Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2008 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/epistleofstjamesOOknowuoft
Westminster Commentaries
Edited bt "Walter Lock, D.D.
ULBULKD PKOrESSOR OF THS BXXCBSI8
Ojr HOLT gCRIPTUKB
THE EPISTLE
OP
ST JAMES
^^"'" THE EPISTLE
OF
ST JAMES
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
^<^ BY
Ri^r.'XNOWLINa, D.D.
THIRD EDITION
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.a
LONDON
Firtt Published . . ■ Octoberl904
Second Edition . . . October mo
Third Edition . . . -May lUii
PREFATORY NOTE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR
THE primary object of these Commentaries is to be
exegetical, to interpret the meaning of each book of
the Bible in the light of modern knowledge to English
readers. The Editors will not deal, except subordinately,
with questions of textual criticism or philology ; but taking
the English text in the Revised Version as their basis, they
will aim at combining a hearty acceptance of critical principles
with loyalty to the Catholic Faith.
The series will be less elementary than the Cambridge
Bible for Schools, less critical than the International Critical
Commentary, less didactic than the Expositor's Bible ; and it
is hoped that it may be of use both to theological students
and to the clergy, as well as to the growing number of
educated laymen and laywomen who wish to read the Bible
intelligently and reverently.
Each commentary will therefore have
(i) An Introduction stating the bearing of modern
criticism and research upon the historical character of the
book, and drawing out the contribution which the book, as a
whole, makes to the body of religious truth,
(ii) A careful paraphrase of the text with notes on the
more difficult passages and, if need be, excursusea on any
Ti PREFATORY NOTE
points of special importance either for doctrine, or ecclesi-
astical organisation, or spiritual life.
But the books of the Bible are so varied in character that
considerable latitude is needed, as to the proportion which the
various parts should hold to each other. The General Editor
will therefore only endeavour to secure a general uniformity
in scope and character : but the exact method adopted in
each case and the final responsibility for the statements made
will rest with the individual contributors.
By permission of the Delegates of the Oxford University
Press and of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press
the Text used in this Series of Commentaries is the Revised
Version of the Holy Scriptures.
WALTER LOCK
PREFACE
IN preparing this edition of the Epistle of St James
I have tried to keep in view the primary objects of
the Westminster Commentaries, and the various classes of
readers for whom they are intended. During the passing
of these pages through the press, the recent attacks upon
the Epistle have received a prompt and vigorous reply from
the veteran Professor, Dr Bernhard Weiss, of the University
of Berlin. The force and firmness of this reply (to which
frequent reference will be found) and the fact that it comes
from a scholar of such eminence may well administer a
rebuke to those English writers who apparently think that,
in their inconsiderate objections to the traditional views of
the Church, they may claim the support of every German
critic of learning and status.
It is a pleasant duty to express my most grateful thanks
to Dr Lock for his many and valuable suggestions, and for
his ungrudging care in the revision of the proofs.
R. J. KNOWLING
Sept. 1904
yOTE TO SECOXD EDITION
OINCB this Commentarv wss drst publislied two importAnt
^ additions hare been made to the literaturej tix. a tliird edition
of Prof. Mayor's volume, and a posthumous work of Dr Hort's (as
£m as cL iy. 7), edited bv the Master oi Selwyn College ^1909).
A criticism of Dr Horts work by Prof. Mayor will be found in the
April and June numbers of the Exp-S'Ss'h^ 1910.
Dr Hort in this tinal utterance regards 62 a. d. as the date and
the writer as James the Just, head or bishop of the Chtirch at Jeru-
sil^n, & Iwother of the Lord as being a son of Joseph by a former
wife. This St James was not one of the Twelve, but probably became
a behever by a special appearance of the Lord vouchsafed to bim,
It may be added that the £rp:«.«iV<.>r, Feb. 1907, contains an
article of interest by Prof. G. Currie Martin entitled '" The Epistle
of St James as a Storehouse of the Sayings of Jesus.'' The writer
regirds the work before us as not strictly an Epistle at aU, but as
a work containing a collection of genuine Sayings of Jesus, around
which otha sayings gathered a^ time went on.
COXTE>'TS
DrrEODrcnox n
IL y:: 1 - r - '"i-^ - !ii ~r-=-? rri
m. Izf.r-:v= t^:
- - - » - / . ■_ .
V. If --:-:
_^^ -•iTse-
X CONTENTS
PAGE
VI. Recent advocates of a very early date xiiviii
Objection that the sins of the Epistle denote a long
period in the Church's growth.
Evidence of early corruption in the Christian com-
munity.
Practical bearing of the Epistle upon specifically
Jewish sins.
VII. This practical bearing of the Epistle enables us to under-
stand ii. 14-26, and the meaning of St James's language xli
Evidence of a controversy on Faith and Works in the
Jewish Schools.
Possible perversions of the teaching of St Paul or of
St James.
Zahn's view based upon a connection between Rom. iv. 2
and St James's Epistle.
VIII. Question of literary dependence between Romans and James
discussed xlv
James and 1 Peter.
James and the Apocalypse.
James and Hebrews.
IX. Extra-canonical writings xlix
Philo.
Essenism.
Priority and originality of James.
X. External evidence, why not more decisive , , . . liii
Objections to it considered.
Strength of internal evidence.
XI. Reasons why the Epistle is still attacked .... Ivi
Writings of adverse critics examined.
Contradiction involved between the two extremes of
adverse criticism.
Brief reference to the position adopted in the present
work.
XII. Note on ' the Brethren ' of the Lord Ixiv
XIII. Modem Criticism and the Epistle of St James . . . Ixviii
XIV. Modern Life and some Aspects of the Teaching of St James Ixxii
TEXT, PARAPHRASE, AND ADDITIONAL NOTES . . 1
INDEX 159
INTRODUCTION
Special interest must always be felt in a book to which so many
able critics assign the earliest place amongst New Testament
writings, and in an author who possibly shared in the earthly life and
home of our Lord. Such high claims, however, have naturally been
subjected to a close examination, and often to a keen opposition,
and it is not the purpose of the present Introduction to assume
their validity.
I. At first sight, indeed, it might seem that nothing could be
more natural than the assumption that the author of this Epistle
was a Jew, and that his readers were of Jewish nationality. But
as even this assumption is refused to us by some phases of recent
criticism, it may be well to note a few of the grounds upon which
we believe it to be justified. Thus we might lay stress upon the
difficulty in interpreting the address of the letter, ch. i. 1, in a
symbolical or spiritual sense (see note in loco) ; or upon the expres-
sions 'Abraham our father,' ii. 21, 'Lord of Sabaoth,' v. 4, comp.
Isaiah v. 9 ; upon the knowledge which the writer presupposes in his
readers of the history of Job and the prophets, v. 11, 17; and of
Elijah's prayer as a type of successful prayer (see note on v. 17);
upon his own knowledge of Jewish formulae in the use of oaths, and
of the current disposition to indulge in reckless cursing and swearing,
iii. 9, V. 12; upon his employment of the word 'synagogue' for the
place of meeting for worship, ii. 2^; upon the emphasis with which
^ Dr Grafe, Die Stellung und Bedeutvng des Jakohushriefes, 1904, maintains
that the word was used for religious pagan associations in Greece, but according
to Schiirer this was not strictly so, as the word was used rather for the yearly
festal assemblies of such associations. But this usage does not alter the
significance of the word by St James ; see note on ii. 2.
Dr Grafe also tries to weaken the force of the expression ' Lord of Sabaoth '
on the ground that it would be known to Gentile as well as to Jewish Christians.
But the point is that the expression is used only by St James in the N.T. In
Bomana ii. 29 it is found in a quotation from Isaiah i. 9.
xii AUTHOR AND READERS JEWS
he refers to the Jewish Law, ii. 9-11, iv. 11, 12, and to the primary
article of the Jewish Creed, ii. 19 ^
But in addition to these instances, the cumulative force of
which it is difficult to ignore, we may also lay stress upon the
general representation which the letter gives us of the social
conditions of those for whom it was intended. It is remarkable,
for example, that no reference is made to the relationship between
masters and slaves. A St Peter or a St Paul, on the other hand,
in addressing mixed Churches constantly dwelt upon this social
relationship. It is quite true that in a Jewish- Christian document,
which is in many respects akin to this Epistle of St James, the
Didache, reference is made to the bondservant and handmaid in
iv. 10, 11, i.e. in a part of the work which may carry us back to a
very early date^ But it is evident from the context that both
masters and servants are regarded as servants of the One God, and
that no relationship such as that of Christian servant and heathen
master is contemplated. In this connection, too, we may note the
vivid picture, iv. 13, of the eager life of commerce and gain, and yet
of the comparative homelessness of the traders, a life so character-
istic of the Jews always, and specially of those of the Diaspora,
facilitated as it was by the easy means of communication throughout
the Empire in the days of the early Church ^
1 On the force of the expression 'do they not blaspheme?' ii. 7, as pointing
most probably to unbelieving Jews blaspheming the Name of Christ, see note in
loco.
Beyschlap; draws attention to the fact that the expression ' Abraham our
father,' ii. 21, is not explained in any spiritual sense as in Rom. iv. 1. See
also on the possible Jewish liturgical formulae in i. 12, ii. 5, Dr Chase, The LorcCs
Prayer in the Early Church, p. 18.
* This document was first published in 1883, although it had been discovered
in Constantinople some ten years earlier. In the first part, Ch. i-vi., in which
it will be noted that most of the parallels to St James's Epistle are found (see
note on p. xiv.), we have probably a series of moral instructions which were
originally Jewish, but which with some additions were adopted for use in certain
Jewish-Christian communities. The greater part of this portion of the work
may have been in use probably in a written form as early as 70a.d. amongst
Christians (Art. 'Didache' in Hastings' D. B. v. pp. 444, 448, by J. V. Bartlet,
and Apostolic Age, pp. 515, 517, by the same writer). In any case there is good
reason for placing the Didache in its present form at the close of the first
century, see Bishop of Worcester, Church and the Ministry, p. 417. For English
readers an article on the Didache by Dr Harnack at the end of vol. i. of Schaff
and Herzog's Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge will be of interest. Although
inclined to date the document in its present form as late as 120-165 a.d., Dr
Harnack allows that some of its sources are very old, and he sees in the first
part, Ch. i-vi., a catechism of Jewish origin for the instruction of proselytes,
which passed over into the Christian Church, and was used as an address at
Baptism.
* See Professor Ramsay, Expositor, 1903, on 'Travel and Correspondence
among the Early Christians.'
USE OF JEWISH LITERATURE xiii
It is, again, remarkable that in a letter so practical, no warning
is uttered against idol worship, and that no reference is made to
such questions concerning it as those which agitated the Church of
Corinth, or which were discussed at the Apostolic Council. No
doubt it may be said that the Didache refers to such sins, but it is
quite possible that some of its statements with regard to idolatry
may be simply connected with the Old Testament^ and it would
also seem that the same document refers to heathen sins of which
St James knows nothing, and that in vi. 3 the contact with
heathenism is clear, cf. Acts xv. 19 (although even here the rigidity
of the Jewish-Christian is emphasised in comparison with 1 Cor. x.
25)'. But it will be noted that in the Epistle of St James no
allusion whatever is made, as is the case with other of the New
Testament writings, to the former idolatries of the readers. More-
over, in this same connection we may observe that no warning is
uttered against sins of impurity and fornication, as is the case in
those Epistles in which intercourse of the readers with the heathen
world was part and parcel of their surroundings ^ If it is urged that
here again the Didache takes note of sins of this character, it is
evident that the list of such vices as are mentioned in that
document marks a writer who had been brought into connection
with the influence of Graeco-Roman civilisation.
But whilst the Epistle is distinguished by these remarkable
omissions, the sins and weaknesses which the writer describes are
exactly those faults which our Lord blames in His countrymen, and
especially in the party of the Pharisees. And even if we consider
some of the faults specified as too general in their character to
belong to any one party, yet some of them are certainly character-
istic of the Jewish leaders whom our Lord condemned, e.g. the
excessive zeal for the outward observance of religious duties, the
fondness for the office of teacher, the false wisdom, the overflowing
of malice, the pride, the hypocrisy, the respect of persons. In spite
^ Cf. e.g. ' My child, be not an augur, for it leads to idolatry,' iii. 4, and Lev.
xii. 26.
' ' But concerning meats, bear that which thou art able ; yet abstain by all
means from meat sacrificed to idols ; for it is the worship of dead gods ' ; vi. 3.
* Mr Parry in his Discussion, p. 89, admits that this argument would be
forcible if it could be shown that St James had any personal experience of the
needs of his hearers. But if St James was writing, as Mr Parry thinks, more
than ten or twelve years after the Apostolic Council, it would be strange that he
should make no reference in his Epistle to the dangers which must have been
involved in any contact between Jewish and Gentile Christians, viz. ' pollutions
of idols, and fornication,' or these dangers would not have found a place in the
decree of the Council.
xiv JEWISH LITERATURE
of all his zeal and scrupulosity the ' religious ' Jew had forgotten
that the first and second commandments were fulfilled in the love
of God and his neighbour, and had fallen back, as it were, upon a
fatal trust in religious privileges, in the promises made to Abraham,
a false confidence which the Baptist and our Lord had alike
condemned, and which St James was called upon still to combat.
And here we may pause to notice that one virtue upon which
St James lays stress as indispensable for teacher and taught alike is
the virtue of meekness, i. 21, iii. 13; the same virtue which is
emphasised in Didache, iii. 7, 'be meek, since the meek shall inherit
the earth ' (Ps. xxxvii. 11; cf. Matt. v. 8) '. In this latter docu-
ment, as in the Epistle of St James, we have the picture of a meek,
single-hearted, uncomplaining, and resigned piety. And this picture
is drawn in that part of the Didache which is undoubtedly the
oldest, which is marked by a Jewish tone and phraseology. If,
therefore, we find a similar type and piety portrayed in St James,
if we find similar thoughts and expressions, we may justly draw
from this similarity an argument that both writings were designed
for readers of Jewish nationality*.
And whilst these points of contact are observable with the
Didache (some portion of which in a Judaeo-Christian form may
have been in current oral use much earlier than 70 a.d., see note
above, p xii.), it is noticeable that our Epistle may also be connected
in some thoughts and expressions with a Jewish document, dating
some fifty years before our Lord's Advent, the Psalms of Solomon*,
^ • In the Palestine of the first century there was no lack of religious teach-
ing. The Scribe was a familiar figure in Galilee as much as in Judaea ; he was
to be met everywhere, in the synagogue, in the market-place, in the houses of
the rich. With him went a numerous following of attached scholars. The first
business of the Rabbi was "to raise up many disciples," and the first care of the
good Jew to " make to himself a Master." It is not without a bitter remi-
niscence of the religious condition of Palestine that St James of Jerusalem
counsels the members of the Christian communities to which he wrote, "Be not
many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier Judgment."'
Dr Swete, Expositor, Feb. 1903.
' Attention is drawn to some of these in the notes, but the following may be
given as allowed by von Soden: James iii. 3-6, 8, 9, and Did. ii. 4; James
iii. 14, 18, and Did. ii. 5; James i. 8, iv. 8, and Did. iv. 3; James v. 16, and
Did. iv. 14 ; Hand-Gommentar, in. p. 169, 3rd edit. A similar list is given by
Mayor, and for a resemblance in the general picture of the pious Israelite drawn
in James and the Didache, see J. V. Bartlet's Apostolic Age, pp. 250 ff., and also
Hastings' B. D. v. p. 446.
' These points of resemblance will be found in the notes, but they are
referred to by Dr Moffatt in Exp. Times, Feb. 1902. God, in the Psalms of
Solomon, is especially the protector and succour of the poor and lowly as in the
Epistle ; cf. also James iii. 5, and Psalms xii. 2, 3 ; James iii, 18, and Psalms
xii. 6 ; James iv. 1, and Psalms xii. 4.
SPITTA'S THEORY xv
although the outlook in the Epistle is less narrow, and its teaching
far deeper.
This Jewish character of the Epistle is still further emphasised
by the ingenious attempt of Spitta and Massebieau to discover in it
merely a Jewish document Christianised by the interpolation of two
or more words in i. 1 and ii. 1 (' and of the Lord Jesus Christ,' i. 1 ;
'our (Lord) Jesus Christ,' ii. 1'). This theory of interpolation is so
entirely arbitrary that it is severely criticised and condemned by
critics who in many other respects differ widely from each other*.
It is quite incredible for instance that anyone who wished to pass
off a Jewish work as a Christian document should have contented
himself with the introduction of the two passages and of the few
words mentioned above. Moreover, the phraseology of v, 7, 8, in its
reference to the ' coming ' or rather the ' presence ' of the Lord, is
unmistakably Christian, and although passages in Enoch are cited
as parallels, yet this terminology is not to be found in them.
Spitta has certainly not proved his thesis, but he has helped to
accentuate the fact that the writer of the Epistle was not only inti-
mately acquainted with the Old Testament, and that in him the
spirit of the old prophets, of an Amos or a Jeremiah, lived again,
but that he was also acquainted with the Wisdom literature so well
known amongst his countr)mien of the Dispersion. The points of
contact between St James and Ecclesiasticus have been fully illus-
trated by Dr Edersheim as also by Dr Zahn*. It is not too much to
^ Spitta omits the words 'and of the Lord Jesus Christ' in i. 1, whilst
Massebieau omits only ' Jesus Christ.'
2 Amongst others by Zahn, Harnack, von Soden, Beyschlag, Belser, M<=Giffert,
Adeney in Critical Review, July, 1896, O. Cone in Art. 'Epistle of James,'
Encycl. Bibl., and Sieffert in the new edition of Herzog. It is only fair to say
that Spitta and Massebieau arrived at their conclusion quite independently.
Mr G. A. Simcox in the Journal of Theol. Studies, ii. July, 1901, p. 586,
apparently approves of the violent method by which Spitta would get rid of the
words so fatal to his thesis in ii. 1 ; and it is not at all surprising that the
Church Quarterly Review, Oct. 1901, p. 8, should point out in reference to this
approval that it is perfectly easy to evade and escape every difficulty, and to
prove anything, if we are at liberty to treat any passage which conflicts with our
own theories as a gloss.
' Eeferences will be found to these in the notes, but for convenience the
most important are given here : James i. 5 = Ecclus. xli. 22, cf. xviii. 17, xx. 14;
James i. 6, 8 = Ecclus. i. 28, ii. 12, vii. 10 ; James i. 9, 11 = Ecclus. i. 30,
iii. 18, xxxi. 5, 9 ; James i. 2-4, 12 = Ecclus. i. 23, ii. 1-5 ; James i. 13 =
Ecclus. XV. 11-20; James i. 19= Ecclus. iv. 29; James i. 19= Ecclus. v.
11; James ii. l-6 = Ecclus. x. 19-24, xiii. 9; James iii. 2 = Ecclus. xix. 16;
James iii. 9= Ecclus. xvii. 3, 4 ; James v. 3-6 = Ecclus. iii. 10, xxix. 10; James
V. 13 = Ecclus. xxxviii. 9-15. For a list see Zahn, Einleitung, i. 87 ; Edersheim
in Speaker's Commentary, Apocrypha, ii. 22 ; Plummer, St James, p. 72 ; and
references in Spitta. Dr Salmon thinks {Introd. p. 465) that the ooinci-
dences are insufficient to prove that Ecclus. was used by St James.
xvi CHRISTIAN LANGUAGE AND ALLUSIONS
Bay that St James is so Judaic in his language, allusions, and
modes of thought that we can in many cases find exact Rabbinic
parallels to his words, although we must not forget that if the
result of our inquiry is to prove beyond reasonable doubt the
acquaintance of St James with a widely circulated Jewish book,
like Ecclesiasticus, it also illustrates in the most decisive manner
the difference in spiritual standpoint between the writer of that
book and the writer of the Epistle of St James.
If we turn to the Book of Wisdom it is quite possible to find
many turns of thought and expression which seem to indicate an
acquaintance with, and a high value of, this book by the writer
of St James'; yet even in the Book of Wisdom, which is often
regarded as in some respects the most valuable of the Apocryphal
writings, we are again conscious of the same difference in spiritual
standpoint noted above*.
II. How may we account for this? The readers of the Epistle
of St James are not only Jews, they are believing, i.e. Christian
Jews. No one has accentuated more than Harnack the criticism
that Spitta's theory, however tempting, does not cover all the facts
of the case, and that some of the passages in the Epistle cannot
be fairly referred to a Jewish document'. Amongst these he
would include especially ch. i. 18, 25, 27, ii. 12, v. 7 ff., and also
the use of the word 'faith' in ch. i, 3. To these we may add
the phrase *my beloved brethren,' which occurs no less than three
times, ch. i. 16, 19, ii. 5, a phrase to which Spitta can find no
Jewish parallel except the formal word 'brethren,' whilst St James's
language would naturally emphasise the intercourse of Christians
'loving as brethren,' and amongst whom the title 'beloved brethren'
was evidently in common use. But whilst we fully recognise the
^ Cf. James i. 5, Wisd. viii. 21 ; James i. 17, Wisd. vii. 18 ; James i. 19,
Wisd. i. 11 ; James ii, 6, Wisd. ii. 10, 19 ; James ii. lo, Wisd. vi. 6 ; James iV.
13-16, Wisd. V. 8-14 ; James v. 4-6, Wisd. ii. 12-20. See Plummer, St James,
p. 74; Fairar, Speaker^s Commentary, Apocrypha, i, 408; and the references in
Spitta.
Both Dr B. Weiss and Dr Zahn are of opinion that the evidence is insufficient
to prove that St James was actiuainted with the Book of Wisdom, whilst on the
other hand von Soden allows a close acquaintance both with it and with
Ecclesiasticus.
' Another wide difference is St James's recognition of a conception wanting
in the two Jewish books, that of a personal Messiah.
' Harnack rightly emphasises the fact that we have not only to note what
the Epistle contains, but also what it does not contain, Ghron. i. p. 490 ; and
this is observable in an entire absence of the Babbinical conceits and puerilitiee
BO characteristic of Kabbinical literature.
THEIR VALUE xvii
difficulty of regarding the two unmistakable Christian references
(i. 1, ii. 1) as interpolations, and of believing that a writer who
wished to transform a Jewish document into a Christian one would
content himself with these additions', we should also bear in
mind how much these two statements presuppose and involve. Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ; in this the writer is at one with the
earliest Christian preaching ; Jesus is Lord ; in this the writer is at
one with the earliest form of baptismal confession, 1 Cor. xii. 3. But
these claims so full of significance for a Jew could scarcely have been
entertained without some full and definite acquaintance with the
facts upon which they were based. Further, this belief that Jesus
was the Christ involved for the writer not only the acceptance of the
fulfilment of the splendid prophecies of his nation in a despised and
crucified blasphemer, not only the admission of certain historical
facts, but an obligation to entire service and devotion (i. 1). And
the writer, who thus speaks of himself in the same breath as the
bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaks of his
readers as brethren, and not only so, but as brethren united with
him not only in a common nationality but in a common faith ; cf.
ii. 1, 7, V. 7. In the same manner, the phrase ' the Lord of glory,'
ii. 1, not only invests Jesus Christ with a Divine attribute, but carries
with it a belief in the Ascension, and in the triumph over death and
the grave. St Paul in an Epistle in which he emphasises his
agreement with the other Apostles in the great facts of the Christian
Creed, as e.g. the Resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 1-11, takes occasion to
speak of Jesus by the same title, 'the Lord of glory' (or rather 'of
the glory,' 1 Cor. ii. 8), and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the
phrase might have become a recognised title (for St Paul like St James
introduces it without any explanation as an expression well known)
of the Incarnate, Risen, and Ascended Lord (cf. John xvii. 5 and
note in loco). Moreover, as St Paul introduces the title, which he
only once uses, to point a significant contrast between the philosophy
of the world, the wisdom which he encountered in the schools of
Greek and Jew alike, and the philosophy of God, so St James intro-
duces the same title with an immediate and very practical purpose.
He would thus mark decisively and unmistakably the pettiness of all
distinctions of human and social life in presence of the fact that every
^ The SihylUnes, e.g. are no true parallels, for in these cases, as Dr Moffatt
points out, interpolations were made, not to give the writings a Christian
appearance and colour, but to transform them into prophecies or corroborations
of Christian truth. Historical I^.T. p. 7u5, 2nd edit.
xviii THEIR VALUE
Christian was enlisted in the service of One Who shared in the
Divine and eternal glory. Tlius the only two passages which contain
direct Christian allusions help to remind us of a truth, which we
should never forget, viz. that in the Epistle of St James we are dealing
not with an elaborate argument, or with a philosophical treatise, but
with a letter full of exhortations to meet practical needs and daily-
questions'.
From the same practical standpoint the writer plainly regards the
future coming of the Lord, His 'Presence,' a word which we can
scarcely hesitate to refer to Christ (v. 8, 9). In view of that event
men were to gain both hope and patience. And not only is the
Lord standing at the door ; He is amongst them, ready to heal and
to save (v. 14, 15). And thus the writer delivers a counsel, specially
adapted to the pressing needs of trial and persecution, whilst he
would raise the daily burden of suffering and sin by recalling men to
the abiding power of 'the Name,' which still conferred both forgive-
ness and health no less than in the earliest days of the Church's
life. Christ had promised to be with His Church 'all the days,*
until the consummation of the age, when He would return as Judge ;
and the faith of St James for things present and things to come is
centred in a Divine Person, Jesus the Christ, in Whose presence there
is neither rich nor poor. Who is the same Lord rich unto all who
call upon Him; and that faith was not abstract or theoretical, it
was not to be gauged by the number of times which its possessor
named the name of Jesus, as if, as Reuss put it, his Christian con-
victions were a matter of arithmetic*.
Nor is there any occasion to affirm that in the Epistle before us,
and in the Sermon on the Mount, the Son of God is concealed, as it
were, in the Prophet of Israel. In that Sermon it is too often for-
gotten that Jesus claims not only to be greater than Moses, not only
to possess a supernatural power which He can impart to others, but .
to be the future Judge of mankind (Matt. vii. 21, 22). And so
^ Nosgen has well pointed out how much the references in St James, and in
the other Epistles of the N.T., to the Gospels are evidently based upon practical
motives, and introduced for practical purposes ; but he also shows, not only the
fulness of these references, but how much they presuppose, when we consider
the epistolary character of the writings in question : Neue Jahrbiicher fiir deutsche
Theolofiie, 1895.
' Even if there is no allusion to any of our Lord's miracles (see however note
on ii. 19), the Epistle was undoubtedly written at a time when miraculous
powers were still working in the Church, and these powers were the result of the
Divine energy of Clirist, and successfully maintained in obedience to His
oouuuauds, V. 14, lo.
OBJECTIONS
XIX
too, in this Epistle of St James, it is too often forgotten that while
Elijah, the great prophet of the Old Testament, is 'a man of like
passions with ourselves,' Jesus is the 'Lord of glory,' the arbiter of
human destiny, the bestower of a Divine strength.
It is sometimes urged that there is an almost total lack of the
two controlling conceptions of our Lord's teaching, ' the fatherhood
of God ' and ' the kingdom of God.' But surely it is enough to point
out that even in this short Epistle God is spoken of twice as Father,
i. 27, iii. 9, to say nothing of the expression 'Father of lights,' and
that He is also represented as begetting us of His own will by the
Word of truth, i. 17, 18, and that the teaching of St James presupposes
the same Divine kingdom as in the Sermon on the Mount, ii. 5 '.
A further objection to the Christian character of the Epistle is
often raised on the ground that no connection is traced by the
writer between conversion and forgiveness and the atoning death of
Christ, if indeed any reference at all can be found to the fact of His
death. But even so, it must be remembered that the practical
nature of the Epistle may help us to account for this. For
St James, at all events, salvation is not only a new life coming from
God, but it is ' the word of truth ' grafted in our hearts which has
the power of saving our souls ; and if St James is not as explicit as
St John in his doctrine of the new birth, he plainly anticipates the
declaration of St Paul, ' the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus
hath made us free from the law of sin and death.' Nor does it
follow that St James knew nothing, or recognised nothing, of the
validity of the atoning sacrifice made by our Lord in offering up
Himself. The earliest speeches of St Peter lay stress upon
repentance and conversion, but whilst undoubtedly they mention
the fact, they too lay no stress upon the doctrinal significance of the
death of Christ; and yet when St Paul writes to the Corinthians
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. xv.
3), it is evident that he is not putting forward something new, but
a statement in the acceptance of which both he and the earliest
preachers of the Gospel were at one; he is only referring to an
aspect of the death of Christ, which in his own earliest and
undoubted Epistles he takes for granted as everywhere acknowledged
and believed (cf. 1 Thess. v. 9, 10; Gal. i. 4). But if this Epistle
^ Beyschlag, Netitett. Theologie, i. 344 (1891), rightly emphasises this
fundamental conception common to St James and the commencement of our
Lord's teaching.
b2
XX REFERENCES TO OUR LORD'S TEACHING
speaks less of Christ by name than any other Epistle, there is no
Epistle which contains so many references to our Lord's teaching,
and, one might fairly say, so many echoes of His words in the
Gospels. That the Epistle is permeated with doctrine similar to
that of the Sermon on the Mount is admitted without hesitation by
Dr Schmiedel, but he proceeds to add that the parallels are closer
to the Didache and to Barnabas, and draws a distinction between
St Matthew's meaning in v. 37 and James v. 12, although he admits
at the same time that the latter may be quoted from St Matthew.
Spitta would attempt to explain these parallels by the fact that
both the Gospels and Epistles are dependent upon older Jewish
documents, but it cannot be said that this theory accounts for
the close resemblance between James v. 12 and Matt. v. 34, 37,
James v. 2, 3 and Matt. vi. 19, and the same might be said of other
instances (see further below on list of resemblances between St James
and our Lord's Sermon on the Mount) ; and Spitta is fairly exposed
to the criticism that, whilst he weakens the force of the parallels
between the Epistle and the Gospels, he eagerly clutches at any
supposed or remote parallel between it and Jewish writings. Thus
in James ii. 5, as compared with St Matt. v. 3, St Luke vi. 20, we
are assured that there is no reminiscence of the words of Jesus,
whilst every possible Jewish promise in favour of the poor may be
cited as a likely origin for St James's language, even passages in
which there is plainly no combination of the two conceptions of
* the poor ' and ' the kingdom.' It is difficult too to see why Spitta
should trace all kinds of verbal parallels between James and 1 Peter,
and argue from them for the dependence of the latter Epistle upon
the former, whilst he refuses to draw any conclusion of dependence
from the number of obvious parallels between the Sermon on the
Mount and the Epistle before us.
But we may proceed further. Even if the Name of Christ was
removed from the Epistle, yet His Spirit abides in it, and one
might well say that if every conscious reference to any particular
words of Christ on the part of the author was denied to us, the
more striking becomes the connection between the teaching of the
writer and the teaching of Christ, between the moral elevation of
the Epistle and that of the Sermon on the Mount.
Now these references which, as we believe, the Epistle contains
to the teaching of our Lord, are undoubtedly of a marked and
peculiar character. They are not in any case exact quotations,
REFERENCES TO OUR LORD'S TEACHING xxi
although one could write in the margin of the Epistle a very
considerable number of parallels, say for example with the Sermon
on the Mount; they are references of such a kind as might have
come from the fulness of a faithful memory, a memory retentive not
merely of oral tradition but of words actually heard from the lips of
Jesus. This is admitted even in quarters where we might not
expect it. 'When,' wrote Renan, 'James speaks of humility, of
patience, of pity, of the exaltation of the humble, of the joy which
underlies tears, he seems to have retained in memory the very
words of Jesus' {V Antechrist, p. 54, 3rd edition). So again he
speaks of 'this little writing of James as thoroughly impregnated
with a kind of evangelical perfume ; as giving us sometimes a direct
echo of the words of Jesus, as still retaining all the vividness of the
life in Galilee' (uhi supra, p. 62). So too von Soden, although
admitting the force of Spitta's strictures to some extent, is never-
theless constrained to acknowledge that some passages at least in the
Epistle can be best explained as reminiscences of the words of
Jesus.
It is commonly said, and with truth, that these reminiscences
are most striking in relation to that part of our Lord's teaching
which we call the Sermon on the Mount'. And it is important to
remember that this likeness extends not merely, as in some cases,
to the letter, but to a general harmony between the Epistle and
those principles of His Kingdom which our Lord proclaimed from
the Mount in Galilee. In the Sermon and in the Epistle the
meaning of the old Law is deepened and spiritualised, and the
principle of love is emphasised as its fulfilment ; in each, righteous-
ness is set forth as the doing of the Divine will in contrast to the
saying ' Lord, Lord ! ' ; in each, divided service is condemned as
inadmissible ; the choice cannot be God and the world, but God or
the world ; so too in each, God is the Father, Who gives liberally
every good and perfect gift, the God Who answers prayer, Who
1 The following passages may be noted : Matt. v. 3, James ii. 5 ; Matt. v. 7,
James ii. 13; Matt. v. 11, 12, James i. 2; Matt. v. 9, James iii. 18; Matt. v. '22,
James i. 19 ; Matt. v. 34-37, James v. 12 ; Matt, vi. 16, James ii. 15, 16 (see
Mr Mayor's note p. Ixxxil); Matt. vi. 19, James v. 2; Matt. vi. 24, James iv.
4; Matt. vii. 1, James iv. 11, 12, v. 9; Matt. vii. 7, 8, James i. 5, iv. 3; Matt.
vii. 12, James ii. 8 ; Matt. vii. 16, James iii. 11, 12 ; Matt. vii. 24, James i. 22.
In addition to Mr Mayor's full and valuable list, Salmon, Introduction, p. 455,
5th edit., C. F. Schmid, Biblical Theology of the N.T. p. 365, E.T., and Zahn,
EinleituJig, i. p. 87, contain a helpful series of parallels; and instances hesi.ies
those given above will be found in the notes. See also the valuable note in
B. Weiss, Einleitung in das N.T. p. 390, brd edit.
xxii REFERENCES TO OUR LORD'S TEACHING
delivers ns from evil, Who would have men merciful as their
Father is merciful; in each, Jesus is Lord and Judge; and in each a
kingdom is revealed, in which the pure in heart draw nigh unto
God, and a blessing rests upon those who are poor as to the world,
and meek and lowly in spirit.
But it has been further maintained that there are special
hkenesses not only to St Matthew but to St Luke; St Luke, it is
urged, may very probably have had access to an early tradition of
the Jewish Palestinian Church, which he follows both in the parts
peculiar to his Gospel and also in Acts i-xii. It is however very
doubtful how far these alleged points of contact justify the conten-
tion that the Epistle of St James and the Jerusalem source used by
St Luke date from the same place and the same time. There is no
difficulty in admitting a likeness between the teaching of St Luke
and that of St James, but the parallels which are cited in support
do not involve any literary dependence, and they may easily be
referred to St James's knowledge of our Lord's teaching, and to the
fact that he and St Luke would be opposing the same social
dangers'.
The warnings e.g. against the rich, and the blessedness of men
of low estate, so strongly emphasised by our Lord, may be accounted
for by the social condition of Palestine in the days of His Ministry.
And that teaching found a place, as we know, and a prominent
place, in the Epistle of St James and in the Gospel of St Luke:
cf. Luke vi. 24 ; James iv. 1 fif.
Whilst then there is no reason to suppose that James iv. 14 has
any special connection with the parable of the rich man who was
not rich towards God, Luke xii. 16-21, or that any close parallel
eidsts between James i. 17 and Luke xi. 13, or between James iii. 1
and Luke xii. 48, there is much no doubt in the Epistle which shows
how fully St James had caught the spirit of the Lord of glory, Who-
was no respecter of persons.
And may we not believe that St Luke would have gained some
knowledge of this same Divine example and its influence from
St James himself? At Jerusalem the two men had met, Acts xxi.
17, 18, and the type of piety which we find presented to us in the
earliest chapters of St Luke's Gospel is closely in accordance with
^ ' Like the Epistle of James, Luke reflects the trading atmosphere of early
Palestinian Christians ; the dangers presented by poverty and wealth to the
faith are vividly present to his mind,' Art. ' Sermon on the Mount ' (Moffatt),
Mncycl. Bibl. iv. 4379.
REFERENCES TO OUR LORD'S TEACHING xxiii
that presented to us in the Epistle of St James. Amongst ' the
quiet in the land,' St James himself in earlier days might have
found a place, and it is noticeable that in his Epistle he holds up
to us a character marked by meekness and endurance.
The word, moreover, which he uses three times in his Epistle
for patience and endurance is only found twice in the Gospels, and
both times in our Lord's sayings as recorded by St Luke (James i.
3, 4, V. 11; Luke viii. 15, xxi. 19).
In the Didache, v. 2, we have a picture of the unjust judges of
the poor, the advocates of the rich, from whom meekness and
forbearance are far removed, not recognising Him Who made them,
corrupters of the creatures of God. From such men deliverance
was to be sought, for they were altogether sinful. And there may
well have been many simple folk in the Christian Church who were
learning, in the light of the Life of Jesus, the price which God set
upon meekness and lowliness of heart, and who were striving to win
their souls in patience.
Space forbids us to enter more fully into this part of our subject,
but it may be observed that von Soden, in allowing that some
expressions in St James are most naturally explained as remi-
niscences of the words of Jesus, makes reference to each of the
three Synoptists; i. 5 and Luke xi. 9 = Matt. vii. 7; i. 6 and
Mark xi. 23 = Matt. xxi. 21; iv. 3 and Luke xi. 10 = Matt. vii. 8;
iv. 4 and Mark viii. 38 = Matt. xii. 39, xvi. 4; iv. 4 and Luke xvi.
13 = Matt. vi. 24 {Hand-Commentar zum N.T., 1899, 3rd edit.).
But von Soden would confine us most positively to the Synoptists ;
and we naturally ask if the Epistle of St James has no point of
contact with the phraseology of St John. It may seem, perhaps,
that P. Ewald has overstated his case in claiming references in this
one short Epistle to portions of St John's Gospel, differing so widely
as the conversation of our Lord with Nicodemus, and the High-
priestly Prayer {Das Hauptprohhm der EvangeUenfrage, pp. 58-
68, 1890). But if the pillar Apostles were so closely associated in
the early Church at Jerusalem as St Paul's statement. Gal. ii. 9,
undoubtedly implies, such intimacy precludes any surprise at the
acquaintance of St James with what P. Ewald calls the Johannean
tradition. To these points of contact between the Gospel of St John
and St James's Epistle both Zahn and Mayor draw attention \ and
we may notice as the most important, James i. 17 and John iii. 3;
1 Zahn, Einleitung, i. 88, and Mayor, St James, p. ixxziv.
xxiv THE WRITER A JEW OF PALESTINE
James i. 18 and John vi. 39, also xvii. 17; James i. 18, 25 and
John viii. 31, 32; James i. 25, iv. 17 and John xiii. 17.
But the likeness between St James and the Sermon on the Mount,
which may be traced as we have noted in other respects, may be further
seen in the frequent employment of imagery derived from the world
of nature and of mankind. And in this way again we may draw
the conclusion that the writer of the Epistle, if not a hearer of our
Lord, was at any rate a Jew of Palestine. The fondness of the
Galilaeans for teaching by imagery and parable^ has been often
instanced in this connection, and reference may also be made to the
local colouring with which the Epistle abounds.
Some of these allusions may perhaps be regarded as too general
for our argument, as e.g. references to figs, oil, wine; but on the
other hand it may be fairly said of others that they belong more
peculiarly to Palestine, e.g. i. 11; iii. 11, 12; v. 7, 17, 18. Possibly
in iii. 12 we may find a reference to the Dead Sea, and in i. 6,
iii. 4, a familiarity with a port like Joppa, although we need not
adopt the solution that the Epistle was written there*. In addition
to these local allusions we have seen occasion to note the probable
fondness of the author for a Palestinian writer, Jesus the son of
Sirach.
III. But can we go further in our identification of the writer
of this Epistle ? He is a Jew, a Jew of Palestine, possibly a hearer
of our Lord, or at least one who was closely acquainted with His
teaching. He only styles himself 'James/ the servant of God and
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and whilst this description may be said to
stand in the way of positive identification, its very simplicity may
at least intimate that we are dealing with some person of position
and authority in the Christian community, and that this person
stood in no need of any further title or higher recommendation.
A forger would not have been content with such simplicity and
humility. Fortunately we are able to put the matter to the test,
for a spurious letter attributed to James commences thus : ' James,
^ ' According to the Talmud (Neubaner, Geog. du Talm. 185, Stud. Bibl. i. 52)
Galileans were noted as wandering teachers who excelled in expositions of the
biblical text, couched in parabolic form,' Art. ' Sermon on the Mount,' Encycl.
Bibl. IV. 4388.
See also the remarks in Hastings' B. D. vol. v. pp. 9, 10, Art. 'Sermon on the
Mount,' by Votaw ; Alayor, St James, p. xlvii. ; and Carr, Cambridge Gk. Tat.
p. ilv.
^ Tliese local allusions are dwelt upon by various writers ; e.g. Hug, Alford,
Cell^rier, H. Ewald, Beyschlag, Salmon, Trenkle, Plumptre, Nosgen, Feine,
Farrar, Zalm, Massebieau.
THE EPISTLE AND THE LANGUAGE OF ACTS xxv
bishop of Jerusalem'.' Certainly the fact that the author does not
call himself an Apostle does not in itself forbid the supposition that
he may have been one (cf. 1 Thess. i. 1 ; Phil. i. 1), but a fictitious
writer would scarcely have chosen the modest title which commences
this Epistle in the endeavour to recommend his exhortations. In
the same opening verse we come across the word 'greeting' (or
'wisheth joy'). No doubt it was a formal epistolary mode of address,
but attention has been justly and frequently called to the similarity
between this salutation and that in Acts xv. 23, contained in a
circular letter issued, as we may well believe, on the motion of
James of Jerusalem, to the Churches of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.
It has of course been alleged that the same form of greeting occurs
elsewhere in Acts xxiii. 26. But in this last-named instance we
are dealing with an official letter written by one Roman to another,
and the fact remains that no other Apostolic writer uses this
formula in commencing a letter. Moreover, the coincidence marked
by the use of this greeting by no means stands alone. Out of some
230 words which are found in the circular letter written after the
Council, Acts xv. 23 ff., and in the speech delivered by St James at
the Council, Acts xv. 13 ff., a large number recur in the short
Epistle attributed to the same person. For example, in James ii. 5
we read 'men and brethren, hear,' and this form of expression
occurs nowhere else in the Epistles, but it is found in Acts xv. 13;
in James ii. 7 we have the remarkable phrase 'the honourable
name which was called upon you,' and tliis phrase (Amos ix. 17)
occurs nowhere else in the N.T. except in Acts xv. 17 ; in James i.
27 we have the exhortation to a man 'to heep himself unspotted
from the world,' the circular letter, Acts xv. 27, closes with the
words 'from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you*.'
It has indeed been further urged that the description of the
state of feeling in Jerusalem, and of the action taken by St James
with regard to it, Acts xxi. 18 ff., corresponds fully with the tone
of St James's Epistle. And if this argument does not appeal
to us so strongly as that derived from the similarity of language
between the Epistle and Acts xv. yet it may be fairly maintained
^ So too in the Clementines we come across such expressions as ' James,
the brother of the Lord, and bishop of bishops ' ; Zahn, Einleituni/, i. p. 106.
'^ These are perhaps the most notable instances, and they are given both by
Mayor and Zahn. The former writer draws attention to other coincidences, as
e.g. the use of the word 'beloved ' three times in St James's Epistle and its only
use in Acts, in the circular letter, xv. 25, the stress laid by St James upon ' the
I^ame ' and the same stress in Acts xv. 14, and again in v. 2ti.
xxvi THE JAMES OF THE EPISTLE AND THE ACTS
that both in the letter and in the history we may see the same
spirit at work. For tlie writer of the Epistle the Mosaic Law is of
binding authority, but with an attitude of sternness in this respect
there is combined a recollection of the weakness of human nature,
and that in many things we all stumble (iii. 2); just as in Acts
(xv. 24, 25) there is consideration and forbearance for those who
cannot conform to any greater burden than necessary things. In
the letter there is the condemnation of the many teachers, but there
is also the recollection that they too are brethren (iii. 1); just as
St Paul is addressed by the same Christian and affectionate title,
'Thou seest, brother,' Acts xxi. 20. But if we are at all justified in
identifying the James of Acts xv. and xxi. with the James of the
Epistle we have in this James a person who possessed such influence
as to preside over the Church at Jerusalem, and at least to be
associated in power with Peter, and to address with authority the
twelve tribes of the Dispersion.
Do we know anything further about him? It must be
sufficient to say here that his early death of martyrdom pre-
cludes James the son of Zebedee from the authorship of the
Epistle we are considering*. We may further note that when
James the son of Alphaeus is mentioned, the second member
of the Twelve who bears the name of James, he is always 'James
the son of Alphaeus,* that in Acts xii. 17, xv. 13, xxi. 18, we have
simply 'James,' and so in Gal. ii. 9, 12; and in the former of these
two passages this James is actually named before Peter and John,
according to the undoubtedly correct reading. This passage, Gal. ii. 9,
is most significant, for the James mentioned in it as one of the
pillars of the Church at Jerusalem could not be James the son of
Zebedee, since he was martj^ed, as we have seen, by Herod Agrippa I.,
who died 44 A.D., and this journey of St Paul to Jerusalem in Gal. ii.
' The authorship of James the son of Zebedee has been supported in England
by Mr Bassett m his Commentary on the Epistle, 1876, and two years later by
a German writer, Herr Jager. A full examination of this hypothesis will be
found in Dean Plumptre's Epistle of St James, pp. 6-10; and Farrar's Early
Days of Christianity, p. 267, should also be consulted. It may be mentioned that
in the oldest printed editions of the Syriac Peshitto Version we find a statement
that the three Catholic Epistles — James, 1 Peter, 1 John — which that Version
contains, were written by the three Apostles who were witnesses of the
Transfiguration. But it cannot be said that there is any ms. support for
identifying the James of the Epistle with the son of Zebedee. Probably the
editor of the first printed edition, Moses of Mardin, is the sole authority,
misled it would seem by the earliest mss. of the Syriac Version, which ascribed
the Epistle to James the Apostle. Salmon, Introd. p. 469, and Plummei-, Epittle
of St James, p. 30.
JAMES THE LORD'S BROTHER xxvii
took place according to the earliest chronology after that date. Nor
is it probable that James the son of Alphaeus would be placed before
Peter and John except upon one supposition, that he was James the
Lord's brother, Gal. i. 19, and that that honour entitled him to
the first place in the Jerusalem Church. Apart from this supposed
identification we cannot say that we know anything of James the
son of Alphaeus, but those who claim him as the author of the
Epistle always regard this identity as a settled matter. But if
James the son of Alphaeus vanishes from the New Testament after
his mention in Acts i. 13 there would be nothing strange in the
obscurity which he shares with the majority of the Twelve. The
identification, however, which we are considering depends first of
all upon the contention that 'brother' is equivalent to 'cousin.'
And it may be admitted that the Hebrew word rendered ' brother '
may be used to cover various degrees of relationship, but after all
that can be said for this, Bishop Lightfoot's remark has not lost
its force: *It is scarcely conceivable that the cousins of any one
should be commonly and indeed exclusively styled his brethren by
indiff"erent persons ; still less, that one cousin in particular should
be singled out and described in this loose way, " James the Lord's
brother*.'" With this view of the meaning of the word 'brother'
is closely united another, viz. the view which maintains the identi-
fication of Alphaeus with Clopas (not Cleophas as in A.V.). But
if we treat the two names philologically, it would seem that they
must be regarded as distinct, or that at all events their identity is
unproven' In the ancient Syriac Version not Clopas, but a word
very different from it, Chalpai, represents Alphaeus, although it has
been suggested that the Jew Chalpai might have had also a Greek
name Clopas or Cleopas, according to a common custom of having
two names. In this connection it may be further observed that in
John xix. 25, the only passage in which Clopas occurs, it is very
doubtful whether ' Mary, the wife of Clopas ' is identical with our
^ Galatians, p. 261. Sieffert points out that in the N.T. two other words are
found to denote relatives and cousins, ffvyyevrii and dve\l/L6s, Mark vi. 4, Luke i.
36, ii. 44, Col. iv. 10, not d8e\<p6s, although we must remember that he is a
supporter of the Helvidian view. Mayor, Art. 'Brother,' Hastings' jB. D., rightly
draws attention to the way in which Hege>ippus applies the term cousin of the
Lord to Symeon, who succeeds James the Lord's brother as Bishop of Jerusalem ;
cf. Euseb. in. 22, and iv. 22.
* See in this connection Zahn, Foritehungen zur Geschichte des neutett.
Kanons, p. 343 ; SieSert, ' Jakobus,' in Herzog's EnoycL, Heft 77, p. 574, new
edit.; Schmiedel, Art. ' Clopus,' Encycl. liibl. i. 851; and Art. 'Alphaeus' in
Smith's B. i».»
xxviii JAMES THE LORD'S BROTHER
Lord's ' mother's sister.' It is quite possible that St John mentions
four women as standing at the Cross (as we find in the ancient
Syriac Version), so that Mary the wife of Clopas is to be distinguished
from the sister of the Lord's mother. Moreover, the expression
'wife of Clopas' might also mean in the original 'daughter of
Clopas,' and in that case, as on the supposition that four women
are intended John xix. 25, we should avoid the improbability that
there were two sisters bearing the name Mary in the same family.
It is also difficult to understand why St John should introduce into
his Gospel the name Clopas at all, if he was writing for readers
acquainted w^th the Synoptic tradition, in which Alphaeus, not
Clopas, was found. But further, if Mary of Clopas is not related
to Jesus, and yet is the same person as ' the mother of James the
Less and of Joses,' as we gather from comparing Mark xv. 40 with
John xix. 25, it follows that ' James the Less ' is not identical with
James the Lord's brother.
This title 'James the Less' reminds us that St Jerome, in his
identification of James the Lord's brother with James the son of
Alphaeus, argues that the epithet minor which he wrongly finds in
Mark xv. 40 implies that there were only two persons, viz. the two
Apostles, bearing the name of James. But the epithet in Mark xv,
40 is simply 'James the Little ' which does not in itself imply com-
parison with only one person. We must further take into account
the improbability that in the earliest days of the Church any one
of the Apostles would have been known by the epithet 'the Great,'
as would seem to follow from the contrast suggested by the term
'the Little'.'
St Jerome, again, lays great stress upon Gal. i. 19 in this same
attempt to identify James the Lord's brother with James the son of
Alphaeus, inasmuch as James in Gal. is in his view evidently one of
the Twelve. But it cannot be said that we are by any means shut
up to this conclusion. For even if the words mean ' I saw no other
Apostle but James' (Gal. i. 19), it does not follow that he is included
of necessity among the Twelve, since the word Apostle may be used
here, as it often is, in a wider sense ^ Or the words may mean 'I saw
* St Jerome writes 'major et minor non inter tres, sed inter duos solent
praebere distantiam,' c. Relv.xiii. See further Mayor, Art. 'Brethren of the
Lord,' Hastings' B. D. i. p. 322, and Zahn, Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutest.
Kanons, p. 346 ; 1900.
