![]() In addition to verbatim quotations, James also echoes the preaching voice of Jesus in his epistle through frequent allusions to Jesus' preaching and teaching. The italicized portions of this verse represent nearly verbatim quotations found in Matthew 5:33-37. Let your 'Yes' be yes, and your 'No,' no, or you will be condemned," (NIV, emphasis mine). Just consider James 5:12, "Above all, my brothers, do not swear - not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. We hear the preaching voice of Jesus in the epistle of James in two ways.įirst, James sometimes quotes the preaching voice of our Lord verbatim. No other New Testament epistle captures this preaching voice of Jesus like the epistle of James. ![]() In the epistle of James, the eschatological-prophetic voice of Jesus resounds.įinally, and perhaps most profoundly, we hear the preaching voice of Jesus in the epistle of James. In this sense, James echoes the prophetic voice of the Lord Jesus Christ which, just like the prophets in the Old Testament, reminds the people of God of their covenant callings and of the reality of the coming of the Lord. In essence, James tells us that in order to faithfully live the Christian life we most appropriate into this present age the realities of Christ's return and the age to come. He also sternly warns those who are living contrary to God's commands in this age by reminding them of the coming judgment which will be meted out in the Day of the Lord. James comforts those who suffer in this present age by reminding them of the joys they will experience in the age to come when Jesus returns in the consummation. However, a careful and thorough reading of the epistle reveals that there is a grand eschatological indicative which fuels all the imperatives of the epistle-the return of the Lord Jesus on the great Day of the Lord. Some have viewed this plethora of imperatives as an indication of James' "works" emphasis, particularly because these imperatives seem unmoored from any Christ-centered gospel indicative. The epistle also employs imperative verbs at a higher frequency than any other New Testament book. There are over 50 imperatives in the 108 verses of the epistle. Many commentators have noted the predominance of imperatives in the epistle of James. The Eschatological-Prophetic Voice of Jesus ![]() As John Burns so aptly put it, "The understructure of James' theology is the wisdom of Jesus, as our Lord, the Savior taught it and lived it." In the epistle of James the wisdom voice of Jesus resounds. The wisdom James gives us is derived directly from the words and life of our Lord. Simply stated, the wisdom of James is uniquely and redemptive-historically the wisdom of Jesus. The wisdom of James, unlike the wisdom of Proverbs, represents the redemptive-historical realization of wisdom expressed directly by Jesus himself. The wisdom of James, however, is starkly different than the wisdom of Proverbs because the wisdom found in the epistle of James is uniquely Christocentric. Sometimes the epistle of James has been referred to as the "Proverbs of the New Testament." While in one sense this moniker is inappropriate because the epistle does not fit within the parameters of the genre of Old Testament wisdom literature, there is another sense in which this title touches upon a truth about the epistle of James-the epistle of James, like Proverbs, emphasizes wisdom. ![]() This article will explore three ways in which the voice of Christ resounds in the epistle of James. In fact, the voice of Jesus can be heard in the epistle of James in ways it is heard no where else in the New Testament epistolary corpus. While it does require some additional exegetical effort, the voice of Jesus can be heard among the verses of this grand epistle. On top of all this, the epistle has to be continually defended against charges that it conflicts with the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith alone.Ĭlearly, the epistle of James is much maligned and, in my opinion, these charges have resulted in a paucity of preaching Christ from the epistle of James. Dunn once referred to the epistle of James as "the most Jewish, the most undistinctively Christian document in the New Testament." We all know that Martin Luther had serious concerns about the content of the epistle of James referring to it as "an epistle of straw" and noting that it contained "nothing of the nature of the gospel." The epistle of James has been saddled with accusations of being "sub-Christian" and bereft of Jesus. ![]()
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