St. Paul replies, tt ydp ii Ipyur iStKaiuOri, lx(i Kai-xvi"'' i 'mt this, as he proceeds to show, is inconsistent with the phrase ' reckoned for righteousness,' which implies an act of free grace on the part of God, not a strict legal obliga- tion of wages earned for work done. His second answer is to rejilace the quotation in its original context (Ro 4'*"-'') as spoken of the birth, not the sacrilice of Isaac. Abraham's faith in the prom- ised birth was a settled trust in God, a long- continued hoping against hope ; it was this jiosture of mind, not any immediate action consequent upon it, which was reckoned to him for righteous- ness. All this is most apposite in reference to the argument of St. James, and the use which might be made of it by Judaizers. But put the case the other way : suppose St. James to have written after St. Paul ; and how inconceivable is it that he should have made no attempt to guard his position against such an extremely formidable attack ! Again, if St. James was really opposed to St. Paul, and desired to maintain that man was saved, not by grace, but by obedience to the law of Moses, wliicli was incumbent alike on Gentile and on Jew, why has he never uttered a syllable on the subject, but confined himself to the task of proving that a faith which bears no fruit is a dead taith ? See this more fully developed by Spitta, I.e. 202-225.