* In 1 Cor. XV. 7 James is as little distinguished from all the Apostles as Peter
from the Twelve ; but in distinction from the Twelve the former title Apostle can
JAMES THE LORD'S BROTHER xxix
no other Apostle, but only James,' in which case there is no question
of any inclusion of James among the Apostles, and the words in the
first clause look back to Peter only. It is thus quite possible to
endorse the interpretation attached to the words by Zahn and
Sieffert, viz. that Paul intimates that although he saw no other
Apostle, yet he had seen an illustrious personage, James the brother
of the Lord.
Another consideration of no little weight is found in the fact that
the brethren of the Lord are so often mentioned separately from
the Twelve: cf. John ii. 12 ; Acts i. 13, 14 ; 1 Cor. ix. 5. Moreover,
whilst John vii. 5 marks the unbelief of the brethren in contrast to
the preceding confession of the Twelve, the same attitude of unbelief
on the part of the former is plainly implied in Matt. xii. 46 (Mark
iii. 31; Luke viii. 19).
But amongst these brethren there is one bearing the name of
James, according to the two lists which are given in Matt. xiii. 55,
Mark vi. 3, and in both cases his name stands first. We have, how-
ever, seen that it is somewhat precarious to identify 'His mother's
sister,' John xix. 25, with Mary the wife of Clopas, so that her sons
need not be meant in the James and Joses of the two Synoptic passages.
It is also very noticeable that these brethren are never found with
Mary of Clopas, but always in company with Mary the mother of the
Lord, or with Joseph His reputed father. If we ask why the name of
James stands first of the four brethren mentioned in Matthew and
Mark, it seems a natural explanation that the bearer of it was the
eldest of the four, and that he thus stood in a peculiarly close
personal relation to our Lord, which might well account for his
significant title 'the Lord's brother.'
It is sometimes urged against this that in the Acts we have two
Apostles mentioned by the name of James, cf. i. 13, in the list of the
Twelve, and that as, in xii, 2, one of these is put to death, it is
obvious that by the name James alone, xv. 13, cf. xii. 17, the writer
could only mean the other Apostle bearing that name.
But the brethren of the Lord were evidently in St Luke's view
prominent persons, Acts i. 14, and, as we have already noted, the
fact that James the son of Alphaeus should not be specially mentioned
in the later history of the Church is not more strange in his case
than in that of the other members of the Twelve. If too, as we have
only be used here in a wider sense; cf. Phil. ii. 25 ; Acts xiv. 4, 14. So Sieffert,
• Jakobus,' in Herzog's EncycL, Heft 77, p. 578; I'JOO.
XXX
JAMES THE LORD'S BROTHER
every reason to believe, the James of Gal. ii. 9 is the same as the
James of Gal. i. 19, and the James of Gal. i. 19 cannot be the son
of Alphaeus (see above), it would seem that there was a third James
occupying a prominent place in Jerusalem, who was known as James
simply, or as James the Lord's brother.
Now if these brethren were the sons of Joseph by a former
marriage, and so half-brothers of Christ, this fact would entitle them
to special regard. It may be added that their attitude in the Gospels
towards our Lord has not unjustly led to the inference that they
were elder brothers. We may note, e.g. a certain action and tone
of authority in the manner in which the brethren are associated with
the mother of our Lord, Matt. xii. 47 (cf. Mark iii. 21, 31), and so
too in the notice John vii. 1-5 we have not only the fact of their
unbehef, which might well characterise elder brethren in face of the
claims of a younger man, but also their tone of command and
superior wisdom.
It has indeed been thought that it is inconceivable that one who
shows himself so fully acquainted with the teaching of Jesus should
have been amongst the unbelievers in His claim to be the Christ, and
that the writer of the Epistle must have been an actual hearer of our
Lord, and an Apostle. But if the writer was a half-brother of Jesus
and brought up in a house where the head of the household could
be described as 'a righteous man,' Matt. i. 19 (cf. Luke i. 6, ii. 25),
it is surely not surprising that even as a believer in Jesus as the
Christ he should show acquaintance with that side of His teaching
which is so prominent in this Epistle, in which such stress is laid upon
the 'fruit of righteousness' and upon its inward growth in the prayer
of ' a righteous man,' and that he should still have regard to that
aspect of our Lord's teaching in relation to the Law which would
impress the mind of a pious Israelite'. Such a man might well find
that his Christian life was no real contrast to his former state, and that
all that he possessed in Christ was the perfecting of what he had
before. Such a man might well present a picture of a piety to which
both Old and New Testament contributed, and in him we might
expect to find a wise scribe, instructed unto the kingdom of heaven,
and bringing out of his treasury things both new and old. This too
^ ' The echoes in the Sermon on the Mount have been often noticed ; but
what especially concerns us to observe is how deeply St James has entered into
that part of the Sermon on the Mount which we examined at the outset, the
true manner of the fulfilment of the Law," Hort, JudaUtic Christianity, p. 151.
JAMES THE LORD'S BROTHER xxxi
might well have been the case whether he had actually heard our
Lord or not. For in the writer of this Epistle we are not only
concerned with James the ' brother ' of Jesus, but with James ' a
servant of the Lord Jesus Christ/ with one who had joined the
little band of the first believers (Acts i. 14), and to whom there is
reason to believe that a special appearance of the Risen Lord had
been vouchsafed, 1 Cor. xv. 7 (Lightfoot, Galatians, pp. 265, 274).
* He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you ' ; in that promise
St James could claim a share, whether with the Twelve he remem-
bered the words of the Lord Jesus, or whether he heard them for
the first time from the lips of others'.
Men have sometimes contrasted the conversion of St James with
that of St Paul — the sudden change of the latter from the side of the
Pharisees to that of the Christians with the quiet passage of the
former from the service of the old Covenant to that of the new. But
in each case there was hostility and unbelief, and in each case there
was a conversion. And as in the case of St Paul, so too in that of
St James, we naturally ask ourselves what merely human influence
could have sufficed to transform the unbeliever into the bondservant
of Jesus, and the stern and rigid Israelite into a follower of the de-
spised Nazarene? 'Take upon you the yoke of the Law,' said the
Rabbis, 'and you shall be free from the yoke of the world'; but
here was a man trained in the observance of all legal righteousness,
who had found a freedom from the bondage of the world and sin in
obeying the voice of a fellow-man. Who belonged to no religious
sect, and boasted of no training in the schools, the voice of One
Who was both the Brother of men and their Lord: 'Take My yoke
upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart; and
ye shall find rest for your souls.'
As we thus picture to ourselves the position of St James, and as
we study in his Epistle the further revelation of his character, we
may trace in some respects at all events a likeness to the traditional
view of 'James the brother of the Lord' in the well-known account
of Hegesippus. There he is described as bearing the name of ' the
Just' (righteous), as ever on his knees in prayer, worshipping God
and asking forgiveness for the people, as converting many to Jesus
as the Christ, as having no respect of persons, as looking to the
coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven, and as fulfilling
' See also the remarks of B. Weiss, Neue kirchliche ZeiUchri/t, June, 1904,
p. 435.
xxxii OBJECTIONS TO HIS AUTHORSHIP
in his martyr's death of patience and forgiveness the prophecy of
Isaiah, 'Let us take away the Just'.'
It may of course be said that the more we emphasise the likeness
in our Epistle to features which tradition might teach us to expect
in St James, the easier becomes the possibility of a fictitious writing
in his name. But anyone who wished to palm off an Epistle as the
work of St James the brother of the Lord would scarcely have been
satisfied with the Epistle as it is ; he would have placed the matter
beyond doubt, so far as lay in his power. Would he not, for example,
have introduced some reference to our Lord's Resurrection ? St Paul
most probably connects this James, as we have noted, with the
Resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 7, and the Gospel according to the Hebrews,
which is regarded as one of the earliest and most reputable of the
Apocryphal Gospels, claims to give us an account of Christ's appear-
ance to him after He had risen.
IV. Objections have been, and are still, urged against this view of
the authorship on the ground that the Lord's brother could not have
written an Epistle in Greek. But the validity of such objections is
very much lessened, if not altogether destroyed, by considerations
which are increasing in weight and importance. Many years ago
Professor Reuss of Strassburg met such objections by asking, 'But
what do we really know of the means of culture of any particular
Apostle ? ' We may, however, go further than this, and maintain
that there is much evidence to support the belief that James the
Lord's brother would be acquainted with Greek. 'The imperfect
knowledge of Greek which may be assumed for the masses in Jeru-
salem and Lystra is decidedly less probable for Galilee and Peraea.
Hellenist Jews, ignorant of Aramaic, would be found there as in
Jerusalem ; and the population of foreigners would be much larger.
That Jesus Himself and the Apostles regularly used Aramaic is
beyond question, but that Greek was also at their command is almost
equally certain. There is not the slightest presumption against the
use of Greek in writings purporting to emanate from the circle of the
' This passage has been recently called an 'Ebionitish ideal picture,' but
still the general description may be accepted as true, and St James stands before
us as one who ceased not to pray for the conversion of his people, whose sanctity
gained for him the regard of his countrymen and the title of the Just, and whose
bold confession of Jesus as the Christ brought upon him the penalty of death.
Dr Zahn points out that the manner in which the peculiarly Christian features
in St James's character are in this account less prominent than the Jewish bears
upon it the stamp of truth, Einleituju/, i. p. 73 ; see also Hort, Judaistie
Christianity, p. 152 ; Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 367.
OBJECTIONS TO HIS AUTHORSHIP xxxiii
first believers. They would write as men who had used the language
from boyhood, not as foreigners painfully expressing themselves in
an imperfectly known idiom \' We may even say that the proba-
bilities are in favour of this knowledge of Greek existing among the
poor and despised rather than among the Sadducees or the Pharisees.
It would seem too from the Mishua that Greek loan-words were
employed for the commonest things; and from the fact that, shortly
before a.d. 70, Jewish fathers were forbidden to allow their sons
instruction in Greek, the inference has been fairly drawn that such
instruction had been in vogue before that date I
If, moreover, we take into consideration the position occupied, in
our belief, by St James as head of the Church at Jerusalem, con-
stantly coming into close contact with Hellenistic Jews, we gain a
further reason for the points of contact in the Epistle before us with
the Sapiential books of the O.T. and the Apocrypha, although we
may hesitate to go further and to find reminiscences of Stoic
literature, or a dependence on the writings of Philo^.
Moreover, there is every reason to suppose that such a man
would be acquainted with the lxx translation, and that he would
make use of it in writing Greek to those who knew Greek, although
it is noteworthy that there are one or two passages in which the
writer shows his knowledge also of the Hebrew text^
^ ' Characteristics of N.T. Greek,' in Expositor, Jan. 1904, Professor Moulton.
The same writer points out how the good Attic interjection ' behold ' is used by
the N.T. writers, as by St James no less than six times in his short Epistle, with
a frequency quite non-Attic, because they were accustomed to the constant use
of an equivalent interjection in their own tongue. And he adds that in this we
have probably the furthest extent to which Semitisms went in the ordinary
Greek speech or writing of men whose native tongue was Semitic.
^ Art. 'Greece,' in Hastings' B. D., by P. C. Conybeare. The date for the
authority quoted in the article in relation to the last statement is questioned by
Zahn, Einleitung, i. 43, but this makes no difference to the general argument,
and Zahn adduces evidence to show that Greek was widely known in Palestine,
and that it is a mistake to suppose that svich knowledge was in any way confined
to the upper and learned classes. Feine lays stress upon the fact that St James
as head of the Church at Jerusalem would be constantly associating with
Hellenistic Jews, Der Jakobusbrief, pp. 149, 150. See however the remarks and
restrictions of Dr Buhl, Art. ' New Testament Times,' Hastings' B. D. v. p. 47.
3 Dr Zahn, whilst pointing out that the instances of parallels from Philo
collected by Mayor are of service for illustration, cannot find in them sufBcient
proof that St James was acquainted with Philo's writings. In many cases the
parallels may be explained from the use on both sides of the O.T. or of Jewish
tradition, and in the instances of similar imagery employed by James and Philo
we have to take into account the fact that the application is often very different.
Still less will Zahn admit any knowledge of Stoical literature, and in his
opinion the instances adduced by Mayor of parallels with Epictetus might
rather go to prove that the Stoic had read St James : Einleitung, i. 87 ; Feine, Der
Jakobusbrief, p. 142.
* See e.g. the remarks of Zahn, Einleitung, i. 81, 86, and cf. James v. 20
E. 0
xxxiv DATE OF THE EPISTLE
V. But if the Epistle is written by James the brother of the
Lord it is evident that the latest limit for its date is the death of this
James, which probably took place, according to Josephus, in 62 A.D.,
and according to Hegesippus a few years later, probably in 66 a.d.^
But in either case the destruction of Jerusalem had not as yet
involved the Jews of the capital ai d of the Dispersion in an
overwhelming calamity. No one has emphasised more strongly than
Renan the fact that this calamity introduced such changes into the
situation of Judaism and Christianity that one can easily distinguish
between a writing subsequent to that great catastrophe and a
writing contemporaneous with the third Temple. The social life
depicted in the Epistle of St James fully corresponds with the state
of Jerusalem before 70 a.d., with its glaring contrasts between rich
and poor, and the growing insolence of the wealthy classes. If the
Epistle had been written later than the year mentioned the writer
could not have emphasised the social rank and riches which no
longer existed ; and with the loss of Jewish position and wealth,
there was also involved the loss of the influence and means to
persecute {L Antechrist, Introd. xii., 3rd edit.)\
According to a large number of commentators the picture of
these social conditions represents the state of things within a few
years of the destruction of Jerusalem. And no doubt so far as the
social conditions alone of the Epistle before us are concerned such
a date for its composition might be justified. But it would seem
that these or similar conditions prevailed within the last half-
century before the fall of the Jewish capital, and other considera-
tions must also be taken into account in connection with this
question of date. If the Epistle was written so late, let us suppose,
as 60 A.D., to Jewish-Christian communities, it is very strange that
no reference should be found in it to the conditions of relationship
between these communities and their Gentile neighbours on every
side of them, no reference to the question of the obligatory nature of
the Mosaic Law, which caused a long-enduring friction between Jewish
and Gentile Christianity. It does not really touch the question to
maintain that in purely Jewish-Christian communities no such
•with the Heb. of Prov. x. 12, and Sieffert, Art. 'Jakobus' in new edition of
Herzog, 1900, p. 583.
1 On the uncertainty as to the exact date see Sieffert, ' Jakobus,' in Herzog's
Realencyclopddie (1900), p. 580; Hort, Judaistic Christianity, p. 148. Zahn
incHnes to accept the date of Hegesippus, but a full discussion of the argument
in favour of Josephus will be found in Belser, Einleitung, 667, 668.
^ Cf. also Mayor, p. cxx.
INDICATIONS OF DATE xxxv
question could arise, for where are we to find such communities in
the Diaspora of the date supposed ? The entire silence of the letter
as to the binding character of the Mosaic Law for all Christians
certainly seems ' historically inconceivable ' (as Zahn describes it),
after a time when a section at least of Jewish-Christians had sought
to make the observance of the Mosaic Law obligatory upon the
newly-organised Gentile Churches.
But if we are justified in attaching such importance to this
omission as to find in it a decisive indication of date before the
Council of Jerusalem, do the circumstances portrayed in the
Epistle bear out this conclusion? It is clear that the persons
addressed are exposed to trials and persecutions, and that these are
of two kinds, social and judicial. But if it is admitted that we are
dealing with readers who are Jewish- Christians, these circumstances
of trial in no way militate against an early date, and there is no
occasion whatever to refer them to the organised persecutions of
Domitian or Trajan. A passage in Professor Ramsay's Church in
the Roman Empire, p. 349, is peculiarly helpful in reminding us of
the possibility of legal persecution of Jew by Jew up to the year
70 A.D. (see note on ii. 6, 7). The notices in the Acts of the
Apostles, brief though they are, help us to gain further intelligence
as to this possibility. Immediately upon the death of St Stephen
persecution breaks out against the Church, viii. 1, and the trouble
spreads to Damascus and to foreign cities, ix. 2, xxvi. 10, 11. The
letters from the high-priest enabled Saul to act with authority, to
shut up the saints in prison, and to punish them in all the
synagogues, whilst on the other hand the blood of the martyrs was
thus early the seed of the Church, for they that were scattered
abroad after Stephen's murder preached not only in Samaria and
Judaea, but ix, 31 intimates that there were communities of believers
in Galilee also, and xi. 19 enables us further to learn that Jews who
accepted the word of the Christian teachers were early to be found
in Antioch, as also in C3^rus and Phoenicia. There are then, it
may be said, notices both in the Gospels (cf. Matt. iv. 24) and in
the Acts which point to numerous Jewish residents in the land of
Syria. In Syria, no less than in Galilee, the Greek language was
current, and even to the time of Titus the local synagogues appear
to liave preserved their judicial powers. It may well be that other
countries were included in the writer's thoughts'; but whether this
1 It is of course difficult to say bow much would be included by the writer in
c2
xxxvi INDICATIONS OF DATE
was so or not, he evidently has ever in view his countrymen
pursuing their enterprise and commerce, in some cases buying and
selHng and getting gain, in others eating the bread of carefulness,
and tempted to murmur against God for the cruel injustice which
their rich Jewish neighbours and countrymen were inflicting upon
them.
And if from the earliest days of the Church's life the rich Jews
figure as her persecutors, cf. Acts iv. 1, v. 17, and the high-priestly
party, the wealthy Sadducees (Jos. Ant. xviii. 1. 4, xx. 9. 1), take
proceedings against the Apostles, it is also significant that in the
days of Nero the Jews in Damascus not only numbered ten
thousand, but that by that time they had obtained such influence
as to cause Josephus to remark that nearly all the married women
of the place had become addicted to the Jewish religion (B. J. ii.
20. 2). Such a fact testifies to the possibilities of social bitterness
and cleavage, which must have long existed in so large a Jewish
community, between the Jews who accepted and the Jews who
denied the claims of Jesus to be the Christ.
It is of course evident that no particular Church is addressed
(a fact which may help to explain the absence of any personal
references). But it is equally evident that the writer represents
current conditions, and would no doubt have argued from what he
saw around him in Jerusalem or its neighbourhood to the situation
of Jewish- Christians elsewhere\
Moreover, there was a further and a more universal social evil,
close at hand and all around him, against which the writer of the
Epistle we are considering would no doubt have set his face like
a flint. Not only was the Name of Christ blasphemed, but His
Presence in the poor was forgotten,
the term Diaspora; IVfayor thinks it probable that the term wonld be nnderstood ■
to refer to the original Eastern Diaspora, settled in Babylon and Mesopotamia, and
extending as far as the eastern and northern borders of Palestine. But whether
Asia Minor e.g. would be included would depend, as Beyschlag thinks (Meyer's
Commentar, p. 25, 6th edit.), upon whether at the time of the composition of the
letter not only individual Christians but Christian communities were to be found
in that country. See also the important note in Carr, Cambridge Greek Testa-
ment, Epistle of St James, p. xxix.
1 Feine, Jakohmhrief, p. 86, argues with considerable force and interest that
the conditions described suit especially the Churches of Palestine, but that the
writer under the conviction that the same dangers threatened the Churches of
the Diaspora addressed the letter to them also as a circular letter of exhortation.
Originally it had been a homily addressed by James to the members of the
Churches close at hand, and hence the fact that the letter contains no personal
allusions, and that it is not strictly systematic in arrangement.
RECENT ADVOCATES OF EARLY DATE xxxvii
The Gospel from the first had numbered amongst its adherents
a Nicodemus, a Joseph of Arimathaea, a Joanna, and many others
who ministered to our Lord of their substance, Luke viii. 2, but still
its appeal would be felt most of all by the poor and simple folk, who
were waiting in patient hope for the consolation of Israel. And
dark days had fallen upon the poor in Palestine when the Epistle of
St James was written, days in which the peasantry were distressed
and the labourer oppressed in his wages'. It may be that social
distress had been aggravated by the famine which was felt so
severely in Palestine about 46-47 a.d,, but Psalmist and Prophet
had spoken for centuries of the wrongs of the poor*, and our Lord's
own words in the Gospels reveal to us a terrible picture of the wrong
and robbery practised by the rich "and the governing classes upon
the needy and humble men of heart.
So far then as the social phenomena are concerned there is
nothing to compel us to place the Epistle after the Apostolic
Council.
Dr Zahn, who places the Council about the beginning of 52 a.d.,
would date the Epistle about the year 50 at the latest, before the
first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas. At this period
almost all the Churches would be composed of converted Jews and
Jewish proselytes'. In his argument Dr Zahn considers that the Acts
afibrds many indications that a need was felt to unite these scattered
communities, which all derived their origin from the mother Church
at Jerusalem, by some firm and lasting bond, and that the Epistle
written by St James was itself meant as a means to secure this end.
^ Reference may be made to the graphic description in Zahn's Skizzen aus
dem Leben der alten Kirche, pp. 42 ff., and J. V. Bartlet, Apostolic Age, pp. 232 ff.
2 An interesting Rabbinical illustration of Jas. ii. 3 and the relative
treatment of rich and poor is given in the Expository Times, April, 1904 ; ' B'nei
Joseph on Deut. i. 19 says " ye shall not respect persons in judgment ; when there
Cometh a rich man and a poor man to the Beth Din do not say to the rich man
' Sit on the seat,' whilst thou dost not lift up thine eyes on the jjoor man to look
in his face, for then is thy judgment not a righteous judgment, and for this
perverted judgment it is said a sword cometh upon the people."^
* Dr Zahn admits that there were, even before the first missionary journey,
not a few Gentile Christians in the Syrian Antioch, cf. Acts xi. 20. But even if
there were many hun<lreds, he regards them in proportion to the many myriads
of Jewish-Christians, Acts xxi. 20, as only 1 : 100, and he thinks that the way in
which James incidentally considers these Gentile Christians, as in the introduc-
tion of the example of the faith of the Gentile Rahab, whilst on the whole he
does not take them into account, corresponds exactly to the conditions up to
50 A.D. See also J. V. Bartlet, Apostolic Age, p. 233, on the position of Antioch.
Before the first missionary journey it would seem that the Antiochene Church
was a mere ' congregation,' btit in Acts xiii. 1 a new stage in its development
is marked ; it became ' frhe Church ' in Antioch (Ramsay, St Faul, p. G4).
xxxviii RECENT ADVOCATES OF EARLY DATE
While the Christian Church was thus composed, and before
Antioch had become a second and independent metropolis of the
faith, the president of the Church of the capital would naturally
hold a position of high authority throughout all the Christian
Churches, and such an authority this Epistle presupposes. This
authority is wielded, as we have seen, by someone who was sufficiently
well known by the name James, and that, too, in spite of the frequent
use of that name.
But at what precise date this position of authority was accorded
to the person thus spoken of we cannot say. Dr Zahn is prepared
to follow Eusebius, H. E. ii. 1, 2, and to place the appointment of
James as president of the Church of Jerusalem soon after the death
of St Stephen, as early as 35 a.d.^ At all events in Acts xii. 17
the words 'James and the brethren' would certainly seem to involve
an allusion to a James who was then the head and representative
of the Church in Jerusalem. James the son of Zebedee had been
put to death shortly before the Passover of 44 a.d.. Acts xii. 1, 2,
and we have seen reason to believe that a James known as the
Lord's brother, although not one of the Twelve, occupied a prominent
place in the Jerusalem Church at St Paul's first visit to the Jewish
capital after his conversion. After the death of James the son of
Zebedee nothing was more probable than that this James, as the
Lord's brother, should preside over the Church at Jerusalem ; and
if this was so, we may fairly suppose that the Epistle, which in the
position of authority he might fitly issue, dates between 44 and
50 A.D. It could not have been later than the latter date for reasons
mentioned above.
VL Amongst recent English writers Professor J. V. Bartlet has
advocated with much force and learning a similarly early date.
Viewing St James as more Jewish than St Peter in the manner of
his piety, although not more attached than Peter to the Law, as
the Law was esteemed by men who regarded ' the tradition of the
elders,' Professor Bartlet sees in St James a representative, and in his
Epistle a Hterary monument, of a liberal Palestinian Christianity,
^ FonchungenzurGcic'hichted.esneutest.Kanons^-^-^.Zo'd^Z^I; 1900. 'James,'
says Hegesippus, Euseb. H.E. ir. 23, 'receiver the Church in succession with the
Apostles.' On the force of the words see Bishop of Worcester, The Church and
the Ministry, p. 273. Dr Zahn, u.s. p. 361, insists that none of the Twelve
Apostles could have been head of a local Church, as the Apostolic office was
wider and more of a missionary character. But this is not in itself decisive, as
the Church of the Metropolis could scarcely be placed on a level with a mere
local Church. See further, however, the Journal of Theological Studies, July,
1900, rp- 635, 530,
RECENT ADVOCATES OF EARLY DATE xxxix
liberal i.e. in comparison with the teaching of the legahsts and
Judaisers. Such a man distinguished both by his piety and by
his position, and sharing with St Peter the attitude to Israel
marked in such passages as Acts ii. 40, iii. 19-21, 26, v. 30-32,
might well have written to his countrymen, whose needs he so fuUy
knew, in preparation of the way of the returning Lord; and to Jews
and Jewish-Christians ahke he might well seem to speak in the
Name of God, In the history of Israel a crisis was impending ; the
death of Herod, 44 a.d., was followed by a renewal of a strictly
Roman government, and by the revolts under Theudas and the sons
of Judas of Galilee. The bitter stress, moreover, which prevailed
in social life, and the grievous recurrence of the sins condemned
by the last of the prophets, Mai. iii. 5, 15, iv. 1-3, would indicate
to a man like St James the approach of the Messianic kingdom, and of
the Judge Who was even now at the doors. In such circumstances
we can hnd an excellent situation for the Epistle of St James, and
we can imagine that it might be sent by the hands of believing
Jews, as they returned from the Passover, to other Jewish com-
munities in Syria and in the adjacent regions\ But if 44 a.d.
marks the terminus a quo, 49 (50) a.d. marks the terminus ad quern
for the letter, since it could hardly be later, if that year saw the
question of the Gentiles' position definitely raised and decided in
the New Israel.
A date almost equally early is advocated still more recently by
Dr Chase (Art. 'Peter,' Dr Hastings' B. D. m. 765). Dr Chase
would hazard the conjecture that the messengers of James, Gal. ii. 12,
were the bearers of his Epistle, and in this supposition he claims to
find an adequate explanation of their mission*. In his opinion,
it would be very natural that after the Council of Jerusalem
* At an earlier date Professor Bartlet thinks that believing Gentiles could still
be ignored as simply a handful adhering to the skirts of the true Israel within
Israel, Apostolic Age, p. 233 ; see also previous note on the position of Autioch, and
Zabn, Einleitung, i. pp. 64, 72.
' Dr Chase does not mean that these messengers who are described as
coming ' from James ' represented the views of James. Perhaps in Jerusalem,
as he thinks, the strong rule of the head of the Church had caused them to hide
their discontent, but the spirit which they manifested at Antioch was disastrous
in its efiect on St Peter's conduct, and St Peter's example reacted disastrously
upon the Jewish-Christians at Antioch (u.s. p. 705). The expression in Gal.
ii. 12, 'certain came from James,' may possibly mean 'certain came from
Jerusalem,' or that they were members of the Church at Jerusalem who came
invested with powers from James which they abused. This was Bishop
Lightfoot's view, but Dr Hort thinks that the language suggests some direct
responsibility on St James's part, and that he may have sent cautions to Peter
to guard against offending the susceptibilities of the Jews, a message conveyed
xl OBJECTIONS ANSWERED
St James as the president of the Church there should send a letter
to the Jewish converts in the Dispersion, and that he should speak
of a recent trial of their faith without making any direct allusion to
the cause of such trial. Two points in the Epistle are believed by
Dr Chase to have an indirect reference to the temptations and
anxieties of this particular time. The Epistle (1) has a special
bearing upon sins of temper and speech, and these sins are specially
characteristic of a keen controversial crisis. (2) In the Epistle we
have a condemnation of a perversion of St Paul's doctrine of faith.
St James, whilst refraining from touching on personal matters, would
be anxious to reassure Jewish converts that to accept St Paul's
position with regard to the Gentiles did not involve the acceptance
of doctrines, which mistakenly had become associated with St Paul's
name.
It must, however, be remembered that sins of speech were
generally characteristic of the Jews, and that the famous passage
on faith and works in the second chapter of the Epistle is variously
interpreted (see further below).
But against the acceptance of the early date, suggested by
the three writers named above, the prevalence of vice and
worldliness which the Epistle emphasises as existing within the
Christian community is still strongly urged. The picture,
however, which Acts gives us of the life of the Jerusalem
Church in its earliest days, is quickly marred by the selfishness
and hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira, v. 1 ff. ; there is a mur-
muring, even while the roll of the disciples is increasing, of the
Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, vi. 1 ff. ; and if we are asked
to believe that the writer of the early chapters of Acts was idealising
the virtues of the early community of believers, it must at least be
admitted that he was singularly honest in marking such flagrant
corruptions of an ideal love and holiness. And if we may refer to
the Churches founded by St Paul, e.g. the Church in Corinth, which
was undoubtedly very mixed in its composition, we find that within
a few years of their conversion all the sins mentioned by St James
were rife amongst the Corinthian converts, combined with others
of a more specifically heathen character ; in the Roman Church the
same character depicted by St James may be seen in Romans ii.
iii., and xiv. ; and if it be urged that this is one of the later
by the people mentioned in Gal. ii. 12. But we cannot suppose that James
would go further than this, or would sanction any violation of the Jerusalem
compact.
PRACTICAL BEARING OF THE EPISTLE xli
Epistles, it must not be forgotten that in an Epistle, which is still
commonly accepted as the earliest of all, 1 Thess., the Thessalonian
converts, soon after their conversion, are exhorted to be at peace
among themselves and to admonish the disorderly, whilst if, with
some recent writers, we regard the Galatian Epistle as the earliest,
it is evident that recent converts had incurred the severe rebuke
and censure of St Paul.
If then we find these faults and failings in mixed Churches it
may at least be urged that we should not be surprised to find them
in Jewish Churches also, although we have no other example of an
Epistle written to communities purely Jewish with which we can
compare this Epistle of St James. But we have already seen reason
to believe that the writer was placing his finger directly upon those
faults, which were so notoriously characteristic of his nation, and
so fatal, if continually indulged in, to the spiritual health of all
who named the Name of Christ. Like the Baptist, and like One
greater than the Baptist, he would warn his countrymen of the wrath
to come, and his message like the message of the Baptist and of the
Christ insists upon the doing of the will of God, and the exclusion
of mere boastful acquiescence in an inherited privilege.
VII. But if we rightly keep in mind this practical bearing of the
Epistle, then we can understand, as it seems to the present writer,
the true meaning of the much controverted passage ii. 14 if., although
it is an impossible task to put into a few words the contents of
a whole literature.
It is significant to note, in the first place, that St James never
uses St Paul's favourite phrase 'works of the law,' and from this
omission alone it would be possible to infer that he is not writing
in the interests of a legal Christianity, or instituting a polemic
against Paul, but rather that he is opposing a tendency characteristic
of the persons whom he was addressing, and condemned alike by
our Lord, the Baptist, and St Paul — cf. Matt. iii. 8, 9, vii. 21 ;
Rom. ii. 17-24 — a tendency to rest upon a faith which was a mere
acquiescence of the lips, or at the best of the intellect, not a faith
which worked by love: 'can that faith, such a faith as that,' asks
St James, ' save a man ? ' cf. ii. 14 ^ The wise man of our Lord was
he who not only hears but does His sayings, cf Matt. vii. 21 ff., and
^ It is tempting to find here, with Zahn, a reminiscence of our Lord's
familiar ' Thy faith hath saved thee,' but in this passage the thought is rather
eschatological, of salvation from the impending Messianic judgment.
xlii FAITH AND WORKS
the wise man of St James shows his works by a good life, and his
wisdom is full of mercy and good works ; he is not only a hearer
but a doer of the word. And by these works, and not by faith only,
a man is justified. Again it is significant that St James does not
speak, with St Paul, of being justified by faith in Christ, and his
language may well have had its roots in the Old Testament, and in
our Lord's own words. Matt. xii. 37, Luke xvi. 15, xviii. 14.
It may be further noted that, at least in the passages before us,
the ' faith ' of St James is faith in God, a faith shared by Jew and
Christian alike that God, the God of Israel, is One, ii. 19; a belief
expressed in the primary article of the Jewish Creed, Deut. vi. 4-9,
which every adult male in Israel repeated twice a day (Schiirer,
Jewish People, Div. n. vol. ii. p. 84, E. T.). Here too we find that
we are not dealing with the ' faith ' of St Paul in his teaching on
justification, and if St James had been opposing that teaching, it
is inconceivable that he should have made no reference to such
a passage as Rom. iv. 23-25. The picture of a Jew drawn in
Rom. ii. 17 by a Jew, as also in our Lord's vehement rebukes of
the scribes and Pharisees, is exactly that which forms the back-
ground of the Epistle of St James, a confident boasting of belief
in God, coupled with an utter want of the spiritual and moral
earnestness which should be engendered by that belief. And if the
illustrations of this failure of practical belief in the simplest deeds
of mercy and good works do not carry us back to our Lord's own
words. Matt. xxv. 34 fF. (words also spoken in anticipation of a
judgment), yet at least we cannot help seeing how thoroughly in
accordance with Jewish ideas is the stress laid upon works of mercy
and pity in view of the coming judgment, and the practical kind of
works which St James evidently has in mind'.
Moreover, Jewish literature affords us reason to suppose that
the question of justification by faith or works may have claimed
attention in the Jewish Schools, even if we cannot lay our hands
upon any instance of the precise phrases 'to be justified by faith,'
'to be justified by works.' We may take for instance such a passage
as that in the Testament of Abraham, xiii. (a document in many
respects intensely Jewish, although probably in its present form the
1 Cf. e.g. Tob. Tii. 9, Eeelus. xxviii. 1 ff., and Testament of Abraham, x. B, where
the soul of a woman is brought before the heavenly judge, 'and the soul said.
Lord, have mercy on me. And the judge said, How shall I have mercy upon thee,
•when thou hadst no mercy upon thy daughter, the fruit of thy womb?' Other
instances are given by Spitta, and see further commentary on ii. 14.
FAITH AND WORKS xliii
work of a Jewish-Christian^), where we read 'But if the fire approves
the work of anyone, and does not seize upon it, that man is justified,
and the angel of righteousness takes him, and carries him up to he
saved in the lot of the just.' Or we may turn to the Apocalypse of
Baruch and note how 'those who have been saved by their works'
are elsewhere described as 'those who are justified' (ii. 7 and v. 1).
Certainly in 2 Esdras we meet with passages, cf. ix. 7, xiii. 23, in
which the thought of ' salvation by works ' is modified by the
addition of the words * and by faith^' However this may be,
it would certainly seem that both Baruch and Esdras help us to
draw the same inference, viz. that the question of salvation by
faith or works was not raised for the first time in the New Testa-
ment.
But further, if we have to look to the writings of St James and
St Paul for the occurrence of the exact phrase 'to be justified by
faith' or 'by works,' it may still be fairly urged that not only do both
writers seem to regard these phrases as aheady quite familiar, but also
that Jewish literature furnishes evidence that the value to be assigned
to the faith of Abraham was a topic already claiming Jewish thought
and attention. Thus in 1 Mace. ii. 52 we read, 'Was not Abraham
found faithful in temptation, and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness ? ' and it is noteworthy that Abraham's faith is
mentioned first amongst 'the works of the fathers,' ih. 51. In
Ecclesiasticus xliv. 20 we again read of Abraham ' and in temptation
he was found faithful ' (a repetition of the first clause in the former
passage quoted). In view of such references it is quite possible that
St James might have been following Jewish tradition, and that he
might have found in 1 Mace, a precedent for applying the words
quoted there from Gen. xv. 6 in a similar manner, viz. by finding
their fulfilment in Gen. xxii. 1 IF. It may also be observed that Gen.
XV. 6 was frequently commented upon by Philo, and that if we turn
^ For the Christian elements in this work, probably of a Jewish-Christian
writer of the second centnry, see Texts and Studies, ii. 2, Cambridge, 1892, p. 50.
An English translation of the Greek of both of the recensions may be found in
the Ante-Nicene Library, additional vol., T. and T. Clark, 1897.
* See these and other passages quoted by Spitta, u.s. pp. 72, 73, 207, also
by Mr Mayor, and Mr St John Thackeray, St Paul and Jewish Thought, p. 95.
Dr Charles maintains that the doctrine of salvation by works, as it is found in
Apoc. of Baruch, can hardly be said to exist in 2 Esdras, and he notes how in
the latter book the doctrine is carefully guarded by the addition of the words
mentioned above. But Mr Mayor's comments on the passages in Esdras
(Exporitor, May, 1897) should be read, and also Speaker's Commentary, in which
2 Eadraa viiL 33 is compared with the apposite passage Apoc. of Uaruch, ziv. 12.
xliv FAITH AND WORKS
from Alexandrine to Rabbinic theology, in the Mechilta on Exod. xiv.
31 we find the same verse expounded at lengths
But whilst the evidence seems to show that the passage Gen. xv.
6 may have been a subject of frequent discussion, it is still urged that
the same thing cannot be said of the antithesis between faith and
works. If, however, direct evidence is not forthcoming, it is very
natural to suppose that the reconciliation of the claims of faith and
works would afford a frequent topic of discussion in the Jewish
Schools, when we bear in mind that on the one hand texts like Psalm
Ixii. 12, Prov. xxiv. 12, Jer. xxxii. 19 affirmed that God's judg-
ment would l:>e according to a man's works, whilst on the other hand
Gen. XV. 6, Hab. ii. 4 declared that faith was reckoned for righteous-
ness.
But it has been maintained that if St James is not directly
opposing St Paul, he is nevertheless attacking perversions of Paul's
teaching. It may, however, be fairly asked why St James in writing,
as we believe, to Jewish-Christians should be careful to guard them
against perversions of the teaching of Paul? They were scarcely
the persons to be influenced by, least of all to be seduced by, teaching
connected with the name of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Jiilicher
{Einleitung, p. 143) urges that the Epistle presupposes the misuse
of Paul's teaching as to faith. But we may fairly ask what part of
that teaching? Surely not its chief part, viz. the teaching of justi-
fication by faith in Christ Jesus, for if so we are again met by the
strange circumstance that there is no reference whatever to the facts
upon which that peculiar teaching was based ; cf. Bom. iv. 25, x. 9 *.
If, again, St James was trying to guard against perversions of St Paul's
teaching, it is strange that he should quote the same passage Gen.
XV. 6 which St Paul employs, Rom. iv. 1-8, and that he should
simply content himself with drawing from it his own conclusion,
without seeking to invalidate St Paul's deductions by any expla-
nations. There would also still remain the strange fact that in
writing to Jewish-Christians on such a subject as the possible
perversions of St Paul's teaching, St James should make no refer-
ence to those 'works of law' which played so prominent a part in
St Paul's own exposition of his doctrine.
1 Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 162, 10th edit. ; Sanday and Headlam, Romans,
p. 105.
2 It is noticeable that St James mentions as the object of the vaunted faith
of his converts not the fundamental fact of the Gospel, ' Thou believest that God
raised Christ from the dead,' but the fundamental axiom of the Law, ' Thou
believest that God is One.' Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 370.
JAMES AND ROMANS xlv
It is of course possible, as some notable critics have maintained,
that St Paul is answering perversions which might have occurred of
the teaching of St James, and no doubt some points in that teaching
might have been perverted by the Judaisers. When e.g. St James
wrote 'whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of all,' ii. 10, what was easier than for the
Judaisers to assert that St James demanded that the whole Mosaic
code should be strictly observed? But apart from these possible
perversions, there was nothing in the actual Epistle which St Paul
could not have endorsed, although he himself was called to propound
a wider and a deeper teaching, to show how God would 'justify the
circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith' (Rom.
iii. 30), and to point to the faith of Abraham as a type of the faith
of every Christian, Rom. iv. 16-25.
It is of interest to note that a view differing from those already
mentioned is adopted by Dr Zahn, Einleitung, i. p. 190. He con-
siders it probable that St Paul derives the statement that Abraham
was 'justified by works and hath whereof to glory,' Rom. iv, 2 (a
statement which is introduced, he thinks, quite unexpectedly), not
from the Old Testament, but from St James, and that whilst St Paul
does not directly oppose St James's interpretation of Gen. xv. 6, he
develops his own teaching as to justification by faith from the same
passage, and that too much more thoroughly than he had done in his
earlier Epistle, Gal. iii. 5-7.
Zahn then in adopting this view maintains strongly a connection
between Rom. iv. 1 £f. and James ii. 21, 23. In this, as he himself
allows, he agrees with Spitta, inasmuch as he considers that Paul
writes with reference to James, although of course he differs altogether
from Spitta's main position, and rightly urges that if the Epistle
bearing the name of James had been merely a Jewish document, it
is quite impossible to see why St Paul should have troubled to refer
to the production of an unknown Jew.
VIII. But there is another reason why it is of interest to note
this view of Dr Zahn's. In his exposition of it, he lays stress upon
the fact that of all St Paul's writings, only Romans shows traces of
the influence of St James's Epistle.
The passages upon which Dr Zahn lays special stress, Rom. v. 3 =
James i. 2-4, Rom. vii. 23 = James iv. 1, are also emphasised by
Drs Sanday and Headlam {Romans, p. Ixxvii.) as those which bear
the closest resemblance, whilst Dr Salmon (Introd. p. 463) regards
xlvi JAMES AND 1 PETER
them with the addition of Eom. ii, 13 = James i. 22 as pointing to
a verbal similarity which is more than accidental. But it may be
fairly questioned whether these resemblances, and others of a less
striking character, may not be accounted for by remembering that
both St James and St Paul would have access to a common stock of
language in use in Christian circles, or whether they are really more
strange than many other coincidences in literature. The question
therefore of any direct literary dependence between the two documents
may be considered an open one, whether we approach it from the
point of view of an alleged identity of phraseology, or, as we have
already seen, of a controversial relationship'.
If we turn to another N.T. book, 1 Peter, it can scarcely be said
that the evidence warrants the very confident tone of Dr Moflfatt,
or that 'in spite of Beyschlag, Spitta, Schmiedel, and Zahn' it is
sufiicient to affirm that the priority of 1 Peter must be allowed on
the ground that St James gives the impression of having quoted and
adapted sayings from a previous wi-iter^ A different view of this
alleged priority is at all events formed by one of the ablest of recent
writers on St Peter, Dr Chase (Hastings' B. D. in. 788, 789), and
Dr Zahn {Einleitung, i. 95) has also subjected the supposed depend-
ence of St James to a close and rigorous examination^ He joins
issue with the above assertion in the plainest manner, as, according
to him, it is St Peter who has softened the bold and rugged thought
of St James, and expanded his terse language. If we compare e.g.
James i. 18 with 1 Pet. i. 23 we find in St Peter what certainly
looks like an expansion of the words of St James, and, in the same
manner, the teaching of Isaiah xl, 6-8 which is only touched by
St James in i. 10 is employed far more explicitly in 1 Pet. i. 24. So
again the simpler expressions of St James in i. 21 are much more
fully given in 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2, and, in the same manner, the command
1 See to the same effect Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 78, and Salmon
Introd. p. 463.
2 Historical N.T. p. 578, 2nd edit. Dr Grafe in his recent work on St
James's Epistle can only speak, p. 27, of St Peter's priority as probable.
Dr Hort and Professor Mayor agree with the Germans mentioned above, whUst
it should be remembered that Dr B. Weiss, who is quoted on the other side,
advocates the priority of 1 Peter on the ground that it is one of the earliest
books of the N.T.
^ Amongst the advocates of the priority of 1 Peter, we must now place Dr Bigg,
St Peter and St Jnde, p. 23, 1902, International and Critical Commentary ; but
on the other hand, and with reference to the two passages upon which most
stress is laid by Dr Bigg, see Mayor, p. xlviii., Spitta, Der Jahohushrief, pp. 190,
199, and also comments above.
JAMES AND 1 PETER xlvii
to resist the devil, James iv. 7, is given more explicitly and with a
description of the spiritual adversary in 1 Pet. v. 8, 9.
The passage which is perhaps most often dwelt upon is the likeness
between 1 Pet. i. 6, 7, and James i. 3. No doubt the fact that the
phrase 'the proof of your faith' (R.V.) occurs in both is remarkable.
But even if we admit that the phrase is used by both writers with
the same meaning ^ the context in which it is placed is very different;
in St James the thought of the writer is fixed rather upon the present,
while in St Peter it is directed rather towards the future. But,
without dwelling upon this, why should it be thought impossible
that such a phrase should have been used by two Christian writers,
who must have been at one time in each other's company (cf. Gal. i.
19) as teachers of the Christian Church, and who were also familiar
with such words as those in Prov. xxvii. 21, to say nothing of other
O.T. passages? In this connection it may be observed that while the
similarity between James i. 3 and 1 Pet. i. 6, 7 is undoubtedly very
striking both in thought and language, we may have here a remi-
niscence of one of the 'faithful sayings' in use among the early
believers, since the language employed is to some extent the same
not only in two but in three Epistles, James, 1 Peter, and Romans,
cf. V. 3=".
It has indeed been recently maintained that some points of
resemblance between James and 1 Peter may be accounted for by a
common spiritual atmosphere, or by nearness of time in composition.
But the same writer, Dr Peine, who thus views the matter, admits
that in some cases there is a literary dependence between the two
writings, and that the only difficulty is to determine on which side
to place the priority. He maintains e.g. that in James v. 20 and
1 Pet. iv. 8 we have an instance of an O.T. passage which had come
to be used proverbially, so that neither writer gives an exact
quotation, although both might make such reference to it as we find
in the two Epistles. At the same time it is noticeable that St Peter
uses the phrase 'to cover a multitude of sins ' in a much closer con-
nection with Prov. x. 12 than St James, whilst the latter writer may
be simply employing the familiar phrase just quoted from the O.T.
in a general way; cf. for instance, in this connection, Ps. xxxii. 3,
1 This is doubtful, as Feine, Ber Jakobusbrief, p. 128, and Spitta, u.s. p. 190,
both indicate.
2 Plummer, Epistle of St James, p. 59, but this must depend at least to some
extent as to the previous meaning attached to the words rendered ' the proof of
^our faith. '
xlviii JAMES AND THE APOCALYPSE
Ixxxv. 2 ; Ezek. xxviii. 18 ; Ecclus. v. 6. But, at all events, it is a
somewhat summary conclusion that James in v. 20 is necessarily
borrowing from 1 Pet. iv. 8, although this is one of the alleged
dependences which is most often cited.
Dr Bigg in his Commentary on St Peter and St Jude, p. 20, has
argued that the resemblances between Romans and Ephesians may
all be covered by what we may call the pulpit formulae of the time.
Why should it be thought fanciful to maintain that such a phrase as
'the proof of your faith' (or 'that which is genuine in )'^our faith^')
might become a common formula, if not in the pulpit, yet at least
on the Hps of the early believers in a time of trial and suffering,
such as the Epistles of James and 1 Peter both presuppose " ?
Much has been made of the relation, or supposed relation, between
St James and the Apocalypse. In the Encycl Bihl. the writer of
'James (Epistle)' speaks of the relation as at least probable, but how
warily we should proceed is shown by his own subsequent remarks,
viz. that whilst Rev. ii. 10 is supposed by Pfleiderer to be the ground
of James i. 12, another German critic, Dr Volter, reverses the rela-
tion of the two passages.
It has been suggested that much of the language common to the
two writings may be easily accounted for by intercourse between St
James and St John as members of the Church of Jerusalem. But if
we are not prepared to accept this solution, many points of similarity
may be fairly credited to the common fund of Christian thought
and life ; the stress e.g. laid in each upon compassionate love, and
the endurance which proves itself in trial. At all events there is
nothing in the language of the two books which may not be accounted
for quite apart from literary dependence. It is absurd e.g. to suppose
that St James must have borrowed the thought of v. 17 from Rev.
xi. 6, and it is to be observed that von Soden refuses to admit the
probability of any literary dependence in the alleged instances
between two books of Scripture which in many respects are so widely
dissimilar.
With regard to the Epistle to the Hebrews, no literary depend-
ence can be proved, and the most recent critic, Dr Grafe of Bonn,
frankly admits that the two examples of Abraham and Rahab,
common to Hebrews and James, had manifestly occupied a large
1 See note on James i. 3. . , . ^ »t
2 In this connection the recent remarks of B. Weiss are of interest, Neue
kirehliche Zeitschrift, June, 1904, p. 428.
JAMES AND HEBREWS xlix
place in the thoughts of Jewish as also of early Christian circles '.
Pfleiderer in his new edition* still maintains that these two examples
go to prove an acquaintance on the part of 'James ' with the Epistle
to the Hebrews, and he quotes in addition James iii. 18 which he
regards as showing a verbal parallel with Heb. xii. 11. But it is
noticeable that von Soden regards this and the other instances, not
as marking any literary dependence, but as simply showing that the
two writings were the product of the same spiritual atmosphere. It
is, moreover, begging the question at issue to assume that James is
dependent on Hebrews, as the reverse may have been the case, if
there is dependence on either side.
IX. When we pass to extra-canonical writings, points of contact
between our Epistle and the Epistle of St Clement of Rome are
admitted by the most conservative critics, but it does not by any
means follow that priority is to be claimed for St Clement, On the
contrary there is much that makes for a reverse dependence. It is
very difficult to believe that St Clement, as one who reverenced St
Paul, would have used such expressions as 'being justified by works
and not by words,' xxx. 3, cf. James ii. 14-17, 21, 24, unless he
had some high authority behind him, to say nothing of the fact that
the whole context in St Clement reminds us of words and expressions
in St James's letter. There are also passages in St Clement's Epistle
which point to attempts on his part to balance the teaching of St
Paul and St James. Thus he asks, xxxi. 2, 'wherefore was our
father Abraham justified? was it not because he wrought righteous-
ness and truth through faith?' (cf. James ii. 22), whilst a little lower,
xxxii. 3, he adds of the good of all time that they were justified not
through themselves, or their own works, or the righteous doing which
they wrought, but through God's will, and finally, xxxiv. 4, after urging
the necessity of good works concludes that the Lord exhorteth us 'to
believe on Him with our whole heart, and to be not idle or careless
with every just work.' In this connection we may also note the
significant words 'for her faith and hospitality Rahab the harlot was
saved,' where the faith of Heb. ix. 31 is combined with the works
of James ii. 25^. And if we have solid ground for supposing that
St Clement was thus acquainted with the teaching of St James, and
^ Grafe, Die Stellung und Bedeutung des Jakohusbriefes, p. 35; 1904. See also
the admirable remarks of B. Weiss, Einleitwifj in das N.T. p. 385, 3rd edit.
^ Pfleiderer, Urchristentum, u. p. 541 ; 19(l2.
^ Lightfoot, St Clement, ii. p. 100 ; Zahn, Einleitung, i. 97 ; Mayor, St James,
p. U.
