It is in part, at least, owing to this gnomic style and prophetic temper that the Epistle does not form a logically constructed whole, according to Western theories of composition. This is not to saj^ that it has no cohesion. A considerable part of it is grouped round three or four main ideas — temptation, the bridling of the tongue, the danger of lip-rehgion, the relation of rich and poor. Within and between these groups the movement is determined, to an extent which seems curious to our ways of thought, by verbal associations. The emphatic word of one sentence becomes a catch- word Unking it to the next.
It may be worth while to analyze a paragraph with a view to bringing this out. The salutation, 'James ... to the twelve tribes . . . giveth joy' {V), supplies the key-word for the ap- parently abrupt opening : ' And yo4^ unmixed count it, brethren, when . . .' (v.-). _ Again, 'that ye may be perfect, lacking noth- ing (v.''). _ And if any lack wisdom [for the apparently abrupt introduction of wisdom, see below], let him ash . . . (v.*), but let him ask in faith ' (v.^). This idea is then developed up to the end of v.". The transition to v.', 'Now let the lowly brother,' etc., is apparently again abrupt (see below). Verse 12 returns, as though vv.-i-" might be considered as a digression, to the idea of temptation, and, passing from the sense of 'trial* to that of 'inducement to evil,' deals with some difficulties con- nected therewith. It is interesting to note that two abrupt transitions in the above can be explained, with considerable probability, as due to literary reminiscence. In v.^ we want a connexion between ' wisdom,' which appears unexpectedly, and the ideas of 'perfect' and 'lacking' ; and this certainly seems to be supplied by Wis 9" : 'For even if a man be perfect among the sens of men, yet if the wisdom that cometh from thee be not with him, he shall be held in no account.' Again in v.', where the transition appears quite abrupt, a connexion with the central idea of wisdom is supplied by Sir I'l' : 'The wisdom of the lowly shall lift up his head,' and with the next verse Sir 3'5 may be compared: 'The greater thou art, humble thyself the more, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord' (cf. also, for the double antithesis. Sir 20").
2. Religious attitude and teaching.— The main
purpose of the Epistle is to protest against pre- vailing worldliness (4'*), which finds expression in avarice (4* 5'^), pleasure-seeking (P* 4^, the vaunt of a barren orthodoxy {2^*^-), social arrogance and sycophancy (2'^), bitter contentions (4^^), sins of the tongue (1-^ 3^"^°). Against these the author holds up the ideal of a life inspired by the 'wisdom which is from above' (3^^), which here plaj's the part assigned to the Spirit (as gift) in St. Paul and the NT generally. (With 3^^ cf. Gal 5^\ and with 1^ cf. Lk IP^ and Jn 3^^.) This heavenly wisdom is above all things ' pure' {ayv-q)^ primarily no doubt in the sense of unstained loyalty to God (cf. the reference in 4* to the worldly-minded as juoixaX^Sej, and see 2 Co 11'), and expresses itself in humihty (P°), meekness (P^^-3^^), reasonableness (3^^),peace- ableness (3^^*^), mercifulness (2^^ 3^''), whole-hearted earnestness (3^'' 5^' *), active beneficence (1^^ 3"), dependence on the Divine will (4''- ^°' ^°), obedience inspired by faith (2^^"^^). It has often been re- marked that purely theological conceptions occupy httle space in the Epistle. And this is literally true; but there is a good deal of compressed
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JAIVIES, EPISTLE OF
theology in expressions like 'of his cwti will he brought us to birth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of fh-stfruits of his creatures' (118; cf, jn 113 663^ j^o jq" 8"^-), 'the implanted word, which is able to save your souls' (l-^; cf. Ro l^^), 'the perfect law of Mberty' (1-^; cf. Mt 517-20^ Ro 8^), 'heirs of the kingdom which he pro- mised to them that love him' (2^), 'the parousia of the Lord is at hand' (5^) ; not to mention 2^, if with some very good scholars we take rrjs dd^rjs as in apposition to roO Kvplov rjpiiov Irjaov XpiaroO, and understand 'our Lord Jesus Chi-ist, the glory' (ia conformity with 2 Co 4^, He 1', Jn l^^), as a refer- ence to the Incarnation. It is remarkable, how- ever, that the Epistle contains no reference to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, or, in connexion with such a passage as 5^°^-, to His earthly hfe.
The writer is apparently httle interested in questions of organization (ct. the Didache, Clement, Ignatius). It is only incidentally that we hear of the 'elders of the Chm-ch' (5") — the only officials mentioned ; and we infer, rather than are told, that the teaching office was not strictly regulated (31) . Incidental, too, is the mention of the meeting for worship (2^), and we hear nothing as to its conduct. (For awayujyf) in the sense of a Christian assembly cf . Herm. Mand. xi. 9 ; Ignat. ad Polyc. iv. 2.)
3. Reception in the Church.— Ee-ascending the stream of tradition from the point at which our present NT canon may be considered as definitely established in the Western Church (Third Council of Carthage, a.d. 397), we find that the acceptance of the Ep. of James long remained dubious. Jerome, de Vir. Illustr. ii. (a.d. 392) says that, while some asserted it to have been issued by another under the name of James (' ab aho quodam sub nomine eius edita'), it had gradually, as time went on, established its authority. Eusebius, HE iii. 25 (c. A.D. 314) mentions it along with Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, among the books which, although widely known, were 'disputed' (dvriXey- S/xeva). Again, in ii. 23, after mentioning the martyrdom of James, he proceeds : 'whose epistle that is said to be which is first among the Epistles styled Cathohc,' adding that it was not free from suspicion (fit. 'is held spurious' [sc. by some]), because many ancient wiiters make no mention of it, as was also the case with Jude, though all the Cathohc Epistles were pubhcly read in most churches. Origen (c. 240) suggests the same un- certainty when he refers to it as the Epistle ' which goes under the name of James' (,v <p€poiJ,4p7) Ia/cw/3ou iTTLffToX-f) [in Joann. xix. 6]), though according to the Latin version of the Homilies he elsewhere quotes it as Scriptiu-e {Com. in Ep. ad Rom. iv. 1), and as by 'James the Lord's brother' {ih. iv. 8). It is noteworthy that in his Com. in Matt. (x. 17) he mentions the Ep. of Jude but not that of James. The Muratorian Canon omits it, along with Heb- rews and 1 and 2 Peter (on the other hand, the Peshitta includes it, while omitting Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and the Apocalyf)se). Clement of Alexandria is said to have included a commentary on 'Jude and the re.st of the Catholic Epistles' in his Hypotyposeis (Euseb. HE vi. 14) ; but, while his notes on 1 Peter, 1 and 2 John, and Jude arc extant in a Latin translation, James is wanting. As regards the indirect evidence of quotations, the earhest work for which a dependence on James can be estabUshed with any high degree of proba- bility is the Shepherd of Ilermas, which is variously dated between a.d. 100 and 150. (For Hermas' use of James see the art. by C. Taylor in JPh xviii. [1890] 297 ff. on the priority of the Didache to Hermas.) Some critics are inclined to see in Clement of Rome evidences of the use of James. But none of the passages are decisive, and ia an