1. ’la5cw/3os? James) Peter , John , and James were the apostles of the circumcision ; Gal. ii. James was especially employed at Jeru- salem and in Palestine and Syria ; Peter , at Babylon and in other parts of the East ; John, at Ephesus and in Asia. Of the twelve apostles, these and Jude have left us seven Epistles, which are called General Epistles, a title given to them all in ancient times, though not adapted to all alike, since some of them are addressed to indivi- duals ; they are also called the Seven Canonical Epistles, to distin- guish them from the Canonical Epistles of St Paul. John wrote from Ephesus to the Parthians, as ancient tradition affirms ; Peter , from Babylon to the dispersed Jews of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia ; Jude (from what place is unknown), to the same persons as his brother James; James wrote from Jerusalem to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. This James is an apostle : respecting him, see on Acts xv. 23.
The Epistle has three parts.
I. The Inscription, ch. i. ver. 1.
II. An Exhortation,
1. To Patience, that the brethren endure outward, ver. 2-12, overcome inward temptations, ver. 13-15.
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2. That, having regard to the goodness of God, ver. 16-18 ;
Every one be swift to HEAR, slow to SPEAK, slow to WRATH.
And these three subjects
a) Are proposed, ver. 19—21 ; h) Are discussed :
I. That HEARING be joined with doing, ver. 22-25 ;
(And in particular with bridling the tongue, ver. 26 ;
With compassion and purity, ver. 27 ;
Without respect of persons, ch. ii. ver. 1-13.) And, moreover, that faith be joined in all cases with works, ver. 14-26.
II. That the SPEECH be modest, ch. iii. ver. 1—12.
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III. That WRATH, together with the other proud
(inflated) passions, be restrained, ver. 13- iv. 10, 11, 12, 13-17.
3. A second exhortation to Patience, which
a) Derives weight from the COMING of the Judge, in
which draws near —
I. The calamity of the wicked, ch. v. ver. 1—6 ; II. The deliverance of the righteous, ver. 7-12.
b) Is nourished by PRAYER, ver. 13-18.
III. The Conclusion, by Apodioxis,1 ver. 19, 20.
— K vpiov ’IyicoZ xpiffrou, of the Lord Jesus Christ) The apostle does not again introduce the name of Jesus Christ in this Epistle, except ch. ii. 1 ; nor at all in his speeches, Acts xv. 14, 15, and xxi. 20, 21. If he had often used the name of Jesus , it might have been sup- posed that he was influenced by vanity, because he was the brother of the Lord ; and therefore he less knew Christ after the flesh : 2 Cor. v. 1 6. He makes no mention of Abraham, of Isaac (except incidentally, ch. ii. 21), of Jacob, or Moses ; he says nothing about Judea, Jerusalem, and the temple. Christianity, so recently intro- duced, is the source from which the whole Epistle is derived. —
1 See Append, on Aronoxis.