K. d
1 EXTRA-CANONICAL WRITINGS
that he attached such importance to it, other parallels between the
two writings may fairly tell in favour of the inference that St James's
Epistle was known to St Clement'. In some cases no doubt the
similarity of language may be accounted for apart from literary
dependence, as we have seen in other cases, but it is difficult to
suppose that St Clement in xxxviii. 2 was not acquainted with
James iii. 13, and xlvi. 5 in its interrogative form and mode of
expression might well be a reminiscence of James iv. 1, It is also
noticeable that St Clement lays great stress upon the sin of double-
mindedness, and that he uses the same word as St James, of. e.g.
xi. 2, xxiii. 3, in which the thought of God's judgment is closely
associated with this sin.
The large number of pnrallels between James and Hermas
'necessitates the conclusion that one of the writers is dependent
on the other,' and so far there is no difficulty in agreeing with
Dr 0. Cone, Encycl. Bihl iv. 2323.
But it is somewhat bold to add that it is not clear to which
writer the priority should be assigned, and bolder still to maintain
with Pfleiderer the priority of Hermas (Holtzmann thinks it
'probable'). A study of the two writers supplies the best answer
to this question of priority, and it is not too much to say with
Mayor and Zahn that it would be as reasonable to affirm that a
modern sermon is older than its text as to maintain that the comments
of Hermas are older than the parallels in St James^. The terse
sentences of James are expanded by Hermas in a manner which
cannot be said to confer upon them either freshness or strength, and
if a writing is any index of a writer's character it is difficult to
suppose that the personality presented to us in the Epistle of St
James could be dependent upon the fantastic production of Hermas*.
1 Mr Parry, St James, p. 73, remarks with great force, ' St Clement is the
disciple ; the imitator ; he refers at every point to the Apostles for example,
authority, and even for the substance of his teaching ; he is in no sense and in
no point original or independent. On the other hand, who is this tremendous
personality who speaks to the whole Church with a voice that accepts no
challenge or dispute ? who appeals to no authority but that of God, knows no
superior but the Lord Himself, quotes examples only from the great ones of the
Old Dispensation, instructs, chides, encourages, denounces with a depth, an
energy, a fire, second to none in the whole range of sacred literature?'
2 The most receut writer on St James, Dr Grafe, inclines to agree with this
judgment of Dr Zahn as against Pfleiderer, Die Stellung des Jalwbiisbriejes, p. 40.
^ The rare words common to St James and Hermas are referred to in the
notes; see e.g. James ii. 6, v. 11, and the constant use of 8i\(/vxos with its cognates
in Hermas compared with its use in James as e.g. in i. 8. Dr C. Taylor, Art. in
Journal of Philology, xviii. pp. 297-325, on ' The Didache compared with The
EXTRA-CANONICAL WRITINGS li
Moreover, if St James had Hermas behind him, it is still more
difficult to understand his omission of any definite reference to the
suffering and work of the Son of God'. Jiilicher speaks of the
Epistle of St James as the least Christian book of the N.T., Christ
is scarcely ever mentioned, and the picture of the Messiah has alto-
gether disappeared ; and he asks, could such a document have come
to us from the days of primitive Christianity ? But this difficulty
is not removed, and to many minds it would rather seem to be
increased, by placing the book about the same period as Hermas, or
subsequent to him. It is surprising that Harnack should argue
that the circumstances of persecution referred to in James ii. 6
demand a date shortly before the time of Hermas (see note m loco),
and it is equally surprising that amongst the most recent critics
Pfleiderer and Grafe should still maintain, in their endeavour to
support a similar date, that technical Gnostic terms are to be found
in the frequently recurring 'wisdom,' and in such words as ' sensual,'
* the wisdom that is from above,' ' perfect,' ' father of lights.' There
is not one of these expressions it may be safely said which requires
any such explanation (see notes in Commentary). But even the testi-
mony of these two supporters of Gnostic influences does not always
agree together, for we find that Grafe is not prepared to endorse
Pfleiderer's view that in the expression 'judge of the law' in iv. 11
we have a reference to the heretic Marcion^ Harnack quotes
Jiilicher with approval in his assertion that the moral and religious
state of the Christian community in St James shows such degeneration
that we can scarcely credit its existence before the time of Hermas,
Shepherd,' gives some interesting examples, p. 320, of adaptations by Hermas
from the Epistle of St James, and of the way in which Hermas was accustomed
to use his materials.
1 ' Hermas tells of the toil and suffering which the Son of God underwent
to purge away the sins of His people, and of the reward which He receives in the
exaltation of His human nature and in His joy at receiving His purified people
into union with Himself,' Art. ' Hermas,' Diet, of Chr. Biog. u. 920.
In Vis. ii. 2, 5, 8, God is said to swear by His glory and by His Son. On the
Person and work of the Son the passages which should be consulted are Sim.
V. 2. 4-6, ix. 1. 12-18, 24, 28, Dr Taylor, Shepherd of Hermas, p. 49; 190.3.
2 Pfleiderer, Urchristentuvi, p. 546; 1902. Pfleiderer still persists in placing
the Epistle of St James far down in the second century, but the trenchant
criticism of his endeavours by Professor Mayor has not been in any degree
refuted : ' Would the thoroughly Hebraic tone of the Epistle. ..the stern censure
of landowners who withheld the wages of the reapers, suit the circumstances of
the Christians of Kome in that age ? Where were the free labourers referred to ?
The latifundia of Italy were worked by slaves. The writer looks for the
immediate coming of the Lord to judgment (v. 7-9). Do we And any instance
of a like confident expectation in any writer of the latter half of the second
century?' Epistle of St Javies, p. cxlvii.
d2
lii PHILO AND ESSENISM
but unfortunately the vices of worldliness and lax living censured
by Hermas have been common faults in all ages of the Church, and
we have already seen how quickly they gained an entrance into the
circle of Christian believers.
Reference has already been made to the parallels between Philo
and our Epistle, but it cannot be said that they prove any acquain-
tance with Philo's writings on the part of St James. In many cases,
as we have noted, the likeness consists in the use of a number of
common figures and imagery, and often enough this imagery is
employed in a totally independent manner by the two writers.
Moreover, much of this common language may be fairly explained
by a mutual acquaintance not only with the Old Testament, but
with the Jewish Wisdom-literature, and all the tenets of Jewish
theology, as e.g. the unity of God, and the value attached to
wisdom, as a gift from above to be specially sought in prayer.
It would at least seem that the greatest caution should be used
in deducing a dependence upon Philo, even when his language
closely reminds us of St James. Philo e.g. says, * but as many as
live in harmony with law are free' {Quod omnis prohiis liber, Mang.
n. 452), cf James i. 25, ii. 8, 12. But Philo is thinking of the Stoic
view that he who follows his fancies is a slave, while he who lives in
obedience to law is free; St James on the other hand has in mind
a law, which is not regarded as a yoke as the O.T. law was regarded
in Rabbinical literature, but which is fulfilled freely and joyfully'.
In the Pseudo-Clementine literature we do not find perhaps so
many points of contact with our Epistle as we might expect, when
we consider the high and authoritative place assigned in that
literature to St James of Jerusalem, the Lord's brother. But
references may fairly be found to James i. 13, v. 12 (and perhaps to
i. 18, ii. 19), in spite of the bold assertion of Pfleiderer that James
is unknown even to the Clementines. The Ebionite tendency
which, as we have seen, was attributed to St James, is said to be
supported by the Clementines, but the alleged parallels rather show
how widely separated St James was in his point of view from any
Ebionite tendency. In Clem. Horn. xv. 9, e.g., we read that for all
men possessions are sins^ but there is nothing of such teaching in
the Epistle of St James.
^ Grafe, Bie Stellung des Jakobusbriefes, p. 18 ; 1904.
' Zahn, Eiiileitung, i. p. 105. No parallels are examined in the case of the
Testaments of the Tivelve Patriarchs owing to the uncertainty of the date of that
document.
ORIGINALITY OF JAMES liii
In the same manner with regard to the alleged Essene colouring
in the teaching concerning mercy, oaths, riches, trade, the government
of the tongue, which is so much emphasised by many writers (see e.g.
Art, 'Epistle of James,' Encycl. Bibl. ii. 2325), we must be careful not
to exaggerate such general points of contact. Thus W. Bruckner '
would have us believe that the Epistle proceeded from a little con-
venticle of Essene Christians at Eome not earlier than 150 a.d. (in
accordance with the late date which he assigns to 1 Peter). No
doubt an Essene might have spoken much as St James has spoken
on the subjects just mentioned, but on the supposition that St James
was acquainted with the Sermon on the Mount, or with the general
spirit of our Lord's teaching, there is no need to have recourse to
Essenism. Moreover, whilst there is nothing strange in the fact
that the teaching of the Essenes and that of St James should have
some points in common, seeing that they both had their origin in
Jewish sources and in the life of a Jewish community, the stress
laid upon silence and upon poverty, to say nothing of other matters,
is unduly accentuated by the former. St James, on the other hand,
is not teaching these points as part of a religious system, but is rather
endeavouring to check special faults of his countrymen around him.
As we look back over the various points of contact existing
or supposed to exist between our Epistle and the writers we have
mentioned, we may at least conclude that in no one instance has the
literary dependence of St James been proved, even if we are not
prepared to endorse the judgment of Reuss, viz. that the numerous
cases of use of the Pauline Epistles, of the Hebrews, of Hermas, of
Philo, exist only in the imagination of the critics, and wholly over-
look the highly unique personality of the writer of this Epistle
{Geschichte der N.T. p. 233, 6th edit.).
X. But if the priority and the originality of the letter may be
affirmed, it is no doubt surprising that the evidence on the whole
as to its early existence and authorship is not more decisive. In the
first place, however, it may be fairly urged that in the West at all
events there may have been special reasons for the obscurity attach-
ing to the letter and for its omission in the Muratorian Fragment.
The fact that the Epistle is addressed to Jewish-Christian circles,
and that the circumstances with which it is concerned relate to
Churches so composed, to say nothing of the fact that the writer,
whoever he was, does not claim Apostolic authority, may have con-
1 Die chronolo gische Beihenfolge, p. 295.
liv EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
tributed to this. Nor is the evidence of its use by the early fathers
so small, or so entirely wanting, as is sometimes maintained.
TertuUian's use of it is doubtful, but although Irenaeus does not
mention the Epistle, we are told from a somewhat unexpected
quarter that ' the earliest trace of an acquaintance with it is found
in Irenaeus, who refers to Abraham as '* the friend of God'" {Encycl.
Bihl. 'Epistle of James,' n. 2326), cf. Adv. Haer. iv. 13, 14, and 16\
No doubt it is true that Origen is the first writer to refer to this
Epistle by name, and he speaks of it in one place as 'the Epistle
current as that of James,' in Johann. xix. 6, as if, although aware of
its currency, he was himself uncertain as to its authorship. But in
another place, in P sal. xxx., he speaks of James as the author without
expressing any doubt, and in the Latin translation of some of his
other works we find the term Scriptura divina used of the Epistle,
and that it is referred by Origen to James, who is spoken of as an
Apostle, and once definitely as James the brother of the Lord^ The
evidence might possibly be carried further, but it seems very arbitrary
that without any reference to the above facts Pfleiderer should still
persist in saying that Origen expressly regards the Epistle as doubt-
fuP. Dr Grafe sides with Pfleiderer on equally precarious grounds.
He refers to Origen's Commentary on Matt. xiii. 55, in which it is
said that Jude (the brother of James) wrote a letter, while of James
it is merely said that he is mentioned in Gal. i. 19. From these
remarks Grafe concludes that Origen does not seem to have ascribed
our Epistle to James. But Origen, in the above comments on
Matthew, is speaking of the four 'brethren of Jesus' in relation to
their general bearing and character, as the whole passage shows us.
He treats e.g. at some length of the righteousness and reputation of
James, and then adds, 'And Jude, who wrote a letter of few lines,
it is true, but filled with the healthful words of heavenly grace, said
in the preface, "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of
1 Dr Zahn considers that whilst James was probably known to Irenaeus, and
perhaps also to Hippolytus in the West, it appears to have been regarded amongst
the Greeks of the East as belonging to the most generally recognised writings. He
considers that it was undoubtedly known to Clement of Alexandria, who saj's, e.g.,
of Abraham, that he is found to have been expressly called the friend of God
(James ii. 23), and that the Epistle could not have been placed first amongst the
three recognised Catholic Epistles, or first amongst the seven recognised in the
West, unless it had gained an assured place of regard ; see further below, and
also for the testimony of Origen and Eusebius, Zahn, Grundriss der Geschichte
des neutest. Kanong, p. 21, and Plummer, St James, p. 21.
' Mayor, St James, p. cxlv., and Zahn, Grundriss der Geschichte des 7ieutest.
Kanons, pp. 42, 56; 1901.
3 Pfleiderer, Urchristentum, ii. p. 540 ; 1902.
EXTERNAL EVIDENCE Iv
James.'" He next passes to the other 'brethren' and says, 'with
regard to Joseph and Simon we have nothing to tell : but the saying
"and His sisters are they not all with us?" seems to me to signify some-
thing of their nature — they mind our things, not those of Jesus, and
have no unusual portion of surpassing wisdom as Jesus has.' In a
consideration of the whole passage it would seem that there is nothing
to justify Dr Grafe's inference from statements which ought not
to have been unduly separated from the whole context ; and it must
also be remembered that Grafe makes no reference whatever to the
counter-testimony mentioned above.
But whatever doubts may be raised against the testimony which
we have been considering, it is most significant, as Ritschl long ago
pointed out {Die Enstehung der altkatholischen Kirche, p. 109), that
the Epistle should have a place in the Syrian Peshitto, because in
Syria we have specially to seek for the readers, in a country, that is,
where numerous Jews dwelt, whose intercourse with Jerusalem must
have been very close'. Further significance is added to this fact
■when we remember that only three of the Catholic Epistles find a
place in this version, James, 1 Pet., 1 John. The other four Cathohc
Epistles are still excluded from the Canon of the Syrian Church.
So far back as this version can be traced, the Epistle of St James
is included in it, although it would appear that there is an earlier
stage in the history of the Syriac Canon when none of the Catholic
Epistles were included ^
The testimony of Eusebius, like that of Origen, has been much
exaggerated in its supposed bearing against the Epistle. Eusebius
speaks of certain writings, and the Epistle of St James amongst them,
as 'disputed,' but he does not mean that these writings were universally
regarded with suspicion ; on the contrary he distinctly asserts that
these 'disputed' books were nevertheless familiarly known to most
people although denied by some {H. E. iii. 25. 3). Moreover, he
distinctly speaks of this Epistle as Scripture in his Commentary on
the Fsalms, and as written by 'the holy Apostles '
1 With these remarks of Kitschl we may compare those of Beyschlag to the
same effect in Meyer's Commentar, p. 22, 6th edit.
2 Dr Sanday, Studia Biblica, in. p. 245 ; Nestle, Textual Criticism, p. 321,
E.T. ; and Can's note, Cambridge Greek Test. p. xlvi. Dr 0. Cone, Encijcl. Bibl.
II. 2326, refers to the admission of the Epistle in the Peshitto, as also to its
acceptance by Ephrem as the work of James the Lord's brother.
3 Zahn, Grundriss der Geschichte des neutest. Kanons, p. 56, IHOl ; and
Encycl. Bibl. ii. 2326. The Epistle with the other 'disputed' books won its way
to general acceptance, and we tind it accorded its rightful place iu the Council of
Laodicea, c. 363, and the Third CouncU of Carthage, 397.
Ivi ADVERSE CRITICS
If, however, the external evidence was less weighty than it is, this
could not fairly counterbalance the internal evidence in favour of the
early date of the Epistle and of its authorship as the work of James
the brother of the Lord. Ritschl laid stress upon this consideration
in the reference just given, and it has been strongly enforced by more
recent writers of various schools of thought.
XL We naturally ask for what reasons the Epistle is still so per-
sistently attacked \ Some of these reasons have been already noted
in the foregoing remarks, but it may be well to dwell a little more
fully upon some of the most important of them in current literature.
Pfleiderer in the recent new edition of his Urchristentum still stands
out as one of the most strenuous advocates of a late date for the
Epistle. He cannot allow that it belongs to the Pauline times, and
he finds it equally difficult to assign it to a pre-Pauline date; the
only question in his mind is how far down in the Apostolic age we
can possibly place it. How late this would be from Pfleiderer's
point of view we have already seen, but it is quite evident that he
ignores in his anxiety for a late date very obvious difficulties which
the contents of the Epistle raise. He admits e.g. that no Epistle in
the N.T. is less dogmatic, and that the special contents of the
Christian revelation which exist in contemporary literature are
altogether wanting. This lack of dogmatic interest points in
Pfleiderer's judgment, not to a time when the Church was concerned
in laying firmly the foundations of its faith, but to a time when a
firm foundation was already assured.
But why should this Epistle of St James be the one exception,
as Pfleiderer admits, to all other literature which he considers as in
any way associated with it in point of time ? To this question no
answer is given. Pfleiderer and Grafe with him lay great stress upon
the expression iii. 6, which they connect with Orphic beliefs. And
we are then asked to explain how it is conceivable that the traditional
It is noticeable tliat in the Canon of the latter Council the Catholic Epistles
are placed immediately after the Acts and before the Pauline Epistles ; and this
is the place assigned to them in most ancient ms. versions and catalogues.
1 Amongst older questionings as to the Epistle its rejection by Luther as ' a
right strawy Epistle ' demands a word. It is quite true that the preface to his
translation does not now contain this statement, although it would seem that
Luther himself remained firm in his rejection. Calvin refused to follow Luther
and acknowledged the Epistle, and the Lutheran Church has restored it to its
proper place in the N.T. 'But Luther not only started from the mistake that
the Epistle was the work of James the son of Zebedee, but that every N.T. book
was to conform to his standard of Apostolic teaching.' Plummer, St James
p. 23 ; Beyschlag, Der Brief des Jakobus, p. 22, 6th edit.
ADVERSE CRITICS Ivii
James, the brother of the Lord, the Galilaean, and the Jerusalem
Zealot for the Law, could have gained such an acquaintance with the
wisdom of the Orphic mysteries. But the expression 'the wheel of
nature' may be fully and fairly explained without having recourse
to any such needless supposition, or to an acquaintance with any
such wisdom ; see note below in loco.
Moreover, this obscure 'James,' even if he could have carried
weight in his own neighbourhood, as Pfleiderer apparently supposes,
must not only have been 'a great unknown,' but it is difficult to
believe that when, as time went on, it was desired to bestow upon his
Epistle further authority, no title should be fixed upon for its author
more illustrious than that of 'James the servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ.' Attention has already been drawn to the
recurring difficulty which meets us in this modest title. It has
indeed been recently suggested by Grafe, in criticising Pfleiderer,
that this title may have been assumed out of pure modesty, just
as the writer of Jude calls himself 'Jude, the brother of James.'
But the natural and simple explanation is that Jude could so style
himself, because there could be no doubt as to the personality
and authority of the brother whom he named.
Von Soden seems doubtful as to date, but he is inclined to
adopt a period after the Domitian persecution, or possibly a period
•within the first thirty years or so of the second century. But
even in von Soden's remarks we may notice that he not only
admits the high value and excellent tact of our Epistle, but that
he also inclines to account for the opening words by supposing
the existence of some kind of affinity between the unknown
author and the head of the Church at Jerusalem. In this con-
nection we naturally pass to von Soden's own hypothesis of the
origin of St James's Epistle. He regards this unknown writer
as a Jewish-Christian, fully acquainted with Jewish literature and
thought, and anxious to help to rectify by his letter the improprieties
existing in the Christian circles known to him. For this purpose he
calls chiefly to his aid reminiscences of his own Jewish period, while
in ch. i. and ii. there are also reminiscences of Jewish and Christian
influences. Thus, out of the whole Epistle, only i. 2-4, 12, 18, 21,
ii. 1, 5, 8, 14-26, iv. 1-6, 10, remain as the writer's own, all the rest
is of Jewish origin. Two sections, iii. 1-18, iv. 11-v. 6, are complete
in themselves, and have no point of agreement with Christian ideas
or writings {Hand-Commentar, 3rd edit. p. 176). In all this von
Iviii ADVERSE CRITICS
Soden, who, as we have seen, dismisses Spitta's hypothesis, adopts
one no less arbitrary. No one has pointed this out more clearly than
Grafe', as also the unlikelihood that a man of such marked culture
as 'James' should issue such an extraordinary compilation as that
which tills hypothesis demands. It is e.g. very difficult to suppose
that in a perfectly coherent section such as ii. 1-13, those verses
1, 5, 8, are to be ruled out as foreign elements.
Not less arbitrary than von Soden's is Harnack's description of
the Epistle. It is, according to his account of it, wanting in all
arrangement, it is a disconnected collection of prophecies, exhortations,
instructions ; the images follow each other in a kind of kaleidoscope ;
it is full of paradoxes from beginning to end ; in some parts it reads
like the very words of Jesus, deep and profound, in others it breathes
the spirit of the old prophets ; now it is written in the style of classical
Greek, now in the style of a theological combatant. But in spite of
all this it exhibits, like certain Old Testament prophetical books, a
marked unity amidst so much diversity. The writer of all these
different addresses originally composed them in no way with a view
to the connection in which they are now found. He wrote about
125 A.D., and then, after his death, these addresses were edited, and
finally published under the name of James at the end of the second
or the beginning of the third century {Chron. i. 487).
But in the first place this account of the letter is as paradoxical
as its contents are affirmed to be, since it attributes to the same
document both unity and the utter want of it. In the second place
we have to imagine some teacher of the second century who com-
bines within himself all that Harnack requires ; the unknown teacher
is described as a powerful personality, bringing out of his treasures
the old and the new, and deriving his homiletical addresses not less
from Jewish adages than from the discourses of Jesus and the wisdom
of the Greeks. He must indeed have been a wonderful personage
who united in himself all the varying and often dissimilar elements
of culture which Harnack's hypothesis demands. Once more,
Harnack entirely fails to account for the ascription of the letter to
'James the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ' (see
further below).
Jiilicher speaks more positively than von Soden for a late date,
viz. 125-150 A.D., while he admits that there is much in the letter
1 Die Stellung des Jakobusbriefes, p. 45, and for further criticisms see
Encycl. Bibl. ii. 2325, and Theologische Rundschau, i. 1901.
ADVERSE CRITICS Hx
which points to James 'the first bishop of Jerusalem ' as the author.
But when Jiilicher, following Pfleiderer, proceeds to describe the
Epistle of St James as the least Christian document in the N.T. and asks
how such a writing could have been a product of primitive Christianity,
we may fairly answer, how could such a document have been a
product of any later period? {Einleitung, p. 143). The more we
prove the absence of Christian phraseology or allusions, the more
difficult does it become to suppose that a writer, who had behind
him the Gospels, as Jiilicher admits, would have contented himself
with such scanty references to the Person and Work of the Lord.
St Clement of Rome writes his letter to Corinth at the close of the
first century. He too appeals like 'James' to the Old Testament
examples of piety and endurance, but he refers in the same breath,
and ever and again, to the blood of the Lord as the means of re-
demption ; he refers definitely to the words of the Lord Jesus, and
he speaks definitely of the same Lord as being made the firstfruits
of the resurrection when God raised Him from the dead. We have
already seen how Hermas, writing later, and it would seem in a
document which clearly belongs to the same Roman Church, makes
repeated references to the work of the Son of God.
But it may be further noted that while von Soden is inclined
to regard Rome as the place of composition, Jiilicher inclines
against the claims of Rome, and expresses himself as entirely in the
dark', while both critics are united in condemning the theory of
Harnack, viz. that in the case of the Epistle bearing the name of
James, and in the Epistles bearing the names of St Peter and St Jude,
the name of an Apostle was interpolated in the opening words of the
address to give prestige and authority to the writing. It is sufficient
to remark as against this hypothesis that at least one other Catholic
Epistle, the First Epistle of St John, was accepted by the Church
without the recommendation of any name at alP. And the more we
emphasise the desire of the Church to bestow authority upon the
document, the more inexplicable becomes its contentment with
interpolating the simple title 'James.'
The most recent German critic of the Epistle of St James is
1 Grafe and others fix upon Eome because they assume that a likeness of
spirit exists between the Epistle of James on the one hand, and Hebrews, the
Pastoral Epistles, Clement of Eome, Hermas on the other, and that therefore all
these writings were composed in the same place.
* Dr Sanday, Inspiration, p. 381, and to the same effect von Soden, Hand-
Commentar, ui. (2nd part), p. 176, 3rd edit.
Ix ADVERSE CRITICS
Dr Grafe, of Bonn', His work has gained the high praise of Schiirer,
and some references have already been made to it.
Dr Grafe does his best to minimise any indications of Jewish
Christianity in the readers of the Epistle, and we have seen how he
deals with the word 'synagogue,' and the expression 'Lord of hosts'
(p. xi.). He is also at pains to minimise any references to our
Lord, and even in v. 7 he declines to say whether ' the coming of
the Lord ' refers to God or to Christ. One would have thought that
the phraseology in v. 7 and 8 was 'unmistakably Christian,' 'the
coming,' i.e. ' the presence of the Lord,' as Dr 0. Cone frankly admits,
Encycl. Bihl. ii. 2325. Grafe asks how the name ' James ' became
attached to the Epistle, and he cannot get away from some associa-
tion in the choice with James, the brother of the Lord, the head of
the Church at Jerusalem. The other personages bearing the name
of James cannot be considered, because they so quickly vanish out
of the history. It is not so inconceivable, however, that a later
writer should prefix the name ' James ' to his letter, since his strong
moral spirit had a certain affinity to that of the famous James. But
in what this affinity could consist it is somewhat difficult to see
when Dr Grafe tells us in the same breath that the letter is in
no way animated by a Jewish or Jewish-Christian spirit. It can
scarcely be affirmed that such a spirit was wanting in the illustrious
James of Jerusalem, rather was it one of his chief characteristics.
In this writer, according to Grafe, we have a man who does his best
to warn his fellow-Christians at a time when the Church was
becoming a Catholic Church against growing worldliness and laxity,
and throughout his writing he breathes the spirit of Jesus, Who
demanded of His disciples not the saying 'Lord, Lord,' but the
doing of His will. And so although the writer preaches to us
nothing of the work of salvation wrought by Christ, and has no word
to say as to the significance of the blood of Jesus, his Epistle still
edifies the Church to-day.
But if this is to be taken as an account of the writer's object, it is
difficult to see why such a short Epistle full of earnest exhortation
should not have met a practical need of the Christian life in the
first century no less than in the second. In every age the Church
has had need to ' remember still the words, and from whence they
came, "Not he that repeateth the name, but he that doeth the will."'
1 Die Stellung und Bedeutung des Jakobiisbriefes, in der Entwickelung des
Urchristentums ; 1904.
REPLY OF B. WEISS Ixi
Grafe would place the Epistle possibly as late as the second or third
decade of the second century, and he would do so mainly because he
holds that Hebrews, Clement of Rome, the Pastoral Epistles, and
Hermas, are all the product of the same spiritual atmosphere. This
conclusion cannot be said to be very satisfactory or illuminating,
although it is a short and easy way of getting rid of difficulties
raised by evidence of priority or of dependence.
We cannot pass from Dr Grafe's name without noting that his
statements have received a prompt reply from the veteran B. Weiss in
the Neue Mrchlicke Zeitschrift for May and June, 1904. Dr Weiss
points out how frequently the expressions used in our Epistle can
only be explained of unbelieving Jews, e.g. ii. 7 (cf. v. 3, 5). In this
connection he lays stress upon the concrete relations of life which
the letter presupposes, upon the peculiar faults which it blames, upon
its vivid representation, so true to our knowledge of the social life
of Palestine, of the strife between the rich and the poor, and he
further shows that the judgment-seats, ii. 6, are not those of
Gentile but of Jewish courts. As in his Introduction to the N. T.
Dr Weiss strongly defends the address, i. 1, against any symbolical
interpretation, and he urges the unfairness of supposing that we
have no knowledge of any Jewish- Christian communities in the
Diaspora, and that no such communities existed, in face of such
a statement as 1 Cor. ix. 5, according to which Peter and the other
Apostles and the brethren of the Lord made missionary journeys, in
which it is absurd to suppose that their own countrymen were
neglected.
In dwelling upon the Christology of the Epistle Dr Weiss rightly
emphasises how much is presupposed in ii. 1, and how arbitrary it is
of Dr Grafe to insist upon retaining this passage as against Spitta,
whilst at the same time he refuses to refer v. 7 to Christ as the
Judge. The force of such passages as i. 18, 25, is also dwelt upon,
and Dr Weiss rightly refuses to depreciate the Christianity of a
writer who could so express himself.
Other references to these valuable articles will be found else-
where, and it must be sufficient to add that they present us with an
admirable summary of the reasons for attributing a very early date
to the Epistle before us'.
The objection that 'a simple Galilaean' could not have shown
such a knowledge of Greek as the author manifests is fairly met
by Dr Weiss, and attention is drawn to the fact that the love
^ The reply of Dr Weiss may now be obtained in a cheap and separate form.
Ixii COMMON OBJECTIONS MET
of imagery and the moral pathos so characteristic of the Epistle
may well have been derived from a close acquaintance with those
prophetical books which every pious Jew knew so well.
The honour in which James the brother of the Lord was held
on all sides might well have inspired the hope that a letter from
him would impress even unbelievers of status amongst his fellow-
countrymen. But this points, as Dr Weiss urges, to an early date,
when Christianity was threatened not by Gentile but by Jewish
authorities, and this date is confirmed by the fact that the Epistle
shows no trace of the questions which arose when Gentile and
Jewish Christians were brought into immediate contact.
But one further objection is common to all the adverse critics
whose writings we have been considering. They all urge a second-
century date for the Epistle of St James on the ground that the
author, whoever he may have been, represents Christianity as a nova
lex, a new law. It is difficult to understand the exact point of this
objection, which is so persistently urged, and it is altogether mis-
leading to assert that Christianity here appears quite in the second-
century manner as a law, 'the perfect law,' i.e. the fulfilment of
Judaism.
It would be more true to say that it does nothing of the kind.
In chap. i. 25, cf. ii. 8, 12, the perfect law is not contrasted with
Judaism as a religion, but the Jewish- Christian readers, to whom St
James was addressing himself, are reminded of the royal law, the
law of love, the fulfilment and not the abrogation of the Mosaic
code (cf. Matt. xxii. 40, vii. 12; Bom. xiii. 8-10; and notes in
commentary on James i. 25, ii. 12). The conception of the 'new
law ' in the so-called Epistle of Barnabas ii. 6, is quite different, as
the context shows ; it is opposed to the Mosaic law, which is
regarded as antiquated, with its offerings and ceremonies. No doubt
Justin Martyr, Dial. c. TrypJi. xi. (cf. Hermas, Bim. v. 6. 3), speaks
of a ' new law,' but the sense in which he employs the expression
differs again from the language of St James ; for the Mosaic law is
declared to be abrogated, Christ Himself being given to us as the
eternal and perfect law. Harnack alleges as a special point against
the pre-Pauline authorship of the Epistle that the writer, when he
speaks of law, never means the Mosaic law in the concrete, but a
law which he had ' distilled ' for himself. But what evidence of this
do we derive from the Epistle? If a conception of law which
regards the Decalogue, and the religious and moral contents of law
as alone essential, is a ' distillation ' of law, then we may fairly ask if
COMMON OBJECTIONS MET Ixiii
the same conception may not be found in St Paul, nay in our Lord's
own teaching ; and if so, why not in the teaching of St James ? (see
further note in commentary on 'the perfect law,' James i. 25)'.
But if there is no need to transfer to the second century St
James's conception of law, the same remark may be made with
regard to his treatment of faith and works.
Something has already been said as to the practical bearing of
St James's remarks, in proof that his opposition is probably not to
Paulinism, but to a Jewish acceptance of faith as purely intellectual,
and to an antinomianism which might at any time invade the
Church, and which St Paul, nay our Lord Himself, rebuked and
condemned. Jiilicher, however, insists that such a discussion of
faith and works in relation to salvation could not have found any
place before the time of St Paul's wide activity. But if St James's
Epistle is not a document of primitive Christianity, then we are not
in a position to say whether such a discussion could find any place
or not, for we have no other writing of this early period to help us to
an answer, since St Paul's earliest Epistles were addressed not to
Jewish, but to mixed Churches. It is therefore difficult to see from
what source Jiilicher could obtain the information which would
justify his assertion, and we have already seen that there is some
reason to suppose that such a discussion might well have found
a place in the Jewish schools before St Paul's day.
But Jiilicher is not content with such arguments in proof of his
theory that the Epistle before us dates from the second century.
He characterises the attempt to assign it the earliest place in the
New Testament as still more laughable than the attempt (that of
B. Weiss and Kiihl, amongst others) to place 1 Pet. before St Paul's
writings. But we may be pardoned for thinking that it would be
still more ridiculous for an unknown writer to attempt to pass
himself oft' as James of Jerusalem, without making the slightest effort
to claim the title of Apostle or Elder, or in any way of a leader of the
Church, and to address from his obscurity an Epistle to the twelve
tribes of the Dispersion. It has well been pointed out by Zahn that
•whilst the hostile critics differ amongst themselves as to the date of
the Epistle, they nevertheless agree in one particular, viz. that the
author wished that his writing should be taken for the work of the
illustrious James, the head of the Jerusalem Church. But, if so, it is
strange, as we have already seen, that no attempt is made by this
^ See further Weiss, Neue kirchliche Zeitschrift, May, 1904, p. 417.
Ixiv TWO EXTREMES OF CRITICISM
unknown writer to assert his assumed dignity in an unmistakable
manner.
A further consideration may be fairly urged in view of this
second-century theory. Any endeavour to assign the Epistle of
James to such a late date is directly at issue with another phase of
modern criticism, upon which we have already commented, that
which is represented by Spitta and Massebieau. An Epistle cannot
be a document of the second century, it cannot come to us from the
reign of Hadrian, or even later, with nothing to indicate Jewish
Christianity either in writer or readers, and at the same time be
a product of the Judaism of the first century B.C. with nothing
Christian in the writer or in those to whom the letter was addressed.
In contradistinction to these two extremes an endeavour has
been made in the above pages to show that the Epistle bearing
the name of St James is a document which comes to us from a very
early date in the history of the Christian Church, and that it cannot
at all events be placed after the death of James the Just, the
brother of the Lord. Any theory which dates the Epistle after that
event raises greater difficulties, not only as to authorship, but
as to doctrinal and social questions, than those which it purports
to remove.
Note on 'the Brethren* of the Lord.
XII. Of the different views as to the exact relationship between our Lord
and His 'brethren,' that which regards the latter as the sons of Joseph by a
former marriage has much in its favour. This view cannot be said to
be inconsistent with the language of the New Testament, and in some
degi'ce it affords a good explanation of it. The attitude e.g. of the
'brethren' towards o\xr Lord is certainly that of elders to one younger
in years, see above p. xxx. The fact, moreover, that our Lord commits His
mother to St John and not to the 'brethren' is more easily accounted for,
if we suppose, with good reason, that Salome was the sister of the Virgin
mother, and that St John was thus the Virgin's nephew. A nephew might
well be preferred to stepsons on the natural ground of closer relationship,
to say nothing of the unbelief of the latter at the time of the Crucifixion.
Professor Mayor who holds strongly the H el vidian view, viz. that the
'brethren' were the sons of Joseph and Mary, is also careful to point out
how easily even in that case St John might have been preferred in the
Saviour's choice of His mother's earthly horned Mr Mayor supposes that
1 Art. ' Brethren of the Lord,' Hastings' B. D. i. 324, Dr Zahn, who holds
■with Mayor the HelviJian view, considers that the preference of St John is
accounted for not on the ground of relationship, but because of the unbelief of
the ' brethren.'
'THE BRETHREN' Ixv
our Lord's 'brethren,' that is to say, in his view, the younger sons
of Joseph and Mary, were very probably married men with their own
homes, and much more likely is it that if the 'brethren' were the stepsons
of Joseph, and thus older than Jesus, they would have their own separate
households. Moreover, this latter view gives a perfectly adequate account
of the employment of the word 'brethren' in the Gospels, for if Joseph
could be regarded popularly as the father of Jesus, it was not unnatural
that the sons of Joseph should be regarded popularly as His brethren, and
it must not be forgotten that the Virgin herself gives the title 'thy father'
to Joseph, Luke ii. 48, although she knew the whole secret of the Lord's
Birth. Moreover, the half-brothers of Jesus might well have been called
dSfX^oi (although if cousins, there was no reason why they should not have
been called dve'^ioi), just as in the O.T. we find the twelve patriarchs
so called, although born of different mothers.
But this Ei)iphanian view, which we are now considering, can appeal
also to the voice of tradition, and that too to tradition probably reacliing
back to the middle of the second century. It is no doubt quite true that
the earlier sources of the tradition known to us are derived from two
apocryphal books referred to by Origen, Comm. in Matth. xiii. 55, viz.
the Gospel of Peter, and the Protevmigelium Jacohi (this latter book being
the oldest and apparently the most influential of the apocryphal Gospels)'.
It would seem that Origen favoured this view himself, that the 'brothers' of
Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, and if Epiphanius mainly
derived his information from Hegesippus (as Bishop Lightfoot urges),
then the testimony of the latter may also be cited for the Epiphanian view,
that is to say, the testimony of an early writer dating from Palestine about
160A.D. and himself a Hebrew Christian. But on the other hand it must
be remembered that Dr Zahn thinks it 'more than improbable' that
Hegesippus shared the view afterwards associated with the name of
Epiphanius, and he points out that in all the fragments of Hegesippus
which he cites there is no evidence that the terms brother, cousin, uncle's
son, grandson, are used in any but their natural sense. Quite apart,
however, from the testimony of Hegesippus, it would seem that the
Epiphanian view may at least claim the sanction of early tradition, a
tradition which by no means necessarily has its base in a false asceticism,
or in a depreciation of married life 2. And if we cannot say, with Lightfoot,
that this view prevailed chiefly in Palestine, where such depreciatory views
of the married state were not so acceptable as elsewhere in the Church,
' This is the opinion of Dr Zahn, who regards this apocryphal Gospel as the
oldest document containing the view advocated by Epiphanius. Dr Zahn
apparently quite admits that the same view may have been held by Justin
Martyr, but that he was influenced by the apocryphal Gospel just mentioned:
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutest. Kanons, p. 308 ; 1900.
* It is of interest to note that Ephrem, althougli he maintains elsewhere the
virginity of Mary, in the Armenian Version of his Commentary on Acts i. 13
plainly regards James and Jude as sous of Joseph: J, Beudel Harris, Foar Lectures
on the Western Text, p. 37.
Ixvi 'THE BRETHREN'
Epiphanius, it should be noted, claims to give us as his authority *the
traditions of the Jews.'
A writer in the Guardian, June 7, 1899, after stating very strongly his
objection to a view based upon apocryphal Gospels, which places us 'in the
region of pure romance' (Zahn speaks of 'the legendary theory'), admits at
the same time that the Hieronymian and Helvidian views are open to
greater objections, and that it might even be necessary to fall back
upon the Epiphanian if there was no other alternative to these three views.
He therefore argues with great force for a modification of the Hiero-
nymian theory, and represents James the brother of the Lord, and James
the son of Alphaeus, as the same person, being the cousin of Jesus on the
paternal side, while on the Hieronymian view he was a cousin on the
maternal side. He believes that the only difficulty is to be found in
the fact that we are obliged to make the word for 'brother' mean 'cousin.'
But some objections to the identification of the two terms, especially in the
present instance, have been already mentioned, see p. xxvii., and no adequate
reason has yet been alleged as to why the Evangelists did not use the word
dveyl^ioi if they meant 'cousins^' This modification of the Hieronymian
view also finds favour with Canon Meyrick in his able discussion of the
whole question in Dr Smith's B. D. n.^ p. 1516, and he calls it the
Hegesippian theoi-y, whilst the writer in the Guardian prefers to call
it the historical tradition of Hegesippus. But it may be fairly said that the
passages in Hegesippus are open to a very different interpretation, and it
seems strange that the theory associated above with his name should
have obtained no hold in the Church if Hegesippus, in Canon Meyrick's
words, is our earliest witness, being born about the year 100, and if his
means of information, as a Palestinian converted Jew, were thus infinitely
superior to those of others.
The Hieronymian view, to which reference has just been made, owes its
origin to St Jerome^. But it must always remain a serious obstacle to its
acceptance that until the days of its author it never seems to have occurred
to anyone ; indeed St Jerome never attempts to claim any traditional
support for it^, and even he himself is inconsistent in his own want
1 See also Zahn, Forschungen zur Geschichte der neutest. Kanons, p, 360, and
Farrar, Early Days of Christianity, pp. 273, 274.
' Dr Plummer in a most interesting note, St James, p. 30, points out that Dr
Dollinger in earlier days supported the identification of James of Alpliaeus with
James the Lord's brother, but in June, 1877, he told Dr Plummer that he
regarded his former opinion as mistaken, and that he was convinced that the
Apostle James of Alphaeus was to be distinguished from James the Lord's
brother. The Eastern Church, he added, had always distinguished the two, and
he considered that their identification in the West was due to the influence of St
Jerome.
» Dr Zahn examines at length, u. s. pp. 235, 320, the attempt to claim Hegesip-
pus as a supporter of this view, but not only would it be strange that Hegesippus
should advocate a view of which there is no trace in literature until 383 a.d. but
he names James the first bishop of the Church of Jerusalem as the ' brother of
the Lord,' and his successor Symeon as the 'cousin of the Lord.' Of. Eus. H. E.
II. 23, and iv. 22. 4. Could Hegesippus have written thus, asks Dr Plummer,
if James was really a cousin ?
'THE BRETHREN' Ixvii
of adherence to it (Lightfoot, Galntians, p. 260). Moreover, whateyer may
be said of other theories, this theory at all events avowedly had for its
object the assertion of the virginity of Mary^
Of this Hieronymian view, or rather of a modification of it, Mr Meyrick
(see u. s.) has been the most conspicuous defender. But we have already
seen how difficult it is to substantiate one of his main arguments, viz. that
Alphaeus and Cleophas are the same name (see p. xxvii. above). It may also
be urged that if on the Hieronymian view we identify James the son of
Alphaeus with James the brother of the Lord, it is very difficult to account
for St John's statement that even His brethren did not believe on Him,
vii. 5, since in that case one of the 'brethren' and possibly two others were
already Apostles ; and if the writer of the Epistle of St James was an
Apostle, as the theory before us also supposes, we are not only at a loss to
accoxmt for the absence of any claim in the Epistle to Apostolic authorship,
but also for any hesitation as to the reception of the letter by the Church
if there was any valid ground for regarding it as of Apostolic authorship.
In favour of the Helvidian view, i.e. the view advocated by Helvidius
about A.D. 380, the earliest reference is made to the testimony of Ter-
tullian, who plainly regarded the ' brethren ' as uterine brothers of Jesus,
Adv. Marc. iv. 19; De Came Christi, 7; De Monogam. 8.
But it can scarcely be said that the Helvidian view gained any
wide adherence in the Church, although Zahn would claim for it the
support not only of Bonosus and Jovinianus, who seem to have used it for
controversial purposes, but also of Victorinus of Pet taw. St Jerome,
however, although not prepared to deny the testimony of TertuUian,
questions the validity of the attempt to claim Victorinus as an adherent of
Helvidius. Additional support for the Helvidian view is also found in the
tenets of the sect called the Antidicomarianites, i.e. adversaries of Mary,
Epiphan. Haer. Ixxix., who were contemporary with Helvidius and
Bouosus. This sect adopted the Helvidian view, and thus claimed to cut
away the ground from the Collyridian superstition, which paid honour
to Mary as the Virgin.
In modern days a number of distinguished names may no doubt be
quoted in favour of this Helvidian view, e.g. Alford, Edersheim, Farrar,
Mayor, Plummer, and amongst German writers, B. Weiss, Meyer, Beyschlag,
SieflFert, Zahn. But it must in all fairness be acknowledged that so far as
the interpretation of the language of Scripture is concerned we are not
shut up of necessity to the Helvidian view, nor is the use of the term
'firstbora' so 'obvious' as it seems to the writer (Dr O. Cone) of the
Art. 'James' in the Encycl. Bihlica. Of the three (or four) views put
forward we prefer to adopt with Bishop Lightfoot the Epiphanian view,
not only because of its probable antiquity, but also because, without any
depreciation of marriage, it answers to our feelings of reverence and
reserve in relation to the Virgin mother of the Lord*.
^ See also Mayor, Art. 'Brethren,' u.t. p. 322.
* Amongst the more recent literature bearing on the subjoct we may
mention the valuable articles * Brethren of the Lord,' ' Jamea,' and ' Mary,' by
el
Ixviii MODERN CRITICISM
XIII. Modern Criticism and the Epistle of St James.
In the preceding pages we have already dealt to some extent
with recent literature connected with this Epistle. For convenience,
in our further treatment of the subject, it may be well to divide the
various writers with whom we are concerned into three groups :
(1) those who accept a very early date for the Epistle, (2) those
who prefer a later date, although still regarding James the Lord's
brother, or James the son of Alphaeus, as the author, (3) those
who place the Epistle at the end of the first, or in the second
century, and ipso facto refer it to some unknown writer.
It has been said of the first view that in this country it has
always been a favourite (Moffatt's Historical N. T. p. 577). But,
with the frequent assumption that German criticism is altogether
hostile to conservative views of date and authorship, it is entirely
forgotten that some very distinguished names in German theological
literature may be quoted in favour of the view in question, e.g.
Neander, Ritschl, Lechler, Mangold, Beyschlag, and amongst living
scholars B. Weiss, Zahn, Nosgen and Belser. In face of such
testimony it is very puzzling to know why Harnack should tell
us that the advocates of an early date, which would place the
Epistle in the Apostolic age, are becoming more and more dis-
regarded {Chron. i. p. 486).
It is no doubt true to say that since Alford this early date has
been advocated by many English scholars, but it is surely somewhat
arbitrary to affirm that 'there is little pith or moment' (Moffatt,
u. 5. p. 577) in a theory supported, not only by the names to which
we have already referred, but also by Plumptre, Mayor, Chase,
Fulford, Carr, Pullan, and Bartlet.
We must also not forget that many English scholars find a place
in our second group, e.g. Hort, Salmon, Sanday, Farrar, Bennett,
Parry (Plummer is undecided between the two early dates), and
that in Germany Feine and Sieffert are in accordance with them.
These writers would apparently date the Epistle within a short
distance of the death of James the Lord's brother. The Romanist
Professor Mayor in Dr Hastings' B. D.; the lengthy and important examination
of the diSerent theories by Dr Zahn, Forschimgen zur Geschichte des ntuteat.
Kanom, pp. 225-363 (1900); Sieffert, Art. ' Jakobus ' in the 3rd edition of
Herzog'B Realencyclopadie ; and the treatment of the question by Mr Goudge,
1 Corinthian*, ia the Westminster Commentaries.
MODERN CRITICISM Ixix
writer Trenkle adopts the same date, but he agrees with his fellow-
Romanists Schegg and Belser in regarding James the son of
Alphaeus as the author, and in identifying him with James the
Lord's brother.
Those who thus adopt an intermediary date do not get rid
of considerable difficulties. If it is allowed that the controversy as
to the obligation of the Mosaic Law had cooled down, and that there
was no need to refer to it, we must not forget that it is one thing to
omit a reference to a subject of a controversial character, but another
thing to write throughout as if the controversy had never occurred.
St Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians, which could not be far
removed from the intermediary date for our Epistle, cannot forget
the controversy, although no doubt he looks back upon it as upon a
battle already won. But in St James there is no hint that the
controversy had ever taken place, and it is difficult to believe that
if he was writing at the date supposed he should have omitted to
take any notice of the new relationship established between Jew
and Gentile, and of the changed conditions thus involved.
Another difficulty in the way of this intermediary date is the
assumption that the Epistle presupposes a later and not a very early
stage of Christian development, and that its conceptions represent
the results of a considerable period of Christian activity and thought.
But if we turn to 1 Thess., a letter addressed to a mixed Church, we
find that in its pages a very considerable stage of Cliiistian growth
and doctrine has been reached ; and yet the Epistle was written
much closer to the earliest date demanded for the Epistle of
St James than to the intermediary date required by the view which
we are considering. How much e.g. of Christian teaching is con-
tained and presupposed in such words as these, 'remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father,'
1 Thess. i. 3.
Moreover, on the theory that St James was writing in the early
sixties, it becomes very difficult, as we have already maintained, to
explain his position with regard to St Paul in the famous passage
ii. 14-26. If St James is not opposing St Paul, but some per-
version of St Paul's teaching, we must remember that from the
time of Gal. ii. 1-10 St James would have had some definite
knowledge of St Paul's teaching, and if in his Epistle he is opposing
perversions of that teaching, he does so in a most extraordinary
Ixx MODERN CRITICISM
manner, as he makes no effort to explain St Paul's true position,
which he must have known. We have already expressed the
opinion that any direct polemic is out of the question, but the
explanation of the passage ii. 14-26 becomes much more easy
on the supposition of a very early date\ and in the belief
that St James and St Paul were evidently concerned with very
different meanings of 'faith' and 'works,' when the former was
writing the Epistle which bears his name, and the latter was writing
his Epistle to the Romans'.
Some of the views characteristic of the third group of critics have
been already discussed, and those who desire a further criticism of
Pfleiderer, Jiilicher, Harnack, von Soden, will find it in the two
editions of Professor Mayor's invaluable work.
More recently these German critics have been supported by
the American writers McGiffert, Bacon, 0. Cone, and in England
by Dr Moffatt.
But there are variations in date amongst the American as
amongst the German writers, and the same unsatisfactory solutions
of the difficulties of the letter. Dr Cone e.g. thinks it far more
probable that the writing is the product of the second century than
of the Apostolic age, Encycl. Bibl. ii. 2326 ; McGiffert inclines to
the belief that the letter was written before the end of the first
century by some Jewish-Christian 'to whom Paul meant no more
than any other travelling Apostle or Evangelist ' {Apostolic Age,
p. 584). But this latter date brings the Epistle perilously near the
date of the Epistle of St Clement of Rome (a document which in
spite of some recent objections we are fully justified in placing
within a few years of the close of the first century), in which St
Clement could wiite from Rome to the Corinthians and bid them to
take up the Epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul {Cor. xlvii. 1). But
if the conclusions which we have previously affirmed are correct,
it is difficult to suppose that St Clement would have balanced the
teaching of some unknown and obscure writer against the teaching
of 'the blessed Apostle' (see page xlix.). In one point, however,
^ An article appeared in the Expository Times, April, 1903, by the Eev.
T. A. Gurney, who makes another recent advocate of the intermediary date. But
it is interesting to note that his paper produced a reply in the same magazine for
June in which Mrs Margaret Gibson inclines strongly to the very early date for
the Epistle, and for its priority to Romans and 1 Peter.
* The point is very clearly drawn out by M6n6goz in Die Rechtfertigungslehre
tiaeh Paulus und nach Jakobus (translated from the French), 1903.
MODERN CRITICISM Ixxi
we can heartily agree with McGiffert as against his two fellow-
countrymen, viz. in the belief that the Epistle bearing the name
of James was not written in Rome.
The most recent German writer on the Epistle of St James
is Dr Grafe, of Bonn. References will be found to his work in the
preceding pages, and as it has gained the high praise of Schiirer
some little time has been spent upon it. But the reply of B. Weiss
in the Neue kirchliche Zeitschrift, May and June, 1904, should also
be studied (see above p. Ixi.).
