VII. Contents. — The errors and sins against which James warns his readers are such as arose out of their
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situation. Perfection — Ti\eioT7]g is a prominent idea, and TiXfioi: is a frequent eiiithet^the "perfect work" of patience, the "perfect" gilt of God, the "perfect law" of liberty or the new covenant, faith "made perfect," and the tongue-governing man is a " perfect man." He writes from a knowledge of their circumstances, does not set before them an ethical system for their leisurely study, but selects the vices of opinion and life to which their circumstances so markedly and so naturally ex- I)osed them. Patience is a primary inculcation, it being essential to that perfection which is his central thought. Trials develop patience, and such evils as produce trials are not to be ascribed in a spirit of fatalism to God. Spiritual life is enjoyed by believers, and is fostered by the reception, and specially by the doing of the word ; and true religious service is unworldly and disinterested bcneticence. Partial preferences are forbidden by the royal law— faith without works is dead— tongue and temper are to be under special guard, and under the con- trol of wisdom — the deceits of casuistry are to be es- chewed— contentious covetousness is to be avoided as one of the works of the devil, along with censorious pride. Kich oppressors are denounced, and patience is enjoined on all; the fitting exercises in times of glad- ness and of sickness are prescribed ; the efficacy of prayer is extolled and exeraplitied; while the conclusion ani- mates his readers to do for others what he has been do- ing for them — to convert them "from the error of their way" (see Stanley's Sermons and Essays on the Apostolic .%.,p.297).
The epistle contains no allusion to the cardinal doc- trines of Cliristianity, though they are implied. It was not the writer's object either to discuss or defend them. It would be unwarranted, on that account, to say that Christianity had not penetrated his own spiritual life, or that he was only in a transition state between Judaism and Christianitj^ He might not, indeed, have the free and unnational views of Paul in presenting the Gospel. But a true Christianity is implied, and his immediate work lay in enforcing certain Christian duties, which he does in the style of the IMaster himself.
YUl. Stijle and Lanf/uafie. — The similarity of this epistle in tone and form to the Sermon on the Jlount has often been remarked. In the spirit of the Great Teacher, he sharply reprobates all externalism, all self- ishness, inconsistency, worldliness, ostentation, self-de- ception, and hypocrisy. Thus in the first chapter as a sample: comp. i, 2, Matt, v, 10-12; i,4, Matt, v, 48; i,^ 5, Matt, vii, 7 , i, 9, Matt, v, 3 ; i, 20, Matt, v, 22, etc. The epistle, in short, is a long and earnest illustration of the final warning given by our Lord in the figures of building on the rock and building on the sand. The composition is the abrupt and stern utterance of an ear- nest, practical soul — a rapid series of censures and coun- sels—not entirely disconnected, but generally suggested by some inner link of association. Often a general law is epigrammatically laid down, while a peculiar sin is repn)l)ated or a peciUiar virtue enforced— or a principle is announced in the application of it. The style is vig- orous— full of imperatives so solemn and categorical as to dispel all idea of resistance or compromise, and of in- terrogations so pointed that they carry their answer with them. It is also marked by epithets so bold and forcible that they give freshness and color to the dic- tion. Tlie clauses have a rhetorical beauty and power, and as in men of fervent oratorical temperament, the words often fall into rhythmical order, while the thoughts occasionally blossom into poetrv. An accidental hex- ameter is found in I, 17 [provided it be lawful to make the last syllable oi Somq long].
The Greek is remarkably pure, and it is difficult to account for this comparative purity. Hegesippus, as quoted liy Eusebius, says that James's believing breth- ren desired him to adtlress the crowds assembled at the Passover; f(,r there were brought together "all the wioes, with also the Gentiles"— Trtrrai ai ^vXni jutu Kui Twv iei>wv ; and Greek must have been the Ian- i
guagc employed. It is therefore quite preposterous on the part of Bolten, Eetholdt, and Schott to suspect tliat the Greek of this epistle is a translation from an Ara- maean original.
Kesemblances have sometimes been traced between this epistle and the first Epistle of Peter, and these may be accounted for by the fact that both authors were some- what similarly circumstanced in relation to their read- ers. But Hug's and Bleek's inference is a rash one — that Peter must have read the epistle of James.
In a word, the Epistle of James is a noble protest against laxity of morals — against supine and easy acqui- escence in the truths of the Gospel without feeling their power or acting under their influence, while it presents such ethical lessons as the Church, placed in multiple re- lations to a world of sense and trial, has ever need of to animate and sustain it in its progress towards perfection. — Kitto; Smith.