(/i) The address itself constitutes a difficulty. If, as seems natural in a Christian writing, it means Jewish Christians in the Uteral Diaspora, where were these to be found prior to the Pauline missions? Moreover, there is no hint that the churches addressed contained Gentile Christians. But were there ever any purely Jewish-Christian churches except in Palestine? And how could they be described as in the Diaspora?
To these objections the following answers are given :
(a) (1) While we have no evidence on the point, it is not improbable, in view of the stress laid upon faith in the teaching of Jesus, that the faith- and-works paradox may have come up in early Christianity prior to St. Paul. (2) Abraham was, in the Jewish schools, a stock example of faith (see Lightfoot, Gal.^, London, 1876, p. 159 f.), so that James and St. Paul might have introduced him quite independently of one another ; and the following passage shows that James's rather loose employment of On 15^ is not pecuhar to himself : 1 Mac 2^2, 'Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness?' ]Mayor reverses the point of the argument by remarking that it is inconceivable, if James wrote after St. Paul, that he did not make an attempt to guard his position against so formid- able an attack (Ep. of St. James^, p. xcviii). (3) The technical language may have been already in existence (see under (1)). Moreover, some of the terms used occur in a more clearly defined form in St. Paul (cf. Ro 3^°- --• ^^- ^^ : epya vofiov, TriVrts XptcTToO or l-n<Tov XpLffTov) — whlch points to a later date and a deUberate guarding against misunder- standing.
(b) Arguments of this kind depend so much upon subjective impression that no great stress can be placed on them.
(c) There is a good deal of evidence that GaU- Iseans were generally bilingual ; and, as there was certainly a large Greek-speaking element in the church at Jerusalem, the leader of that church would need to acquire some facility in using Greek. Moreover, it is quite possible to exaggerate the ex- cellence of the author's Greek. He avoids periods of any length; and, though more 'correct,' does not give the impression of writing with the same ease as St. Paul.
(d) (e) We have no sufficient evidence to enable
us to pronounce definitely on these points, and individual estimates of probabiUty are not an adequate ground on which to base arguments. Maj^or refers those who are impressed with the declension of Christian morals 'to a study of the Uf e of Fox or Wesley, or of any honest missionary journal' {op. cit. p. cHii).
(/) The author may be here using an argumentum ad hominem. Individual mortality was an un- deniable fact ; a reference to the imminence of the Parousia would depend for its impressiveness on the Uveliness of the faith of those addressed. A httle fiu-ther on, when encouraging the faithful oppressed to patience, the author does refer to the Parousia.
ig) These facts were the staple of missionary preaching; here the author can assume them as known.
{h) Zahn (Introd. i. 76 f ., 91 f.) takes the address as referring metaphorically to Christians generally, the existing Christians being, as a matter of fact, those of the Palestinian chm-ches. Mayor (p. cxxxvii) refers it to the Christians of the iEastern Diaspora (cf. Ac 2^ and St. Paul's raid on the Christians of Damascus [Ac 9-^]).
Further positive arguments in favour of the 'genuineness' and early date of the Ep. are : (a) the unassuming character of the writer's self-designation, which makes against forgery, while his authoritative tone implies a position of influence ; (0) the number of apparent echoes from sajdngs of Jesus, which yet never take the form of quotations from the Gospels ; (y) the number of linguistic coincidences with the speech of James at the Apostolic Conference, and the Decree, which was apparently drafted by him (salutation xaipeii/ (li || Ac lo^s] ; name called 'upon' persons [LXXj [2" ]| Ac lo'") ; 'hearken, brethren' |2^ || Ac 1512] ; iiri<TKiiTT£<T9aL [V || Ac lo^''] ; i-i<7Tpe(f>eiv [o"'- 1| Ac 1.5"] ; TTjpeiv, SLa-rqpelv eauToii? ano [!-'' || Ac 15-3] ; repetition of brethren (brother) [4" || Ac lo^^]). (In favour of the histor- icity of the Decree see Lake, Earlier Epp. of St. Paul, 1911, pp. 30 ff., 48 ff.) (5) In favour of an early date we have the unorganized character of the teaching office (3'), the mention of elders only (5'^), the anointing of the sick with a view to healing (o'*), the confession of sins one to another (o'^).
B. Those who, while holding the traditional view as to the authorship, feel obliged to recognize in Ja 2^^^- a reference to Pauline teaching, have recourse to the hypothesis that the Ep. was written either after the appearance of Romans or at least after James had received reports as to the Pauline teaching. Against this, the objection hes that, once the controversies raised by St. Paul's preach- ing had begun, it is inconceivable that an Ep. ■uTitten to Jemsh Christians of the Diaspora should contain no reference to the burning que.s- tions about the relation of Gentile converts to circumcision and the Law (cf. IMayor, pp. ex, cxlvf., and Zahn, Introd. i. 136 f.). The present WTiter is not aware that any satisfactory answer has been given to this objection.*