There is, however, one point on which Dr Grafe and the most
extreme advocates of a later date for St James are in agreement
with those who advocate the earlier dates mentioned above, viz.
in their rejection of the theory proposed by Spitta and Massebieau
as to the origin of the Epistle. This ingenious theory fails to com-
mend itself to writers who are in many respects far removed from
each other's standpoint. Thus in Germany, Harnack and Zahn,
in America McGiffert and Cone, in France M^n^goz, in Holland
van Manen, in England Mayor and Moffatt, all agree in this rejection
(see also p. xv.)\
It would be an easy, although a somewhat profitless task, to
show how the various German writers who advocate a late date for
the Epistle contradict one another in points of detail.
But it is more important to observe how signally this third
group of critics fail to explain why the title ' James ' should have
been bestowed upon the author or reviser of the letter, or why the
reference to persecutions should be taken to mean the organised
persecutions of the Roman power, or why the mention of elders of
the Church should indicate a late date of ecclesiastical development,
or why words and phrases capable of a simple explanation should be
supposed to contain a reference to the tenets of Gnosticism or to
the Orphic mysteries, or why the absence of references to the facts
of the Life of our Lord should be more intelligible in the middle of
the second than in the middle of the first century.
On the other hand it may be fairly urged that there is much in
recent literature which makes a helpful contribution to the many
varied questions connected with this Epistle.
Thus e.g. it has enabled us to realise more fully the Jewish
background and allusions of the letter on the one hand, and its
^ Dr Moffatt, while rejecting Spitta's theory on the whole, still regards the
words * our Jesus Christ ' as a gloss : Historical N. T. p, 706, 2nd edit.
Ixxii MODERN LIFE
definite Christian tone and teaching on the other ; it has reminded
us that the social persecutions to which reference is made may be
fairly regarded as Jewish in their character, as inflicted by Jews
upon Jews ; it has furnished us with a valuable and fresh proof from
the papyri of the widespread knowledge of the Greek language, and
of the likelihood of the possession of such knowledge by St James ;
it has shown us this Epistle standing as it were between pre-
Christian and Jewish literature on the one hand, and the post-
Apostolic Christian writings on the other', occupying a position
unique in the commanding personality of its author, and in the
originality and weightiness of its contents ^
XIV. Modern Life, and some Aspects of the Teaching of St James.
It is customary to speak of the practical morality of St James,
and to note this as one of the chief characteristics of his Epistle.
What is the bearing of this practical tone upon our modern social
surroundings ? A very close one ; and this closeness may be seen
to be none the less important whilst we fully recognise at the same
time the social conditions in which St James actually wrote.
We have already described (Introd. p. xxxiv.) the nature of these
conditions, and there is no difficulty in supposing that St James
from his position in the metropolis knew what was going on in the
various Churches of Palestine and Syria, and that the peculiar
1 Dr Eric Haupt, in a review of Spitta's book which has attracted much
attention, Stndien mid Kritiken, 1896, confesses himself at a loss about our
Epistle. He cannot agree with Spitta, although he is much inclined to do so,
nor can he adopt the early and pre-Pauline date for the letter which he had
formerly advocated. His reason is that some of the expressions cannot, in his
opinion, be ascribed to St James, the Lord's brother. Amongst these he notices
the whole of v. 6 in ch. iii. and such phrases as ' the engrafted word,' and ' the
wheel of nature.' To these expressions special attention is directed in the notes
of this commentary, as also to others upon which Dr Haupt dwells, e.g. ' the
face of his birth,' 'variation,' and 'shadow cast by turning.' Feine, Jakohushrief,
p. 142, well points out how many of the haimx legomena in St James, so far as
the N.T. is concerned, are found also in the lxx, and he gives us a list of some
fifteen words which may be thus explained.
2 Amongst the older commentaries which have been found useful in prepara-
tion those of Schneckenburger, Kern, Theile, Schegg, Cellerier, Gebser (valuable
patristic references), and of Euthymius Zigabenus, may be mentioned. The prac-
tical lessons of the Epistle are well drawn out in Dr Dale's Epistle of St James ;
in a series of articles by Dr S. Cox in the Expositor, i. p. 65, iv. p. 441, 4th
series ; by Mr Adderley in his Notes for General Readers ; by Ethel Komanes,
Meditations on the Epistle of St James, 1903 ; and by R. Kogel, Der Brief des
Jakobus in fiinfundzwanzig Predigten ausgelegt, 2nd edit. 1901. The Bishop
of Eipon's Wiidom of James the Just contains many striking and interesting
illustrations.
MODERN LIFE Ixxiii
Jewish sins which St James condemns could scarcely fail to appear
wherever Jewish communities were formed or existed^
With St James's knowledge of his countrymen and of the social
life of the Jewish capital it is no wonder that he speaks in tones of
indignation against the rich and their misuse of wealth, and the
words which describe the estimation of poverty and riches current
amongst the Hebrew people in the days of Jesus may be employed
no less forcibly of the social environment of St James. 'There
came to exist among them what has been called a "genius for hatred"
of the rich. "Woe unto you," says the Book of Enoch, "who heap
up silver and gold and say, We are growing rich and possess all we
desire." " Your riches shall not remain for you, but shall suddenly
disappear ; because you have gained all unjustly, and you yourselves
shall receive greater damnation" {Enoch, xcvii. 8 ff.)': Professor
Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Social Question, p. 206.
But it may be doubted whether this writer does not go too far in
describing St James's language as that of unsparing attack and bitter
irony and of positive indictment against the prosperous as sinners.
It may be rather said that his remarks on the teaching of Jesus are
singularly applicable to the teaching of St James : ' The desire of
the nation should be turned altogether away from the thought of
wealth as a sign of piety, or of poverty as a sign of divine disfavour.
There is but one supreme end for the life of rich and poor alike
— the service of the kingdom ; and there is but one fundamental
decision for all to make — the decision whether they will serve God
or Mammon ' {u. s. pp. 207, 221). The truth is that St James like
his Lord refuses to lay down any social plan, or to draw up any
definite programme, or to say a word to alter the existing conditions
of society by any violent or revolutionary scheme'.
But if it be correct to say that the Gospel takes what is best in
socialism and individualism alike, this is also a correct estimation of
the social teaching of St James. No one is more sensible of the evils
arising trom respect of persons, and of the hollowness of a faith
1 Zahn, Skizzen aus dem Lebeii der alten Kirche, pp. 44, 45.
2 ' Jesus laid down no social programme for the suppression of poverty and
distress, if by programme we mean a set of definitely prescribed regulations.
With economical conditions and contemporary circumstances He did not inter-
fere. Had He become entangled in them, had He given laws which were ever so
salutary for Palestine, what would He have gained by it ? They would have
served the needs of a day, and to-morrow would have been antiquated. To the
Gospel they would have been a burden and a source of confusion' — Harnack,
What i$ Christianity f p. 97; and Zahn, u. s. pp. 50-58.
Ixxiv MODERN LIFE
claiming reality without the love which is * life's only sign' ; no one is
more keenly alive to the need of embracing rich and poor alike in a
common brotherhood ; but no one is less * careless of the single life ' ;
philanthropy does not exhaust ' religion ' ; the ' religious ' man must
fulfil, it is true, the royal law of love, ii. 8, but he must not forget
the virtues which concern so intimately his own inmost life ; love,
for example, cannot survive the loss of purity, for impurity is
selfishness. St James no less than St Peter would have us honour
all men, and that honour must be extended even to those who
provoke us and stir our anger, since in each fellow-mortal we see
not merely a man taken from the same common clay, but a man
made in the image of God, iii. 9.
Again, it is noticeable that whilst St James is not writing to
Churches in which organisation was unknown, whilst he is not
writing to feUow-countrymen who were unacquainted with organised
charity and practical relief ^ he lays stress upon personal service as
due from all alike within the Christian community'^ ; and here again
St James catches the spirit of his Master, for He too in His relations
with the poor teaches us the method and the blessing of individual-
ised charity : ' it is difficult to overestimate the significance of the
fact that in the relation of Jesus to the poor He deals almost
exclusively with individuals.'
The socialism then of St James is a Christian socialism, not only
because it regards men's social instincts in the light of 'the faith of
our Lord Jesus Christ,' but also because it takes account of each
man's worth, of each man's responsibility, in the sight of God, The
Christian life is not only social, it is personal; the Christian is to
visit the fatherless and widow, but he is also to keep himself unspotted
from the world. In days when men are tempted to think lightly of
what are sometimes called the self-regarding virtues, it is well to
remember that both St James and St Paul enforce this same practical
combination, and that the earliest Epistle of St Paul, like this Epistle
of St James, lays the same stress upon social morality and personal
purity ; Christians were to support the weak, and to be long-suffering
^ ' The Hebrew race, throughout its entire history, has been endowed with
a peculiar sense of responsibility for its weaker brethren, and in modern life is
excelled by no element in any community in thoroughness and munificence of
organised charity,' Peabody, u. s. p. 228.
2 On the importance of this factor of personal service see the remarks of
President Roosevelt, Contemporary Review, Nov. 1902; and on the danger of
losing it if social settlements become nothing more than ' centres of organisa-
tion,' see Mr C. F. Masterman's Essay in The Heart of the Empire, 1901.
MODERN LIFE Ixxv
towards all men, but each one of them was to know how to possess
himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honour, 1 Thess. iv,
3-8.
But, further, the socialism of St James is a Christian socialism,
not only because it would have us act in the spirit of Christ, but
because it would have us remember Christian, supernatural motives,
and because it appeals at every turn to a supernatural life. The
wisdom which men are to seek is derived not from man, but from
God ; it is gained by prayer ; it is not of the earth, earthy, but from
above, iii. 17; not only the poor, but the rich are to seek the honour
which Cometh from God only, i. 9, cf. ii. 5 ; endurance of temptation
is to be rewarded not by earthly success, but by the crown of life
promised to those who are lovers not of themselves but of God ; by
the word of truth we are begotten to a new and divine life, and the
salvation of our souls is wrought by this engrafted word; pure
'religion' is to consist in the visitation of the fatherless and the widow,
but the 'religion' of the Christian is not exhausted by the practice
of morality, it is a religion which binds us to a Person, 'our God and
Father.'
' There is a vastly prevalent idea,' says a recent writer in a widely
read journal, ' that the chief good thing in connection with religion
is "Christian work," this distinctly lessens any interest in religion,
being really a mere patting of religion on the back on the score of
its philanthropic appendages^' But, however this may be, one thing
is certain that the Epistle of St James, while it insists so strongly
upon practical Christianity, never allows us to forget that religion
is the root, of which morality and philanthropy are the fruit, and that
Christian work is the outcome of faith and prayer. Moreover, the
exhortation to the simplest duties of brotherhood, ii. 1, is based upon
words which remind us irresistibly of the grace and the beauty of
Him, Who although rich, yet for our sakes became poor, 2 Cor. viii.
9; the entire surrender of self which God demands is to be gained,
and can only be gained, by fresh bestowals of a supernatural gift,
' He giveth more grace/ iv. 6 ; far above the reference to any earthly
tribunal ranks the appeal to the one Judge and Lawgiver, iv. 12;
God rules the world, not chance; a will, a Divine will directs the affairs
of men, the will of the Lord and Father, iii. 9, iv. 13; the motive to
patience lies in the recollection of tlie future coming of the Judge —
an appeal to that side of the teaching of Jesus, in which modern
1 Hibbert Journal, Jan. 1900, p. 245.
Ixxvi MODERN LIFE
socialism only sees an attempt of the Christian Church to cajole the
poor into contentedness with the poverty and sufferings of this
present evil Avorld ' — the Judge standeth at the door, the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh, v. 8, 9. Whatever else criticism may effect
it cannot rob the Epistle of the appeals to these supernatural
elements ; they are bound up with it, they are apparent throughout
it ; their constraining power is involved from first to last ; the
presence of God, the love of God, the judgment of God; these three
thoughts are to pervade and sanctify all human life, in its seasons of
crisis and peril, but no less in the daily round and common task;
trial is to be welcomed and rewarded, selfishness is to be expelled,
and murmurings are to cease, v. 9 ; the inequalities of life, its poverty
and wealth, its joys and sorrows alike, are to be viewed in the lead-
ing and in the light of God ; and lo ! the crooked will be made smooth,
and the rough places plain; ' is any suffering? let him pray; is any
cheerful? let him sing praise' ; 'give what Thou wilt, without Thee
we are poor ; and with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.'
And in these three characteristic thoughts of St James we may
further see the foundation and strength of the virtue which is also so
characteristic of him, the virtue of patience. If St John may be called
the Apostle of Love, and St Peter the Apostle of Hope, St James
may be called the Apostle of Patience. He would have us learn
patience in temptation, in good works, under provocation, in per-
secution, in waiting still upon God. And here again he has a word
of exhortation to which a modern world might well give heed. St
James's outlook was very different from our own, but whether we are
studying the world of nature, or the world of history, we have need of
this same virtue of patience. The words of Bishop Butler have certainly
not diminished, but have rather gained in strength since he wrote
them, and they may still be of use to those who are tempted to wonder
that if Christianity comes from God, its progress should be so slow :
' Men are impatient, and for precipitating things, but the Author of
Nature appears deliberate, accomplishing His natural ends by slow,
successive steps.' Or we turn to the world of history, and even
where we can only see a part of His ways, we may learn a lesson of
faith and trust that God's own patience will also have its perfect
work : 'Small as our subject was (the history of Cyprus and Armenia)
it was a part of that which touches all, the world's government and
1 See the valuable paper ou the ' yocial Teaching of Jesus,' Dr Stalker,
Expositor, Feb. 1902.
MODERN LIFE Ixxvu
the long patience of Providence. "And I said, It is mine own
infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the
Most Highest." ' Bishop Stubbs, Lectures on Mediaevctl and Modern
History, p. 207 (see also on ch. v. 7, in commentary).
There are many other ways in which the stern and practical
words of St James have a special message for our own day, and some
attempt has been made to show this in tlie notes on the text.
We can scarcely fail, for example, to see how he would rebuke
the common tendency to throw the blame of sinful action or moral
failure upon our circumstances, our heredity, our weakness of mind
or body, upon anything or anyone except ourselves. And so here,
as elsewhere, we may mark the practical character of St James's
teaching. He deals with temptation not merely as a philosopher,
but after the manner of one of the old prophets, a preacher of
righteousness. At the same time he gives us what we may perhaps
call the first attempt at an analysis of temptation as a Christian
moralist would view it; outward circumstances alone cannot become
an incentive to sin, unless there is in the man's own heart, in the
man himself, some irregular, uncontrolled desire, his own lust, as
St James calls it, by which he is enticed to a love altogether alien
from the love of God (see notes on i. 13).
Or, again, we may see how in an intellectual age, in an age
which boasts itself in ' the irresistible maturing of the general mind,'
St James would recall men to the knowledge that true wisdom is
first of all pure; not primarily intellectual, or metaphysical, but
spiritual and moral. And if we ask from what source St James
derived these qualities of wisdom, it is not unreasonable, in view of
his Christian experience, to answer from the life of Christ, ' Learn of
Me ; for I am meek and lowly of heart.' Our Lord had spoken of
a wisdom revealed to those who had taken upon them His yoke, and
so St James could speak of the 'meekness of wisdom.' Our Lord
had spoken of a vision of God which was granted to the pure in
heart, and so St James could speak of a Divine wisdom which was
not sensual or earthly, but first of all pure. Our Lord had spoken
of the peacemakers as the sons of God, and so for St James the
wisdom of the Christian was pure, then peaceable. Our Lord had
warned men against a divided heart, *Ye cannot serve God and
Mammon,' He had condemned the religious teachers of the day as
hypocrites, and so St James exhorts to the possession of a wisdom
free from doubtfulness and hypocrisy. Our Lord had called him
Ixxviii MODERN LIFE
a wise man who heard His words and did them, and so St James in
answer to the question 'Who is wise and understanding among you?'
makes answer, ' Let him show by his good life his works in meekness
of wisdom.'
And this same question and answer of St James may be of further
and w'ider import in our own day, when we are so repeatedly told that
the lives of professing Christians, of those who are hearers only and
not doers of the word, present the greatest obstacle to the spread of
Christianity, when the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is tested by its
power to guide and influence human conduct. A few months before
the war broke out with Russia the leader of the Progressive party
in Japan, speaking to a society of young men in the capital, main-
tained that the new education had left the moral evils of Japan
untouched, and that development had been intellectual, not moral.
' But,' he added, ' the efforts which Christians are making to supply
to the country a high standard of conduct are welcomed by all right-
thinking people. As you read your Bible you may think that it is
out of date. The words it contains may so appear. But the noble
life which it holds up to admiration is something which will never be
out of date, however much the world may progress. Live and
preach this life, and you will supply to the nation just what it wants
at the present juncture.' It is no wonder that the attitude of Japan
towards Christianity is stated to be one of keen and yet respectful
sympathy, and what men are chiefly looking for in Japan, as
everywhere, is the evidence of Christianity in conduct. And in this
Epistle of St James we may hear from end to end not only the
bracing call of duty, but the call to go on to perfection : 'ye shall be
perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.' We have been well
reminded that the word 'perfect' occurs more frequently in this
short Epistle than in any other book of the New Testament ; before
the Christian there is set the standard of a 'perfect law' and the
character of a ' perfect man.'
With this ideal before him, we cannot wonder at the indignant
protest of St James against the servile fawning upon the rich and
the studied disregard of the poor, a protest loud and deep against
the temper of mind which prompts men to estimate everything not
by moral but by material wealth and worth, a temper which injures
rich and poor alike, engendering intolerable arrogancy in the one,
and envious dissatisfaction in the other. In the manifestation of
this temper men become not only judges, but judges 'with evil
MODERN LIFE Ixxix
thoughts/ ii. 4; in this respect of persons they cannot preserve
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom even His enemies
witnessed that He 'regarded not the person of men.'
We see further how this same disposition of mind leads men to
take a wrong estimate not merely of their relationship to their
fellow-men, but of their relationship to God, how the passionate
pursuit of pleasure and gain overrides the claims of God and
banishes the thought of God ; and those who best know the sorts
and conditions of life characteristic of our great cities also know that
in the love of money and the restless craving for amusement the
moral and spiritual energies are exhausted, and that covetousness is
idolatry, whether the lust of impurity banishes the vision of God,
or the greed of gain rules the heart and mind. We may be sure
that in days characterised not always by high thinking, but in every
grade of life by much talking, St James would point us not merely
to the moralist who regards speech as of silver, and silence as
golden, but to the judgment of a greater than any moralist, of One
before Whom we must one day be made manifest and stand to be
judged, *By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned ' ; he would remind us that however widely
man has been enabled to replenish the earth and subdue it, however
loudly he may boast of his increasing knowledge of himself, of his
moral and mental powers, one little member of the human body, the
tongue, is still untamed ; and if St Paul bids men to speak the truth
because of their membership one of another in the One Lord, St
James would warn them against hasty judgments and intemperate
speech by the constant reminder of their brotherhood in Christ.
In that word 'brother,' so often repeated, St James declares
himself 'a man of like passions,' v. 17, with those whom he would
help to save, and in its utterance mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
St James in his love of man and of nature has recently been
compared in some striking words to St Francis of Assisi, whilst his
sternness and insistence on the moral law suggest a comparison with
another great teacher of Italy, Savonarola (Bartlet, Apostolic Age,
p. 248').
But the Epistle of St James presents not only, as we might
expect, points of Hkeness to the lives of great Christian teachers of
1 Dean Plumptre sees in Macarius of Egypt, in Thomas a Kempis, in Bishop
Wilson the same ideal of life, the aim at the wisdom which is from above, pure,
peaceable, and carrying with it the persuasive power of gentleness, St Jumes,
p. 34.
Ixxx MODERN LIFE
a later date, it is in itself an Imitatio Ghristi. The tenderness,
and yet the severity of St James, his sympathy with nature and
with man, and yet his hatred and denunciation of man's sin, his
sense of man's supreme dignity, and yet of his entire dependence
upon God, as we note all this in the pages of St James are we not
reminded of the human life of Him iu Whom St James had learnt
to see his Master and his Lord ?
But the Master and Lord of men was also their servant, ' I am
amongst you as he that serveth ' (Luke xxii. 27), and for St James
the Christian life is a life of service ; in his opening sentence he
proclaims himself as the bondservant of Jesus Christ, ' the greatest
servant in the world,' as Lacordaire was wont to call Him ; his
closing exhortation bids a man to be ready to do a service for his
brother-man which most resembles the work of Him Who came to
seek and to save ; he is the servant of Christ ; but as such he is also
*servus servorum Dei,' of men made in the image of God.
EPISTLE OF ST JAMES.
Contents of the Epistle.
It is not easy to make an analysis of the contents of this Epistle, and
the varied nature of the attempts to do so may be seen by a comparison
of the elaborate table of Cellerier, UEpitre de St Jaques, pp. xxiii-v. (1850),
with the few lines given to the subject in more recent Commentaries. The
terseness and abruptness which characterise parts of the letter sometimes
seem to lend countenance to the view that we are dealing with what was
originally a homily, full of earnest exhortation to newness and perfection
of life, and of wholesome warning against worldliness and degeneracy.
This view that the Epistle was in the first instance a homily, delivered
perhaps primarily to the Jerusalem Church and then circulated in its
present form amongst the Churches of the Jemsh Diaspora (Sieffert speaks
of it as a circular pastoi-al letter), is held to account for the want of close
systematic constraction in the letter. Harnack, indeed, would see in the
Epistle not one homily but a collection of homilies, but even if we admit
the lack of continuous argument, there seems to be no need for such an
elaborate hypothesis.
But those who adopt an earlier date for the compilation of the
Epistle also justly lay stress upon the moral advice and hortatory form
of its pages, as contrasted with some of the more dogmatic of the New
Testament books, and they see in it, as noted above (see Introd. p. xxxiv.),
references not only to the duties of daily Christian life, but also to the
special features of a life lived amidst the religious, social and commercial
surroundings of the Jewish Diaspora, in the first half of the first Christian
century. And this consideration may help us to see that the \vriting before
us is not merely an 'Ej)istle,' not merely a piece of literature containing a
purely ideal address and dealing with nothing but general questions; it is
rather characterised by some, at least, of the personal and intimate relation-
ships of a 'letter'; it treats of special circmnstances, and by no means of
vague generalities, it is not the product of art and of man's device, but of
stern and actual experiences of life (on the distinction between an 'Epistle'
and a 'letter,' see Deissmann's Art. 'Epistolary Literature,' Encycl. Bibl. ii.y.
It is of course quite possible that one of the most marked features in
the writer's style of repeating a leading word of a sentence, or one allied
to it, in the sentence which succeeds, may also have influenced not only the
^ In his valuable and suggestive Jesus Christ and the Socinl Question,
Professor Peabody is perhaps also open to the charge of forgetting that the
strong denunciations of St James were prompted by the special social conditions
around him, pp. 197 ff.
K. 1
2 JAMES
emphasis or definiteness of the wilting, but also the sequence of the writer's
thoughts. But however this may be, the main subjects and divisions of the
Epistle may perhaps be paraphrased as follows in their practical bearing K
CHAPTER I.
1 — 12. Trials (temptations) from without, to be received with joy. In
the proof, the testing which they bring, patience (endurance) is worked out,
i.e. completed, and in that A\orking out, pei'fection is gained. But this
perfection cannot be attained to without wisdom, and wisdom cannot be
attained to vdthout faith ; lacking faith a man does not endure, he has no
stedfastness, but is unstable in all his ways. This joy, this exulting in trial,
may be the lot of rich and poor alike : for the latter learns that having
nothing he is, nevertheless, an heir of the kingdom of God ; the former
learns that while earthly riches cannot last, endurance of trial brings the
true riches, blessedness and the crown of life. 13 — 15. Temptation from
within. While the Christian should rejoice in trial, i.e. the external circum-
stances of temptation, the inner side of temptation must not be referred
by a common but fatal mistake to God ; for as God, who is absolute goodness,
cannot be tempted by evil, He tempts no man to sin. The tempter is the
man's own lust, and lust begets sin, and sin when it has reached maturity
brings forth death. 16 — 18. The mistake of regarding God as a tempter
is enforced from the positive side. God is light, wath Him is no darkness
at all ; God is the same, He changes not ; and so, while man's wilful and
fitful desires result in sin and death, the Divine will begets men, not for
death, but for life by the Word of truth, the instrument of a new birth.
The Divine purpose sees in those who are thus begotten, not the whole
of a new creation, but the firstfruits of it ; in us as Christians God makes
manifest to the world what He desires that all men should become.
19—21. What is to be our attitude towards this Word of God, by which
we are thus born again to newness of life ? For the reception of this Divine
Word we must prepare to be ready hearers, and refrain from hasty speaking
and unruly passion ; all that is impure and malicious must be stript off ; we
must be clothed instead with meekness. 22 — 25. But receptivity must
be succeeded by activity, and hearing by doing ; unlike a man who looks at
his face in a mirror, and with a glance is gone, forgetting what he looked
like, it is needful for us to stoop do^vn and gaze into the heavenly mirror,
the perfect law of liberty, and to make that law our bounden duty and
service ; thus we shall be blessed in our doing. 26. A man may seem to
be 'religious,' he may observe the outward ceremonial and the ordinances of
' religion,' but if he offends in his tongue, his religion is vain. 27. With
God and the Father — the God of the fatherless, and the defender of the
cause of the widow — the ritual which is pure and undefiled is the imitation
of His own mercy, and the endeavour to walk in love, with watchful care
against the evil world.
^ For a recent attempt to trace a poetical structure in this Epistle and in
that of St Jude see the Journal of Theol. Studies, July, 1904.
LI]
JAMES
I. James, a ^servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, ^greeting.
^ Gr, bondservant. ^ Gr. wishethjoy.
I. 1. James. See Introd. p. xxiv.
a servant. So A. and R.V., but
the latter in marg. bondservant
(Greek) ; the same word is used
Phil. i. 1, Jude 1 (cf. Philem. 1),
without any official or additional
title. The i^hrase 'a servant of God'
might well have been derived by
St James from the O.T., where the
same or a similar title is applied to
the prophets from Amos onwards.
But in the first recorded hymn
of the assembled Church, the
Apostles and their company had
prayed to God as His bondservants
(Acts iv. 29, the same word in Gk.),
and in that little company St James
may well have been present. And
as on that occasion, so here, the
expression carries with it the con-
sciousness of absolute dependence,
and the conviction that the will of
God was the only rule of life for
every member of His Church ; for
those in authority, as for those under
authority. The simplicity of the
title stands out in marked contrast
to the way in which men of the
world lay claim in their correspond-
ence to the current titles of honour
and distinction (see also iii. 1 and
the comment of Euthymius Ziga-
benus in loco). This humility, by
which the writer disclaims any de-
sire to emphasise his knowledge of
Christ 'after the flesh,' is a proof
not only of the genuineness of the
letter, but also of the real greatness
of St James, since he is not con-
cerned to assert himself as 'the
brotlier of the Lord ' ; see further
Introd. p. XXX.
and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If the Greek word here used for
'Lord,' a word so frequently found
in the lxx for Jehovah, does not in
itself assert in this passage the di-
vinity of Jesus Christ, yet its as-
sociations would be unmistakable ;
it cannot denote in this place a mere
earthly Master, the obligation of
service to Christ being conjoined
with that of service to God, as equally
binding and imperative. Moreover,
the word is used by St James in this
Epistle with reference both to God
and to Christ. This union of the
service of God and of Christ thus
expressed by the same word of
absolute submission is found only
in this passage in the N.T., but there
is nothing strange in this fact, for if
the phrase ' a servant of God,' Tit. L
1, and 'a servant of Christ,' Gal. L
10, could be interchanged, it is
difficult to see why they should not
be conjoined. We may further note
that the human name Jesus is here
associated with the official name
Christ in this, probably the earliest
book in the K.T., and that the
Messianic title is thus recognised
not only by a Jew, but by a Jew
who had known, as we believe, the
earthly home of this same Jesus Who
was made both Lord and Christ^
to the twelve tribes tchich are of
the Dispersion. Cf. Psalm cxlvlL 2
1 Spitta maintains that the words under discussion are an interpolation,
because in this connection they are unique, and he would omit them
altogether ; ' a short and easy mt^thod ' of dealing with an inconvenient pas-
sage, but see Introd. to this Epistle, p. iv.
1—2
JAMES
[1.1
(lxx); 2 Mace. i. 27; John vii. 35;
1 Pet. i 1. In Psalms of Solomon,
viii. 33, 34, we read : '0 God, turn
thy mercy upon us and have com-
passion upon us. Gather together
the dispersed of Israel with mercy
and lovingkindness.' The R.V. takes
'the Dispersion' as a technical term
used of the Jews outside the Holy
Land, dispersed amongst foreign
nations, a point missed in A.V.
It is difficult to suppose that the
words under discussion are employed
by the writer symbolically or figur-
atively, or to regard them as parallel
with such passages as 1 Pet. ii. 9,
Rev. vii. 4, xxi. 12. Here we are
dealing with the address of a practi-
cal, matter-of-fact letter, concerned
throughout with the concrete rela-
tions of social life, and it may be
fairly urged that whilst Jewish-
Cliristians might be spoken of siS
banished or exiled from their hea-
venly home, such a separation
would scarcely be expressed by the
technical term 'Dispersion.' That
such a technical term would lie ready
to the hand of the writer is plain
enough, but there is no need to
connect its use with such passages
as Gen. ix. 19, or to say that the
word as used by St James is an
imitation of 1 Pet. i. 1, and that the
local designation added there is
omitted here, the term ' Dispersion *
being thus used of Christians scatter-
ed over a world to which they did
not belong. All such explanations
seem rather to beg the question at
issue (see further Introd. p. xxxv.).
The expression of belief in an
imdivided Israel, ' the twelve tribes,'
is intensely Jewish, and may be com-
pared with Acts xxvi. 7 ; cf. also
1 Esdras vii. 8 ; Orac. Sibyll. ii. 170 ;
Apoc. of Bariich, Ixxxiv. 3 ; 'and truly
I know that, behold, all we in the
twelve tribes are bound by one chain,
inasmuch as we are born from one
father,' ihid. Ixxviii. 4. The advo-
cates of the early date of the Epistle
maintain that the address in St
James, couched in this Jemsh form,
points to a very early period, when
no special name was as yet given to
the Christian believers in Israel, and
when the hope was still cherished
that the whole people would believe
in the Christ ; to a period when those
who believed in Him had not yet
broken away from the connecting
bands of the synagogue. The vpriter
in his prophetic words of warning
and reproof is then not forgetful
even of his unbelieving countrymen,
amongst some of whom he might
perhaps anticipate that his letter
would find its way. And if St James
of Jerusalem is the writer, his
character and influence, and his
devotion to the Law, might well
justify such an anticipation.
the Dispersion. The term 'Dia-
spora' was of course a vride one,
and it is possible to give it here a
wide inclusion if we regard the
Epistle as ' sent forth with believing
Jews, as they returned from the
Passover any time between 44 and
49 A.D.,' and St James might well
suppose that the conditions and
temptations of Jewish communities
would be much of the same character
everywhere {v. Bartlet, Apostolic
Age, p. 233). But at the same time
there is much to be said for the
view which regards Syria, and more
especially perhaps the southern parts
of it, as the primary destination of
the letter. See further Introd. p. xxxv.
Josephus, B. J. VII. 3. 3, speaks of
Syria as the country most largely
mingled with the Jewish race, on
account of its nearness to Palestine,
and of Antioch the capital this was
I. 2] JAMES 5
2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into mani-
specially the case, whilst in other
cities also the Jewish inhabitants
were counted by thousands : Schiirer,
Jewish People, Div. n. vol. ii. p. 225,
E.T.
greeting, R.V. marg. wisheth joy,
thus expressing the full force of the
Greek, and showing too how the
word 'joy' is probably taken up by
the writer in the sentences which
follow in a way characteristic of
him (see for other instances p. 9).
Precisely the same formula of epi-
stolary greeting is found in the en-
cyclical letter, which may well have
emanated from James, Acts xv. 23 (a
coincidence pointed out by Bengel),
but it is not employed elsewhere by
the N.T. writers ; though it occurs in
the letter of Lysias to Felix, Acts
xxiii. 26. It frequently finds a place
in the Books of the Maccabees, where
it is used by Gentiles to Jews and
by Jews to Gentiles ; twice in the
Lxx it is an equivalent forthe Hebrew
salutation 'Peace,' Isaiah xlviii. 22,
Ivii. 21, and in the Syriac version of
this Epistle it is rendered by the
same word of salutation. There is
certainly nothing strange in its use
here, for it could be used by a Jewish
high-pi'iest, 1 Mace. xii. 6, and by
Palestinian Jews in addressing their
brethren in Egypt, 2 Mace. i. 10 ;
and 2 John 10, 11, points to its early
adoption in Christian circles. On
the other hand, there is force in the
consideration that the employment
of this simple formula indicates an
early date, for otherwise the fuller
Christian salutations of other Epistles
might have found a place here.
Zahn gives someinterestingexamples
of its use in the papyri {Einleitung,
I. 55).
2. Count it all joy. Sometimes
rendered 'pure joy,' i.e. nothing but
joy, merum gaudium (Wetstein) ;
sometimes as expressing the highest
degree, the maximum of joy (Beza,
Grotius). Possibly the words may
mean '■every kind of joy' (Bengel),
so as to balance exactly '■manifold
temptations.' 'Joy,' i.e. cause for or
ground of joy : cf. Luke ii. 10 ; 2 Cor.
i. 1 5, W. H. ; see R. V. marg. With the
words before us cf. 1 Pet. i. 6, 7, iv. 13.
count, i.e. consider ; the Greek
verb is not in the present, but in the
aorist tense, with reference that is to
each single temptation as it occurs.
my brethren. As in the lxx, so in
the N.T. the word was used of bro-
ther, neighbour, member of the same
nation, but also in the latter of
fellow-Christians, members of the
same spiritual community. Acts ix.
30 ; 1 Cor. i. 1. The frequent re-
currence of the word in this Epistle
shows not only the stress laid by
St James upon this national and
religious bond, but also the affection
and humility of the writer ; it may
also in this context be in itself an ex-
hortation to manliness and courage ;
St James calls them not children,
but brethren.
wlien ye fall into. The form of the
word in the original denotes a falling
into, so as to be encompassed and
surrounded by (the trials are ' mani-
fold'), and it is used in classical
Greek as here with the idea of
falling into sufferings and calamities;
so in 2 Mace. vi. 13 the word is used
of Israel falling into troubles which
are the chastening of God, and in
2 Mace. X. 4, of falling into persecu-
tions inflicted upon Israel by the
heathen nations. The word may
here denote not only the external
nature of the temptation, in contrast
6
JAMES
[I. 2, 3
3 fold ^temptations ; knowing that the proof of your faith
^ Or, trials
to V. 13, but also its unexpected-
ness.
temptations, R.V. marg. trials;
cf. 1 Pet. i. 6, V. 13, below, and
see especially Ecclus. ii. 1 flf. : ' My
son, if thou come to serve the Lord,
prepare thy soul for temptation.
Set thy heart aright, and constantly
endure, and make not haste in time
of trouble.... Whatsoever is brought
upon thee take cheerfully, and be
patient when thou art changed to a
low estate. For gold is tried in the
fire, and acceptable men in the
furnace of adversity.' The word is
used in a general sense of proving,
trial (cf. Ecclus. xxvii. 5, 7), and
also of adversity, affliction sent to
prove or test a man's character ;
cf. our word trial. ' Said Rab, Never
should a man bring himself into the
hands of temptation ; for behold
David, king of Israel, brought him-
self into the hands of temptation,
and stumbled : he said. Examine me,
O Lord, and prove me' (Sanhedrin
107a) : Sayings nf the Jewish Fathers
(Taylor), p. 127, 2nd edit.
In the verse before us the word
may be used of outward persecu-
tions (cf. ii. 6, 7, V. 4-6 ; 1 Thess.
ii. 14), which the Jewish believers
suflFered from their unbelieving
countrjTnen, and if the word is
restricted to this meaning, the ex-
pression 'manifold' may refer to the
varied sufferings which the Christians
experienced in different cities. But
V. 10 would seem to indicate that
riches no less than poverty might be
a 'trial.' The rendering 'manifold'
is given by A.V. here and in 1 Pet. i.
6, iv. 10, and so by R.V. (also in
Heb. ii. 4) : elsewhere rendered
'divers,' i.e. of divers sorts; cf. 3 Mace.
ii. 6 ; Psalms of Solomon, iv. 3 ; Matt,
iv. 23. And in this manner the
word might include both the trials
of external conditions and the allure-
ments to evil.
An attempt has been recently
made to show that the latter is the
dominant idea of the word here, as
in vv. 12-14, and that all allusion to
external persecution is ' merely inci-
dental.' But even if this could be
urged of such a passage as ii. 6, it
could scarcely be said of v. 10 (see in
loco), not to mention the tragic issue
involved in v. 6.
3. knowing. Only in this confi-
dence of knowledge could St James
exhort his believing countrymen to
rejoice in trial ; otherwise his greet-
ing 'joy to you ' would have sounded
like a mockery, as also his exhorta-
tion 'count it all joy.' But the
manifold suffering of these Jemsh
Christians was a proving, a testing
of faith, a discipline of character,
which would bring with it something
higher than happiness, even blessed-
ness, i. 12; something superior to
riches, the heirship of a king-
dom, ii. 5.
The hostility of the world or
the synagogue might ridicule the
Christian life as madness and its
hopes as vanity, but St James, if he
had not heard the counsel spoken by
the lips of Christ, had cauglit the
spirit of his Master's teaching : — Re-
joice (the same word in the Greek)
and be exceeding glad ; persecutions
for My sake bring blessedness and
enduring reward ; cf. Matt. v. 10-12.
the proof of your faith. The
word translated by R.V. ' proof,' and
so also in 1 Pet. L 7, occurs only in
these two passages in the N.T. (cf.
I. 3, 4]
JAMES
4 worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
Hermas, Vis. iv. 3). It is taken by
many commentators (e.g. by Zahn) to
mean instrument or means of proving,
and these means would be the mani-
fold temptations just mentioned.
Thus in Rom. v. 4, where St Paul
says ' knowing that tribulation work-
eth patience,' we have really what
St James says. Others would render
the word hei'e as = explot^atio, pro-
batio, in an active sense, i.e. the
trying, proving, testing. But a fresh
and illuminative rendering has lately
been given to the word by Dr Deiss-
mann {Neue Bibelstudien, p. 86,
see also E.T.). It would seem that
the Greek word for 'proof is not a
substantive but an adjective, in
support of which statement Deiss-
mann adduces many instances from
the papyri, where the word is used
in the sense of valid, genuine, and so
of articles of gold, as of the worth
of ornaments in a bride's dowry, etc.
He would therefore render the
phrase here, as in 1 Pet., 'that which
is genuine in your faith ' ; cf. 2 Cor.
viii. 8, and Luther's translation, euer
glaube, so er rechtschaffen ist, i.e.
' your faith, so it be true, genuine,'
etc. (It is highly probable that the
Greek commentator Oecumenius
took the word as an adj.^)
This early mention of and promi-
nence given to faith is rightly re-
garded as an indication that St
James was not likely to depreciate
its proper use ; see further v. 6. ' In
the Epistle of St James "faith" is
twice applied to prayer (i. 6, v. 15),
where it means faith that God will
grant what is prayed for. Twice it
means " Christian faith " (so here and
in ii. 1). In the controversial passage,
ii. 14-26, where faith is contrasted
with works, the faith intended is
"faith in God." Faith with St
James is more often the faith which
is common to Jew and Christian ;
even when it is Christian faith, it
stops short of the Christian en-
thusiasm ' : see The Meaning of
Faith in the N.T. (Sanday and
Headlam, Romans, p. 31).
worketh, lit. 'works out' (Lat.
efficere).
patience, rather 'endurance,' with
not merely a passive but an active
side ; ' a noble word,' Trench calls
it ; 'it does not mark merely the
endurance... but the brave patience
(perseverantia) with which the
Christian contends against the
various hindrances, persecutions, and
temptations that befall him in his
conflict with the inward and out-
ward world,' Synofiyms, ii. 3 ; see too
Speaker's Commentary on 2 Cor.
vi. 4 : 'perseverantia quod majus est
quam patientia ' (Theile) : cf. Matt.
X. 22, xxiv. 13.
4. have its perfect work, i.e. have
its full effect, attain its end, accord-
ing to the derivation of the word ;
see further below.
perfect and entire. Both adjec-
tives are used in the lxx in a moral
and religious sense, the first of Noah
in Gen. vi. 9, and Ecclus. xliv. 17,
and the second of the knowledge of
God, which is 'perfect righteousness,'
Wisd. XV. 3, and of 'perfect piety,'
1 Zahn, whilst accepting Deissmann's solution for 1 Pet., prefers his own
rendering as given above for the passage before us, but Deissmann's translation
makes excellent sense in both places (see further Expository Times, June, lyOl).
8
JAMES
[1.4
4 Mace. XV. 17. The first adj. is
variously employed, but always with
reference to the idea of the attain-
ment of an ' end,' the meaning of
the noun from which it is derived ; so
of full-grown men in a physical sense,
so too in an ethical and spiritual
sense, 1 Cor. ii. 6; Phil. iii. 15; Col. i.
28, etc. : cf. its use of religious growth,
Lxx 1 Chron. xxv. 8, where the
teachers (the ' perfect ') are set over
against the scholars. The second
adj. according to its derivation would
mean that which is whole and entire
in all its parts, complete ; so the
cognate noun denotes physical whole-
ness, both in the 0. and N.T., Isaiah
i. 6 ; Acts iii. 16. But, as in the case
of the former adj., the transition was
easily made to the meaning of mental
and moral entireness ; see instances
above, and in the N.T., 1 Thess. v.
23. We may thus fairly say that in
the 'perfect' character no grace is
merely in its weak imperfect begin-
nings, but all have reached a certain
ripeness and maturity, whilst in the
'entire' character no grace which
ought to be in a Christian man is
wanting ; so Trench, Synonyms, L
xxii., and Hastings' B.D. in. Art.
' Perfection.' The first adj. with its
cognate words is used in the lxx as
in classical Greek with reference to
sacrifices, and also of the priests by
Philo, and the second adj. in a similar
way by Philo, both of priests and
sacrifices, but not so in lxx. On this
account some commentators think
that the term may be introduced here
owing to this sacrificial import, and
with the thought that Christians
should present themselves as perfect
sacrifices to God (compare the lan-
guage in V. 18), but it can scarcely
be said that there is any definite
hint of this in the text. It is of
interest also to note that this word
'perfect' is found more frequently
in this Epistle than in any other N.T.
book. The whole level of life seems
lifted even in these early days of the
Church's history, and if we ask the
reason, the best answer has been
found in the reminder that the
Sermon on the Mount with its call
to perfection (Matt. v. 48) had in-
tervened between the Old Testament
and the New.
lacking in nothing, i.e. in no
respect lacking this perfectness and
completeness, although in many
things we all stumble, cf. iii. 2. Only
One can be strictly called 'perfect,'
whilst we are encouraged to aim at
peifection, even as children ever
setting before them, and striving to
attain to, the likeness of their Father.
On the stages of Christian growth
here, and their resemblance to Rom.
V. 4, see Mayor, pp. 35, 178. The
rendering above in v. 3 would require
a somewhat difi"erent, but no less
valuable order. 'That which is
genuine in your faith ' produces en-
durance ; thus Moses endured be-
cause by faith he saw Him who is
invisible, Heb. xi. 27, and this
endurance, if abiding and lasting,
has for its resvdt a Christian charac-
ter thorough and complete.
If men who have worked amongst
the poor can tell us that this Epistle
with its demand for what is practical
in our religion has a special message
for our oviw day (see Introduction
to Mr Adderley's St James), it is
significant that the writer places in
its forefront ' that which is genuine
in your faith' as the source and
sustainer of an endurance capable of
bearing not only the tribulation and
persecution, which may arise because
of the Word, but also the daily toil
and labour, the daily trials of the
Christian life.
1.5]
JAMES
9
5 But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God,
who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not ; and it
5. {lackivg etc.)... But if any of
you lacketh. The R.V. rendering of
the participle in the previous verse
enables us to note another character-
istic of St James already mentioned
in V. 2, viz. his method of passing
from one paragraph or sentence to
another by the repetition of a word ;
cf. w. 6, 13, 14, 24, ii. 2, iii. 2, 4, 8,
iv. 8, 11, V, 8, 17 (a usage also noted
as frequent in Plato).
wisdom. St James does not refer
merely to practical wisdom in meet-
ing the various ' trials ' of daily life,
although he knew how necessary
that was in the circumstances of
those around him ; but he assigns
this high place to wisdom as he had
learnt to know it not only in the
Book of Wisdom, in Bcclesiasticus,
in Proverbs, but in men ' full of the
Holy Ghost and wisdom,' Acts vi. 3,
as he may have seen it in Him, ' a
greater than Solomon' (cf. I Kings
iii. 9-12), Who is described as ' filled
with wisdom,' Luke ii. 40. Beysch-
lag speaks of it as, in the thought of
St James, that gift of God which
makes a man ready for every good
work (see further on iii, 15-17), as
not essentially different from that
which is called in a parallel passage
the gift of the Holy Spirit, Luke xi,
13, although he adds, in his last
edition, Mayor's words : ' the prayer
for wisdom takes a more definitely
Christian form in St Paul's prayer
for the Spirit ' ; cf. Col. i. 9 ; Bphes. i.
17. It is because we do not possess
this Divine gift of wisdom that our
modem life lacks dignity, force, con-
sistency, while its possession would
transfigure life, showing us what it is,
and how to make the best of it : see
Dale's practical comments, Epistle of
James, p. 12.
Spitta refers to Wisd. ix. 6, where
the word 'perfect' is used in close
connection with the possession of
'wisdom,'butalthough the collocation
of the two words is striking, 'for
though a man be never so perfect
among the children of men, yet if
thy wisdom be not with him, he
shall be nothing regarded,' it may
be fairly urged that the exhortation
to pray for wisdom was so natural
in the province of the religious life
that it need not be referred to the
passage cited ; nothing indeed was
more likely than that St James
should introduce such an exhorta-
tion in view of the special circum-
stances of his readers without any
recurrence in thought or word to
this one particular passage.
let him ask of God. Cf Matt,
vii. 7 (Luke xxi. 15). For the
prayer to God for wisdom cf Prov.
ii. 6; Ecclus. i. 10; Wisdom vii 7,
ix. 4; also 1 Kings iii. 5-15, iv. 29-34.
Two of the leading words of St James
are found together in Epist. of Bar-
nabas, xxi. 5, 'And may God, Who is
Lord of the whole world, give you
wisdom. . .patience^.'
who giveth to all, not only to a
Solomon. Cf Matt. vii. 1 1 : the words
may be taken in a wider sense to
refer not only to the gift of wisdom,
but to all the good gifts of God ;
' giveth,' i.e. giveth continually.
liberally. So A. and R.V. ; cf A.
and R.V. in 2 Cor. viii. 2, ix. 11, and
1 An interesting illustration trom Plato, Leyg. iii. (687 ic), is given in the
Journal of Theol. Studies, vol. ii. p. 432.
10
JAMES
[i. 5, 6
6 shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
doubting : for he that doubteth is like the surge of the
R.V. in Rom. xii. 8, in each case
simplicity or singleness in margin.
The Greek use of the adverb would
rather justify the rendering simply,
and this rendering fits in better
with the following description ' and
upbraideth not,' the gift being un-
conditional, and without any of the
imperfections which stain human
gifts. The rendering liberally for
the adverb seems to have arisen
from the fact that ' simplicity,' dis-
interestedness in giving, is nearly
allied to liberaUty (Vulg. affluenter).
The cognate adj. = lit. without folds,
and so of that which is single, simple ;
of Sanday and Headlam's Romans,
p. 357, and the description of Issachar
as the ' simple ' man. Test. xii. Patr.
and upbraideth not, i.e. in con-
trast to the behaviour of men (as
perhaps is further indicated in ». 10
and V. 9), who cast favours bestowed
in one's teeth, Cf. Ecclus. xx. 15,
xii. 22. Others take the word to
mean that God does not reject or
repel men, or treat them abusively,
whilst others again would take the
word in the most general sense to
mean that God does not upbraid
with any kind of reproach, although
we are so unworthy to make any
request of Him ; but see Mark xvi.
14.
and it shall he given him. Matt,
vii. 7 ; Luke vi. 38. A reminiscence
of the words of Jesus.
6. But let him ask in faith. To
St James also, says Bengel, faith is
prora et pujyjiis, prow and steni.
With the whole of the verse, cf.
Ecclus. i. 28, ii. 12, vii. 10, and
xxxiii. 2, XXXV. 16, 17; 'faith,' trust
in God that the request will be
gi-anted according to His will : cf.
Mark xi. 22 ff., and the expression
V. 15, 'the prayer of faith.' The in-
fluence of the whole passage on
Hermas is very marked, cf Mand.\\.
6, 7 ; Sim. v. 4, 3. In this verse we
again note the writer's characteristic
of ' catching up ' a preceding verb.
nothing doubting. The 'wavering '
of A. v., so Tynd., may have been
introduced on account of the word
'wave' following. In Matt. xxi. 21,
although not so foimd in profane
writers, the word is used in the sense of
doubting, hesitating ; so too in Mark
xi. 23, Rom. iv. 20, xiv. 23 (Jude 22,
R.V.) as the opposite of faith: this
practical doubting which shows that
a man is divided between God and
the world St James reproves else-
where, cf ii. 4, iv. 3, 4.
the surge of the sea, the Greek
word suggesting size and extension
(often in the Lxx) as compared with
the usual word for ' wave ' — the vio-
lent agitation of the sea ; only once
elsewhere in N.T., Luke viii. 24, of
the tempest on the Lake of Gennes-
aret. Such a storm St James might
often have seen ; see also note on
iii. 4. The same noun in its meta-
phorical use also denotes 'storm'
rather than 'wave' (see Dean of
Westminster on Ephes. iv. 14).
driven by the wind and tossed, in
A.V. 'with' for 'by.' The first par-
ticiple in the Greek may perhaps
have been coined by the writer, since
it does not occur in the lxx or
classical Greek, although a verb
very similar in form is found in the
latter. St James seems to have had
a special liking for verbs with the
particular termination of the verb
before ns.
tossed, only here in the N.T. but
I. 6-8]
JAMES
11
7 sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man
8 think Hhat he shall receive anything of the Lord; a
doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.
^ Or, that a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways, shall receive
anything of the Lord.
used by Pbilo of water agitated by
winds, so by Dio Cass, of the surge
of the sea tossed to and fro, and by
Dio Chrys. of the demos, compared
to a sea agitated by the wind. This
second participle is apparently em-
ployed to strengthen the first as a
stronger expression, and there is no
need to regard the former word as
denoting external, and the latter
internal agitation (Bengel). The
Divine wisdom cannot dwell in a
mind thus tossed hither and thither,
and never continuing in one stay.
The verb in the text is referred to
two derivations, (1) a noun meaning
a bellows or fan used with reference
to kindUng a flame (or to cooling
with a fan), and (2) a noun denoting
the rapid movement of wind or waves,
etc. (used also of a storm), a deriva-
tion which is undoubtedly the more
probable ; cf the word Eu-ripus (from
the same deriv.), where, so it was
said, the tide ebbed and flowed seven
times a day ; hence used proverbially
of an unstable, wavering man, as by
Aeschines and Aristotle, and here by
St James. With this verse cf. Bphes.
iv. 13, 14, where the 'perfect' are
contrasted with children 'tossed to
and fro ' by every wind of teaching.
7. For let not that man think.
The 'for' is perhaps best taken as
giving the reason for the exhortation
' let him ask in faith.' ' Faith docs
not think,' says Bengel truly; 'fides
non opinatur.' The verb for 'think,'
seldom found in the Greek of the
N.T. (John xxi. 25 ; Phil. i. 17), ex-
presses a judgment which has feeling
rather than thought for its ground
(Grimm-Thayer), 'fancy ' ; 'that man,'
the whole expression in the Greek
would seem to indicate something
of contempt.
fA^Z ore?, usually taken as referring
to God the Father, and possibly the
context which is concerned with the
gifts of God in answer to prayer de-
mands this, but, on the other hand,
it would certainly seem that in v.
14, 15, Christ is thought of as answer-
ing ' the prayer of faith,' and it may
be so here.
8. a doubleminded man, un-
stable in all his ways, in apposition
to 'that man' (see Mayor, Weiss).
A.V. inserts 'is' before 'a double-
minded man' with all other E.V.
and Vulg., but the connection with
the former clause is quite plain as
above. W.H. and R. V. marg. render :
' For let not that man think that a
doubleminded man etc. shall receive
anything of the Lord^'
doubleminded. The man is re-
garded as having two minds, the one
set on God, the other on the world
(cf iv. 8), and so the character is en-
tirely opposed to the single-hearted
and entire devotion claimed by
Christ, Matt. xxii. 37. In modern
life the career and character of
a 'doubleminded' man has been
forcibly portrayed in Arthur
Clough's famous poem Dipsychus,
and more than one recent writer
^ So far as textual authorities are concerned, it may be noted that B and the
Syriac support the rendering adopted in the text.
12
JAMES
[1.9
9 But let the brother of low degree glory in his high
has emphasised 'doublemindedness'
as a characteristically modem fault.
But 'that which is genuine in our
faith ' can save us from it ; therefore
let a man pray ' in faitli ' : ' St James
does not charge us with hj'pocrisy,
with pretending to a goodness we
do not possess, or with feigning a
desire for goodness we do not feel.
He simply charges us with vacilla-
tion, with inconsistent aims and
desires.... Alas ! we ask for decision
itself with an undecided heart, not
expecting, not altogether wishing to
receive, a full and immediate answer
to our prayer.' Dr S. Cox, Expo-
sitor, ni. 40, 4th series.
The actual Greek word here used
may possibly have been coined by St
James, as it does not occur in the
N.T. except in his Epistle, and not
at all in lxx, although we may
compare with the thought expressed
by it Ps. xii. 3 (lit. 'a heart and a
heart'), Ecclus. 1. 28, Book of Enoch,
xci. 4 (cf. Taylor, Sayings of the
Jewish Fathers, p. 148, who finds a
possible reference here to Pro v. xxi. 8,
and see Rabbi Tancliuma on Deut.
xxvi. 17, 'Let not those who wish
to pray to God have two hearts, one
directed to Him and one to some-
thing else').
But it is noteworthy that in
Diddche, iv. 4 (cf. ii. 4 and v. 1 where
'doubleness of heart' is mentioned
amongst the sins of the 'way of
death ') we have a strikingly similar
compound word, not found in lxx or
in classical Greek, 'Thou shalt not
doubt whether a thing shall be or
not be,' i.e. whether thy prayer shall
be granted or no ; cf. Barn. xix. 5
(and see Introd. for the similarity
between the language of the Didache
and this Epistle). In early Christian
literature the word became very
common ; it was used e.g. some 40
times by Hernias (cf. Mand. ix. 4 ff.
in connection with the present
passage); Clem. Rom. Cor. xi. 2,
xxiii. 3 ; Const. Apost. vii. 1 1. Sanday
and Headlam, Romans, p. 115, have
some important remarks on this
early Christian use of the expression.
unstable. The Greek word does
not OCCU-' in the N.T. except in this
Epistle, cf. iii. 8 (but see note on the
reading); and with this expression
2 Pet. ii. 14 may also be compared.
It is found in lxx, Isaiah liv. 11. In
classical Greek it often occurs, and
it is employed by Polybius of fickle
men. St James in his frequent use
of the Apocrypha may have been
thinking of Ecclus. ii. 12, 'Woe
be... to the sinner that goeth two
ways!' lit. 'upon two ways,' where
however the words seem to refer
not so much to uncertainty as to
want of decision, and to the attempt
to keep in with both sides.
in all his ways, taken quite
generally as in Hebrew of a man's
way of life, habits, actions ; cf. Ps.
xci. 11; Prov. iii. 6; Jer. xvi. 17.
9. But let the brother; ^ hut' re-
tained by R.V. may be used to
introduce a piece of advice in
sequence to that already given, or
to contrast the confident exultation
of the Christian with the indecision
of the faithless doubter. The word
'brother' should be taken quite
generally (W.H. bracket tlie article
before it) as applying to both classes,
the rich and those of low degree,
for both should be taken literally.
Would there not be in the Christian
Church rich men like Joseph of
Arimathaea, Nicodemus, Zacchaeus ?
We can scarcely suppose that there
1. 9, 10] JAMES 13
10 estate : and the rich, in that he is made low : because as
were no well-to-do adherents of a
religion which had attracted a Bar-
nabas and a John Mark.
of low degree. Cf. Luke i. 52. In
the Lxx the word is used in some
cases of those literally poor, e.g.
1 Sam. xviii. 23, Pro v. xxx. 14, Isaiah
xxxii. 7, but the word came to signify
very frequently the 'poor' in the
spirit of resignation and humility, as
in the Psalms, Prov. iii. 34, Ecclus.
xiii. 20, Book of Enoch, xxv. 4,
eviii. 7-9, as contrasted with the
selfish and proud, 'the rich'; see on
iv. 4 and cf Psalms of Solomon, ii.
35, iv. 28, xvii. 46, Luke i. 51, 52,
and Introd. p. xxxvi., on the social
cleavage between the rich and the
poor in Jewish life.
glory in. So R.V. hei^e and
elsewhere; cf. Rom. ii. 17 etc. The
word is a favourite with St Paul, but
it is only used elsewhere in the N.T.
in this passage and in iv. 16, generally
in a good sense. It is also frequent
in the lxx, and with the present
passage the following may be com-
pared: 1 Sam. ii. 10 (not in Hebrew),
Jer. ix. 23, Ecclus. i. 11, ix. 16,
X. 22, and in the N.T. especially
Rom. V. 3. The construction 'glory
in' is not found in classical Greek,
but it is frequent in lxx and N.T. ;
cf also Psalms of Solomon, xvii. 1.
his high estate, lit. ' in his height.'
Cf Luke i. 52. For the metaphori-
cal use of the word cf Job v. 11,
1 Mace. i. 40 (Ecclus. xi. 1), and
a similar use is also found in classical
Greek.
The 'high estate' includes both
the present and the future dignity
of the Christian, his heirship to the
kingdom (ii. 5), and the glory which
cometh from the only God (John v.
44). The believer in Christ could
'take joyfully' the want or loss of
earthly possessions, knowing that he
had his true self for a better and
abiding possession, Heb. x. 34, cf
Luke xxi. 19 ^ On the reference of
the words to the Christian's exalta-
tions and spiritual wealth in this
present life, it is of interest U) com-
pare the remarks of Ritschl on the
same passage. Justification and Re-
conciliation, pp. 458, 505, E.T.
In Psalms of Solomon, xvii. 7, the
writer, speaking apparently of the
Sadducees who preferred a worldly
kingdom to the kingdom of God,
says 'they pi-eferred a kingdom to
that which was their excellency,'
where for 'excellency' the same
Greek noun is used as here. The
words truly represent what St James
saw all aromid him ; the rich un-
believing Jews making choice of the
things seen and temporal, in pre-
ference to a kingdom which was
righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy
Ghost.
10, and the rich, in that he is
made low. Are we to understand this
of a rich Christian, or of a non-Chris-
tian ? By most commentators the
former view is adopted as above, but
on the other hand it is maintained
that the whole context is against
this interpretation, inasmuch as the
1 Spitta maintains that the exhortation to ' glorying ' is introduced quite
unexpectedly, and that the thought is so strange that it can only be accounted
for because the writer has before him Jer. ix. 23. But if we compare this verse
with vv. 2, 12, we see that the dominant thoui;;ht throughout is that of the right
relation of the Christian to ' trials.' At the same time the passage in Jer. may
well have suggested some of the language.
14
JAMES
[i. 10
entire section 1. 2-12 is concerned
with the 'trials' of Christians,
amongst which the prosperity of
some Christians could find no place ;
but prosperity and riches might be
a temptation no less than poverty
and misfortune (1 Tim. vi. 9 ; Matt.
xiii. 22). It is further urged that in
t). 11 it is said that the rich man, not
his wealth, shall fade away, and that
this could only be said of one who is
opposed to the Christian brother of
low estate, whilst it is quite arbitrary
to introduce a distinction between
the 'rich man' qua rich and qua
Christian, for if this had been in
his thoughts St James would have
written 'so also shall his riches fade
away.' But it is quite possible that
in «. 11 St James uses the words 'the
rich man' of the rich qua rich, as
the immediate context may imply
(see below), and that in v. 10 he is
enforcing a warning common to the
teaching of the prophets and to that
of our Lord and His Apostles, not
only against the misuse of riches, but
as to their transitory nature; cf.
Matt. vi. 19; Luke xii. 15-21 ; 1 Cor.
vii. 30, 31. In Ecclus. xiii. 3, to
which reference is sometimes made,
the context shows that it is the rich
man, not qua rich, but qua unjust,
who is censured ; and so in this
Epistle where the rich are spoken
of, as in ii. 7, v. 1-6, the context shows
that they are condemned for their
arrogance and extortion. But in so
far as the rich man failed to glory in
that he was made low, in so far that
is as he failed to become one of the
'little ones,' great in the kingdom
of God, Luke ix. 48, and one of 'the
chief, who served,' Luke xxii. 26, he
knew nothing and had gained nothing
of the true riches committed to his
trust when the Name of Christ was
called upon him. As a Christian,
the rich man would possess ipso
facto 'the high estate' which his poor
Christian brother enjoyed, but he
must be prepared to take the lowest
place in the kingdom, and to enter
into the joy of a Lord, who, though
rich, became poor (Zahu, Einleitung,
I. p. 70). It is of course a possible
view that St James had in mind the
sufferings to which Christians, both
rich and poor, might be exposed from
their unbelieving fellow-countrymen,
and that his words were meant to
strengthen rich and poor alike, if
the former wei*e tempted by the
loss of their wealth, or the latter
by the chance of bettering their
fortunes, to renounce their Christian
faith. But whilst this thought
may be fairly associated with the
passage, the words, as we have
already seen above, need not be
so limited. Or we may take the
words ' in that he is made low '
to refer to the trials which would
come to a rich man, if by some
sudden stroke of fortune he suddenly
found himself poor in this world's
goods. Certainly Ecclus. ii. 4, 5
quoted above in v. 2 might seem to
support this view, and it is notice-
able that w. 1 and 12 of the same
chapter afford very probable points
of contact with vv. 2 and 8 of this
first chapter of St James.
Those who would limit the words
under discussion to non-Christians
are obliged to regard the language
with reference to the rich as ironical,
since the verb to be applied with 'the
rich ' can only be the same as that
v.hich is used with ' the poor.' This
is sometimes supported by our Lord's
use of irony in such words as Matt.
vi. 2, 5, 16 ; the only thing in which
the rich can boast is in the certainty
of his being brought low, or in his
humiliation at the coming judgment.
I. 10, 11]
JAMES
15
11 the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun
ariseth with the scorching wind, and withereth the grass ;
and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion
of it perisheth : so also shall the rich man fade away in his
goings.
But this is not a very satisfactory
account of the word 'humiliation'
here, nor is it demanded, as is some-
times urged, by the immediate
context.
because as the flower of the grass
he shall pass away. Cf. 1 Pet. i. 24
where the words of Isaiah xl. 6 are
quoted more fully ; see also Ps.
xxxvii. 2 ; Job xiv. 2 ; Ecclus. xiv.
17, 18.
The writer is here asserting a
general truth, cf. 1 Cor. vii. 31, and
not introducing a special threat
against the rich, although the bear-
ings of such a truth might more
easily be forgotten by the rich. In
accepting the 'humiliation' of a
Christian, the rich man would receive
from God 'according to the riches
of His glory' an exaltation divine
and lasting (Matt, xxiii. 12) ; for
all human glory was doomed to pass
away (cf. lxx of Isaiah xl. 6).
11. For the sun ariseth. So R.V.,
omitting 'no sooner' of the A.V.,
words not found in the Greek, and
not needed. The tense (aorist) of
the verb and of the three following
verbs depicts the events as actually
before the eyes and yet as past 'in
the very moment of describing them.'
Others take this tense of the verb
as implying what usually happens
in all such cases; hence the term
' usitative ' or ' gnomic ' aorist i. The
four verbs thus succeeding each
other present a pictorial vividness
characteristic of the writer ; cf with
this passage 1 Pet. i, 24 ; Isaiah xl.
7 in LXX.
ariseth, a verb constantly used
in LXX of the sun arising ; c£ with
the language of the text Jonah iv. 8.
with the scorching wind, but A.V.
takes the word as signifying the
heat, the burning heat of the sun.
In the rendering of R.V. it is, how-
ever, often found in lxx ; cf Hos. xii.
1 ; Ezek. xvii. 10 ; Jonah iv. 8 ; and it is
so taken by some in Matt. xx. 12;
Luke xii. 55. On the other hand,
Isaiah xlix. 10, Ecclus. xviii. 16,
and the N.T. places cited above, are
sometimes held to justify rendering
of A. v., since the destruction is
effected by the sun itself, and not
by the 'heat' as distinguished from
the sun ; cf. Ecclus. xliii. 3. The
latter translation also points more
emphatically to one of the local traits
with which this short Epistle abounds
(see Introd. p. xxiv.), the sirocco or
the scorching S.E. wind of Palestine
(although no doubt by either render-
ing the excessive heat of an Eastern
sun might be vividly depicted).
Mayor inclines to this latter render-
ing from the fact that the article
is found with the Greek word under
dispute, cf R.V. ' with the scorching
wind,' and see as above Jonah iv. 8.
falleth. Cf Isaiah xl. 7. The verb
80 translated as in A. and R.V. of the
N.T. expresses the actual falling otF
of the llower, as of the petals from the
1 On the use of this tense both in classical examples and in the N.T. it may
be of interest to refer to Burton, New Testament MooiU and Tenses, p. 21.
16
JAMES
[l. 12
12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation : for when
he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life,
calyx ; the same verb is found in
Isaiah xx\iii. 1, 4, rather in the sense
of decaying, withering ; cf. Job xiv. 2.
the grace of the fashion of it;
'the grace,' cf. the cognate adj. in
Ecclus. xxiv. 14 of a fair olive-
tree ; only twice in N.T. but often in
liXX, and also in Psalms of Solomon,
ii. 21, xvii. 47.
of the fashion, lit. ' of its coun-
tenance,' i.e. of its outward appear-
ance, cf. Ps. civ. 30; Luke xii. 56;
Matt. xvi. 3; also of the outward
appearance of inanimate things, cf.
the Latin fades ; not merely as a
Hebrew pleonasm, although the word
may be said to be used Hebraisti-
cally.
the rich man, i.e. qtia rich; see
above.
fade away, only here in N.T., a
word probably suggested by preced-
ing simile, cf. its use of withering
roses, Wisd. ii. 8 ; Job xv. 30. A
similar metaphorical use of the word
in relation to boastfulness in riches
is found in Philo, De vict. p. 855 A,
and \vith this use cf. Apoc. of Baruch^
Ixxxii. 7, where of the Gentiles we
read: 'and we meditate on the beauty
of their gracefulness, though they
have to do vpith pollutions, but as
grass that withers will they fade
away.' In the same passage we have
other parallels to St James's imagery
elsewhere in this Epistle : the Gen-
tiles will be 'as vapour,' 'as sunshine
will they pass away,' ihid. m. 3, 6.
in his goings. So R.V. because the
word is different from that translated
'ways' in v. 8 (although sometimes
the two words are regarded as syn-
onyms, cf Prov. ii. 9).
This word may either express
quite literally the jourueyings, cf iv.
13, Luke xiii. 22, or perhaps the
projects and adventures of a man in
the pursuit of wealth. The plural
may indicate the troublesome and
varied nature of the man's various
engagements. The attempts to sub-
stitute other words which might
mean 'in his gettings' or 'in his
property' are not warranted by any
sufficient evidence.
12. Blessed is the WAin. Cf. v. 11;
1 Pet. iii. 14, iv. 14. This teaching
as it were by beatitudes may remind
us of our Lord's own teaching in the
Sermon on the Mount, but the same
mode of expression is frequent in
the O.T., as in the Psalms, and so
too in Ecclus.
If we regard both rich and poor
of the preceding verses as those
tried by temptation, the blessing
may of course be taken as meant for
both ; each has been put to the
proof, and for each there is the
crown of life ; thus the verse closes
the paragraph from v. 2. On the
other hand, those who hold that the
rich previously referred to are not
membere of the Christian Church
take the blessing as of the poor only.
Spitta would understand the words
of the rich man, who is 'blessed'
because he preserves himself safely
amidst his severe testing, and he
quotes a striking passage from
Ecclus. xxxi. (lxx, xxxiv.) 8 ff.,
'Blessed is the rich that is found
without blemish, and hath not gone
after gold. Who is he ? and we vrill
call him blessed ; for wonderful
things hath he doneamonghis people.
Who hath been tried thereby, and
found perfect? then let him glory.'
The same writer also quotes from
Midr. Shemoth r. par. 31, where
I. 12]
JAMES
17
the rich who is tested, and shows
himself open-handed towards the
poor, is said to enjoy his gold in this
world, and to keep his capital for
the world to come.
But it may be fairly held that
there is no occasion to confine the
tliought here to the rich, and Spitta's
limitation seems only to be warrant-
ed by a misunderstanding of the
previous verses.
that endureth temptation^ not
merely who falls into it, v. 2, or suffers
it. The active side of the virtue of
patience (cf v. 3) is here clear
enough. But the endeavour is main-
tained not in the man's own strength,
in self-righteousness, or Stoical self-
sufficiency, but in the love which
waxeth not cold, Matt. xxiv. 12, 13 ;
see also below.
when he hath teen approved, not
simply 'when he is tried' as in A.V. :
the trial has been made and the
result has been favourable. In all
other passages of the N.T. the word
is rendered 'approved' in A.V. as in
R.V. For its use in the N.T. see
Rom. xiv. 18, xvi. 10, 2 Tim. ii. 15,
and for the cognate noim Rom. v. 4,
Phil. ii. 22, and for the cognate
negative adjective, in a bad sense,
2 Tim. iii. 8, Tit. i. 16, 1 Cor. ix. 27,
2 Cor. xiii. 7. The word has been
sometimes taken here as referring to
the testing of athletes for the games
(cf the possible metaphorical use of
the negative adj. in 1 Cor. ix. 27, and
see also below), but both the positive
and negative adjectives are used
strictly of metals and coins, tested
and proved or the reverse (cf. in
O.T. Gen. xxiii. 16; 2 Chron. ix. 17),
and here the words might easily be
extended in a wider sense to the
proving or testing of character.
With these words Resch comi)ares
those of Tertulliau, De Bapt. c. 20,
where he cites apparently as a saying
of the Lord, 'No one un tempted
shall attain to the heavenly king-
dom,' Agrapha, p. 187, and in view of
Luke xxii. 28, 29, some such sa)nng
may well have been in vogue, although
it may have been merely proverbial
and not actually derived from Christ
(see the comments of Mr Ropes, Die
Sprilche Jesu, p. 124).
the crown of life. It is doubtful
whether there is any reference in
this expression to the prizes of the
arena. It must be remembered that
amongst the Jews a crown or a
diadem was used to signify a special
honour, or as a representation of the
highest happiness and prosperity:
cf Ps. xxi. 3, Ixxxix. 39 ; Prov. iv. 9 ;
Ezek. xxi. 26; Zech. vi. 11, 14.
Amongst the Rabbis too we find such
sayings as the following: 'There are
three crowns : the crowTi of Thorah,
and the crown of Priesthood, and the
crown of Royalty (Ex. xxv. 10, xxx.
1, 3, xxv. 23, 24); but the crown of a
good name mounts above them (Bccl.
vii. 1),' Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish
Fathers, iv. 19 (cf vi. 5), pp. 72, 101,
2nd edit.
At the same time in some of the
N.T. passages, as e.g. 1 Cor. ix. 25
2 Tim. iv. 8, and see ii. 5 above, the
reference to the games seems un-
mistakable, and the same conclusion
is derived from the consideration of
the imagery in such passages as
Wisd. iv. 2, 4 Mace. xvii. 15, and
Philo, Legg. All. ii. 26, M. p. 86,
where he speaks of a beautiful and
glorious crown different from that
of any festival assembly of men, and
employs the word used of the festival
of the Olympian games.
The question has been raised as
to whether the notion here is that
of sovereignty or of victory, but the
meutiou of a kingdom in ii. 5, and
K.
18
JAMES
[l. 12
some of the passages cited above in
O.T., together with 2 8am. xii. 30,
1 Chron. xx. 2, might well lead us to
regard tlie former thought as pro-
minent here, whilst it may be admit-
ted that in the closest parallels of the
N.T., e.g. 1 Pet. v. 4, 2 Tim. iv. 8, Rev.
ii. 10, the leading idea is rather that
of victory 1.
A further question arises as to
whether the expression refers only
to the future life, or to the present
life also: if we compare ii. 5, such
expressions as 'rich in faith' and
'heirs of the knigdom' indicate a life
which is at all events commenced
for the Christian, cf Rom. v. 17, and
of which he is already in possession
at least in germ (cf. also Ritschl,
Justification and Reconciliation, p.
500, B.T.). 'The crown which consists
in life eternal' is the rendering
adopted by Mayor (and so to the
same effect Beysclilag); cf. 1 John ii.
25.
As the undoubted source of the
passage before us Spitta (and so von
Soden) points to Zech. vi. 14, and it
is certainly noteworthy that the lxx
of that verse reads, 'The crowTi shall
be to those who endure,' etc., the
noun and verb being identical with
those in the verse of St James. But
it must be remembered that the
Hebrew text is quite different, and
that Spitta's attempt to discount this
fact is not very successful, whilst a
passage like "Wisd. v. 16 also presents
a very close parallel ; and the imagery
was very common: cf. Ecclus. xv.
6 ; Wisdiv. 2; Ps. viii. 5; and Aristeas,
63.8.
which the Lord promised. So A.
and R.V., but in the latter 'the Lord'
is printed in italics, indicating that
no such subject is expressed in the
Greek, according to the reading
adopted by W.H. and Weiss. If we
are justified in taking 'the Lord,' v. 7,
to apply to Christ, or if the verse
before us is an unrecorded saying of
Jesus, we are of course justified in
inserting 'the Lord,' i.e. Christ, as
the subject here. On the other hand,
iL 5 seems rather to point to 'God'
as the subject, and so also does
the fact that so many of the O.T.
promises are made to those who love
God (this is the view adopted by
Zahn and Beyschlag, no less than
von Soden, and the same subject of
the verb is found in the Syriac
Version and in the Vulg.).
to them thai love him. Cf. Rom.
viii. 28 ; 1 Cor. ii. 9; 2 Tim. iv. 8. In
the O.T. the phrase was very fre-
quent: cf Ps. xcvii. 10, cxlv. 20, and
also see Ecclus. 1. 18, xxxi. 16 ;
Tob. xiii. 14, xiv. 7 ; 1 Mace. iv. 33 ;
Psalms of Solomon, iv. 7, vi. 9,
X. 4, xiv. 1 ; and Book of Enoch,
cviii. 8.
'Amor parit patientiam,' writes
Bengel in his comment on this verse,
' Love begets patience (endurance) ' ;
the love of God is the motive power
which works patience, and patience
strengthens the conviction that 'all
things work together for good'
(Rom. viii. 28) for those in whom
that love is being perfected.
There is some reason for supposing
that in this verse we have an Agra-
phon of our Lord, i.e. a saying of his
unrecorded in our Canonical Gospels.
That such sayings were current we
learn from Acts xx. 28, and in the
Acta Philippi we read, 'Blessed
is he who hath his raiment white,
for it is he who receiveth the crown
1 On the word 'crown' as distinguished from the word ' diadeiu, ' a distinction
apparently emphasised too much by Trench, see Mayor in loco.
I. 12, 13]
JAMES
19
13 which the Lord promised to them that love him. Let no
man say when he is tempted, I am tempted ^of God : for
^ Gr. from.
of joy.' Many English scholars regard
the words in this light, and Resch,
Agrapha^ p. 253, argues at length for
this same view. He points out, e.g.,
(1) the non-existence of any corre-
sponding promise in relation to the
word ' crown ' in the O.T. ; (2) the
coincidence of several N.T. passages,
1 Cor. ix. 25, 1 Pet. v. 4, Apoc. ii. 10,
iii 11, 2 Tim. ii. 5, iv. 8, and the
striking parallel in Acta Philippi
with reference to the crown ; (3) the
phrase used in 2 Tim. iv. 8 which
closely resembles that in James i.
12; cf. ii. 5.
On the other hand, it is ui-ged
that this recurring phrase ' to those
that love Him ' must not be referred
to a word of the Lord, but perhaps
to some liturgical formula, or some
current mode of expression, and
that the imagery of a crown as the
reward of victory was too common
and too frequently in vogue to
justify Resch's conclusions (Ropes,
Die Sprilche Jesu, p. 38).
13. A serious question arises as
to whether the verb translated
'tempted' is to be taken in the same
sense as the cognate noun rendered
'trials' in v. 2, and 'temptations'
in V. 12, R.V.
Probably from the close connection
of the words, and from the writer's
characteristic of taking up, as it
were, a word from a preceding
word, both noun and verb are used
with reference to each other, but in
vv. 2 and 12 the noun signifies rather
the objective circumstances of the
temptation, while the verb in v. 13
relates to the subjective yielding of
the man to enticement.
/ am tempted of God. Cf Eccle-
siasticus xv. 11, 12, 20, 'Say not thou.
It is through the Lord that I fell
away : for thou oughtest not to do
the things that he hateth. Say not
thou, He hath caused me to err : for
he hath no need of the sinful man....
He hath commanded no man to do
wickedly, neither hath he given any
man license to sin.'
In the original the words ' of God '
stand first, emphatically. Probably
the Greek preposition would be better
rendered 'from God' as in R.V.
marg., for it signifies the remoter
rather than the immediate agent.
The man would scarcely dare to
stamp God as the immediate tempter,
but, as in the passage of Eccle-
siasticus quoted, he might be seduced
by the praise of the ungodly to a
fall which he would attribute to God.
In one sense no doubt 'temptations'
have their origin from God ; He
ordains them (cf Gen. xxii. 1 ff.), but
He also overrules them, and He
' will with the temptation make also
the way of escape,' R.V. 1 Cor. x. 13,
i.e. the way suitable for each tempta-
tion.
There is no occasion to find a
reference here to any definite philo-
sophical teacliing, such as that of the
Pharisees or Bssenes, still less to that
of Simon Magus, or to that of the
Gnostics. The words do but give
expression to the inclination so con-
genial to man to shift the blame by
some or any moans from himself to
God ; cf Gen. iii. 12 ; Prov. xxx. 8, 9.
So too in Psalms of Solomon, v. 8,
we read, ' Make not thy hand heavy
upon us, that we sin not by reason of
2—2
20
JAMES
[l. 13, 14
God ^cannot be tempted with ^evil, and he himself
14 tempteth no man : but each man is ^ tempted, when he is
^ Or, is untried in evil * Gr. evil things.
' Or, tempted by his own lust, being drawn away by it, and enticed
our sore necessity'; and Philo refutes
the idea that Moses in his teaching
had 2:iven occasion to the falsehood
that God compelled men to sin, as
some impious persons afBrm (Philo,
Quod deter, pot. 177 d).
The same human tendency may be
amply illustrated from classical
literature, as e.g. Iliad, xix. 86, where
Agamemnon excuses his injustice
towards Achilles by saying, ' I am not
to blame, but Jove and Fate,' although
from other passages it would seem
that the ancients themselves regarded
such assertions as rash and impious :
of. Aesch. Agam. 1474, where Clytem-
nestra tries to throw her guilt on
the e\i\ genius of the family, and the
Chorus refuse the plea.
cannot be tempted; one word in
the original, a word not found in
Lxx or N.T. Very similar phrases
are used in relation to God by Philo,
Plutarch, M. Antoninus. God in His
absolute purity is 'untemptable of
evil ' ; man is tempted by his own
lust.
In marg. R.V. we have the render-
ing 'is untried in evil,' i.e. is un-
versed in, has no experience of evil
(or, evil things), but although the
word may be so rendered, it seems
best to take it as above.
The active sense 'God does not
tempt to evil' is now generally
abandoned, as it would reduce the
words which follow to mere tauto-
logy.
evil. R.V. marg. 'evil things';
but there is no occasion to restrict
the words, in accordance with some
interpreters, to the evils of aflBiction
or persecution. The whole context
seems to imply that moral evil is
meant.
Resch {Agrapha, p. 233) quotes
an interesting passage, Clem. Horn.
iii. 35, which correctly interpreted
runs, 'But to those who think that
God tempteth, as the Scriptures say,
He (i.e. Christ) saith. The Evil One is
the tempter,' and in these latter
words he would see another un-
recorded saying of our Lord. But
it is quite possible that the writer
cited may have had in mind the
passage before us in St James, or
some reminiscence of our Lord's
words. Matt. v. 37, xiii. 19, 25.
and he himself tempteth no man.
So R.V. with emphatic rendering of
the pronoun ; in A.V. simply 'he.'
14. hut each m,an ; contrast marked
in these words. There is a tempt-
ing—not from God, but from a man's
own lust (although Mayor marks the
opposition differently, see in loco).
The words as rendered in R.V.
emphasise not merely the universa-
lity of temptation as in A.V. but
rather its special peculiarity in the
case of each individual man.
is tempted, when he is drawn
away by his own lust, and enticed,
R.V. (and so A.V. with exception
noted below) ; see marg. ' is tempted
by his own lust, being drawn away
(by it) and enticed.'
Dr Plummer urges that both in A.
and R.V. the punctuation and order
of the words are faulty ; both verbs
belong to ' by his own lust,' and ' the
metaphor is not seduction from the
right road, but alluring out of
security into danger.' The Greek
participle rendered 'drawn away'
I. 14, 15]
JAMES
21
15 drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust,
should thus rather be 'drawn out,'
like game from a covert or fish from
a hiding nook into some place ex-
posed to nets and hooks ; and so the
man is represented as drawn out
from his security, which is effected
by his own desire ('his own,' i.e.
emphatically in contrast to God,
V. 13) enticing him as with a bait.
Both the participles might be trans-
ferred from their Hteral use in appli-
cation to hunting or fishing to a
metaphorical use of alluring to
sensual sin, and thus desire entices
the man from his self-restraint as
with the wiles of a harlot, a metaphor
maintained by the words which fol-
low, 'conceived,' 'beareth,' 'bringeth
forth'; cf. 2 Pet. ii. 14, 18, where the
same verb is found, and Philo, Quod
omn.proh. lib. 22, 'driven by passion
or enticed by pleasure' (see further
Mayor's note and its strictures). So
again in Testaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs, Jos. 2, Joseph says of
Potiphar's wife, 'she pressed and
drew me on to fornication,' where the
same verb is employed as in St James,
although compounded with another
preposition. The drawing out can-
not have the force of drawing out
as to the shore of a fish caught, as
in Herod, ii. 70, for this would de-
mand that theenticingshouldprecede
the capture, whereas the Greek gives
the reverse order, but possibly this
must not be pressed, as the words
may be given, not in the order of
action, but in the order of thought
(see Carr's note). Tlie latter verb is
used only twice elsewhere in N.T.,
cf. 2 Pet. ii. 14, 18, and not at all in
Lxx, and the former five times in
Lxx in different senses, also in 3 Mace.
ii. 23.
by his own lust, ii.V., the Greek
preposition implying direct personal
agency. In this connection we may
compare Sayings of the Jewish
Fathers, v. 4, 'with ten temptations
was Abraham tempted,' not 'God
did tempt Abraham,' cf. James i. 13;
see Dr Taylor, p. 130, and also his
comment on the expression before
us. I.e., 'the evil nature seduces a
man in this world, etc., cf. Sukkah
52 b.' With this again compare
the famous passage. Apocalypse of
Baruch,liv. 19, where, after speaking
of Adam's fall and its results, the
writer adds, 'Adam is therefore not
the cause (i.e. of spiritual bliss or
torment) save only of his own soul,
but each one of us has been the
Adam of his own soul.' ' The real force
of this verse,' wi-ites Dr Charles,
'is that a man's guilt and sin are not
derived from Adam, but are due to
his own action. The evil impulse
does not constitute guilt or sin unless
man obeys it. As the Tahnudists
say, it was placed in man to be
overcome.'
In the present day this assertion
of St James strikes at the root of
all attempts to shift the blame and
responsibility of wi'ong-doing from
ourselves to outward circumstances,
to the working of natural laws, to the
bias of inherited tendencies. And
the consciences of mankind ratify the
plain and direct indictment of St
James, if such words as repentance,
remorse, and sin are to retain any
force and meaning. 'He speaks of
sin, of salvation, of redemption, and
conversion, as if these things were
realities. He aaks me. What docs
M. Renan make of sin? "Ah well, I
suppose I supi)ress it,"' Amiel, JMir-
nal Intirne, E.T., i. Ixvi. If, indeed,
it had been possible, men would long
22
JAMES
[i. 15, 16
when it hath conceived, beareth sin : and the sin, when it
16 is fullgrown, briugeth forth death. Be not deceived, my
ago have 'suppressed' both the fact
and the sense of sin, and the most
popular interpreters of the deepest
voices of humanity, the poets and the
dramatists, not of one age but of all
times, do but repeat, more or less
distinctly, the confession of the
Hebrew Psalmist, 'I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin is ever
before me'; see Plummer, p. 91, on
this bearing of the teaching of St
James, and the various testimonies
quoted by Maclear, Introduction to
the Greeds, p. 250, and by Mozley in
his famous Essay on Original Sin
asserted by Philosophers and Poets
in 'Essays and Papers,' p. 148.
15. the lust. So R.V. (translating
the article), the lust, as if personified.
when it hath conceived, beareth.
Cf. the constant Hebrew expression.
Gen. iv. 1, 17, xxx. 17, etc., rendered
by the Lxx as here in St James.
The same metaphor is continued : lust
is united with the man's will, which
has been ensnared by her, and the
offspring of the union is sin, 'sin' in
general, without the article in the
Greek. ' Beareth,' R. V., as in distinc-
tion from the other Greek word
rendered ' bringeth forth ' below.
and the sin. So II.V. because the
article is here expressed in the
Greek, i.e. the particular sin result-
ing from the unresisted temptation
of the individual man. Mayor, how-
ever, regards the article as simply
taking up the same preceding noun ;
see above, v. 4.
when it is fullgrown, thus con-
tinuing the metaphor (A.V. with
Tyndale 'finished'). Sin all along
had carried in itself the germ of
death, and so when it has come to
maturity, death is the result, unless
the power of sin is previously broken
by a higher power of life. There is
no need to suppose that the purpose
of the verse is to furnish any technical
instruction as to the origin and scope
of sin, but rather to show us how
temptation could not come from God,
since its fruit was so terrible.
bringeth forth. It is doubtful how
far we need press the reference of
the verb to any monsti'ous or unusual
births, as do some commentators;
the word occurs again in v. 18, and
although not found in lxx may be
illustrated from its mention in
4 Mace. XV. 17 ; see further Lightfoot,
Revision of N.T. p. 77, and Didache,
iii. 2, 3, for somewhat similar meta-
phorical language.
English readers will compare
Milton's allegory. Par. Lost, ii. 745-
814 (so Alford, Plumptre, Farrar),
in which Satan by his owni evil lust
begat sin, and then by an incestuous
union with sin, death results.
deatli. Cf Rom. vi. 23; Didache,
V. 1 ; used here in all its undefined
terror, not merely of bodily death,
although that might well be included
as so often the issue of vice and
transgression, but rather of spiritual
death, as in contrast to the life be-
stowed by God on those who love
Him. There is no need to define
it as eternal death, since a soul, if
converted, may be saved 'out of
death,' v. 20.
16. Be not deceived; a warning
against the suspicion cast upon God's
character, cf 13, but a warning
tempered and softened in its earnest-
ness by the affectionate 'my beloved
brethren.' The words refer not only
to what precedes, but also to what
follows, inasmuch as the leading
1. 16,17]
JAMES
23
17 beloved brethren. Every good ^gift and every perfect
boon is from above, coming down from the Father of
^ Or, giving
thought is to guard against any
representation of God which would
make Him, the source of all good, the
source of temptation to sin; of. for
similar formulae, 1 Cor. vi- 9, xv. 33 ;
Gal. vi. 7 ; 1 John iii. 7.
17. Every good gift and every
perfect boon. It is difficult to dis-
tinguish between the two nouns in
English, but it is well to remember
that a contemporary writer Uke Philo
has made a special distinction between
them, inasmuch as the latter noun is
much stronger than the former, and
contains the idea of gi'eatness and
perfection which is lacking in the
former; PhUo, De Cherub. 25; and
so De Leg. Alleg. iii. 70, where he
applies to the latter noun the same
epithet ' perfect ' as in the Greek of
the verse before us. See Lightfoot,
Revision of N.T. p. 77. This being
so, 'boon,' Lat. bonum, is perhaps
the best rendering we can get
Beyschlag, without however referring
to Philo, sees an advance in the
latter noun upon the former, inas-
much as the latter expresses some-
thing greater, and he compares the
way in which it is employed Rom.
V. 16 as a free gift (see also Sanday
and Headlam, Romans, I.e.). In both
nouns he sees the thought of some-
thing given, and therefore not de-
rived from the man himself, in
contrast to v. 14. Others distinguish
the two nouns by describing the
former as the act of giving, and the
latter the thing given, and largitio,
donatio are quoted as the equi-
valents of the former, donum ipsiiin.,
munus., as of the latter. It is
doubtful how far the whole verse
can be compared with Jolm vi. 32 ;
we should rather illustrate it by Matt,
vii. 11, Luke xi. 13.
Evidently there is a marked con-
trast intended between God as the
source of all good and as, in the false
conception of ». 13, a tempter to evil,
and this is sufficient for the practical
purpose of the writer. Jewish
theology emphatically asserted that
only good things were bestowed by
God. Thus Philo asserts, De Covf.
Ling. p. 346 c, that God is only the
cause of good things, and see also
for a similar confession Tob. iv. 19 ;
Wisd. i. 13; Ecclus. xxxix. 33. The
words of St James seem to have
been a kind of proverbial saying
among the Jews; see Exp. Times.,
April, 1904.
It is of further interest to note
that the words form a hexameter
line, and that they may possibly be
a quotation from some unknown
Greek poet (so among recent wi-iters
von Soden, Spitta, and Mayor).
Beyschlag however attributes the
rhythm to chance, following some
of the other commentators. A
similar explanation may be given of
Ileb. xii. 13, where Bishop Westcott
remarks that tlie commonly received
reading forms an accidental hexa-
meter. Others again have seen in
the words a fragment of some early
Christian hymn, or even, although it
cannot be said with much support,
an imrecorded saying of the Lord.
is from above., i.e. from heaven
as the dwelling-place of God, cf. Acts
xiv. 17 (xxvi. 13); John xix. 11,
iii. 31 ; or the words perhaps are more
properly explained by what follows;
cf. iv. 1.
coming down. So 11. V., W.H.,
24 JAMES [I. 17
lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow
Vulg. (von Soden, Mayor), separating
the verb copula from the participle.
But others refer to iii. 15 and take
the verb and participle together
as = 'comes down,' and they have
apparently the support of the Syriac
Version and of the older interpreters.
It may however be fairly alleged
against this view that it makes 'from
above' less connected, and, one might
almost say, superfluous. The words
thus combined may further imply
that these good and perfect gifts
come down from heaven to earth in
a constant stream, giving this force
to the present participle.
the Father of lights. The title
suggested primarily, it may be, the
thought that God was the creator of
light, of the luminaries, the stars
and heavenly bodies, and their ruler
and upholder : cf Gen. i. 14 ; Jer. iv.
23, xxxi. 35 ; Ps. cxxxvi. 7 ; Apoc. of
Bariich, liv. 13 ; Book of Enoch,
Ixxv. 1-3 ; Ecclus. xliii. 1-10 (cf. Job
xxxviii. 28). In Job xxxviii. 7, the
two expressions ' morning stars ' and
'sons of God' appear as 'two
parallel conceptions,' but here ap-
parently a reference may fairly be
foimd to the Jewish conception that
the heavenly bodies were the angels
or hosts of God (in lxx ' sons of God '
is translated 'angels'). This exact
expression 'Father of lights' is not
successfully paralleled by Spitta, and
he admits that both of his main
instances are unsatisfactory, since in
the one the expression is only found
in the text adopted by Ceriani of
Apoc. of Moses, xxxvi., and in the
other the expression 'Father of
light,' wliich he cites from the
Testament of Abraham, vii., is only
found in the later recension, and is
there applied not to God but to the
angel of light. But the language of
Philo may be compared with the
thought expressed here by St James,
as he regards God not only as light
but as the archetype of every other
light, and constantly interchanges
the words 'father' and 'creator' of
all things.
But we must not suppose that
St James would thus limit the
thought of God as the Father of
lights. If it be said that the im-
mediate context appears so to limit
it, it may be fairly urged that the
subsequent words carry us on to the
thought of God as the source of all
spiritual and moral light; cf. 1 John
i. 5 and marginal references in R.V.
The writer of the Book of Wisdom
had spoken of Wisdom as the
brightness of the everlasting light,
as being more beautiful than the
sun ; being compared with the light
she is found before it, Wisd. vii.
25-29. And St James would not
only remind his readers that if the
lights of heaven, sun, moon, and
stars, brought such blessing to men,
how much more He Who made them ;
but he would again enforce the
truth that if God was the source of
all light, then we cannot refer sin to
Him, the darkness which blinds the
eyes of the soul and of the under-
standing.
can he. So R.V. (but A.V. simply
'is'), i.e. it is not possible in His
nature, cf. Gal. iii. 28, 'there is no
room for, no place for,' negativing
not the fact only but the possibility
(Lightfoot), although it is doubtful
how far we can always press this
idea of impossibility in the word.
no variation, neither shadotc that
is cast by turning. The first noun,
not found elsewhere in N.T. (but cf.
I. 17]
JAMES
26
liXX, 2 Kings ix. 20), is translated
' variation,' not ' variableness,' by the
Revisers, for it expresses actual
■change, not the abstract quality.
The noun in question has the sense
of variation from a set course or
rule, and in fact it might be used of
change or difference quite generally,
e.g. of the changes of the seasons,
•or of the difference between beauty
and deformity. Mayor takes the
word here of the contrast between
the natural sun, changing its position
in the sky from hour to hour and
month to month, and the eternal
som'ce of all light (see further below).
neither shadow, etc. The words
thus rendered in R.V. have been
taken to refer to the shadow cast by
the daily and yearly apparent re-
volutions of the sun. But it is quite
possible to take the noun translated
* turning' in the sense of change in
general, not, that is, of the heavenly
movements as in lxx, Deut. xxxiii.
14, Job xxxvii. 33, and specially
cf. Wisd. vii. 18, but as it is used
frequently in Philo, to contrast the
changeableness of all that is created
with the immutability of the Creator
(see instances of this use of the
word in Philo given by Mayor and
Schneckenburger as expressing in-
constantia naturae). If we adopt
this meaning, the word rendered
* shadow ' may be taken as referring
us back to the thought of God as
'the Father of lights' upon whom
(carrying on the imagery) no change
in this lower world can cast a
shadow. So Mayor would render
*overshadovnng of mutability,' and
takes the whole passage to mean
that God is alike incapable of change
in His own nature {n-apaWayri) and
incapable of being changed by the
action of others (dnoaKiaa-na). Or
we may take the noun rendered
'turning' as a qualitative genitive,
and render 'shadow of change'
as = changing shadow, i.e. an over-
shadowing which changes the face of
the sun; but this rendering would
not in any way interfere with the
interpretation of the passage given
above.
The rendering in A.V. 'shadow of
turning ' is no doubt ambiguous, and
it might be taken as expressing the
Old Latin modicum obumbrationis,
as if the first Greek noun was
= shade, trace, small amoimt. This
meaning certainly makes good sense,
but it is very doubtful how far it can
be applied to the rare Greek noun
here employed. Oecumenius and
Theophylact both take the word in
this sense here ; and if we cannot
follow them in this, their preceding
words emphasise the general mean-
ing of the passage already adopted,
'for He Himself crieth by the pro-
phet, "I am the Lord, I change not,'"
Mai. iii. 6.
Spitta refers the terms under dis-
cussion to the stars, their changes in
place and the times of their setting
and rising : cf. Job xxv. 5 ; also Bcclus.
xvii. 31, xxvii. 11 ; Enoch, xviii.
15, and Ixxiii. 3, Ixxiv. 4. Such
passages may help to show us that
the language of St James and the
contrast which he institutes would
not be foreign to Jemsh thought,
and that there is no need to take
his words here as technical astro-
nomical terms. In Wisd. vii. 18 we
have a striking approach to the very
words of St James, where the writer
speaks of 'the alterations of the
turning of the sun,' lit. ' the changes
of the solstices,' the two terms being
nearly identical \vith those in St
James, and also of 'the changes of
26
JAMES
[l. 17, 18
18 that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought
us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of
firstfruits of his creatures.
seasons' (see Speaker's Commen-
tary'^).
We read in his biography that
these words 'with whom can be no
variation ' etc. were constantly upon
the lips of one of the most eminent
of modern scientific men, James
Clerk Maxwell. But it was not
merely upon the thought of the
immutability of God as contrasted
with the mutability of phenomena
that James Clerk Maxwell rested
his highest hopes in life and in his
last hours on earth — a Theist might
have found satisfaction in dwelling
upon the same contrast — but it was
upon the thought (as his biography
further teaches us) of a Father of
lights, revealed in His Son, the giver
of the true light, the light of life and
the light of the world.
18. Of his own will. In contra-
distinction to ». 13 and to the notion
that God could be a tempter of men.
His will is shown not by tempting
them but by conferring upon them
the power of a new birth. The will
of man could be perverted, and his
lust could bear sin, and sin death,
but God's will could not be perverted
or changed from its purpose, and
His action in accordance with the
purpose is showTi us in the statement
which follows.
he brought us forth hy the word
of truth. Sin brought forth death
(the same word is ased in v. 15),
God, the Father of lights, could only
beget life. ' Us,' i.e. not us as men,
but us as Christians (see further
below), born not of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God (John i. 13). With these words
Ephes. i. 13, 1 Pet. i. 23 and v. 3,
John iii. 7, 1 John iv. 7, should be
compared, and whilst to the expres-
sion ' the word of truth ' we cannot
attach the high personal sense which
we find attaching to the Word in
John i. 1, yet we cannot forget that
our Lord (John xvii. 17-19) speaks
of 'the word' which is truth, that
by it the disciples are to be sancti-
fied, and that it might be justly
called ' at once the element in which
the Christian lives and the spring of
his life' (Westcott on John viii. 31).
Others however take the words as
simply referring to the Gospel, be-
cause it has for its contents the
truth revealed to us from God.
In his desire to eliminate every-
thing specifically Christian from the
Epistle, Spitta has contended that
reference in this verse is made by
the writer not to the Christian new
birth, but to the natural creation by
God in Genesis i. 26. It is no doubt
true that the phrase 'word of truth '
may be paralleled from the Psalms,
e.g. cxix. 43, 160, but this does not
in the slightest degree involve the
exclusion of any Christian sense in
the phrase before us, especially in
face of the frequent parallels in the
New Testament, with which we may
compare in part iii. 14, v. 19, in
this same Epistle. Moreover, if the
^ On the use of the words as technical astronomical terms Carr's notes in
Cambridge Greek Testament may be consulted. The latter noun translated
' shadow that is cast by turning ' is not found elsewhere in Greek, although a
cognate noun is found in Plutarch and a cognate verb in Plato.
I. 18]
JAMES
27
phrase is referred to the creative
word and act of God, it is ditiicult
to see why this creative 'word'
should be styled here 'the word of
truth' (see further below, on the
context).
A fui-ther and thoughtful attempt
however has been recently made to
find in this phrase ' word of truth '
particular reference to the creation of
man 'according to our image and like-
ness,' God's creation of man being
the result of this purpose, enforcing
the truth about man, revealing
man's true nature and life^ And so
too 'the implanted word is to be
regarded as the same active principle
which St James has thus already
named as used in creation, but it is
no longer the external fact of creation
declaring the truth about human
nature, it is now represented as an
active principle within the man
which has the power of saving him,
and this can be nothing else than
the new principle of hfe, given in
Christ Jesus.' In this way the ex-
pression ' the truth ' in iii. 14
and V. 19 is related to 'truth' of
i. 18, as the ideal of regenerated
human life is to the ideal of created
human life. But as against this
view there is much to be said for
the interpretation of the phrase
' word of truth ' adopted above (and
see further on the expression ' first-
fruits of his creatures ').
that we should he a kind of first-
fruits. As Israel, Jer. ii. 3, could be
spoken of as 'holiness to the Lord,
andthefirstfruits of His increase,' and
as Philo could speak of Israel as the
firstfruits of the whole human race
(see reference in Wetstein in loco),
so St James might well see in the
Christian Church, although a small
part of his nation, the firstfruits
destined to include not only Israel
(i. 1), but the residue of men, the
ingathering of the Gentiles into the
Kingdom of Christ ; cf the words of
St James, Acts xv. 16-18, For the
employment of the same noun else-
where in a specifically Christian
sense see 2 Thess. ii. 13 ; Rom. viii. 23,
xvi. 5 ; 1 Cor. xv. 20 ; Rev. xiv. 4.
a kind of, because the tei-m is
used with a metaphorical meaning.
So Calvin comments on the words
in the original : we are in a certain
measure the firstfruits.
of his creatures. The same word
is found Wisd. ix. 2, xiii. 5, xiv. 11,
Ecclus. xxxviii. 34, 3 Mace. v. 11,
and also in one significant passage
Ecclus. xxxvi. 20 (15), where it is
apparently used of the Israelites.
The word as employed here may be
interpreted in the widest sense, as
the language of St James quoted
above from Acts xv. indicates, ' the
residue of men, all the Gentiles upon
whom my Name is called ' ; cf also
Mark xvi. 15 ; Rom. viii. 20, 21 ; Col.
i. 23 ; the Christian Church, the
spiritual Israel, being the firstfruits
of the new creation. Spitta here
again would refer the whole phrase
to the lordship of man over creation,
but, as we have seen, St James is
speaking figuratively, and there can
be little doubt that he had in mind
the O.T. conception of the ofi'ering of
the firstfruits to God (cf Exod. xxii.
29 ; Deut. xviii. 4, xxvi. 2), and that
the Jewish-Christian Church is con-
ceived of as the firstfniits of the
world which .should be won to Christ.
^ Parry, St James, pp. 20 ff. Amongst other recent writers Mr Fulford in hia
Commentary also takes ' the word of truth ' of the Divine fiat which brought ubout
the creation of man, and refers to Dr Hort's Judaistic Christianity, p. 151, as
perhaps indicating a somewhat similar view.
28
JAMES
[I. 19, 20
19 ^Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every
20 man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath : for
the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
^ Or, Know ye
But if so, tliere is no need to confine
this reference with Spitta to the
relationship of man to the other
creatures, since the oflfering in
question is always concerned with
the relationship of man to God ; and
even if the word 'firstfruits' could
be used of those ' first in honour,' the
whole verse is marked by Christian
phraseology, and the expression 'the
word of truth' is sufficient, according
to the view taken above, to exclude
any limitation to the natural creation.
19. Ye know this. ..But, R.V.
If we follow R.V. with Wycl., and
so Westcott and Hort, we may ex-
plain :
ye know this, viz. all that I have
said as to the goodness of God and
His favourable kindness towards us.
But be not content with theoretical
knowledge ; those begotten of the
Word sliould be swift to hear, slow
to speak, etc. The 'wherefore' of
A.V. might easily have been substi-
tuted for ' ye know ' in the original,
so as to make the verse follow closely
from the preceding, 'but' being
omitted ^
my beloved brethren. Cf. v. 2, and
for the full phrase as here 1. 16, ii. 5 ;
1 Cor. XV. 58. The note of warning
deepens the note of affection.
swift to hear. With these words
we may compare various similar in-
junctions in the Jewish Sapiential
books, and esp. Ecclus. v. 11, 'be
swift to hear,... and with deliber-
ateness (or, forbearance) give answer'
(see too iv. 29, xx. 7), and Taylor,
Sayings of the Jewish Fathers,
p. 25, 2nd edit. The two clauses
' swift to hear, slow to speak,' may be
connected with the attitude of the
man towards 'the word of truth,
the attitude which should be recep-
tive rather than critical.
slow to wrath. With this we
may compare Eccles. vii. 9, ' be not
hasty in thy spirit to be angry,' and
see also Taylor, u. s. pp. 64, 90, 101.
The wrath denotes the angry, resent-
ful temper, showing itself not only
in grumbling against God in the face
of trial or temptation, but also in
fanatical and overbearing speech,
the opposite of the meekness of
V. 21 ; comp. esp. iii. 13, and the
sequence in v. 14.
20. for the torath of man work-
eth not the righteousne.is of God :
cf Rom. xii. 18-20. In view of the
early date of the Epistle (see Intro-
duction), we cannot find here any
reference to the state of righteous-
ness before God in a Pauline sense,
nor is there any strict connection
with the passage so often associated
with the words 'unrighteous anger
shall not be justified' (the better
reading), Ecclus. i. 22.
To work the righteousness of God
means to do what God wills, that
which is right in His sight : cf. Matt
vi. 33 ; Acts iv. 19 ; and for the
phrase 'to work righteousness'
cf Acts X. 35 ; Heb. xi. 33 ; Rom. ii.
10 (2 Cor. vii. 10); so we have the
opposite phrase ii. 9 ; Matt. vii. 23 ;
and so too 1 Mace. ix. 23.
1 The Greek mss. vary here between two words, the one expressing ye know,
the other wherefore.
I. 21]
JAMES
29
21 Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of
^wickedness, receive with meekness the ^implanted word,
1 Or, malice ^ Or, inborn
of man. Without laying any stress
upon the word used here for ' man '
in the original, it would certainly
seem that a contrast is marked
between human and Divine, as if
man by his fitful passion coiild
expect to work the righteousness of
Him Who is 'righteous in all His
ways.' On the other hand St James
would emphasise the fact that it is
the work of the Christian, of one
begotten of the word of truth, to
carry out God's righteousness on
earth. We cannot limit the reference
of the verse to the Jewish zeal and
fanaticism in making proselytes, or
in maltreating fellow-countrymen
who had accepted the Messiah,
although no doubt St James would
have endorsed St Paul's words, Rom.
X. 2, 'they have a zeal for God but
not according to knowledge.' There
is much indeed in the history not
only of the Jewish Church in the
days of St James, but also of the
Christian Church in each succeeding
century, which reads as a sad com-
mentary upon the truth here stated
so decisively. And St James and
his fellow-Christians had seen in the
Cross of Christ the infinite distance
which separates the judgment of
human passion from the judgment
of Him Who judgeth righteously ;
and that shameful travesty of justice
in the condemnation of their Lord
had shown them what the ' wrath of
man' could do in its attempt to
work 'the righteousness of God
(see a Sermon on this text by E. De
Pressense, The Mystery of Suffering
and other Discourses, p. 184).
21. putting atcay, aorist parti-
ciple, because ' the previous putting
oflF is the condition of the subsequent
reception.'
Cf. for the phraseology and thought,
Ephes. iv. 25; 1 Pet. ii. 1 ; Heb. xii. 1.
all filthiness and overfiowing of
wickedness, R.V. The A.V. trans-
lation 'superfluity of naughtiness'
according to modern usage would
seem to indicate that a certain a-
mount of naughtiness was good. The
word 'filthiness' apparently continues
the previous metaphor taken from
the putting off" of clothes: see e.g.
Isai. Ixiv. 6, Zech. iii. 4, and in the
N.T. 1 Pet. iii. 21, Col. iii. 8,
Ephes. iv. 25 ; and cf ii. 2, below.
receive, not merely 'hear' (cf Luke
viii. 13; Acts viii. 14, xvii. 11 ; 1 Thess.
ii. 13), and with meekness, because
that which is opposed to meekness,
wi-ath, is first ' put away,' R.V.
A further question arises as to
whether 'filthiness' is to be taken
alone, or with ' malice,' as the other
noun rendered 'overflowing.' The
latter seems best, as the context is
not concerned with uncleanness in
general, or with the special sin of
impurity, as perhaps in iv. 4, 8,
but with 'filthiness' as connected
with ' malice.'
Or perhaps it may be best to give
the conjunction an explanatory force,
and to render ' all defilement caused
by the overflowing malice of the
heart.' The rendering ' overflowing '
is justified by the meaning attached
to the same noun elsewhere in the
N.T., cf Rom. v. 17 ; 2 Cor. viii. 2,
X. 15 ; but there is something to be
said for the rendering 'what is left
over' (cf the cognate noun, Mark
viii. 8), i.e. of old inherited faults
which remain even in those who are
30 JAMES [I. 21, 22
22 which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the
born again, i. 18, with special refer-
ence here to the old Jewish sins of
his countrymen which St James
rebukes in other parts of his Epistle ;
of. Introd. p. xiii.^
wickedness, but 'malice' R.V.
marg., and so other E. Versions,
'malice' or 'mahciousness': cf. Rom.
i. 29; Ephes. iv. 31 ; Col. iii. 8; Tit.
iii. 3 ; 1 Pet ii. 1 (margin).
This meaning fits iu well with the
context, whilst 'wickedness' is too
general, and 'naughtiness' in its
modern use too restricted to the
faults of children, although Latimer
and Shakespeare employ it as
= wickedness. In classical Greek
the word translated ' malice ' is often
used for vice in general, but it is
evident that it cannot be so employed
in the N.T. since it appears as one
vice amongst many, see refs. above.
Lightfoot takes it of the evil, vicious
habit of mind. Trench, Synonyms, i.
41 ; but for a full understanding of
the word see Mayor in loco, and
Grimm-Thayer, Synonyms.
the implanted word. ' The word '
is identical with ' the word of truth,'
v. 18. It may perhaps seem strange
at first sight that Christians are
bidden to receive a 'word' which
has already been implanted ; and so
it is sometimes explained that 'the
word ' which is the agent of the new
birth must ever be received anew
that the new life may be retained
and progress. The same objection
may of course be equally raised
against rendering the adjective
'innate' as in Wisd. xii. 10; and so
some writers regard 'implanted' as
expressing a constant quality of ' the
word,' i.e. 'whose property it is to
root itself like a seed in the heart';
cf. Matt. xiii. 21-23, xv. 13. But for
a further examination of the deeper
meaning of the phrase see also below.
which is able to save your souls.
It is remarkable that this language
is addressed to those who had been
already described as begotten by the
word of truth, so that salvation is
regarded by the writer as in a sense
still in the future, although it may
be also a present possession : cf.
1 Thess. V. 23. 'Able,' magna effi-
cacia, Bengel; with the language
cf. John V. 24; Rom. i. 16.
The same expression 'able to
save' is used below, iv. 13, of God, so
that as the same Divine power is
here ascribed to 'the implanted
word ' it has been well observed that
'the word' so described is scarcely
distinguishable from the indwelling
Christ. And this teaching would be
very natural on the part of a Jew
like St James, when we remember
how often in Jewish thought 'the
word ' suggested the closest intimate
relation between the substance and
the agent of revelation : cf. Art.
'Logos,' Hastings' B. D.
your souls. St James might
have written ' you,' the personal pro-
noun simply, but he uses what has
sometimes been described as a He-
braism, although in view of his
solemn language in v. 20 it is much
more likely that here also he is
emphasising the thought of a salva-
tion Avith eternal issues : cf. our
Lord's words in Matt. x. 28, xvi. 26.
22. he ye. So R.V. and AV.
Sometimes the verb in the original
^ Zahn, Einleitmig, i. 68, amongst recent writers may be noted as a strong
advocate for this rendering.
1. 22, 23]
JAMES
31
23 word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For
if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is
like unto a man beholding ^his natural face in a mirror :
^ Gr. the face of his birth.
has been pressed to mean 'become
doers' as of a process continually
going on, representing true Christian
practice as a matter of gi-o\vth, but
here, as so often, it is best to take it
as meaning 'show yourselves in
action as being.' If in the previous
verse we see a reference to the
parable of the Sower, we recall how
the same parable vividly marked the
•distinction here emphasised by St
James between hearing and doing,
and it is significant that in St Luke's
narrative our Lord's declaration,
'My mother and my brethren are
those which hear the word of God
and do it,' Luke viii. 21, follows
closely upon the interpretation of
the parable of the Sower.
But in any case we have in this
verse what may well be a remi-
niscence of the teaching of Jesus :
cf. Matt. vii. 21, 24 ff. ; Luke vi. 46
{John viii. 31, xiii. 17); and a leading
characteristic of the teaching of
St James is the stress laid upon
practice and conduct, cf. ii. 14-20.
Indeed the word translated 'doers'
is itself a characteristic word of the
Epistle, in which it occurs no less
than four times, and only once else-
where in the N.T. in the same sense,
Rom. ii. 13 (see also for the same
phrase 1 Mace. ii. 67).
and not hearers only. It seems
best to join the adverb closely with
the noun, ' be not such as are hearers
merely.' The Jewish Rabbis were
themselves wont to emphasise this
warning against hearing and learn-
ing without practising; see e.g.
Taylor, Sayings of tlie Jewish
Fathers, p. 91 (cf. p. 25):
'There are four characters in
college-goers. He that goes and
does not practise, the reward of
going is in his hand; he that
practises and does not go, the reward
of practice is in his hand ; he that
goes and practises is pious ; he that
goes not and does not practise is
wicked.' In the first character we
have St James's ' hearer of the word,
in the second the ' doer of the word,'
the third character combining the
two, and the last being neither.
It is very possible that both St
James and St Paul, Rom. ii. 13, had
in mind the besetting sin of their
countrymen to rest satisfied with
the hearing of the Law and its ex-
position in the synagogues : cf. Acts
XV. 21 ; Rom. ii 17. The word
translated 'hearers' is found three
times in this Epistle, vv. 23, 25, and
only once elsewhere in the N.T.,
Rom. ii. 13, and it is of interest to
note that it is used with its cognate
verb in classical Greek of attending
a discourse or lecture.
deluding your own selves, R.V.
Other E.W. render 'deceiving.' In
N.T. only elsewhere in Col. ii. 4.
The word is properly used of de-
ception by fallacious reasoning, but
also of deceiving or deluding gene-
rally, as often in lxx, Gen. xxix. 25 ;
Lam. i. 19. In Psalms of Sol. iv.
14 the same verb is also found, 'he
deceiveth with his words,' and twice
in the same Psalm, vv. 12, 25, the
cognate noun is used of deceit and
craftiness. In v. 26 St James ex-
plains its meaning.
23. like unto a man. Tliere
seems no occasion to emphasise, as
32
JAMES
[l 24
24 for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway
some wi-iters have done, the word in
the Greek for ' man ' ; it may be
used quite genemllr as in rr. S. 12.
beholdiiip, used often of consider-
ing attentively, both in lxs and
X.T., but here rather in contnxst to
the continuous gaze of r. 25.
his natural face, lit 'the face of
his btrtL' The words have been
very ditierently interpreted. On the
one hand, the noun rendering 'birth'
has been taken to denote fleeting,
earthly existence : c£ Judith xiL 18,
20 ; Wisd. viL 5 ; Pso.Ims of Sduinon,
m. 11; and in this case a contrast
could be drawn between the reflexion
in the mirror of the natural face, the
face belonging to this ti-ansitory life,
and the reflexion in the Word of the
true ideal of human character. But
on the other hand, the same expres-
sion has been taken to refer to the
man's true individuality, to his
creation in the image of God (c£
ui 9) and to the clause which
follows, 'for he beheld himself; and
then a contrast is drawn between a
man beholding in each case his true
self, but in the former case only
momentarily, as he listens to God's
Word and forgets it, in the latter
case fixedly, as he contemplates and
never loses sight of the ideal self
revealed in the perfect law. But
although this latter rendering has
given occasion to some beautiful
thoughts ^ yet the former is to be
preferred l>ecause of the usual mean-
ing of the word translated 'birth,'
cf. its use in iiL 6, below. It is also
noticeable that in Philo we have
examples of its employment to ex-
press the seen and temporal as
contracted with the unseen and
etemaL
in a mirror. For the use of the
same word figuratively a few in-
stances may be cited, Wisd. vii. 26 ;
Ecclus. xiL 11; and in the X.T.,
1 Cor. xiii 12 (2 Cor. iiL IS). Tlie
same figurative use is frequent in
Philo. The mirrors of the ancients
were metallic, made most frequently
of an alloy of copper and tin. although
there were mirrors of sUver, and
mention is made of mirrors of gold ;
Art, 'Mirror,' Hastings' ^.Z>. voL m.
24. for he behold eth h imself more
precisely 'he beheld himself.' Oa
the tense ^aorist) see note r. 1 1 above.
We may note again a favourite
characteristic of the writer in taking
up, as it were, a word just employed :
'beholding... beholdeth'; cf. r. 4.
and gjeth aicay, more precisely
' has gone away,' the tense (perfect)
denoting the suddenness of the action
and also the permanence of the re-
sult
and straighticay forgetteth, more
precisely 'forgat'; here also we have
a permanent state expressed, but the
writer uses the aorist to emphasise
the act itself as immediate and
sudden.
25. hut he that looketh. The verb
tised denotes more even than the verb
for ' beholdhig,' which may have the
meaning of looking or considering
attentively. It expresses that one
stoops to a thing in order to look at
it, to stoop and look into, and so to
look carefully into, or our desire
to know anything ; cf. John xx. 5,
'and stooping and looking in, he
seeih the linen clothes lying,' and so
1 Reference may be made to Adderley's St James, p. 35, and to the substance
given of the remarks in the Bishop of Oxford's Sermon ' The Virtue of Self-
assertion in the Life of the Intellect ' (FacuUiet and D'Jkulties, Longmans).
L 24, 25]
JAMES
33
25 forgetteth what manner of man he was. But he that
looketh into the perfect law, the laic of liberty, and so
and meaning of the Mosaic law, Matt.
T. 17, cf. Jer. xxxi 33; because it
sums up all commandments in the
one command and principle of love :
'he that loveth his neighbour hath
fulfiUed the law,' c£ Rom. xiiL 8 ff ;
GaL vi 2. ' The law of liberty ' has
been called one of the paradoxes of
St James, because it is of the essence
of law to impose prohibition and
restraint. But the law of love which
St James identifies, IL 8, 12, with
the law of liberty is a law of con-
straint rather than of restraint ; it
imposes it is true a bounden duty
and serrice, but it inspires a motive
which makes the burden light ; in its
fulfilment men become sons of their
Father in heaven, Matt v. 4-5, they
delight in the law of God : ' Only
love, and do what thou wilt'
Our Lord Himself, cf. John viii.
31 flF., had contrasted the slavery of
sin with the freedom of sons which
He as the Son conferred, the freedom
which resulted from abiding in His
word, and St James may well have
been acqiiainted with this or similar
teaching.
There is no need to find in this
expression 'the new law' of the
second century, Le. Christianity as
opposed to Judaism (see Introduc-
tion, p. Ixii.), although of course it may
be most truly maintained that this
Epistle teaches ns how one great
truth of Judaism, vii the truth of
laic, found its expansion in Chris-
tianity, just as the truth of the
kingdom, mentioned in every Jewish
prayer, found its real and spiritual
meaning in the universal Christian
Prayer : ' Thy kingdom come.'
and so continneth, i.e. continues
to look, in contrast to the man who
3
m r. 11, *as she wept, she stooped
and looked into the tomb.' In the
T.YTj the word occurs Cant iL 9;
Ecclus. xiv. 23, xxi 23. In the
Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 2nd cent. A.D.,
an instance is found of the same
verb in the same sense of ' looking
down ' from an upper room into the
street below, ExpoHtor, Dec. 1903,
Dr Moulton's notes from the Papyri.
tfie perfect law, the law of
lihfrty, R.V., thus expressing the
reiteration which is demanded by
the original
As a pious Jew St James would
have known of the willing obedience
with which each true Israelite would
have rejoiced, to keep the law; c£
Psahn cxix. 32, 111, 1-59. So too
Philo, Quod omnis probiLs liber sit,
871 A, in a striking passage speaks
of men who are governed by anger
or desire or any other passion as
altogether slaves, whilst as many as
live in accordance with Divine law
are free men. The same thought is
emphasised stiU more precisely in
Sayings of the Fathers, vi. 2 (c£
iii 8) : ' And the tables were the
work of God, and the writing was
the writing of God, graven upon the
tables,' Exod- xxxii 16 ; read not
Charuth, graven, but Cheruth, free-
dom, for thou wilt find no freeman
but him who is occupied in learning
of Thorah.' But if the Epistle of
St James is no mere Jewish docu-
ment, the words before us may well
be referred to a higher source than
that of Psalmist or RabbL
This Law is 'perfect,' not only
because it may be contrasted with
the biirden and yoke of the Law in
its Pharisaic observance, but because
it completes and realises the object
34
JAMES
[l. 25, 26
continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer
26 that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. If
any man Hhinketh himself to be religious, while he
1 Or, seevieth to be
takes a glance and is off (see above).
A.V. renders 'continueth therein,'
i.e. in the law of liberty, but this is
not in the Greek, although the
earnest gaze results in adherence to
the bidding of the Law ; cf. for tlie
phraseology John viii. 31, but this
reference is connected rather with
A.V. than with the rendering of
R.V.
being not a hearer that forgettefh,
but a doer that worketh, R.V. The
two clauses are thus symmetrical in
ti'anslation, as they stand in the
original. Literally ' a hearer of for-
getfulness,' which may be explained
as aHebraisticidiom, or simplyas due
to the vividness of phraseology com-
mon to Oriental lang-uages. The
wordtranslated'forgetfulness'occurs
only once elsewhere, Ecclus. xi,
27, and it may therefore be a further
indication that that book was known
to St James. A doer that worketh,
literally 'a doer of work,' emphasising
the thought of habitual activity.
blessed. With this beatitude we
naturally compare Psalm i. 1, 2; and
our Lord's own words as to the
blessedness and happiness of doing,
Luke xi. 28 ; John xiii. 17. His
own promulgation of the new law of
His Kingdom had also commenced
with a series of blessings. Matt. v.
3 ff"., and ' to look into that law and
to continue in it was to share the
beatitudes with which it opened.'
in his doing. The blessing comes
not only upon patience and endur-
ance (i. 12, V. 11, 7), but it is found
also in the exercise of daily duty.
in his doing, R.V., not 'his deed'
as A.V. as if of an accomplished
work. The noun here refers to his
obedience rendered to the Law ; it is
only found elsewhere in Ecclus. xix.
20 (li. 19), in a passage which affords
a somewhat close parallel to the
thought of St James : ' All wisdom
is fear of the Lord, and in all wisdom
there is doing of the law.'
26. If any man thinketh him-
self, i.e. supposes, fancies. The
rendering of A.V. and R.V. marg.
'seemeth to be ' is misleading ; it is
not the hypocrite, but the self-de-
ceived, of whom St James is WTiting,
as the context shows. For the verb
and its meaning here, cf. 1 Cor. iii. 18,
X. 12, xiv. 37; Gal. vi. 3.
religious. So A. and R.V. Tlie
adj. is only found here in N.T., and
nowhere in lxx, but the cognate
noun rendered in this and the follow-
ing verse 'religion' also occurs in
Acts xxvi. 5 ; Col. ii. 18. This cog-
nate noun is found twice and the
cognate verb twice in lxx ; Wisdom
xi. 15, xiv. 16, 18, 27; and in each
case with reference to superstition
and the service of false gods ; and if
this does not indicate that the words
were generally used in a bad sense,
it indicates that they might easily
degenerate into a use which was
more concerned vnth the form than
with the essence of piety.
In Josephus the noun is used of
the public worship of God, of religion
in its external aspect, cf. e.g. Ant.
IX. 13. 3, and B. J. vii. 3. 3 ; and this
is apparently its meaning in the N.T.,
whilst by Philo it is directly con-
trasted with the piety and holiness
I. 26, 27]
JAMES
bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man's
27 religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before our
which claims to be such on the score
of divers washings and costly offer-
ings. The renderings ' religion ' and
'religious' in our translation may be
illustrated by the use of the word
'religion' in Milton, Par. Lost, i. 372,
where he describes some of the
heathen idolatries as ' adorned with
gay religions, full of pomp and gold,'
and in Shakespeare, As You Like It,
V. 4. 166, we read 'where meeting with
an old religious man,' i.e. belonging
to a religious order, and so making
an outward profession of religion
{^\ie2it,Glossary). See further Trench,
Syn. I. p. 196 ; Hatch, Essays in Bibli-
cal Greek, p. 55. There is no reason
to see in the word a reference to the
lustral observances of Jews or Jewish-
Christians, a view derived, it would
seem, from the close connection in
the text between ' religion ' and the
two adjectives 'pure' and ' undefiled.'
But at the same time we must not
forget that St James is writing to
men who were still observing the
Jewish ceremonial law, and so, in the
spirit of the O.T. prophets, he warns
them that no such observances would
be acceptable with God, if breaches
of the law of love in word or deed
were committed. Cf. Titiis i. 15,
and see further on v. 27.
while he hridleth twt his tongue
hut deceiveth his heart, all forming
the protasis ; the words look back to
t?. 19 and forward to iii. 1-18.
hridleth. The verb only here and
in iii. 2 in the N.T., but found in
later Greek, and similar metaphori-
cal expressions with reference to the
mouth are of frequent occurrence in
classical writers and so too in Philo.
But in early Christian writers the
same verb may be very strikingly
illustrated from Hermas, Mand. xiL
1 : 'For clothed with this desire (the
good and holy) thou shalt hate the
evil desire, and shalt bridle and
direct it as thou wilt.' With the
language of St James we may com-
pare Ps. xxxii. 9, xxxix. 1, cxU. 3.
deceiveth his heart; generally
taken as equivalent to 'deluding
your own selves' in 22 sujira.
But in the latter passage the verb
employed might refer merely to an
error of the understanding, whilst
here the whole expression emphasises
the moral nature of the error ; ' the
heart' would be a natural expression
for St James, as throughout the Bible
the word is used of the moral
character to denote the seat and
centre of personal life.
vain, used frequently in the O.T. of
heathen deities and their worship
(cf. Acts xiv. 15), and perhaps here
^\ith the thought of a ' religion ' as
unprofitable in its nature as that
associated with the idols of the
Gentiles. The adjective is also used
of faith, 1 Cor. xv. 17, when useless
and unprofitable : cf. also Matt. xv. 8 ;
Tit. iii. 9.
27. Pure religion and undefiled,
in contrast to a 'religion' which values
too highly lustrations and external
cleansing. The adjectives are often
found together as in Hernias, Mand.
ii. 7 ; Sim. v. 7. 1 ; so too in Philo. An
attempt has been made to distinguish
between the two adjectives, as refer-
ring the former to the outward, the
latter to the inward, but it is very
doubtful whether such a distinction
can be maintained In liormas in
the first quoted passage, 'that thine
own repentance and that of thy
household may be found to be sincere,
3—2
36
JAMES
[I. 27
God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world.
and thy heart pure and undefiled,'
the two adjectives are used together
of the heart, and in the second of the
flesh, although the context shows
that the cognate noun of the latter
adjective may be used of the spirit
as much as of the flesh. The distinc-
tion is sometimes drawn by regarding
the former adjective as relating to
others, and the latter to the man
himself (Wetstein). In classical
Greek both words are also employed
in an ethical sense.
tefore, i.e. in His judgment. He
being the judge. Of. Rom. ii. 13 ;
Gal. iii. 11 ; 1 Pet. ii. 20.
our God, R.V., giving the force of
the article which ought to be retained
in the original before ' God.'
Father. Of. Psalm Ixviii. 5, cxlvi. 9
(see below, iii. 9).
It has been thoughtfully suggested
that the two following clauses may
balance the two titles : before our
Father = to visit the fatherless and
widows ; before God = to keep himself
unspotted from the world. 'A
father of the fatherless, and a judge
of the widows is God in his holy
habitation,' Ps. Ixviii. 5.
to visit. Cf Matt. xxv. 36, 43.
The same verb is used in Ecclus.
vii. 35 (cf. Jer. xxiii. 2), in the same
sense, and almost always in classical
lit. of visiting the sick; in modern
Greek, also with the meaning of
' visiting.'
the fatherless and widows. The
combination is found only here in the
N.T. but it is frequent in the O.T. as
a kind of proverbial expression for
those most in need of help and
sympathy; cf. also Ecclus. iv. 10,
XXXV. (xxxii.) 14; 2 Mace. iii. 10,
viii. 28. In the former of the two
passages in Ecclus. God Himself
is represented as not despising the
supplication of the fatherless and
widows, and in the latter the man
who is as a father unto the fatherless,
and a husband unto their mother, is
described as being ' the son of the
Most High." The same verb is used
by Hernias, Mand. viii. 10, where the
servant of God is bidden to minister
to widows, to visit the orphans and
the needy, and so too by Polycarp,
Phil. vi. 1, in exhorting the presbyter
to visit all the sick, not neglecting
the widow or the orphan, In one of
the earliest scenes of Cliurch life
^^idows have a place in the daily
ministration, Acts vi. 1, and vdth all
its limitations the picture stands
in marked contrast to that of the
outwardly 'religious' Pharisees de-
vouring widows' houses, Matt, xxiii.
1 9. For notice of the special care be-
stowed by the early Christians upon
the widows and orphans see Uhlhorn,
Charity in the Ancient Church,
E.T., 45, 90, 184, 321, 323, 361,
384.
The early Church could never
forget that in His care for the widow
and the orphan the Incarnate God
had 'visited' His people, Luke vii.
11-16.
in their affliction, to mark the
necessity and the aim of visiting.
Upon the comfort of mourners in
their aflBiction the Law and tradition
laid great stress, and it was said that
there was a special gate in the
Temple, the entrance for mourners,
that all who met them might dis-
I. 27]
JAMES
37
charge this duty of love ; Edersheim,
Jewish Social Life^ p. 172.
In the consideration of this passage
we must always remember that St
James is not herein affirming, as we
sometimes hear, these offices to be
the sum total, nor yet the great
essentials, of true religion, but ' de-
clares them to be tlie body (the
6pTj(TKfla) of which godliness, or the
love of God, is the informing soul,'
Trench, Syn. i. pp. 196 ff., and cf.
Coleridge, Aids to Reflection, Aph.
xxiii., and also above on the word
'religion.'
to keep himself. As in the earliest
Epistle of St Paul, 1 Thess., so here,
while the duties of Christian social
life are enforced, the obligation of
personal moral purity is never for-
gotten. There was indeed a Divine
presence to be seen in the charities
which heal and soothe and bless, and
in men who were made in the image
of God (iii. 9), but a clearer vision
still was for
*Tlie soul pure-eyed that, wisdom led,
E'en now His blessed face shall see.'
Cf. Introduction, p. Ixxiv. The lan-
guage of St Paul, 1 Tim. v. 22, at
once suggests itself as a parallel ; but
a closer parallel to the thought and
context in St James may perhaps be
found in the langxiage of St John, if
we adopt the R.V. marg., ' He that is
begotten of God keepeth himself
(same words in the original), and that
wicked one toucheth him not,'
1 John V. 18. It is noteworthy
that a very similar phrase ' to keep
yourselves' occurs in the circular
letter, Acts xv. 29, which may well
have been drawn up by St James.
unspotted. Here again the lan-
guage may have been suggested by
the Jewish ritual; in 1 Pet. i. 19,
the same adjective is used of a lamb
described as 'without blemish and
without spot'; the former adjective,
although sometimes used of persons,
being frequently applied in lxx to
the sacrifices of the Law. The same
two adjectives are also found in
2 Pet. iii. 14, and the word in the
text occurs again in 1 Tim. vi. 14
(in LXX (Sym.) Job xv. 15). In
Hermas, Mand. viii. we find a lengthy
insistence upon personal purity and
social activity in the Christian life,
which may well have been suggested
by this verse in St James.
from the world. Cf. 2 Pet. ii. 20.
The word used by St James here and
in iv. 4 is the same as is used in
Wisdom, cf. vii. 17, xi. 17, and also
by the Greek philosophers, of the
world as a universe of order, and it
is noticeable that the only time the
word occurs in St Paul's addresses
in Acts is in his address before the
l^hilosophers of Athens, xvii. 24, in
speaking of 'God who made the
world.' But this ' order,' as the word
means, might be considered without
any direct connection with God, and
so apart from Him, as concerned en-
tirely \ni\\ the sphere of human life,
and thus not only as apart from God,
but as separated from Him, an order
which has become disorder, because
no longer the expression of God's
will, but of a thousand dilferent wills
fighting for the mastery, and so the
scene of 'confusion and every vile
deed,' iii. 16; sec below on iv. 4,
Wcstcott, Add. Note on John i. 10,
and Mayor, St James, conuuent on
'the World,' p. 210.
The use of the word by St James
in these two passages is fully
accounted for by its similar employ,
ment elsewhere in the N.T. ; it is
frequent in St John, and we may
also have recourse to parallels of
some little interest from the Book
of Enoch, in wliich the righteous
38 JAMES [I. 27
are described as those who have 1-2, 5) asks, 'What is your Kingdom,
hated and despised this world of O Mazda?' It is no ritual or
unrighteousness, and have hated all material splendour but charity — 'to
its works and ways, xlviii. 7 ; who care for your poor in their suffering,'
loved God, and loved neither gold and also, from a sense of gratitude,
nor silver nor any of the goods of to consecrate one's soul and body to
the world, whose spirits ^^cre found God and to God's purposes. Yet
pure, so that they should bless His this Zoroastrian religion, as the same
name, cviii. 8. vrriter reminds us, however much it
DrMoSaitiHibbo-t Journal, J aM. might possess in some respects a
1904) speaks of 'the felicitous anti- finer spirit, was burdened with
cipation of James i. 27,' in a passage superstitions and fettered by cere-
in which Zarathustra(yrtSJia, xxxiv. monial purity and externalism.
CHAPTER 11.
1 — 4. The consideration of religion in its external aspect leads naturally
to the warning against the worldly spirit which in its respect of persons en-
tered even their assemblies for worship. By preferences ostentatiously shown
to the rich the divided heart is again made manifest ; they were receiving
from men in place of the glory which cometh from the Lord of glory ; they
were not judging righteous judgment, their judgment was determined by
appearances. 5 — 7. How different the judgment of God Himself! He
had chosen not the rich but the poor, for the poor of this world are rich in
faith, wliile the rich of this world oppress and wrong, and blaspheme the
Name of Christ. 8 — 13. If, however, this regard for the rich is actuated
by a desire to fulfil the royal law of love, embracing rich and poor alike, ye
do well ; but if you are prompted not by love but by respect of persons, for
the rich because they are rich, the law is broken equally as if your
neighbour had been injured by the wrong of adultery or murder: for the
Law is one and the Lawgiver is one ; the Law is the expression of one will,
the will of a Father "Who is love. All our words and deeds vsdll be judged
by a law of the spirit, not of the letter, a law of liberty, a law which takes
cognisance not merely of external acts, but of temper and motive. To
have no mercy for the poor is to be condemned by this law, for mercy is
the law of Him Who is merciful ; and yet, since it is a law of hberty,
God accepts what is done in a merciful spirit, and thus mercy rejoiceth
against judgment. 14. But someone may be thinking, mil not faith,
no less than mercy, cause us to rejoice in the judgment of God? but
the question is what kind of faith? certainly not a faith mthout works ^
1 Or the connection may be somewhat ditf erently expressed, ' At this point
James imagines the man of orthodox belief but disobedient life, turning to
defend himself with the plea that there is more than one way of pleasing God.
One he urges is strong in "faith," another in "works." Let each cultivate his
own talent, without insisting that his neighbour should possess it likewise, on
the principle of live and let live.' J. V. Bartlet, Apostolic Age, p. 241.
II. 1]
JAMES
39
15—20. A homely, practical test applied ; to express a wish that a brother
or a sister should be warmed or clothed without an eflFort for their benefit,
what shall it profit ? so a faith which is mere assent to the first article of the
Creed is no profit to anyone ; unless it is translated into action it remains
profession without practice ; such a 'faith' is in some sort shared even by
the demons, nay, upon them it exerts a certain eflfect, it makes them shudder
with fear. 21—26. But the faith of Abraham, yea the faith of Kahab,
how different from this useless barren thing ! these examples prove that a
faith worthy of the name is an active principle; faith wrought with,
energised with works, and by works faith wjis perfected.
II. My brethren, ^hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus
■^ Or, do ye, in accepting persons, hold the faith... glory f
II. 1. My brethren ; very appro-
priate here, after the duties of the
Christian brotherhood and of true
religion which have just been urged,
and in view of the following exhor-
tation to brotherly kindness.
hold not t/t^ faith, in R.V., but
in marg. 'do ye, in accepting persons,
hold the faith etc.?' so W.H. and
some of the older commentators.
But the imperative best suits the
immediate context ; the ' for ' e.g. in
V. 2 is not so easily explained if the
previous words are interrogative.
Moreover, the interrogative word in
the original, although not always
found in questions presupposing a
negative answer would be used to
imply that the questioner, although
inclined to believe a thing true could
scarcely credit it, whereas here the
'respect of persons' is admitted, v. 6.
the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, objective, i.e. the faith which
has our Lord for its object; cf. Mark
xi. 22, Acts iii. 16, for a similar use
of the genitive. If we cannot say
positively that the expression ' faith
of Jesus' in the N.T. never means
the faith which Jesus gives, but
always the faith directed towards
doubt that the latter signification is
the more usual. See further Introd.
p. XV.
tlis Lord of glory. So R. and
A. v., and it seems best to adopt this
rendering. For the expression cf.
Acts vii. 2; John i. 14; 1 Cor. ii. 8;
Ephes. i. 17. The same title is also
found no less than some nine times
in the Book of Enoch, so that it may
fairly be considered as a not milikely
expression from a Jewish writer.
The majority of moderns render 'our
glorious Lord Jesus Christ,' regard-
ing the genitive as qualitative, but
Bengel's suggestion to take the
genitive ' the glory' as in apposition,
and to render 'the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ who is the glory,' hixs
commended itself to others^
Our Lord speaks of Himself as 'the
Truth,' 'the Life'; and in John xvii.
5 we read, 'And now, O Father,
glorify me with Thine own self with
the glory which I had with Thee
before the world wsis'; cf St Paul's
remarkable expression 'the Father
of the glory,' Ephes. i. 17. The
rendering therefore which Bengel
suggested must at least connnand
attention. It is urged indeed that
Him as its object, there can be no the passages which he cites are
So Mayor, and earlier Bassett ; Plummer too inclines to this view.
40
JAMES
[II. 1,2
2 Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if
insufficient in proof — Luke ii. 32;
Ephes. i. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. 14; Isaiah xl.
5 — but other passages may be added
to them, e.g. John xvii. 5, 22 ; Rom.
ix. 4 ; 2 Pet. i. 17 ; and it is note-
worthy that the term (the) 'glory'
would seem to be employed as an
equivalent for Immanuel ; of. the lxx
use of the same noun for the Sheki-
nah, and Dr Taylor's Sayings of the
Jewish Fathers, pp. 43, 44, 2nd edit
Deficiency of proof may perhaps be
more fairly alleged against the pas-
sages 2 Cor. iv. 4, Col. i. 27, 1 Tim. i.
11, cited to support another render-
ing 'the faith of (in) the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ,' the rendering of
the Syriac and Vulgate ^ but the
phrase ' faith in the glory ' would be
a very strange one.
It has been recently maintained
that the Avords under discussion
should be rendered ' our Lord Jesus
Christ, our glory,' and that this
rendering best suits the context^
In this interpretation the words
would correspond with the phrase
'the implanted word.' The Lord
Jesus, the Son of Man, is in a
true sense, it is urged, the glory of
man, and especially the glory of
Christians, and the active principle
referred to in the phrase 'the im-
planted word ' is in fact the commu-
nication of the life of the risen Son of
Man, Ascended Lord of all human
life, and revealer in His own Person
and Character of its duties and
destinies. But this rendering, sug-
gestive as it is, requires first of all
that the genitive of the personal
pronoun should be taken with both
the words qualifying the personal
name, '■our Lord,' ' our glory,' which
hardly seems quite natural, and in
the second place it can scarcely be
considered necessary in view of the
many jjassages cited above and of the
Jewish usage which some of them at
all events support.
The bold assertion that the words
' Jesus Christ ' are interpolated is
fully met by pointing out that if the
text had at first stood simply 'the
Lord of glory ' no Christian interpo-
lator would have broken up these
words, and inserted between them
the name of Jesus Christ : he would
rather have inserted ' Jesus Christ '
before or after the Jewish phrase
'the Lord of glory,' and we should
have had 'the faith of Jesus Christ
our Lord of glory,' or ' the faith of the
Lord of glory, Jesus Christ.' In this
passage the difficulty of the text as
it stands becomes no small proof
of its originality ; but see further
Introd. p. XV.
It has been said that the phrase
'the Lord of glory' is the one express
Christological phrase of the Epistle,
but whilst this is so, it must not be
forgotten that it has been also said
that such a phrase involves a belief
in the Resurrection and Ascension
and even in the Divinity of Christ.
with resjject of persons. The
noim, here in the plural to intimate
the various ways in which partiality
might show itself, is derived from
the Hebrew phrase to accept, or
rather, to raise the face, used in the
Lxx generally in a good, althoiigh
sometimes in a bad sense. But in
the N.T. the noun ^vith its com-
pounds {v. 9) is always used in the
1 Zahn has recently supported this rendering, Einleitung, i. 108,
^ Parry, St James, pp. 24, 36.
II. 2]
JAMES
41
there come into your ^synagogue a man with a gold ring, in
Or, assembly
latter sense, of the partiality which
has respect to mere outward circum-
stances and not to intrinsic merit ;
of. Rom. ii. 11 ; Ephes. vi. 9 ; Col. iii.
25; Acts X. 34; 1 Pet. i. 17; and
Lightfoot's note on Gal. ii. 6. The
Hebrew phrase was sometimes varied
in the original, as in N.T., Jude v. 16,
on which the remarks of Ryle and
James, Psalms of Solomon, ii. 19,
should be consulted. Twice in Apoc.
of Baruch God is spoken of as One
"Who is no respecter of persons, xiii.
7, xliv. 4 ; cf. Jubilees, v. 15 ; and in
Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, iv.
31, He is described as a Judge with
Whom there is no respect of persons.
It may be also noted that this
same phrase to accept the face or
the person occurs in Didache, iv. 3,
'thou shalt not show respect of
persons in rebuking for transgres-
sions'; and it is closely followed by
the expression of another charac-
teristic thought of this Epistle, 'thou
shalt not be of two minds,' etc. On
the connection between the Didache
and this Epistle of St James see
Introd. pp. xii., xiv.
A suggestion has sometimes been
made that the words before us,
whether in any way related to John
xvii. 1, 5, or not, remind us involun-
tarily of the saying in John v. 44,
' How can ye believe, which receive
glory one of another, and the glory
that Cometh from the only God ye
seek not ? ' At least we may admit
that here as there a marked contrast
is made between the regard for
earthly glory and substance, and the
seeking after the glorj' which comes
from Him Who is 'the glory.' In
' the glory as of the Only-begotten of
the Father,' as in the Father Himself,
there could be no respect of persons,
and St James may well have known
how even the enemies of Jesus
acknowledged in this respect at least
His likeness to God ; cf. Matt. xxii.
16 ; Mark xii. 14 ; Luke xx. 21.
2. For if there come into. The
scene here so vividly depicted may
often have presented itself to the
eyes of St James, and there is no
occasion to suppose that it was
derived from the language of Ecclus.
xi. 2-6 (cf. X. 22-24) as has recently
been maintained. The aorist in the
original may perhaps be best ex-
plained by the characteristic of St
James to express by it that which is
constantly rectirring as one definite
past fact ; cf. i. 11, 24.
your synagogue, R.V. text: 'as-
sembly,' marg.
If too much may sometimes have
been made of this word as a decisive
argument for the early date of the
Epistle and its address to Jewish
readei-s, it must remain a significant
fact that this is the only place in the
N.T. in which the word ' sjTiagogue '
is used instead of the usual word
'church' for assemblies, which evi-
dently claim to be gathered for
Christian worship. Even if it is to
be maintained that some of the con-
gregations to which the Epistle was
addressed might be called 'churches'
and not ' sjaiagogues,' stress might
still be laid upon the naturalness of
the expression from St James writing
from Jerusalem, with his own Pales-
tinian experiences before him.
Great importance has been attach-
ed to the fact that Hernias and others
have used the same word 'synagogue'
of Christian assemblies, but it nmst
not be forgotten, (1) that whilst this
42
JAMES
[ll. 2
fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile
may be admitted, there is also evi-
dence of the use of the word as a
specifically Jewish-Christian word,
since Bpiphanius,i/agr.xxx. 18, refers
to Jemsh-Christians of Palestine who
were wont to speak of their assembly
as a 'synagogue' and not 'a church'
{(Tvvaywyrj, not fKK\r](Tta), and that in
the Testainents of the Twelve Patri-
archs the term 'sjiiagogue' although
applied to churches of the Gentiles
is introduced to give a Jewish colour-
ing to the work; (2) that St James
does not hesitate to use the word
* church ' where he is speaking of the
' church ' as a body, cf. v. 14, and the
fact that he uses another word in the
description of a single incident like
that in the text, where the whole
context points not to the act of as-
sem\Aingh\i.ttoi\\Q place of assenibly,
suggests that we are still on Jewish
soil or in its neighbourhood I See
further Introd. p. xi.
yoMr5«//^«gro^M^. The pronoun seems
to forbid the supposition that a syna-
gogue of Jews could be meant, and
St James woiild scarcely have blamed
Christians for the manner in which
different classes of people were treat-
ed in a Jewish synagogue, nor in the
latter would Christians have been
able to assign the places to the
worshippers. At the same time it
is evident that this Jewish-Christian
assembly is open to non-Christians.
with a gold ring, or as the adj.
might perhaps be rendered ' golden-
ringed ' ; for this custom of adorning
the fingers with a number of rings
many illustrations are cited b\
Wetstein and other commentators
cf Lucian, Tim. 20 ; Nigrin. 21
Pliny, N.H. xxxiii. 6; Martial, v. 11 .
Juvenal, vii. 139, etc. Familiar pas-
sages illustrate the wearing of the
ring amongst the Jews for ornament,
or favour : cf. Gen. xxxviii. 18, 25,
ill. 42; Isaiah iii. 21; Luke xv. 22;
and they would no doubt imitate in
many respects the fashion of the
period. It is interesting to note
that while in Const. Apost. i. 3, a
warning is uttered against the wear-
ing of rings by Christians, Clement
of Alexandria makes an exception
of the ring amongst articles of luxury
forbidden to Christians, because of
its use for the purpose of sealing.
in fine clothing. Cf. Luke xxiii.
11 ; Acts X. 30; 2 Mace. viii. 35: and
Philo, M. 2, p. 56. The Vulgate in
this passage, as also in Acts x. 30,
Apoc. XV. 6, renders the adjective
employed here in the Greek by the
Latin Candidas, white, because it
was often used of brilliant and
glistering whiteness. In this pas-
sage this colour would be in marked
contrast with the soiled clothing of
the poor, and it was also the colour
usually worn amongst the Jews, the
finest white garments being adopted
by the rich.
and there come in also. The en-
trance of each is vividly depicted as
actually taking place before their
eyes,
in vile clothing. Cf. Zech. iii. 4;
Apoc. xxii. 11; and for a good in-
1 Amongst recent German literature Feine's note, p. 85, Dcr Jakohuxbrief,
should be consulted as against Harnack. See also Hort, Judaistic Christianity,
p. 150; whilst Sanday, Inspiration, p. 346, speaks of the description of the Church
as a 'synagogue' in which it is assumed that all the members are not
Christians as 'the most significant proof that the Epistle really belongs to the
Apostolic age ' ; see Introd. p. xi. The same point is well illustrated by Dr Chase,
TJie Lord's Prayer in the Early Church, p. 2.
II. 2, 3]
JAMES
43
3 clothing ; and ye have regard to him that weareth the fine
clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place ; and ye say
to the poor man, Stand thou there, or sit under my foot-
stance of a similar use of the word
of sordid clothing, see Josephus,
Ant. vn. 11. 3. Here in opposition
and contrast to the fine clothing of
the ricli.
It would seem from the whole
description that both rich and poor
are not Christians ; if they had been
members of the Church they would
already have had their places in the
assembly, and there would have been
no need for places to be assigned to
them. Verse 6 makes this view
conclusive as regards the rich. St
James would have seen in the action
of those same rich a matter for still
further reprobation, if they had been
guilty of oppressing poor fellow-
Christians. Moreover, the expres-
sion ^your synagogue' points to the
same view. In 1 Cor. xiv. 22, 23, it
is evident that non-Christians came
into the Christian assemblies, and in
the circumstances of the Jewish
Diaspora it was only probable that
non-Christians should enter the as-
semblies of their Christian fellow-
countrymen to see and to hear.
3. and ye have regard. The verb
means to look upon, but it is often
used of looking upon with favour
(1 Kings viii. 28; Ps. xxiv. 16; Ec-
clesiast. xi. 12; Luke i. 48, etc.),
frequently in a good sense, as of
God looking upon man with pity,
but the state of mind is determined
by the context, as here of looking
upon with admiration. All eyes are
turned to the entrance of the rich.
to him that weareth the fine
clothing; a graphic touch : note the
repetition of the phrase, only the
outward and the perishing attract-
ing attention. The noun ' clothing '
which occurs no less than three
times in this passage, is uniformly
rendered in R.V. by the same word
'clothing,' whereas in A.V. it re-
ceives three different renderings.
This is quite misleading and is
rightly noticed by Lightfoot, On a
Fresh Revision, etc. p. 39.
A sharp contrast is evidently
marked in the words which follow,
a contrast emphasised more point-
edly in R.V. by the omission of the
second ' here' : sit — stand ; here —
there; in a good place — under my
footstool. See also Introd. p. xxxvii.
in a good place. There is reason
for this translation from the em-
ployment elsewhere of a somewhat
similar Greek expression for a good
place. The word here is an adverb,
and might in itself imply either
honourably or comfortably. Aelian,
V. H. IL 13, Alciph. Ep. iii. 20, use
the cognate adjective to express a
good place in a theatre (Field).
Stand thou there, or (if you prefer
to sit) sit, etc.; emphasising still more
the contempt for the poor. In this
text W.H. read simply 'stand, or
sit there etc.,' marking sharply the
contrast with the preceding ' sit.'
under my footstool, i.e. on the
floor close to ray footstool. The
passage is noted as the only one in
the Bible in which the word is used
literally (Hastings' B. D.).
The practices winch our Lord
condemned in the Jewish assemblies.
Matt xxiii. 6, seem to have passed
into the Christian Church, and to
have fostered the same Pharisaical
pride and haughtiness; Edersheim's
Jewish Social Life, p. 263. How
keenly the opposition between this
44
JAMES
[ll. 3-5
4 stool ; ^are ye not divided ^in your own mind, and become
5 judges with evil thoughts ? Hearken, my beloved brethren ;
^ Or, do ye not make distinctions ^ Or, among yourselves
spirit and the spirit of true Christian
brotherhood and the honour of all
men, in public worship, is often felt
in modern days by shrewd observers
may be seen by the remarks of
W. Macready in his letter quoted
in Pollock's Life of the actor.
4. are ye not divided in your own
mind. So R.V, text, divided as
it were between pi-ofcssion and
practice, between the profession of
Christian equality and the deference
to rank and wealth, and so becoming
amenable to that sin of double-
mindedness which this letter so
sharply rebukes, 1. 8. But when we
remember how often the verb is
used in the N.T. to enforce the
opposite of faith and belief — Matt,
xxi. 21; Mark xi. 23; Acts x. 20;
Rom. iv. 20, xiv. 23 (Jude ». 22
probably) — there is much to be said
for the rendering ' did ye not doubt
in yourselves ? ' The context speaks
of faith in Jesus Christ, and this
faith they were not keeping whole
and entire ; He was not for them
'the Lord of glory,' Who regarded
not the person of man, whilst they
drew such distinctions between rich
and poor. In adopting this view it
must be remembered that in i 6
the participle of the same verb is
found, ' let him ask in faith nothing
doubting,' and as there it was a
question of undivided faith in God,
so here it is a question of undivided
faith in the Lord Jesus. See note
on i. 6.
Moreover, this rendering makes
the verb though passive in form
retain the force of the middle voice
in accordance with Matt. xxi. 21 ;
Mark xi 23; Rom. iv. 20. This
usage of the verb in the N.T. seems
in itself to forbid the active render-
ing 'are ye not partial?' A.V., to say
nothing of the ambiguous word
' partial ' in its modern employment.
The R.V. marg. renders 'do ye not
make distinctions among yourselves,'
but here again the Greek may well
be interpreted otherwise, and it may
be fairly urged that, although this
rendering makes perfectly good
sense, there does not seem to be
much force in such a query, since it
is so obvious from the preceding
words that distinctions had been
already drawn.
The sense of the passage would of
course be niaterially altered if we
rendered with some authorities the
whole of the two clauses as stating
a fact: 'ye did not hesitate about
making these distinctions, and thus
ye became evil judges.'
W.H. read the sentence in marg.
as a statement of fact, but as they
omit the negative (oi5) the sense is
not really affected : 'ye are divided...
and have become' etc.
judges icith evil thoughts. The
genitive is one of quality: cf. i. 25;
Luke xviii. 6. By so acting, by thus
despising the poor and deferring to
the rich, they became wrong-con-
sidering judges, judges with evil
thoughts, or the words may possibly
refer to their thoughts of doubt and
unbelief, which thus possessed them.
The word for 'thoughts' generally
refers to bad, perverse thoughts,
both in N.T. and Lxx. In the latter
it appears to be used most frequently
of the thoughts of sinners, as in
several passages in the Psalms, and
Isaiah lix. 7 ; Jer. iv. 14 ; 1 Mace. iL
11. 5]
JAMES
45
did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to
he rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised
63; and cf. in N.T. Matt. xv. 19;
Luke V. 22; Rom. i. 21. The same
proneness to usurp the office of
judge is censured in iv. 11.
5. Hearken., placed first as a
demand for attention, in the desire
to show the folly of their thoughts
and behaviour. It has been called
one of the rousing words of St James :
cf. i. 16, iv. 13.
my helcmed 'brethren. Cf. 1. 16, 19,
for a similar affectionateness of tone
in pressing home a warning as a
question.
choose. The verb is used of God's
choice of the Israelites, Acts xiii. 17,
and here of the choice of Christians ;
cf. Mark xiii. 20, and especially
1 Cor. i. 27 flf., a passage often com-
pared with the language of St James
before us.
poor as to the world, R.V., i.e.
in earthly goods, or 'poor to the
world,' i.e. in the judgment of the
world : cf. Acts vii. 20, 2 Cor. x. 4,
for a similar use of the dative.
The former perhaps better em-
phasises the contrast between the
poverty of earthly goods and the
true riches. For 'the poor' and
the Jewish social life of the time see
Introd. pp. xxxvi. flf.
Such passages as 1 Sam. ii. 8, and
the constant reference to the care of
the poor and needy by God in the
O.T. prophets, in the apocryphal
books, and in contemporary litera-
ture, e.g. Psalms of Solomon, v. 13,
xv. 2, are relied upon by those who
can see in the Epistle nothing but
a Jewish document. But our Lord's
own words, Luke vi. 20, might well
suggest the language in this passage
(see further below), and St James
had before him the life of Christ, Who
became one of the poor, and the life
of His followers, who were for the
most part poor men. It is interest-
ing to note that the term ' Ebionite'
adopted by a sect of Jewish-Chris-
tians, towards the close of the first
century, was chosen by them because
in thus calling themselves the 'poor'
they claimed to strive to follow the
Master's precept, Matt. x. 9 ; Acts iv.
34 ; cf Bpiph. Haer. xxx. 17.
to be rich, thus taking the adj.
'rich' not in apposition to 'the poor'
but as an oblique predicate after the
verb^.
in faith. The prep, is not instru-
mental, but expressing the sphere
in which they are regarded as rich :
cf. 1 Tim. i. 2, vi. 18. We may note
here, as above in i. 6, the stress laid
upon faith by St James. The same
kind of contrast between outward
poverty and inward spiritual riches
may be abundantly illustrated; cf.
e.g. Testaments of the Twelce Patri-
archs, Gad 7, where the poor who
gives thanks in all things to the Lord
is said to be enriched with all things.
But our Lord's own teaching had
emphasised the thought that there
were higher and truer riches than
the abundance of wealth, Luke xii.
21; Matt. vi. 19. Plato too could
speak of the wise man as the rich
man, and Philo could speak of the
true wealth laid up in heaven by
wisdom and holiness. The Rabbis
spoke of a man as rich or poor in the
Law ('dives in lege, pauper in lege,'
* So Mayor and Beyschlag.
46
JAMES
[II. 5,6
6 to them that love him ? But ye have dishonoured the
Wetstein), but no exact parallel is
found for the expression in St James.
heirs of the kingdom. The lan-
guage would be natural upon the lips
of a Jew, since he associated the
thought of inheritance, originally
applied to the Holy Land, with the
possession of all the Messianic bless-
ings, Isaiah Ix. 21, Ixi. 7, and these
blessings would be enjoyed through
a King and in a kingdom ; cf. Psalms
of /Solomon, xvii. 4-6, 23-51. In one
of the earlier of these Psalms, xii. 8,
we have language very similar to that
of St James in this passage : ' and
let the saints of the Lord inherit the
promises of the Lord,' the first
instance perhaps in which the ex-
pression ' the promises of the Lord '
is found in extant Jewish literature
to sum up the assurances of the
Messianic redemption (so Ryle and
James's edition, p. 106). But when
we remember how our Lord had
openly spoken of the kingdom of
heaven as the possession of the poor
and of those persecuted for right-
eousness' sake, Matt. v. 3, 10 ; how
He had cheered His disciples with
the good pleasure of the Father to
give the kingdom to the little flock,
Luke xii. 31, 32 ; how He had closed
His ministry with the solemn promise
of a kingdom, the inheritance of the
blessed ones of His Father, Matt.
XXV. 34, it does not seem improbable
that such teaching would gain cur-
rency amongst His followers, and
that St James should be acquainted
with it.
which he promised. The same
verb occurs in i. 12. It is used in
classical Greek of voluntary offers,
and so is fitly used here and else-
where in the N.T. of the Divine
promises ; and twice in the Psalms
of /Solomon, vii. 9, xvii. 6, the
promises of God (see also above).
to thetn that love him. See above
on i. 12, where we have the same
phrase. In the precetling passage
the promise consists in the crown of
life. Here too it may be noted that
the Psalms ofSolomo)i speak of life,
xiv. 6, 7, as an inheritance in the
Messianic consummation : sinners
have for their inheritance darkness
and destruction, 'but the saints of
the Lord shall inherit life in glad-
ness.' Such words remind us of the
question asked of our Lord by the
rich young man, Matt. xix. 16, and in
our Lord's answer 'if thou wilt enter
into life keep the commandments'
we may see an intimation that ' life '
like ' the kingdom ' is not only a
future but a present possession for
those who obey God.
The words further remind us that
St James does not wish us to suppose
that the destitution of poverty is in
itself a virtuous condition, or the
possession of riches a vicious one ; he
would have said with St Paul 'that
all things work together for good to
those who love God,' whether they
be rich or poor. But St James, as
we have had occasion to note, was
guarding against a flagi-ant form of
a sin common in every age, and
grossly so in his own, 'respect of
persons,' and forgetfulness of the
judgment of Him Who regarded not
the rich more than the poor, for they
were all the work of His hands : Job
xxxiv. 19 ; Psalms of Solomon, v. 13,
14; Introd.p.xxxvii. At the same time
none had spoken more emphatically
of the danger of riches than Christ
in so far as they led men to set their
heart, their love upon them and not
upon God; Matt, xiii 22; Mark x. 23.
II. 6, 7]
JAMES
47
poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves
7 drag you before the judgement-seats? Do not they blas-
The poor, it miglit be fairly said, have
more opportunities of trusting not
in wealth but in providence, and of
practising the virtues which keep
men close to the life of Christ, but
still it must be never forgotten that
'opportunities are not virtues, and
poverty is not salvation.'
6. But ye, in strong contrast to
God, who had chosen the poor, hatie
dishonoured the poor man, R.V.
The rendering 'despised,'A.V. (which
seems to be given to no less than
seven different Greek verbs), does not
represent the force of the original.
The same Greek verb is found in
Ecclus. X. 23, 'it is not meet to
dishonour the poor man that hath
understanding,' and also in Prov. xiv.
21 (cf xxii. 22), 'he that dishonoureth
the poor sinneth,' language to which
St James's words aiford a close
parallel.
The aorist may refer to the par-
ticular case just mentioned (so
perhaps the sing, is used in this
verse, 'the poor man,' R.V.), or it
may be an instance of what is called
the gnomic aorist; see above on L 11.
Do not the rich oppress you ? i.e.
the rich Jews, their own fellow-
countrymen, these very men to
whom they paid such servile defer-
ence. If St James had meant rich
Christians he surely would not have
refrained from pointing out the
glaring contrast between their bear-
ing towards the poor and their
Christian calling. For the verb
rendered ' oppress ' and its use here
a striking parallel is afforded by
Wisd. ii. 10 (cf. 19), 'let us oppress
the poor righteous man.' The verb
is frequently used in the Lxx of the
oppression of the poor and needy:
cf. Amos iv. 1 ; Zech. vii. 10; Jer. vii.
6; Psalms of Solomon, xvii. 46.
There could have been no question of
rich Jeics if the city and the temple
had fallen, as such a reference could
not have been consistent with the
social conditions.
and themselves. So R.V., empha-
sising the fact that these very men to
whom they pay court do not hesitate
to employ violence ; cf. Acts viii. 3, of
Saul it is said that ' haling men and
women he committed them to prison.'
drag. The verb is used elsewhere
in N.T. of dragging with force, as in
classical Greek ; cf. Acts xxi. 30.
the judgement-seats; here Jewish
tribunals, certainly not Christian.
The word might include Gentile
tribunals ; cf. 1 Cor. vi. 2 (in the lxx
it is used of a Je\vish place of judg-
ment, Hist of Sus. V. 49), There is
however no reason to think of
Roman tribunals and so to argue
that the letter could not have been
composed before Domitian or Trajan.
'James wrote to Jews, who were not
governed solely by Roman law, but
who, down to a.d. 70, administered
justice to a certain extent among
themselves, according to their own
sacred law, even in Roman cities of
the Eastern provinces. Of course
the most serious penalties, and
especially death, were beyond the
independent Je\vish jurisdiction ; but
still much suflering could be legally
inflicted by Jews on other Jews,
unless the victims possessed the
Roman citizenship' (Ramsay, C.R.E.
p. 349) ^ The oppression would in-
^ Cf. Schiirer, Jewish Feople, ii. 1, 185, E.T. ; and see also Zaiin, Einleitung,
I. 63, 70.
48 JAMES [ii. 7
pheme the honourable name ^by the which ye are called?
^ Gr. which teas called upon you.
elude both social and legal persecu-
tion, and we can well suppose how
bitter and aggravating it would be :
see Introd. p. xxxv.
7. do not they blaspheme ? (per-
haps 'is it not they who V marking
the pronoun which is here emphati-
cally repeated). If we remember
that it is 'the rich' who are thus said
to blaspheme, it is much more natm*al
to see here again rich, unbelieving
Jews. Not only is blasi)hemy fre-
quently mentioned in specific con-
nection with the Jews, Acts xiii. 45,
xviii. 6, xxvi. 11 (cf. 1 Tim. i. 13), and
their hostility to the Christian faith,
but rich Jews led the early opposition
to the Apostles ; cf. Acts iv. 1-3, v.
17, xiii. 50. It is quite conceivable
that their blasphemy might be
uttered in the Jewish law-courts, or
that it would intensify the hostility
of a Jewish judge to find that the
accused belonged to the hated sect
of the Nazarenes. But the utterances
of the blasphemy need not refer to
judicial courts at all, and certainly
not to trials before Roman tribunals.
On the other hand, the words cannot
be explained to mean that Christ
is blasphemed by the evil deeds of
Jews or Gentiles ; this thought would
be expressed by the passive and not
the active of the verb, and if by the
latter it could be signified in so
many words, as Eusebius, H.E. v. 1,
speaks of those who blaspheme the
Way by their mode of life.
the honourable name, i.e. of Christ.
As He is called the Good Shepherd,
John X. 11, so here He bears.
according to the Greek, the good,
the beautiful Name ; cf Ps. cxliii. 3,
where the same adjective is used of
the Name of God ; the Name of Christ
came to be specially spoken of as the
Name, Acts v. 41. Whether it was
in existence or not, it is not likely
that the name 'Christian' can be
here meant, since Jewish opponents
would not be likely to use in obloquy
a title so closely connected with their
dearest hopes : moreover, they could
scarcely be said to blaspheme a title
such as this, or 'the poor' or
'brethren.' At the same time it may
be noted that St James as a Jew
would not be likely to associate
blasphemy with any name less than
a Divine Name, and just as tlie Jews
regarded punishment as following
upon profanation of the Name, i.e. of
Jehovah {Sayings of the Jewish
Fathey^s, pp. 66, 88), so it is signifi-
cant that St James speaks here of
profaning the Name of Christ.
hy the which ye are called, but in
R.V. marg. the rendering of the
Greek 'which was called upon yoxi,'
i.e. in Baptism, Acts ii. 38, viii. 16, x.
48. The phrase is taken from the
O.T., where it is frequently said of Is-
rael that the Name of God was named
upon them, Deut. xxviii. 10 ; 2 Chron.
vi. 33, vii. 14; Jer. xiv. 9; Amos ix. 12;
and such a phrase implies a declar-
ation of dedication to the service of
God. So Christians are dedicated to
Christ in Baptism ; cf Hermas, Sim.
viii. 6. 4, where the same phrase is
used of those who had been baptised
into the Christian Church ^ It is
^ In this connection, and for this view, Heitmiiller's recent treatise, Im
Namen Jesu, p. 92 (1903), may be consulted.
II. 8]
JAMES
49
8 Howbeit if ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scrip-
ture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well :
evident that His Name, and not that
of Jehovah, is here meant, in spite of
attempts to prove that the latter is
intended, for the Name is said to be
called ' upon you,^ not ' upon' them'
so that no reference can be made to
a God acknowledged by both classes
alike. It is therefore nothing to the
point to quote, with Spitta, passages
from Enoch, e.g. xliv. 8, in which the
rich are said to trust in riches, to
forget the Most High, and to commit
blasphemy and unrighteousness.
In the N.T. this phrase is only
once used elsewhere, and there in
words quoted by St James ; of. Acts
XV. 17.
8. Howbeit if, R.V., thus express-
ing the Greek particle which A.V.
does not notice. St James is sup-
posing that his readers may justify
their action by referring to the law
of love of neighbours and enemies
alike ; and in so far as they keep that
law from good motives they did well,
but if they respected the rich merely
for their riches, they sinned.
fulfil, i.e. by avoiding any respect
of persons, and thus showing love
and honour to all alike; a similar
phrase only in Rom. ii. 27.
according to the scripture ; best
taken as referring simply to the
passage in Lev. xix. 18, quoted here
from Lxx. It is unnatural to take
the words closely with 'fulfil,' as if
to show that there is a fulfilment
of the law in its Scriptural meaning
and sense.
the royal law, perhaps so called
as being the supreme law ; all other
laws are contained in it : cf. Mark
xii. 28; Rom. xiii. 8; Gal. v. 14. But
others take it to mean that this law
is so called because given by God,
the King Supreme, or by Christ,
Matt. xxii. 37, to Whom Christians
belong, and Whose Name has been
called upon them. In either case
we may see how closely St James
approaches to the teaching of our
Lord. To explain the epithet as
meaning that this law is valid also
for kings, or as indicating a royal
way, direct and plain, is scarcely
satisfactory. But St James may well
mean a law which is a law for
kings and not for slaves ; the heirs
of the kingdom, ii. 5, are not in
bondage to any man, for they had
been made free ; let them therefore
act not as those subject to fear, but
as those who are themselves kings,
who would then be ashamed to
respect persons by cringing to the
rich or dishonouring the poor. This
or a somewhat similar meaning may
be enforced by two passages from
St Clement of Alexandria, Strain, vi.
164, vii. 73, in which he speaks of
those who do not actively love and
benefit their neighbours as not being
' royal,' and also of the ' royal ' road,
by which those of royal descent
travel, as consisting in justice done
not from fear or constraint but by
free choice. In a striking passage,
De creat. princ. 4, Mang. ll. 364,
Philo also uses the expression 'a
royal road' to signify the way and
mode of life befitthig a king^
ye do well. It is again noteworthy
1 Cf. 1 Pet. ii. 9 (Exod. xix. 6). Both Mayor and Zahn (Einleitung, i. 82)
regard this view as making excellent sense. A strikingly similar use of the
adjective in connection with law is found in pseudo-Plato, Minot, 317 c. Its
use is frequent in the Lxx; cf. 4 Mace. xiv. 2.
50
JAMES
[ii. 9, 10
9 but if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, being
10 convicted by the law as transgressors. For whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point.
that a similar phrase occurs at the
close of the circular letter, Acts xv.
29. At the same time it will be
noted that the words also occur else-
where in the N.T., of. 2 Pet. i. 19;
they are found too in 1 Mace. xii.
18, 22, 2 Mace. ii. 16, and in classical
authors.
9. but if ye have respect of
persons. Closely preceding the law
of love in Lev. xix. 18 we read, v.
15, 'ye shall do no unrighteousness
in judgment ; thou shalt not respect
the person of the poor, nor honour
the person of the mighty ' (cf. Deut.
xvi. 19), and St James may well have
had such a charge in mind, especially
as below, v. 4, we have another
parallel to the language of Lev. xix.
9, 13.
ye commit sin, a strong phrase,
lit ye work sin : cf. i. 20; Acts x. 35 ;
Heb. xi. 33, etc. ; and in lxx, Ps. v. 5,
xiv. 2; Zeph. ii. 3, etc.
being convicted by the law. Here as
elsewhere in the N.T. (and probably
so in the O.T. instances) the verb is
best translated 'convicted,' not 'con-
vinced.' In John viii. 46 (cf. xvi. 8)
it is evident that its force and
meaning are thus properly brought
out ; cf. Jude ». 15 ; Tit. i 9 (Hastings'
B.D., 'Convince'). The law may
refer to the law of love, the royal
law, or it may refer to the law
cited above from Lev. xix, 15, but
either law would obviously be vio-
lated by respect of persons.
as tran sgressors. The word would
be fitly used here, as lit. it meant
those who overpassed or stepped over
a hue, and so those who violated a
code or law: cf Rom. ii. 25, 27, iv. 15,
and see Ecclus. x. 19, xix. 24 ;
2 Mace. vii. 2 ; 3 Mace. vii. 12, etc.^
10. shall keep the whole laic.
Here the context points a reference
to the whole Mosaic Law, — shall keep
the Law as a whole.
and yet stumble in one point,
R.V. The verb is rendered 'oflFend'
here and in iii. 2 by A.V., which also
has 'fair for the verb in 2 Pet i. 10.
But in Rom. xi. 11 A.V. has
'stumbled' (cf for the use of the
same verb Deut vii. 25, in Lxx).
The A.V. rendering 'offend' is
connected vdth the Lat. offendere,
to strike against; see further Art
'Offence,' Hastings' B.D.
in one point. This is better than
to render 'in one law,' although
this would be quite admissible in the
original (Grimm-Thayer gives both
renderings). For a similar phrase
with reference to the law a parallel
may be found in 4 Mace. v. 17, 18.
St James is laying down a genei'al
principle, the truth of which he
proves by what follows ; and thus
'the respect of persons' which he
has condemned is shown to be a
* It is an interesting suggestion that the phrase ' a transgressor of the law,'
which thus occurs both in Paul and James, may have been borrowed by them
from the remarkable addition to Luke vi. 4, given in Codex D, where precisely
the same phrase occurs : ' On the same day, seeing a certain man working on
the Sabbath, He saith to him, "0 man, if thou knowest what thou art doing,
thou art blessed ; but if thou knowest not, thou art accursed, and a transgressor
of the law." ' (Cf. Plummer's St James, p. 56, and Kesch, Agrapha, p. 189.)
II. 10-12]
JAMES
61
11 he is become guilty of all. For he that said, Do not
commit adultery, said also. Do not kill. Now if thou dost
not commit adultery, but killest, thou art become a trans-
12 gi-essor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as men that
precepts, and tliis perverelon may
be in the minds of St James and the
other Apostles in their protest, Acts
XV. 24.
1 1 . For he that said, i.e. God, with
a solemn reference to Exod. iii. 14.
But see also Parry, St James, p. 32,
where the possible reference to the
words of the Lord Jesus is mentioned.
Do not commit adultery, etc. The
best reason for the introduction here
of these two commandments may
be found in the fact that they are
placed first amongst those which
relate generally to our duty towards
our neighbour, and that they are the
most weighty of such ; or possibly it
was felt that the injunction against
adultery, the destruction of family
life, might fitly follow upon the
injunction to honour one's parents
{Encyd. Bihl. L 1050), or there may
well have been some traditional
order varying from that in the
Hebrew of the Pentateuch. For
a similar order see also Luke xviii.
20 ; Rom. xiii. 9 ; and Lxx, Exod. xx.
Cod. 13, and Deut. v. 17-19 ; Philo,
M. 2, p. 189.
a transgressor of the law. A law
is the expression of the will of him
who ordains it, so that he who
violates the law in any particular
sins against the same will, and
therefore becomes a transgi-essor of
the whole law. St Augustine was
so exercised as to the meaning of
this piissage that he wrote specially
upon it to St Jerome {Epist. \Q1)\
He maintains that as all other corn-
violation not of one law only, but of
all laws. Various illustrations have
been given of similar teaching among
the Rabbis ; cf. two sayings of
R. Jochanan, Sabbath, fol. 70. 2,
'But if a man does all things, but
omits one, he is guilty of each and
all,' and Pesikta, 'Everyone who
says I take upon myself the whole
law except one word, he has de-
spised the word of the Lord and
made all His commandments vain ' ;
so also Bemidbar Rob. ix. on Numb.
v. 14, ' our teacher has taught us how
adulterers and adulteresses trans-
gress the Ten Commandments.' On
the other hand all kinds of extra-
vagances seem to have found their
way into Rabbinical pages, as e.g.
that the Sabbath weighs against all
precepts ; if a man keep that, he has
kept all : Shemnth Rabb. 25. With
the principle laid down by St James
we may compare our Lord's own
teaching, Matt. v. 19 (Rom. xiv. 23).
he is become guilty of all, i.e. liable
to be convicted of transgressing all
the commandments. For the word
rendered 'guilty' see 1 Cor. xi. 27,
and in lxx, Isaiah liv. 17, 1 Mace.
xiv. 45, also found in Psalms of
Solomon, iv. 2.
It is quite possible that this
teaching of St James might have
been perverted by the Judaisers,
and that they might have appealed
to him as insisting on the observance
of the whole Mosaic Law, and pla-
cing circumcision etc. on the same
level as the violation of great moral
^ ' Intermiugling many remarks about the Stoics, who taught that all sins
are equal, and that whoever possesses one virtue possesses all.' For English
readers Dr Plummer in loco gives a good account of St Augustine's letter.
4—2
52
JAMES
[ll. 12, 13
13 are to be judged by a law of liberty. For judgement is
without mercy to him that hath shewed no mercy : mercy
glorieth against judgement.
mandments hang upon the law of
love to God and to man, he who sins
against love is guilty of violating all
the commandments, for no one sins
without breaking this law of love;
murder, adultery, theft, covetousness,
all violate it; but love worketh no ill
to his neighbour, love therefore is
the fulfilment of the law. Thus not
only is each law the expression of
one will, but the whole law may be
so regarded.
12. So speak ye, and so do. The
repetition of the adverb emphasises
the earnest exhortation of the vsriter,
and the laying stress upon word and
deed alike is characteristic of him :
of i. 26, iii. 1 flF., ii. 2flF.
as men that are to be judged,
R.V., lit. 'as those about to be
judged,' the verb in the original
used in classical and Biblical Greek
of things which will come to pass by
fixed necessity or by Divine appoint-
ment: cf. Matt XXV. 31 ; 2 Cor. v. 10.
In anticipation of the final judg-
ment, judge yourselves by the same
law day by day. Vulg. renders
incipientes judicari, 'beginning to
be judged.'
by a law of liberty. See note oni. 25.
13. For judgement is without
mercy, ht. ' the judgment is merci-
less'; 'the judgment,' i.e. of God.
Our Lord's teaching. Matt. v. 7, vii. 1,
xviii. 28 etc., naturally occurs to the
mind, and may be said to give the
key to our verse. In the O.T.
parallels may be found, cf esp.
Ecclus. xxviii. 2 (although for this
passage reference should be made
to the strictures of Dr Edersheim in
the Speaker's Commentary), Tob. iv.
7-12. In the Testaments of the
Twelce Patriarchs, Zab. 8, we read :
And do you, my children, have
compassion in mercy towards every
man, that the Lord also out of
compassion may have mercy upon
thee ; for God also in the last days
sends his compassion upon the earth,
and where he finds a compassionate
heart there he makes his dweUing,
for in proportion as a man feels
compassion towards his neighbour,
the Lord has compassion upon him.'
And with this compare also, 'Every
time that thou art merciful, God
will be merciful to thee, and if thou
art not merciful God will not show
mercy to thee ' ( Jer. Babha Q. viii.
10), or again, 'To whom is sin
pardoned ? to him who forgiveth
injury' (Rosh Hash. 17a).
to him. that liath shewed no mercy.
The phrase to show or do mercy was
quite common in the lxx, and there
seems no reason to suppose that
St James had in mind Luke x. 36.
mercy glorieth against judgement.
So R.V., which makes the force and
terseness of the words more emphatic
by the omission of any connecting
particle. The verb which stands
first, also for emphasis, brings mercy
before us as if in a vivid and strong
personahty. The sentence no doubt
means that the mercy shown by the
mei'ciful, as in contrast to him who
shows no mercy, enables him to
stand in the judgment which other-
wise would overwhelm him ; so mercy
is full of glad confidence and knows
no fear in view of the hoiu* of judg-
ment ('tanquam victrici insultat').
For the verb see iii. 14; Rom. xi.
18; and in lxx, Jer. xxvii. (1.) 11,
38; Zech. x. 12. (The Syriac has
'ye shall be exalted by mercy over
judgment')
II, 14, 15]
JAMES
53
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath
15 faith, but have not works? can that faith save him? If a
But the form of the sentence as
given in R.V. asserts a universal
truth, and the mercy of God is
represented as 'glorying against' a
judgment which may seem to be
merciless, Matt. ix. 13; Hos. vi. 6:
'earthly power doth then show
likest God's, when mercy seasons
justice,' Shakespeare, Merchant of
Venice, iv. 1. In the Speaker's
Commentary on Wisd. ix. 1, a
striking passage of the Talmud is
referred to, which gives the story of
Rabbi Ishmael ben Elishah, who,
entering into the Holy of Holies,
saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting
on a throne, and prayed : ' May
it please Thee to cause Thy mercy
to subdue Thy anger; may it be
revealed above Thy other attributes ;
and mayest Thou deal with Thy
children according to the quality of
mercy.' And it seemed as though
God was pleased at the prayer.
'Berakhoth,' p. 7. 1. In the same
comment a traditional saying of
Mohammed's is given : ' When God
created the creation He wrote a
book which is near Him upon the
sovran throne, and what is vrritten
is this : Verily m.y compassion over-
cometh my wraths
14. For the paragraph that fol-
lows see Introd. p. xli.
The whole of it may be closely
connected with the thought of the
judgment, and of that which alone
will stand in the judgment, and save
from the judgment ; the ' works '
carry us back to the 'mercy' of
V. 13, and the 'save him' to the
judgment of vv. 12, 13.
The 'faith' which admits respect
of persons and disregards the poor
must be quite incompatible with the
faith which is centred on Jetius
Christ, Who although the Lord of
glory regarded the person of the
least of those brothers and sisters
whom St James had in mind, ». 15;
cf. Matt. XXV. 40. There are no
doubt passages in Jevdsh literature
(see Introd. p. xlii.) in which faith
and works are contrasted, in which
calling upon the Lord is regarded
as securing safety in the Messianic
judgment, Psalms of Sol. vi. 2, but
St James had before his mind the
words of a greater than any human
teacher, Who had taught men that
saying. Lord, Lord, was valueless in
comparison with doing the will of
the Father, Who had warned men
that 'in that day' many would
fail, in spite of their pretentious
claims to gain recognition from the
Judge.
What doth it profit? R.V. In the
original, the words may be almost
colloquial, and somewhat more abrupt
(as A.V. indicates). In the N.T. the
phrase recurs in 1 Cor. xv. 32; cf.
Job XV. 3; Ecclus. xli. 14; Matt. xvi.
26 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
m,y brethren. The expression em-
phasises not only tenderness and
sympathy of the writer, but also the
fact that he is thinking here of the
faith of Christians ; cf. v. 15.
if a man say. The phrase is not
*if a man has faith,' so that stress
may perhaps be laid upon ' say,' and
if so we may explain that as in what
follows mere empty words are con-
trasted with needful deeds, so an
inoperative faith can only testify to
itself by saying, not by doing.
faith. On the place of faith in
questions similar to those raised by
St James, which wore apparently
occupying the Jewish schools, see
Introd. p. xlL St James in writing
54 JAMES [II. 15, 16
16 brother or sister be naked, and in lack of daily food, and
to Jewish-Christians might well use
the word with reference not only to
the fundamental doctrine of the
Jewish Creed, cf. v. 19, but also with
reference to specific Christian doc-
trine. But it could not at all events
be a mere theoretical or intellectual
faith in which we ought to pray,
1. 6, in which the poor are rich, ii. 5,
and which cannot coexist ^rith 're-
spect of persons.'
can that faith save him? R.V.,
i.e. such faith as this (article before
the noun in the original). But
others take the article not as having
the force of a demonstrative pronoun,
but as simply referring to that which
has been already mentioned, 'if a
man say that he has faith.'
save him, i.e. in the final judg-
ment ; cf. V. 13. See also note on
i 21.
15. If, R.V. The worthlessness
of a faith without works is compared
with a pity which consists in mere
words without corresponding deeds,
and this connection is brought out
by the omission of the conjunction
'but' retained by A.V. at the be-
ginning of the verse ; if the con-
junction is read, we should simply
have a parallel case of the difference
between profession and reality, and
not an illustration of the principle
stated in the preceding verse.
'brother or sister, reminding them
of their relationship in Christ, and
of the claims made upon them
through their union in Him ; cf. i. 2.
Such a scene may have actually
passed before St .James's notice, or
he may according to his wont be
enforcing his teaching by some vivid
and imaginary picture.
naked. The word is used both in
Biblical and classical Greek of those
ill-clad, as well as of those literally
naked (cf. nudus in Latin) ; here
perhaps the context r. 16 may point
to the former meaning. In the O.T.
the phraseology of Job xxxi. 19, 20,
Isaiah Iviii. 7 recurs to the mind in
connection with the picture given
by St James. In the latter passage
the prophet describes the fulfilment
of the true fast acceptable to God,
viz. by works of mercy, in feeding
the hungry and clothing the naked.
A striking passage, Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs, Zab. 7, af-
fords a similarity in its phraseology,
but a contrast in its contents, to the
picture here drawn by St James : ' I
saw a man in distress naked in the
winter, and being moved with com-
passion towards him I stole a gar-
ment out of my house secretly and
gave it to him. And do you, my
children, have compassion upon all
without distinction, and give to each
with a good haart of that which God
gives to you. But if ye have
nothing on occasion to give to the
needy, sympathise with him in heart-
felt compassion.' So ibid. Iss. 7,
'With every sufferer I sighed, and
gave my bread to the poor; I eat
not alone.'
Both our Lord's words. Matt. xxv.
36, 43, and the solemn scene of the
Last Judgment may well have been
present to the mind of St James,
especially when we remember that
his thoughts were dwelling upon
mercy and judgment.
in lack of. Cf. i, 4, 5, where the
same Greek is so translated. A.V.
follows Tyndale.
daily food ; better of the day's
supply of food, indicating more
sharply the indigence which failed
to obtain a supply for even a single
day. So in Dion. Hal. Ant. vin. 41,
we have the picture of a wretched
II. 16]
JAMES
55
one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and
filled ; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the
brother, or perhaps a wish that the
poor might be clothed and fed, al-
though it is no doubt possible to
take them as in the middle voice
and to reuder 'warm yourselves,
feed yourselves.'
In either case the point of com-
parison with what follows about
faith and works is marked if we
remember that the words doubtless
expressed advice excellent in sound,
but that there was no corresponding
effort to make it effectual.
It has been well said that there
is plenty of this 'be ye warmed'
now-a-days, plenty of theoretical and
excellent advice, but no correspond-
ing effort to translate theory into
practice, if trouble or effort of any
real kind is involved.
filled, in earlier Greek of feeding
or fattening animals with fodder,
in comedy and in colloquial Greek
of men feasting or eating ; in N.T.
always of eating or satisfying with
food, without the earlier associations;
cf. Matt. V. 6 ; Mark vii. 27, 28 ; so
in Lxx and modern Greek (Ken-
nedy).
and yet ye give them not ; second
person plural, perhaps from the
preceding 'of you' also in the plural,
or because the plural is often used
after an indefinite singular ; in thus
generalising his words St James
would remind his readers that the
poor and needy belonged to the
Church, that they were the brethren
of all.
the things needful. Only here in
N.T., but used in classical writings ;
in 3 Mace. vi. 30 the word is used of
man who from his own wealth can-
not procure provision for even a
single day (Wetstein). The render-
ing needful, necessary, adopted by
von Soden, is too general for the
thought which the word would em-
phasise. Reference may also be
made to Nestle's Art. 'Lord's Prayer,'
Encycl. Bibl. in. 2820 ^
16. and one cf you say; quite
generally, and not to be limited as
if spoken only by those who thought
faith sufficient for salvation ; lit.
'some one from among you.' The
words may help to mark the fact that
the person represented as speaking is
thought of as belonging to the circle
of believers. Cf. 1 John iii. 17, 18.
Go in peace; Judg. xviii. 6; Acts
xvi. 36 (2 Kings v. 19); cf Tobit x.
13. This and the following verbs may
be used in contempt or in mockery
and insult, although we are not
bound to suppose that James would
have pictured Christians as so ut-
terly hard-hearted and impervious
to pity ; the expressions are rather
formulae of good wishes and well-
meaning, but merely phrases and
nothing more, phrases which amount-
ed to a cold and selfish rejection,
although couched in words which
sounded warm and considerate ;
St James was a master of irony.
he ye warmed and filled. So A.
and R.V., corresponding to the two
above-mentioned wants and needs,
V. 15. If the verbs are thus con-
strued as in the passive (cf. Job
xxxi. 20 ; Hag. i. 6), they express as
it were a command, issued in the
haste to be rid of this troublesome
1 Dr Chase makes the interesting suggestion that we have here a reminiscence
of the petition for ' the bread of the day ' in the Lord's Prayer, and in the words
•the things needful to the body' a very early comment on the scope of that
petition, The Lord's Prayer in the Early Church, p. 48.
56
JAMES
[II. 16-19
17 body ; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it have not
18 works, is dead in itself. ^Yea, a man will say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works : shew me thy faith apart from thy
19 works, and I by my works will shew thee my faith. Thou
belie vest that ^God is one: thou doest well: the ^devils
^ Or, But some one will say
* Some ancient authorities read there is one Ood.
* Gr. demons.
things needful for feasting; here the
food and raiment referred to; cf.
1 Tim. vi. 8.
tchat doth it profit? repeated
perhaps for emphasis, and to arrest
attention.
1 7. Eeen so faith ...is dead in itself,
RV. The A.V. 'dead being alone'
does not express the true significance
of the Greek. Such faith may be
present like the corpse of a man, but
it haa no life, it is inwardly dead as
well as outwardly inoperative.
18. Yea, a man will say, R.V.,
and in marg., but some one will say.
Often explained as marking even
more definitely the introduction of
an objector (cf. Rom. xi. 19 ; 1 Cor.
XV. 35), who maintains that both
faith and works represent forms of
pure religion each of which may be
acceptable with God. But if this
was the force of the words the
objector would naturally say to
St James, 'I have faith and thou
hast works,' instead of saying as in
the text, * thou hast faith and I have
works.'
Another suggested explanation is
that a note of interrogation should
be placed after the first clause which
would then read ' hast thou faith ? '
'thou who thus speakest so slight-
ingly of it?' and then this objector
is answered in the following words
' but at any rate I have works,' and
he is called upon to show the faith
to which he lays claim in the ques-
tion ' hast thou faith ? ' In this view
the objector is the same person
who is signified in ». 14 as saying
that he has faith and not works.
But on the other hand it is m-ged
that no objector is introduced, but
that the writer puts himself into the
background, or in accordance with
the dramatic vividness of the letter,
as we sometimes avail ourselves of
a similar turn of speech, supposes
another to speak, 'Nay (or. Yea), one
may say,' etc. — faith without works
has been shown to be profitless; but
it is possible to go even further
than this and maintain that even its
very existence stands in need of
proof.
apart from. The meaning is made
much plainer by this rendering here
and vv. 20, 26. The same may be said
of several other passages where the
R.V. translates the same adverb in
a similar manner ; see e.g. John xv.
5 ; Rom. iii. 21, 28, iv. 6; Ephes. ii. 12;
Heb. xi. 40. A.V. reads in the marg.
' by thy works ' ; but this is not well
supported, and if retained must be
taken of course ironically. It is also
to be noted that the personal pro-
nouns are omitted in R.V. text,
although retained in italics in the
English, ' apart from thy works, and
I by my works will show thee Tny
faith.'
19. 77iou believest that God i»
one, R.V. text, in marg. 'there is
one God' as A.V. The former ren-
dering seems best as expressing the
primary article of the Jewish Creed;
II. 19, 20]
JAMES
57
20 also believe, and shudder. But wilt thou know, 0 vain
cf. Deut. vi. 4; Mark xii. 29 ; and also
Herraas, Aland, i, 1, 'First of all
believe that God is one ' (Dr Taylor's
edit, in loco, S.P.C.K. 1903). In
the Mss. there is considerable vari-
ation in the order of the words, but
ia some of the most important the
word for 'one' stands first, apparently
so Indicating that the unity of God
is the chief point to be emphasised.
For Christians too, ' I believe in one
God,' is the first truth of revealed
religion, and it stands first in the
Nicene Creed ; cf. I Cor. viii. 6 ;
Ephes. iv. 6.
On the primary and vital import-
ance attached by the Jew to this
declaration of belief, see Taylor,
Sayings of the Jewish Fathers,
pp. 38, 116, and c£ Philo, Leg. ad C.
M. 2, p. 562. Thus, e.g., ' Whosoever
prolongs the utterance of the word
One (Deut. vi. 4) shall have his days
and years prolonged to him ' (Bera-
khoth, f. 13 6); so too Josephus,
Ant. ni. 5, remarks that the First
Word teaches that God is One. Of
the famous Rabbi Akiba it is related
that when undergoing the extreme
tortures of a martyr's death he be-
gan reciting his last prayer, and as
he reached the closing word in the
distinguishing formula of the O.T.
religion, ' Hear, O Israel, the Lord
thy God is one,^ he yielded up his
breath. His tormentors were amazed
at his constancy, and it is no wonder
that in Jewish legend a voice from
heaven was heard, ' Blessed art thou,
for thy soul and the word One left
thy body together ' (Edersheim's His-
tory of the Jewish Nation, p. 220).
In writing to Jewish-Christians
there is nothing strange in the fact
that St James should thus refer to a
belief which was the great pride and
confidence of the Jew, and should
thus rebuke a reliance on mere
orthodoxy. If it is urged that it is
impossible to suppose that amongst
Jewish-Christians monotheism would
be referred to as a prominent article
of their specific Christian belief, we
may well ask whether the same
article would form among Gentile
Christians a more significant tenet
of Christian belief. It is best to
take the words as uttered by the
same interlocutor as in v. 18, and
they are introduced to show that
the existence of 'faith' without
'works' is not only reproveable,
but that even if it exists, so far from
being a possession which confers a
blessing, it may be productive of a
reverse result. The construction in
the original seems to show that re-
ference is made to the mere accept-
ance of an intellectual belief, and
not to a belief denoting loyalty and
trust
By some editors, as by W.H., the
words are pointed interrogatively,
'Thou believest that there is one
God ? ' well and good.
thou doest well. So far, so well ;
not necessarily an ironical phrase (cf.
V. 8, Mark xii. 32), but the context,
with its sarcasm in the words 'be-
lieve' and 'shudder,' may point to
an ironical meaning here.
the devils also believe. The word in
the original is rendered in R.V.
marg. 'demons.' In classical Greek
the word might be used of spiritual
beings who were inferior to God and
yet superior to men, and that too in
both a bad and good sense ; cf.
Acts xvii. 18. In the LXX the word
is used generally for the demons re-
garded as deities of the heathen,
and in support of this meaning here
58
JAMES
[II. 19, 20
it is urged that such demons would
know well that there was only one
true God and that they were no tnie
deities. But it is best to take the
word in its usual N.T. sense of evil
spirits subjected to Satan who enter
into and possess men ; and thus we
may connect this passage ^vith the
passages in the Gospels which tell us
not only of the belief but also of the
terror of the demons, in the presence
of the Son of God: Mark v. 7;
Matt. viii. 29 ; Luke iv, 41 (cf. Acts
xix. 15) ; see further Introd. p. xviii.
According to some statements of
later Jemsh theology the fallen
angels and the daughters of men
begat giants from whose souls the
spirits went forth to destroy without
incurring condemnation mitil the
great judgment over the fallen angels
and the godless, Enoch, xv. 9-12,
xvi. 1 ; cf Book of Jubilees, x. 5^.
shudder. This belief in the exist-
ence of one true God only begets
fear and trembling and a horrible
dread The word is properly to
bristle, to stiffen, as of the hair
standing on end, Job iv. 15, but also
used to express awe or terror in a
high degree, Dan. vii. 15; 4 Mace.
xiv. 9, xvii. 7. It is used in classical
writers exactly as above in Job, so
by Hesiod and PlutarcL The Testa-
ment of Abraham, xvi. affords a
striking instance of this employment
of the word ; ' Michael said to Death :
Come hither, the Lord of creation,
the immortal King calls thee, and
Death when he heard shuddered...
and came in great fear and stood
before the invisible Father, shud-
dering and groaning and trembUng.'
Josephus using the cognate verbal
adjective speaks of 'the dreadful
name of God,' B. J. v. 10. 3; and the
same word is found on a papyrus of
the fourth century a.d. in which a
demon is invoked 'by the dreadful
names,' Deissmann, Bible Studies,
p. 288, E.T. What an impression
this verse of St James made upon
early Christian literature is seen by
the reference to it in Justin Martyr,
Try/j/tOjXlix., where he speaks of even
the demons ' shuddering ' at Christ ;
in Clem. Alex. Strom, v. p. 724,
where the demons and a company
of gods are said ' to shudder at ' and
fear God ; in Lactantius, De Ira, 23,
where earth and heaven and sea and
the infernal realms ' shudder at ' God,
the King and Creator of all.
The word may well refer to the
demons in the narratives of the
Gospels and their fear of immediate
torments — they cried out.
St James does not work out the
comparison between the 'faith' of
the demons and that which he is
considering, but he says enough to
show that the fruit of the faith of
the demons is only fear, they are not
urged by their belief in God to trust
or service or thanks, their knowledge
of God's existence and presence does
not influence them to enter into a
right relationship with Him ; so too
for the Christian a bare faith, a mere
acknowledgment of the truth of the
first article of the Creed, leads to
nothing and profits nothing. At the
same time it is of course quite
possible that St James may intend
^ A striking parallel to the thought expressed in Matt. viii. 29, ' to
torment us before the time.' Thus in Enoch, xvi. 1, we read, ' in the days of
murder and of destruction and of the death of the giants when the spirits have
gone forth from the souls of their flesh, in order to destroy without incurring
judgment — thus will they destroy until the day when the great consummation
of the great world be consummated over the watchers and the godless.'
II. 20, 21]
JAMES
59
21 man, that faith apart from
his reference to the 'faith' of the
demons to show that 'belief could
exist without being of such a kind
as to save, v. 14 ; or that as the
demons tremble at the thought of
judgment to come, so for the Chris-
tian a mere intellectual belief will
result in fear and trembling and
nothing more — a poor result indeed !
It may be fairly said that if
St James had in mind St Paul's
doctrine of justification it would be
a strange way to meet it mth the
argument before us — the Pauline
conception of justifying faith had
its object, not in the unity of God,
but in Christ, His Death and Re-
surrection.
20. A third ground of support
for this view of the uselessness of
faith without works. The question
may be referred to the interlocutor
of the previous verses, or St James
may speak again from this point in
his own name.
wilt thou know? lit. dost thou
wish to know ? the question is best
taken as expressing a correction, or
perhaps to arrest attention, or in-
troduce a new argument (cf. 2 Cor.
viii. 1), at the same time perhaps
intimating a certain perversity or
reluctance on the part of the person
addressed ; on the part of the ques-
tioner the words express both con-
fidence, 'dost thou wish for a decisive
proof?' and at the same time in-
dignation.
O vain man; in lxx the adjec-
tive is used of worthless persons,
and of vain, worthless words ; here
of a man who makes great claims to
the possession of faith and yet is
void of all that follows from a true
works is barren? Was not
faith, like the Latin vanus. The
word is often taken as an equivalent
of Raca, Matt. v. 22 (in the Syriac
it is simply debilis), and if so it is a
proof that the early Christians did
not regard themselves bound to keep
the Sermon on the Mount in the
letter, whilst they would of course
guard against the spirit of hatred.
O, sometimes of admonition, but
more frequently of reproof
that faith apart from works is
barren ? On ' apart from ' see above,
V. 18. Barren, lit. idle (without
work), doing nothing^; and this
meaning is most frequent in the
N.T., but in 2 Pet. i. 8 the word is
rendered 'barren' in A.V. It is
often used of things from which no
profit is derived, although they
should be productive, cf. Wisd. xiv. 5
so here faith without works is de-
scribed as unproductive. Possibly
the word may have here the meaning
of idle, i.e. shunning the work which
it ought to perform. It is suggested
that there may be a play on words,
'apart from works' — 'without work'
(von Soden).
It is also urged with much plausi-
bility that James is not maintaining
that an inoperative faith produces
no works (for this would need no
proof), but no salvation, and such a
faith could not save, cf v. 14, and
thus in this sense he describes this
' faith ' as barren.
Such a thought may well have
been connected with the word, but
primarily the context seems to con-
nect it with deeds and actions.
21. The example first chosen was
at once the most familiar and the
most authoritative ; Rom. iv. 1 ; Gal.
1 This is the best supported readinp;. ' Dead ' A.V, might easily have been
introduced for conformity with 17 and 26.
60
JAMES
[ll. 21
Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered
iii. 6; Heb. xi. 17; and especially in
relation to the present passages,
1 Mace. ii. 52 ; Eccliis. xliv. 20; Wisd.
X. 5 ; Book nf Jubilees, xvii-xix.
Abraham our father. The title at
least suggests that the readers were
Jews; Introd.pp.xi.,xii.; of. Matt. iii.
9; Sayings of the Jeicish Fathers,
V. 4. 9, where the same title is thrice
given to Abraham. The thought of
Abraham as 'the father of believers'
is specifically Pauline. The form of
the question as given in the original
would seem to indicate that an anti-
Pauline polemic could not have been
intended ; if so, it would have been
necessary to prove as against Rom. iv.
that Abraham was justified by works,
whereas here this is taken for granted
even by opponents.
justified. The simplest plan is to
consider this much discussed term
in the light of the usage of the verb
'to justify' in the O.T. and other
Jewish literature. This is the usage
which, we may well believe, would
have been present to the mind of a
man like St James, and which would
be likely to commend itself to the
intelligence of his Jewish readers.
Considered from this point of view
it would seem that the word in the
O.T., Lxx, and Apocr. does not mean
' to make righteous,' any more than
it does in classical usage, but to
declare, or to show to be righteous.
It may be further said to have a
forensic or judicial sense in that it
is used of declaring righteous by the
recognition of a man's innocence or
liis absolution from guilt ; cf. Deut.
XXV. 1 ; 1 Kings viii. 32. The same
force and meaning attach to the
verb in other Jewish literature; cf.
Wisdom vi. 10, ' they that keep holi-
ness shall be judged holy,' i.e. shall
be regarded as holy ; cf. also Exod.
xxiii. 7 ; Ecclus. xiii. 22 ; xlii. 2
(2 Esdras iv. 18, xii. 7). In the Psalms
of Solomon the verb frequently
occurs, but with the meaning of ' to
vindicate as just' the character of
God ; so too in 2 Esdras x. 16, Apoc.
Baruch, Ixxviii. 5 (cf. Ps. li. 4), the
same application of the verb is found.
The form of the verb in Greek might
seem at first sight to reqiure the
meaning 'to make righteous,' as in
the case of verbs of similar ending,
'to make blind,' 'to make golden.'
But it is to be noticed that this
efficient signification belongs to this
class of verbs when they are derived
from an adjective with a physical
meaning, and not, as in the case
before us, from an adjective with a
moral meaning.
When we turn to the N.T. we find
that the meaning of the verb is still
determined to a large extent by its
employment in the lxx. As instances
we may take Matt. xii. 37, 'for by
thy words thou shalt be justified
and by thy words thou shalt be con-
demned ' (cf. Deut. XXV. 1 ; 2 Chron.
vi. 23) ; or Luke vii. 29, 'they justified
God,' i.e. acknowledged, or declared
God to be righteous ; and for similar
undoubted uses of the verb in the
same sense as is advocated above we
may instance Matt. xi. 19 ; Luke vii.
35, X. 29, xvL 15, xviii. 14 ; Rom. ii. 13
(marg. R.V. 'accounted righteous');
1 Tim. iii. 16 (the apparent exception
in the use of the verb by T.R. in
Rev. xxii. 1 1 is rectified in the proper
reading). Whether St James has in
view the future judgment, when
sentence will be passed by God upon
a man's conduct as a whole, or
whether he views the two instances
which he adduces in relation only to
II. 21, 22]
JAMES
61
22 up Isaac his son upon the altar ? ^Thou seest that faith
^ Or, /Seest thou... perfect}
their immediate effect, the meaning
of the verb is still the same; i.e.
'was not Abraham declared, or
shown to be righteous?' (see further
Hastings' B. D., Art. 'Justification';
Sanday and Headlam, Romans, de-
tached note on i. 17 ; and Beyschlag
in Meyer's Commentary on the pas-
sage before us).
by works. The context confines the
phrase to one specific act, but the
plural is used as signifying the cate-
gory which is here under considera-
tion— ' faith ' . . . ' works ' ; cf. for the
construction Matt. xii. 37. Others
take it as including those other works
of faithful Abraham, which reached
their highest point in the sacrifice
of Isaac.
in that he offered up., causal par-
ticiple; the word is used of presenting
as a priestly act, cf. Isaiah Ivii. 6;
Heb. vii. 27, xiii. 15 ; 1 Pet. ii. 5;
and sometimes with the words ' upon
the altar' added, e.g. Gen. viii. 20;
Lev. xiv. 20; 2 Chron. xxix. 27,
etc. With the language here cf
Gen. xxii. 9. The word here em-
ployed for 'altar' is not found in
classical writers, but it is used in lxx,
Philo, Josephus. In the lxx it is
characteristically the altar of God,
although sometimes used of idol
altars. For the word see Westcott,
Hebrews, p. 453, and for the word
for offering up cf the same writer
on Heb. vii. 27. The phrase here
may mean simply to bring as an
oSering to the altar.
Isaac his son; Isaac named to
show and to emphasise the greatness
of the sacrifice. St James may here
be toUowing a current Jewish view
contained in the remarkable passage
1 Mace. iL 62, *was not Abraham
found faithful in temptation, and it
was reckoned to him for righteous-
ness?' as in Gen. xxii. nothing is
said of the justification of Abraham,
whilst in Gen. xv. 6 his belief in the
Divine promise of a countless seed
is reckoned for righteousness (see
below on v. 23). But there are ex-
pressions in Gen. xxii., e.g. vc. 12, 16,
18, which may well be regarded as
a 'justification' of Abraham before
God, although as in the case of Rahab
no verbal declaration of his being
justified is needed (see below also
in V. 23). Here again it has been
well pointed out that the passage is
evidently not concerned with justi-
fication as in Rom. iv. 5, where God
is spoken of as justifying the ungodly
by something which the man has not
in himself, but with the simple pre-
Pauline sense of the word, a decla-
ration of what the man actually
is : 'he that doeth righteousness is
righteous.' Such usage is neither
Pauline nor anti-Pauline; but rather
stands outside any conscious relation
to the teaching of St Paul. What
St James is concerned to show is
that the faith of Abraham is no mere
barren profession, but an active prin-
ciple, as against the perversions of
the Rabbis and the religious eiter-
nahsm of the Pharisees.
22. Thou seest, R.V., better per-
haps than a question as in marg. and
A.V. Either reading makes good
sense. If the question form is re-
tained it is quite in accordance >vith
the stii-ring lively manner of tlio
whole paragraph. But if R.V. text
is retained, the words form an answer
to the preceding verse, and the
positive assertion here and in v. 24
follows naturally upon the 'wilt thou
63
JAMES
[ll. 22, 23
wrought with his works, and by works was faith made
23 perfect ; and the scripture was fulfilled which saith. And
know ? ' of V. 20. This very plainly
shows that St James had no intention
of depreciating the faith of Abraham
which was testified to alike by Scrip-
ture and by tradition. Neither faith
nor works alone justified Abraham
but the cooperation of the two ; this
is the point upon which St James
insists.
Th'M seest that, R.V., not ' how ' as
in A.V. It is not to the method as
A.V. might suggest but to the fact
of the cooperation that attention is
called,
wrought with, rather, 'was all
along cooperating with, imperf. tense,
' cooperabatur ' Vulg. The verb oc-
curs not only in the N.T. and lxx,
but in two instances in Test, of the
xii. Patriarchs, Iss. 3, Gad 4^
In ». 21 a belief without works was
characterised as ' idle,' i.e. doing no
work, because it could not save ; so
here the thought is emphasised that
the belief of Abraham is not idle, in-
active, but active for his justification
(in the original the two words idle,
without works wrought with,
worked with are contrasted).
and hy works was faith made
perfect; cf. i. 3, 15. It has well been
urged that on the one hand St James
cannot mean that the previously im-
perfect faith is perfected by works,
as by something added to it from
■without, since faith is the motive of
works; nor on the other hand can
he mean that faith is already per-
fected before works, and merely
shows itself by works; but that since
Abraham's faith in God and his active
obedience went hand in hand, the
former was strengthened by each
new test to which it was exposed in
the exercise of the latter, until in
the final test of obedience in the
offering of Isaac, and in the en-
durance of that 'trial,' it attained
its due perfection (Beyschlag)'-.
23. and the scripture was fulfil-
led; cf. Gen. XV. 6, lxx Thefulfilment
lay in the fact that in Abraham's
offering up of Isaac there was the
supreme act of a faith, which had
at first been imperfect; cf. Gen. xv. 8,
'And he said, O Lord God, whereby
shall I know that I shall inherit it ? '
This sacrifice of Isaac had apparently
been connected already in Jevrish
thought with Gen. xv. 6, in 1 Mace,
ii. 52. St Paul in using the same
quotation in Rom. iv. 2 places it in
connection with the birth and not
with the sacrifice of Isaac, Rom. iv.
16-22, as in the original passage in
Genesis. St Paul also uses the same
passage in apparent contradiction to
St James, when he writes Rom. iv. 2,
Tor if Abraham was justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory; but
not toward God.' But St James no
less than St Paul would have con-
demned ' a boasting ' on the part of
those who claimed to be justified by
works, Rom. iv. 2, and St James no
less than St Paul would not have rec-
koned a faith for righteousness which
was the mere barren profession of
orthodoxy, in the way that the mere
citation of Gen. xv. 6 was apparently
* The other reading, in some mss., the present tense, was probably introdaced
for conformity with the present ' seest.'
2 Bengel's words are to be noted, 'Abraham returned from the sacrifice much
more perfect in faith than he had approached it.'
II. 23, 24]
JAMES
63
Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for
24 righteousness ; and he was called the friend of God. Ye
often employed amongst the Jews,
but a faith in which a man waxed
strong and gave glory to God, being
fully assured that what He had pro-
mised He was able also to perform :
Rom. iv. 21 ; see also Introd. p. xlv.
believed God, not simply believed
that God existed, as a mere intel-
lectual tenet; cf. v. 19 (Abraham's
faith led him not simply credere
Deum but credere Deo).
and it was reckoned unto him for
righteousyiess. The same phrase is
found in Psal. c\i. 31 of the zeal of
Phinehas, and also, as we have seen,
in 1 Mace. ii. 52 of the faithfulness of
Abraham under temptation ; see also
the references to Book of Jubilees
below. The translation 'reckoned'
gives correctly the force of the verb
which is often used in Lxx to express
what is equivalent to, having the like
force and weight as something men-
tioned. The word 'righteousness'
is used as it is used by our Lord in
the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. v.
20, and by St John, 1 John iii. 7.
St James may well have known
of the ten temptations of Abraham
which are mentioned in Jewish tra-
dition (cf. Numb. xiv. 22), but it
cannot be said that such knowledge
is certainly intimated in our text,
although according to one list, and
that the most general, of these temp-
tations the sacrifice of Isaac as the
supreme test stood tenth and last.
It is however worth noting that
twice in the Book of Jubilees Abra-
ham is described as faithful, and of
an enduring spirit at the close of the
description of his ten temptations,
and that it is further said that he
was called, as a result of this proba-
tion, the friend of God (see ch. xvii.
and xix.), and was so designated on
the heavenly tablets. Further, in
this same Book of Jitbilees (ch. xxx.),
Simeon and Levi are praised for
their slaughter of the Shechemites,
Gen. xxxiv., and of this action it is
said that 'it was reckoned to them
for righteousness,' and Levi is de-
scribed as written, like Abraham, on
the heavenly tablets, as a righteous
man and a friend of God. If there-
fore Jewish tradition laid stress upon
the faith of Abraham (see above, and
Lightfoot, Gal. p. 162) there is also
evidence that it was not forgetful
of the actions of Abraham, and St
James might well say that Gen. xv.
6 was fulfilled in a faith which was
not merely a belief of the intellect, but
which worked by love, a faith made
perfect by the self-sacrifice of love in
obedience to a higher love; cf. 'with
ten temptations was Abraham our
father tempted, and he withstood
them all : to show how great was
the love of Abraham our father';
see Sayings of the Jewish Fathers,
V. 4.
and he was called, etc. The words
do not of course belong to the quo-
tation, but they are added to the
argument, as if the speaker would
add 'and on this account he was
called,' etc. The verb translated
'called,' has sometimes been taken
to indicate here prestige, recognition
by others, as e.g. in Luke L 32, 76.
the friend of God. The title is
not found in Genesis, either Heb. or
LXX, but in 2 Chron. xx. 7, Isaiali
xli. 8, and LXX of Dan. iii. 35 we
have a word, which is used to
denote a more intimate relation-
ship than the ordinary word for
companion, translated by ' friend '
in A. and R.V. (Vulg. amicus), with
reference to Abraham's relationship
64
JAMES
[ll. 24
see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.
to God ; in lxx 'thy beloved,' 2 Chron.
XX. 7, Dan. u.s.; 'whom I loved,'
Isaiah xli. 8.
But in Gen. xviii. 17, 'Shall I hide
from Abraham?' etc., the lxx add
after 'from Abraham' the words 'my
son,' and this verse is quoted by
Philo in one place as if it so ran.
Yet in another place Philo in quoting
the same passage has 'from Abraham
my friend.' It would therefore seem
likely that this latter title was a
familiar one amongst Jews ; of. Book
of Jubilees, xix. 9 (xxx. 20, 21), where
Abraham is said to be inscribed in
the heavenly tablets as a friend of
God*. It is also plain that the title
is to be explained as of one ' whom
God loved,' not as one 'who loved
God.' In Wisdom vii. 27 it is likely
enough that the writer is using the
expi-ession 'friends of God' in the
same manner as it is used by Plato,
Legg. iv. 8, and other philosophers,
and by Philo, Frog. ii. p. 652, where
he writes that every wise man
is a friend of God (cf Sayings of
the Jewish Fathers, vi. 1, where of
the man busied in the Law it is said
that 'he is called friend, beloved:
loves God, loves mankind '). In Clem.
Rom. the phrase is foimd twice. Cor.
X. 1, xvii. 2, and once in Iren. Adv.
Haer. iv. 16. 2, where in each place
the reference is probably to this
passage in St James; Jerome also,
on Judith viii. 22, uses the same
expression of Abraham, how he was
made the friend of God. The familiar
use of this same title in the East has
often been commented on, and a
striking instance of its employment
is given by Dean Stanley in connec-
tion with the visit of the present
King, Edward VII, then Prince of
Wales, to the Shrine of Abraham,
Jewish Church, i. 430.
A valuable note on 'The Friend
of God' by the German writer
Dr Nestle will be found in the Ex-
pository Times, Oct 1903.
24. Ye see that by works a man
is justified; ' ye see,' best taken as
indie, (and not imper. or interroga-
tive), as affinning a conclusion from
the previous argument ; the plural
is used because no longer is any
'vain man' addressed as an oppo-
nent, but the Christian brethren.
If the exact phrases ' to be justi-
fied by works ' or ' by faith ' are not
found previous to St James and St
Paul, yet there are passages in Jewish
or Jewish-Christian literature which
may suggest that such language was
in use. With regard to the doctrine
of justification by works, a notable
passage meets us in The Testament
of Abraham, xiii. : 'After death
the archangel tests men's works by
fire, and if the fire burns up a man's
work, the angel of judgment carries
him away to the place of sinners ;
but if the fire does not touch his
work, then he is justified, and the
angel of righteousness carries him
to be saved in the lot of the just.'
So too in a remarkable passage in
2 Esdras ix. 7, a passage possibly
dating some quarter of a century or
so before the birth of Christ, we
find that a man is described as
able to be saved 'by his works
or by the faith with which he be-
lieved' (although elsewhere, xiii. 7,
salvation appeai-s to depend on
works and faith combined). And
in the Apocalypse of Baruch,
representing the standpoint of
orthodox Judaism in the first
1 The words ' my friend' or ' thy friend ' (i.e. God's) occur again and again
in the Jewish- Christian Testament of Abraham.
11. 25]
JAMES
65
25 And in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified
century of our era, the righteous
are represented as saved by their
works, li. 7, as justified by the law,
li. 3, and righteousness is described
as 'by the law,' Ixvii. 6^
But with this close connection
between works and the righteous-
ness of the law, which is so character-
istic of Baruch, it may be justly
held that St Paul would be at home,
whilst on the other hand St James,
although no doubt familiar with the
teaching, seems to have had some-
thing much more simple in mind.
He is not thinking of the works of
the law as such ; in other words he
is not writing 'in the interests of
Judaism but of morality ' ; and
St Paul no less than St James could
speak of a 'faith working through
love,' Gal. v. 6 ; ' these words bridge
over the gulf,' wTites Bishop Light-
foot, 'which seems to separate the
language of St Paul and St James.
Both assert a principle of practical
energy, as opposed to a barren
inactive theory' (cf. also St Paul's
language, Rom. ii. 13 and 17fF.)-
is justified {ci. v. 21), i.e. is declared
or accounted righteous.
and not only hy faith, R.V. The
stress is on the word 'only.' St
James by no means denies the value
of faith, as we have seen throughout,
nor could he vrith Gen. xv. 6 before
him have refused to recognise it;
nor does he deny that faith contri-
butes to justification ; but it must
be a right faith, not a faith apart
from works, but a faith combined
with works, as in 2 Esdras xiii. 23,
'God will guard those who have
works and faith in the Most Mighty.'
Nor is there any contradiction be-
tween this passage and Rom. iii. 28
for St James is speaking here of
works, and not of 'works of the law'
as St Paul there ; St James is con-
sidering faith as concerned with the
recognition or practical denial of
one God, St Paul is considering it
as the highest motive-principle of
the spiritual life 2.
25. And in like manner, R.V.
Not contrasting the second example
with that of Abraham, but showing
that equally in this case justification
was the result of works and not only
of faith. The further connecting
'also' indicates an advance in the
argument by the production of a
still more decisive proof; cf v. 21.
Eahah the harlot. There is no
occasion to take the word in other
than its ordinary sense, although
not only Josephus, Ant. v. 1. 2, 7,
describes her as an inn-keeper, but
St Chrysostom and other writers, as
e.g. Grotius, have tried to give a
milder interpretation to the word
(Lightfoot, Clement of Rome, App.
p. 413).
Not only is a woman named be-
longing to an alien race, but a weak
and erring woman {mulieris crimi-
nosae, mulieris alienigcnae, Bcde;
see also Ambrose on Psalm xxxvii.3).
And although the same law prevailed
in her case as in Abraham's, viz.
that of justification by works, yet
St James mny well have chosen her,
both as a woman and as an alien, as
a9"ording the most telling illustration
of the breadth of the law in question.
No doubt in Jewish tradition Rahab
was highly celebrated. She was one
1 Apocalypse of Baruch, Ixx., Ixxxi., and pp. 20, .SI, edit. Dr Charles.
* Cf. Dr Charles, u.s. p. 26, and Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 164, on 'The faith
of Abraham.'
K.
66 JAMES [ii. 25
by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent
of the four great beauties, classed
with Sarah, Abigail, Esther; accord-
ing to one tradition she became the
wife of Joshua, according to another
the ancestress of eight prophets and
ten priests, Huldah the prophetess
being ranked amongst her descend-
ants, Megillah, 6. 14. 1. Moreover,
the incident referred to here by
St James had a place also in Jewish
literature, as e.g. where Rahab prays
for forgiveness for three sins because
she can name three good works, in
that she had let down the spies at
her own risk by a cord through the
window, on the wall, Mechilta on
Exod. xviii. 1. All this may fairly
help to show that St James might
easily have selected a person so
celebrated, and there is certainly
no need to suppose that the wi'iter
of our Epistle must have bor-
rowed from Heb. xi. 31. In this
latter passage she is also described
as ' Rahab the harlot,' and as there
the title seems to magnify the
triumph of faith, so here the ad-
dition magnifies its working by
marking the distance between a
sinful woman and the father of the
faithful. It is not therefore neces-
sary to suppose that St James has
chosen Rahab to be an illustration
for Gentile Christians, who might
possibly read his circular letter,
while Abraham is chosen as an
illustration appealing to Jewish
Christians. In his selection of this
particular illustration it is quite
possible that we may see an indica-
tion of the Jewish and Rabbinical
training of the writer, who thus like
the Jewish doctors introduces the
name of a famous woman to show
that the woman shared in the same
conditions as those required from
the man ; Philo, e.g., mentions in
connection with Abraham the strange
illustration of Tamar as also striving
after nobility {De nobilitate, p. 108e).
Justified hij works, i.e. shown to
be righteous ; see above on v. 21.
Rahab appealed to her 'works,'
Joshua ii. 12, and the force of her
appeal was recognised, Joshua vi
17, 25 ; so Josephus, Ant. v. 1. 7,
refers Rahab's safety to her good
deed. She too had heard of 'the
works of the Lord,' Josh. ii. 9-11,
and this hearing was no mere ac-
quiescence that such a powerful God
existed, cf. tJ. 19 above, but begat
a faith and a conviction (cf. Heb. xi.
31) that He was God in heaven
above and on earth beneath, and
that what He had promised to do
He would also perform ; like Abra-
ham Rahab too ' believed God,' and
there is no contradiction when
Heb. xi. 31 refers the same action
as is mentioned here to Rahab's
faith, for it is said that by faith she
' perished not with them that were
disobedient,' i.e. her faith prompted
her to right action, to an obedient
recognition of the claims of God.
I^Ioreover, in the passage before us,
V. 26 would imply that faith also
was present in Rahab, and that that
faith was not inactive. It is inter-
esting to note how Rahab's faith in
the God of Israel led to the mercy
and kindness towards her neighbours
upon which St James has so insisted ;
cf. ii. 13, iii. 17, and Lxx, Josh. ii.
12, 14.
in that she received the mes-
sengers. The verb is only used else-
where in the N.T. by St Luke, and
in each case as here with the idea of
receiving as a guest : cf. Luke x. 38,
xix. 6; Acts xviL 7; cf. lxx, Tob. vii.
II. 25, 26]
JAMES
67
26 them out another way ? For as the body apart from the
spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
8 ; Judith xiii. 13. It is sometimes
held that the idea of receiving
secretly is contained in the word,
but it is not necessarily so, although
it might be implied from the cir-
cumstances as here ; in Heb. xi. 31
the simple verb is employed in the
sense of receiving. In Heb. xi. 31
the messengers are called spies as in
Josh. ii. 1, and in two or three mss.
and Versions of St James they are
so called, but evidently the altera-
tion has been made to accord with
the other passages named.
sent them; rather 'thrust them
out,' signifying the hastiness of the
act: cf. John ii. 15; Acts ix. 40,
xvi. 37. The word may also be
introduced not only to portray the
action with characteristic vividness,
but the zeal of Rahab and the
danger connected with it. But it
is of course quite possible that the
verb may be used with the same
simple significance as in Mark v. 40;
Matt. ix. 25.
another way, i.e. than that by
■which they had come, where danger
lay, Josh. ii. 15, 16, 22.
26. For as the body apart from
the spirit. On the rendering ' apart '
see ii. 18, 20 above. The comparison
at first seems strange, as one would
have expected that the comparison
would be inverted and that works
would coi-respond to the body and
faith to the spirit (cf. Heb. ix. 14,
where we read of 'dead works').
But St James is combating the faith
which was a mere profession, a mere
external thing; and this could only
be moved and quickened into some-
thing better by works, which might
here be fairly identified with the
animating principle, the love from
which they sprang. Others have sug-
gested that 'spirit' should be trans-
lated 'breath,' as if the words meant
that as a body is dead without any
animating breath, so is faith which
does not pass into action. But
though the word is so used in
Gen. vi. 17, Psalm cxlvi. 4, etc., it is
maintained that its N.T. usage would
not altogether warrant this inter-
pretation (cf. however 2 Thess. ii. 8 ;
Rev. xiii. 15); on the other hand,
St James does not use the word
elsewhere, and we must also re-
member his familiarity with O.T.
phraseology. Still more recently a
word signifying 'movement' has
been suggested as a conjectural
reading instead of ' spirit,' but even
if such a reading could be supported,
the sense would not be improved,
for a body 'without movement' is
not necessarily dead, since it might
be asleep or benumbed.
Perhaps, however, it is better on
the whole not to press the particular
members of the comparison, as if
the writer compared body and faith
on the one hand with spirit and
works on the other, but the relation
which exists between body and spirit
is compared with that between faith
and works ; if body and spirit are
separated death results, and so if
faith is separated from works it has
no life, it is 'dead in itself.' The
particle 'for' at the beginning of the
verse is retained by R.V. as in A.V.,
but omitted by W.II. Tlie abrupt-
ness of its omission would be quite
characteristic of the writer.
5-2
68 JAMES [III. 1
CHAPTER III.
1, 2. Another evil characteristic of the Judaism of his day and against
which St James warns his brother Christians is the desire to become
teachers, without facing with any seriousness the tremendous responsibihties
involved. In many things all err, but in nothing more than in speech ; to
be free from error in this respect would be a test of perfection and a
mastery of self. 3 — 6. As tlie horse is controlled by the little bridle
in his mouth, as the great ships are turned by a small rudder, so the man
who has command of his tongue controls, it is true, a little member, but one
which is strong enough to affect his whole nature. Like a spark which
inflames a whole forest, so the tongue can set on fire the whole round of
human life ; amongst our members it constitutes as it were a world of
imrighteousness, set on fire by Gehenna. 7 — 12. Every kind of animal
man has been able to tame, but the tongue is untameable, a restless evil
full of deadly poison. And yet with this same tongue we bless God, and we
curse men made in the image of God ; herein is a grave moral inconsistency,
and nature rebukes it on every side ; can a vine yield figs ? like root like
fruit. 13, 14. If you would be teachers be wise, and the proof of true
wisdom, like the proof of true ' religion,' is found in a man's conduct, and
in each case meekness is required ; for with bitter jealousy and faction
in the heart, a man is not helping the truth but is exalting himself.
15, 16. This means a false wisdom, a wisdom of the flesh, of the world,
of the devil, from below, not from above ; and this envying and strife issue in
confusion and every vile deed. 17, 18. Contrast with this pretentious
wisdom the true wisdom of God ; it is first of all pure, because its own
object is God, not the gratification of passion and wrath, and so it is
peaceable, gently reasonable, persuasive, winning its way because of mercy
and good works, without partiality in its favours, vrith singleness of motive
and aim ; and those who thus sow in peace, those who possessing the true
vdsdom make for peace, will have as their reward a harvest of righteousness.
III. Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we
III. 1. Be not many teachers, threatened the common life of the
R.V., i.e. Rabbis. A.V. 'masters,' Christian brotherhood. Perhaps it
whicli formerly = teachers (cf Mai. ii. may be fairly said that nowhere was
12); cf. Hastings'/).^., 'Master.' 'Do the separation of faith and works
not become many (of you) teachers ' likely to be more frequent or more
is perhaps best. The excessive eager- ofl"ensive than in that arising from
ness to gain the office of teacher or vain and empty speech on the part
rather Rabbi may be connected with of men who, while claiming to be
the same excessive estimation of instructors of the foolish, 'say and
mere external orthodoxy above moral do not.' It should also be borne in
practice. In i. 19, 26, the danger mind that the wi-iter had just been
had been referred to, and the author speaking of some glaring evils con-
now proceeds to enlarge upon it in nected with the religious life of the
estimating the various sins which 'assembly,' ii. 2, and it is therefore
III. 1, 2]
JAMES
69
2 shall receive ^heavier judgement.
1 Gr. greater.
For in many things we
reasonable to suppose that the dis-
cussion of a further and a kindred
evil would follow, an evil rife in the
Jewish synagogues, the eagerness to
be called of men Rabbi, If we re-
gard them from this point of view
the words may become a testimony
to the early date of the Epistle, and
to the likelihood that the writer not
only had Jewish-Christians in mind,
but also our Lord's words in Matt.
xxiii. 8, or some similar warning.
Jewish literature itself contains pas-
sages in which, whilst the excessive
honour paid to the Rabbi is recorded,
there is also evidence that the
warning of St James was not out
of place : the fear of the Rabbi was
sometimes placed on a level with the
fear of God ; the scholar who con-
troverts his Rab is as if he contro-
verted the Shekinah ; he who engages
in strife with his Rab is as if he
engaged in strife with the Shekinah ;
but Abtalion said, 'Ye wise, be
guarded in your words ; perchance
ye may incur the debt of exile, and
be exiled to the place of evil waters ;
and the disciples that come after
you may drink and die, and the
Name of Heaven be profaned'
(Sayings of the Jewish Fathers,
Dr Taylor, cf. pp. 14, 19, and 71 )^
The picture of the ideal repre-
sentative of the study of wisdom
is drawn for us in Ecclus. xxxix.
1-11, and the honour with which
such study was rewarded : cf Testa-
ments of the xii. Patriarchs, Levi 13,
wliere the man who teaches and
practises wisdom is described as a
sharer in the throne of the king.
'Teachers' are mentioned early in
the Church, and the title may have
passed into it from its earlier Jewish
use : cf. Acts xiii. 1 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28 ;
Eph. iv, 11 ; Didache, xiii. 2, xv. 1.
weshallreceiveheamer judgement,
R.V., and in A.V. marg. 'judgment.'
The word translated 'judgment' is
in itself a neutral word, but it is
used for the most part in the N.T.
to express an adverse judgment : cf.
Mark xii. 40 ; Luke xx. 47. In these
two passages in the Gospels the
form of the phrase is very similar to
that employed here by St James,
and we may have again as it were
an echo in the Epistle of our Lord's
words. There is of course no need
to find here any more than in
Rom. xiii. 2, or in 1 Cor. xi. 29, any
reference to eternal punishment.
The gi-aver the responsibility as a
teacher, the heavier the judgment
incurred before God, i.e. in com-
parison with those who were only
hearers 2. Although St James as-
sociates himself with other teachers
as one of themselves, and although
his exhortation is marked by the
affectionate recollection that he was
writing to his brethren, yet the
severer aspect of the subject is not
forgotten, and here as in ii. 12, 13,
v. 9, 12, the sterner issues of judg-
ment follow upon failure in duty.
In this verse the Vulgate apparently
1 See further Edersheim, Jewish Social Life, pp. 127, 137, for the high
estimation in which both Rabbis and teachers in achools were regarded, and
Weber, Judische Tlieologie, pp. 125 £f.
2 The Century Bible (Bennett) refers to Portia's words, ' I can easier teach
twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to foUow mine own
teaching,' Merchant of Venice, Act i. 2.
70
JAMES
[ill. 2, S
all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is
3 a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. Now if
we put the horses' bridles into their mouths, that they may
as an emendation reads the second
person instead of the first person
plural
2, For in many things tee all
stumble, R.V.; cf. ii. 10. The verb
has sometimes been taken to denote
the lesser sins, the weaknesses of
daily life, since the Apostle in his
humility of mind does not hesitate
to acknowledge such offences in
himself. But it is not necessai7 to
press this, and we have here pro-
bably a truth witnessed to not only
in heathen literature, but in the
O.T. and other Jewish writings : cf
1 Kings viii. 46 ; Prov. x. 19, xx. 9 ;
Eccles. V. 1, vii. 20. Reference may
be further made to such passages as
2 Esdras viii. 35, ' For in truth there
is no man among them that be born
but he hath dealt wickedly.' Taking
the words thus generally, the writer
means that as in any case we are
guilty of so many stumbles it is
specially inadvisable to strive am-
bitiously to enter upon such a pro-
vince as that of teaching, in which it
was most of all difficult to keep free
from guilt. That the Jews were
themselves aware of this danger is
plainly seen : ' Simeon his son (i.e.
of Gamaliel I.) said. All my days I
have grown up amongst the wise
and have not found ought good for
a man but silence ; not learning but
doing is the groundwork ; and whoso
multiplies words occasions sin.' So
too R. Akiba could write 'a fence
to wisdom is silence,' Sayings of the
Jewish Fathers, i. 17, and iii. 20.
If any stumbleth not in word, i.e.
not only the word of teaching and
exhortation, but in the sense of
i 19 J cf. vv. 9, 10, of speech in
general. In Ecclus. xix. 16 we read
'and who is he that hath not sinned
with his tongue V
a perfect man. See note on i 4.
The same word was used of Abraham,
Book of Jubilees, xxiii. 10; of Noah,
Gen. vi. 9, vii. 1, Ecclus. xliv. 17,
where he is called 'perfect and
righteous'; of Moses, Philo, Leg.
Alley, i. 23 (Mang. r. 83). Here the
man may be described as perfect
inasmuch as he has accomplished
the most difficult moral task. Bishop
Westcott after pointing out that the
full-gi'own man is 'perfect' as com-
pared with the child, the disciplined
Christian is 'perfect' as compared
with the uninstructed convert, adds
that 'there is also an ideal com-
pleteness answering to man's con-
stitution in his power of self-control,
James iii. 2, in his love for his fellows,
Matt. V. 48,' Hebrews, p. 135.
able to bridle the whole body also.
See i. 26. The verb suggests the
succeeding comparison, quite in the
author's cliaracteristic manner; able
etc. because he who has accomplished
the most difficult task can accom-
plish all others, i.e. can bridle all
other members of his body since he
has bridled his tongue; cf. v. 6, where
the tongue is mentioned ' among our
members.' Other interpretations,
which would regard the words ' the
whole body' %?,=tota vita, the whole
hfe, or = the company of believers,
are quite beside the mark.
3. Now if we put obey us, etc.
In R.V. these words mark the pro-
tasis, and then follows the apodosis
we turn about also: 'if we put
the bridle into the horses' mouths to
make them obey us, by so doing we
III. 3, 4]
JAMES
71
4 obey us, we turn about their m hole body also. Behold, the
ships also, though they are so great, and are driven by
rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder,
obtain the obedience not of their
head only, but of their whole body ;
in the same manner, he who can rule
his tongiie can rule his whole self.'
In some such way as this the meaning
of the writer maybe fairly expressed,
and there is no need to make the
whole verse into the protasis and
then to suppose an aposiopesis (i.e.
a breaking off of the sentence as in
Luke xix. 42 ; Mark vii 1 1 ; Acts
xxiii. 9), as if the wi-iter would say
'now if and so rule their whole
body ' — so we must also do the same,
ie. place a bridle upon our tongues
and so morally control our whole
body. Such an aposiopesis does not
seem at all natural, and the instances
cited above are certainly not similar
to the supposed instance in the
passage under consideration. The
reading of A. V. (with which cf. vv. 4, 5)
undoubtedly makes very good sense,
' Behold, in horses we use the bit for
the purpose of making them obey,
and thus control their whole body,'
but not only ms. authority but also
its difBculty would seem to decide
for the reading in R.V.^
the horses' bridles, etc., R.V. This
rendering follows the connection of
the Greek words, but in all other
E.V. we have 'the horses' mouths':
cf. Psalm xxxii. 9, 'bridles'; in A.V.
'bits' (Vulg. frena). R.V. is more
natural as taking up the word of the
preceding verse 'to bridle.' The
noun rendered 'bridle' is used es-
pecially for the bit of a bridle, but
sometimes also for a bridle or rein.
A very similar phrase to that here
used occurs in Aelian, Var. Hist.
IX. 16, and for the thought see further
next verse, and cf. Soph. Antig. 483.
Philo speaks of the easy way in
which the horse, the most spirited of
animals, is led when bridled, De
Mundi Opif. p. 19 e.
4. Behold. The word perhaps
marks little more than a vivid trans-
ition, but its frequent use in this
short Epistle (cf. v. 6, v. 4, 7, 9, 11)
is characteristic of a Hebrew vvTiter
familiar with the O.T., where a word
of the same meaning so often com-
mences a sentence.
also, or perhaps 'even.' It is
simpler perhaps to regard this verse
as continuing the thought, and not
introducing a fresh comparison, al-
though it is sometimes maintained
that in v. 3 the writer by the imagery
of the bridle in the mouth points to
the tongue as the member which the
teacher ought to control, whilst here
and in vv. 5, 6, he points rather to
the terribly destructive power of the
tongue, and to the destructive might
of the small over the great.
so great, opposed to ' a very small
rudder.' For the general imagery
cf. Enoch, ci. 4, ' And see ye not the
sailors of the ships, how their ships
are tossed to and fro by the waves,
and are shaken by the winds, and
are in sore trouble ? '
rough ninds, R.V. ; 'fierce,' A.V.,
so Tynd. (seems applicable rather to
persons and as if the word had an
ethical meaning). Vulg. has validi,
^ In this verse the reading! of A.V. is strongly supported by Mayor, but R.V.
can refer to W.H., and amongst recent commenutors to von Soden and
Beyschlag.
72 JAMES [III. 4, 5
5 whither the impulse of the steersman willeth. So the
'strong winds.' For the adj. as ap-
plied to winds parallels may be found
in Aelian, De Animal, v. 13, ix. 14,
and possibly in lxx. Pro v. xxvii. 16,
but the meaning there is doubtful
The difficulty of ' turning about ' the
ships is thus indicated by their great-
ness and by the kind of winds neces-
sary to turn them ; and so the might
of the small rudder is doubly em-
phasised.
are yet turned about. St James in
his characteristic manner takes up
the same verb as he used in o. 3;
cf. i 13, 14, ii. 14, 16, 21, 25.
rudder, R.V., andso generally here.
In A.V. 'helm,' so Tynd., but in Acts
xxvii. 40 'rudder' as here. The
helm, although properly only the
handle of the rudder, was often used
as in poetry for the whole.
the impulse of the steersman. The
word translated 'impulse' is often
found in classical Greek of the im-
pulse or eagerness to do a thing, so
too in Stoic phraseology of the move-
ments of the mind. Probably in
the only other passage in which the
word occurs in the N.T., Acts xiv. 5,
it should be similarly taken of im-
pulse or eagerness to assault, not of
the assault itself, as it is clear that
this did not actually take place. So
here it signifies the desire or eager-
ness of the steersman. Others how-
ever would take it of something
external, of the pressure of the hand
on the tiller, on the ground that it
is only by this external pressure that
the steersman actually 'turns about'
the ship. For the former meaning see
especially Trench, Syno7iyms, ii. p.
162. In A.V. the word is altogether
omitted. It is possible to take the
word ' impulse ' as referring both to
the external and internal (as Corn,
k Lapide appears to have taken
it).
the steersman, R.V. ; in A.V. with
Genev., so Tynd., Cranm., Rhem.,
'governor,'which meantin itsprimary
sense the pilot or steersman of a ship.
In the two passages where ' rudder '
occurs Wycl. has 'governayle.'
In the original the word for 'steers-
man' is not the word used specially
for the professional steersman, but
simply a participle 'he who directs,'
indicating that anyone who has com-
mand of the rudder can influence
the movement of the ship. So in
Philo the same verb is used of
directing a ship.
With regard to the imagery of
the verse, the two figures of the
horse and the ship and of their con-
trol by the bit and the helm are
found closely combined by Philo, De
Agricult. 15 (Mang. i. 311); so too
in Flaccum, 5 (Mang. ii. 521); cf.
passage in Soph, above, Antig. 332ff. ;
Plutarch De Poet. aud. p. 33 ; and
Theoph. Simoc. Ep. 70. In the last-
named passage the bridle and whip
in the one comparison, and the sail
and anchor in the other, are likened
to the means taken to direct the
tongue by speech or by silence.
In this connection reference may
be made to a passage in Arist. Quaest.
mech. 5, wherein the writer speaks
of the rudder, which is small but has
such great power that by its little
helm and by the gentle pressure of
one man the great bulk of the ship
can be moved (cf. Lucret. iv. 899).
5. The tongue is a small member,
the rudder is a very small part of the
ship, but as the latter controls the
whole vessel, so the tongue though
small can control the whole nature
of the man. The epithet 'little'
III. 5, 6]
JAMES
73
tongue also is a little member, and boasteth gi'eat things.
Behold, ^how much wood is kindled by how small a fire !
6 And the tongue is ^a fire : ^the world of iniquity among
^ Or, how great a forest ^ Or, a fire, that world of iniquity : the tongue
is among our members that which dc. * Or, that world of iniquity, the tongue,
is among our members that which d'c.
refers back to the preceding 'very
small rudder.'
boasteth great things; not meant
to express an empty boast, as the
whole passage is intended to empha-
sise the reality of the power pos-
sessed by the tongue. The tongue
though 'little' boasteth 'great' things
— the contrast is again marked. If
the expression is read as two words
in the original, as in R.V. and W.H.,
the verb is only found here in the
N.T. It does not occur at all in the
Lxx. But as one word it is found
four times in the lxx, of haughtiness
of character and bearing; cf. Psalms
xii. 3, Ixxiii. 8, 9.
hoto much wood is kindled by
hoiD small a fire ! R.V. text. This
rendering, or the marg. how great a
forest etc., gives a better and clearer
meaning to the original word than
'matter,' A.V., for the latter term
as probably used here by our trans-
lators must be regarded as archaic.
Bacon advises to 'take away the
matter ' of seditions, ' for if there be
fuell prepared, it is hard to tell
whence the spark shall come that
shall set it on fire,' Essay 15 (Skeat,
'Glossary of Bible Words'); in Ec-
clus. xxviii. 10 the word 'matter' is
similarly used, 'as the matter (i.e.
fuel) of the fire is, so it burneth,'
A. v., although it is of course possible
that the word may be used to denote
materials of any kind (cf. the Latin
materia which primarily = timber).
The rendering 'matter' is also liable
to be mistaken for one of the deri-
vative meanings of the original Greek
word, viz. the subject-matter of an
argument or discussion. On the
whole it seems best to retain the
primary sense of the original noun
and to translate it 'forest' with RV.
marg. The vivid and graphic imagery
of the fire consuming the forest is
quite characteristic of St James, and
it may have been suggested by such
passages as Psal. Ixxxii. 14 ; Isaiah
ix. 18, X, 16-18; Zech. xii. 6 (cf
also Psahns of Sol. xii. 2 ; Apoc. of
Baruch, xxxvi. 10, xxxvii.). The
contrast between the smallness of a
spark and the greatness of the confla-
gration which it caused was common
both in Jewish literature (cf its use
in Philo) and in classical, both Greek
and Latin : cf. e.g. Phokylides, 144,
'from a spark a vast wood is set
on fire.' According to the reading
adopted both by R.V. and W.H. the
same word is rendered in this verse
in two different ways, 'how great,'
'how small,' but the change in mean-
ing is determined by the context,
and, like the Latin word quantus,
the Greek word may have both mean-
ings. The Vulg. translates 'how
great' in each place, but the verb
'kindles' shows that the smallness
of the fire in its beginning is referred
to, and not the greatness of it in its
ultimate spread.
6. The two punctuations should
be carefully noted. If we render 'the
tongue is a fire, a (that) world of
iniquity,' so A.V. and R.V. marg.,
the expression 'world of iniquity'
74
JAMES
[III. 6
may be taken to mean the sum total
of iniquity. The passage often quoted
in support of this explanation, Prov.
xvii. 6, is however of doubtful mean-
ing, although it is remarkable that
the expression 'the whole world of
wealth' is found with the mention
of sins of speech in the immediate
context. A clearer parallel may be
found in the use in Latin of such
words as mare, oceanus, to express
the totality of anything. If we adopt
the punctuation of R.V. and W.H.
we may render 'the tongue is a fire ;
the world of iniquity among our mem-
bers is the tongue,' etc., i.e. among
our members, in our microcosm, the
tongue represents, or constitutes, the
unrighteous world, just as in Luke
xvi. 9 we have 'the mammon of
unrighteousness ' = the unrighteous
mammon ; and the tongue may well
be called 'a world of iniquity,' be-
cause it defiles 'the whole body.'
If the words are thus explained
there does not seem to be any force
in the objection that a confusion of
metaphors is introduced, inasmuch
as there is no world among our mem-
bers ! Moreover, this interpretation
would be quite in accordance vdth
the language of St James elsewhere.
He tells us here that the tongue,
the world of iniquity, 'defiles' the
whole body ; so in i. 27, ' the world '
(the same word in the Greek, cf. iv. 4)
is represented as that which 'defiles'
a mau\
An attempt has been made, both
in ancient and modern times, to
render the word ' world ' by another
meaning which sometimes attaches
to it, viz. ornament, embellishment ;
as if the tongue decked out iniquity
by its words, and so concealed the
real grossness of evil. But in the
passage which is often cited for
this rendering, 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4, the
context supports it, whilst here it
cannot be said to do so with the
same clearness, and the usage of
St James elsewhere (cf. i. 27, iv. 4)
points to the meaning adopted botli
in A. and R.V. Grammatically the
word when rendered 'adornment'
never expresses that which adorns
in an active sense (the meaning
required here) but rather that by
which a person or thing is adorned^.
In Jewish literature as indeed in
most literatures, the tongue and its
words were often likened to a fire,
Psalm cxx. 4 ; Prov. xvi. 27 ;
Ecclus. xxviii. 10-15, 21-23. There
is also a striking passage in Psalms
of Solomon, xii. 2-4 (Ryle and
James's trans.) : ' The words of the
tongue of the evil man are for the
accomplishment of frowardness: even
as fire in a threshing-floor that burn-
eth up the straw thereof, so is his
sojourning among men : that he may
set fire to houses vA'da. his lying
tongue, and cut down the trees of
gladness with the flame of his wicked
tongue, and put to confusion the
houses of the wicked by kindling
strife with slanderous lips.' And in
a Rabbinical passage, cited amongst
others by Spitta, from Midr. Vay-
yikra r. par. 16, we have a very
close likeness to the words of St
^ The Syriac Version renders ' the tongue is the fire, the world of iniquity is
as the wood,' the forest which the fire consumes; but this is quite inconsistent
with the general thought of the passage.
2 For an able defence of this rendering, which is that of Oecnmenius and
Wetsteiu amongst others, see Carr, ' Cambridge Greek Test.' in loco. Other
commentators, amongst whom Spitta may be mentioned, would dismiss 'the
tongue is a fire' etc. as not genuine, but there is no tenable ground for this
arbitrary omission of the words.
III. 6]
JAMES
75
our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole
body, and setteth on fire the wheel of hiature, and is set on
^ Or, birth
James, 'what mighty fires the tongue
kindles ! '
is afire; better perhaps 'maketh
itself a fire ' ; it was not so ' made '
by God; cf. iv. 4, where the same
verb occurs in the original.
the wheel of nature. If we could
take the word rendered ' nature ' in
the sense of 'birth' (cf.i.23), we might
render ' the wheel of human origin,'
which as soon as men are bom begins
to run, i.e. the course of human life ;
so apparently R.V. marg., and from
this point of view parallels to the
words of St James have been found
in Greek and Latin literature. Thus
Anacreon, iv. 7, speaks of life rolling
on Uke the wheel of a chariot, and
Silius Italicus, vi. 120, describes the
wheel of life rolling down the steep
descent. It is not therefore surpris-
ing that in what has been called the
earliest extant commentary on this
verse of St James, Isidore of Pelu-
sium, ii. 158, should explain the
words before us of the temporal
course of life which is likened by
St James to a wheel because like a
wheel it revolves in a circle. So again
elsewhere, iv. 1, in commenting on
the same expression, Isidore remarks
that the shape of a circle, of a crown,
of a wheel is the same, and the Scrip-
ture speaks in one place of the crown
of the year, and in another passage
of the wheel of life. Others however
would interpret the words of the
endless succession of men as they
are born one after another, an inter-
pretation similar to that of the Syriac
which renders ' tlie succession of our
generations, which nms as a wheel.'
But this explanation appears to be
foreign to the context in which the
wi'iter speaks of 'the whole body'
as if he had in mind not so much
generations as the individual life.
Another explanation which is per-
haps more worthy of consideration
would take the words of the circle
of creation, the orb or totahty of
creation ; cf. Gen. ii. 4 ; Wisd. i. 14,
xiii. 3, 5 ; and also Plato, Tim. 29,
where the word is apparently used
of all created things. This rendering
may receive support from the pos-
sible translation of the same word
in i. 23, ' the face wherewith he was
created,' and also from the context
here, as in the connecting particle
' for ' the writer takes up as it were
the details of creation, arguing that
all are tameable except the tongue.
But, as was pointed out above, the
context seems to be concerned, not
with the details of creation, but
rather with the sphere of the indi-
vidual human life. Moreover, the
word under discussion need not be
confined in meaning to the inani-
mate creation, as it is undoubtedly
used in a more general sense. Thus
in Plato, Rep. viii. 525 b, the same
word is used when the philosopher
is bidden to rise above the changing,
and to cling to that which is real.
In Philo the word is of frequent
occurrence, sometimes no doubt as
meaning the creation, but sometimes
as expressing human existence in
general. So in Wisd. vii. 5, the same
word is used of 'life' in general, and
in Judith xii. 18 of the entire life.
With these considerations before us,
the word ' wheel ' in this connection
may be used to emphasise the in-
cessantly changing nature of this
human existence, the mciaphor be-
76
JAMES
[HI. 6, 7
7 fire by hell. For every ^kind of beasts and birds, of creep-
1 Gr. nature.
ing taken fi-om the thought of a
■wheel in motion ; or reference may be
made merely to the shape of a wheel
at rest, as denoting the circle, the
sphere of human life ; the tongue
would then represent the axle, from
which as from a central fire the whole
wheel is set in a blaze. But it is
perhaps allowable to combine the
two thoughts, and to regard human
existence with all its constant move-
ment as compared to a revolving
wheel set on fire from the axle, i.e.
by the tongue \
It seems quite fanciful to see in
the phrases before us a knowledge
of, or a reference to, the Orphic
mysteries, and to Orphic views of
metempsychosis. The whole context
is against any such notion, and it is
impossible to trace any connection
between the Orphic doctrines and
the destroying power of the tongue.
Both words were in use in Jewish
literature. It has been recently
suggested, Century Bible, in loco,
that the phrase ' the wheel of nature '
may possibly be an awkward attempt
of St James to represent in Greek
some Aramaic phrase for 'natural
impulses' or 'passions,' but in view
of the use of the words as traced
above, it hardly seems necessary to
fall back upon this supposition.
setteth on fire... and is set on fire.
In each case the present participle
is used in the original, as of pei-petual
action. We may note again the
characteristic of St James in taking
up as it were and repeating the
same word. The verb is foimd only
here in the N.T. but it occurs in
Exod. ix. 24 ; Ps. xcvii. 3 ; Ecclus.
iii. 30 ; 1 Mace. iii. 5 ; and similarly
in classical writers. The word is
also used in Psalms of Solomon,
xii. 3, of the flame of a wicked
tongue.
hy hell, i.e. by Gehenna ; only here
outside the Gospels in the N.T. The
word and the thought mark a
Jewish writer. In Ecclus. xxviii.
10 fi"., often referred to in connection
with the present passage, and in
which the same two similes of fire
and water are found in relation to
disputes, we read, v. 23, ' Such as
forsake the Lord shall fall into it
(the flame), and it shall bum in
them, and not be quenched.' And
if we entertain some of the sus-
picions which have sometimes been
raised against this part of the verse
in Ecclus., as by Dr Edersheim in
the Speaker'' s Commentary, refer-
ence may be made to the language
of Isaiah Ixvi. 24, concerning the
unquenchable fire of Gehenna, and
to the language of Psalms of Solo-
mon, xii. 5, 'let the slanderous
tongue perish from among the saints
in flaming fire.'
In Ecclus. xxviii. 13 the Syriac
has ' Also the third tongue let it be
cursed, for it has laid low many
corpses,' and Dr Edersheim, in com-
menting on the verse, points out
that the expression 'the third tongue'
is of post-Biblical Jewish usage, and
that its designation is expressed by
^ It should be noted that iu the original the same word may be rendered
either course or xvheel according as the accent is placed on the tirst or second
syllable. In the present case there can be no doubt as to the predominance of
authorities in favour of the second rendering, but sometimes the two renderings
run into one another, as in the former part of the above comment.
III. 7]
JAMES
77
ing things and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been
this, that it kills three, the person
who speaks the calumny, the jjerson
who listens to it, and the person
conceniing whom it is spoken. The
same wi-iter recalls the Talmudic
legend, with which we may compare
the language of St James in v. 8
below; according to it, in reply to
a question by R. Samuel b. Nachman,
the serpent explains that if its
poisonous bite in one member ex-
tends to all the members, a calum-
nious tongue speaks in one place
and its killing stroke falls in Rome,
or else it speaks in Rome and its
stroke falls in Syria.
It is noteworthy that whilst in the
passages from the O.T. and Apocry-
pha the injury done by the tongue
to others is insisted upon, the repre-
sentation of the tongue as defiling
the man himself, his whole body, is
peculiar to St James, although he
does not forget the other mischievous
eflFects of the felon tongue.
Wetstein tells the stoi-y of the
servant who was bidden by his
master to procure, in the first place,
good food from the market, and,
in the second place, bad food. On
each occasion the servant brought
back a tongue. And when his master
asked the reason, the servant re-
plied : ' From the tongue both good
and evil results to man. If it is
good, nothing is better ; if it is evil,
nothing is worse.'
7. It is perhaps best, and at all
events simplest, to see in these words
a proof adduced by the writer in
support of his statement as to the
exceeding mischief emanating from
the tongue, a mischief begotten of a
more than human agency.
every kind, A.V. and R.V. text ;
'kind' in its old meaning, 'nature,'
cf. R.V. marg., and this may well
have been intended by our trans-
lators. Wycl. had 'kind' in this
archaic sense, and A.V. followed him
here; other intermediate English
Versions rendering 'nature.' So
too below, ' by mankind' - ' by the
human nature,' R.V. marg. We may
compare the expression of the Litany,
'kindly fruits ' = natural, and for a
similar use of the word 'kind,' Shake-
speare, Tempest, ii. 1. 167.
For the classification which follows,
cf. Lxx, Gen. i. 26, ix. 2; 1 Kings
iv. 33 ; and a similar classification of
living creatures is given by Philo,
M. 2, pp. 352 foil. The nearest parallel
is that of Gen. ix. 2, where the same
Greek word, which is here rendered
' beasts,' seems to be used for quad-
I'upeds in what evidently purports
to be an exhaustive classification.
It was to be expected that of the two
words commonly translated ' beasts '
in A.V. (but not in R.V., cf. Rev. iv.
6-9) St James would use in the
present connection the one most
expressive of the mischievous and
brutal element. With the O.T. p;\s-
sages cf. Ecclus. xvii. 4, 'and he
put the fear of man upon all flesh,
and gave him dominion over beasts
and fowls,' and also Acts x. 12, xi. 6
(but in the latter 'the wild beasts'
appear to be distinguished from ' the
quadrupeds ') ; see Trench, iSyn. ii.
p. 142.
creeping things, R.V. ; this is the
literal trans, of the Greek word
which through the Latin serpo is
rendered in A.V. and so in the
Vulg. by 'serpents.' In classical
Greek the word is no doubt liscd
chiefly of serpents, althougli also of
any sort of animals, but in Biblical
Greek it is opposed to quadrupeds
78
JAMES
[in. 7-9
8 tamed ^by ^ mankind : but the tongue can no man tame ; it
9 is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison. Therewith
1 Or, u7ito 2 Gr. the human nature.
and birds (Acts x. 12, xi. 16 ; Rom. i
23), and here also to marine animals.
things in the sea; not found in
Lxx, and only here in N.T., often in
classical Greek with the same mean-
ing. We may include in this passage
not only fish but all that live in the
waters, and thus it may be joined to
'creeping things,' because some of
these are amphibious, beasts and
birds being coupled together as the
nobler orders.
is tamed; only once elsewhere in
the N.T. of the demoniac, whom no
man had strength to tame, Mark v. 4.
The verb is used of horses in classical
Greek, and so too by Galen, and by
Strabo of elephants. And hath been
tamed. The two tenses should be
noted ; man's dominion was no new
fact although it was freshly illus-
trated day by day.
by mankind^ R.V., or better still,
by the human nature^ if we may
combine text and marg., i.e. in con-
trast to the nature of the animal
world (cf. Xen. Mem. i. 4. 14, where
the same Greek word is used of man
excelling in nature, in body, in soul).
For this dignity of man's nature in
exercising such control we naturally
refer to Gen. i. 26, ix. 2; Psalm
viii. 6-8 : with these we may com-
pare Philo, De Mund. Opif. M. i.
p. 20, where we read that all things
whatsoever in the three elements,
earth, water, air, are subjected to
man. From classical writers parallels
are cited in abundance ; the most
striking is tliat in Soph. Antig. 332ff.,
where in one or two verses a verbal
likeness to the passage before us
may be found; cf also Seneca, De
Benef. ii. 29, where the strongest
animals and everything mortal are
described as under the yoke of man ;
and to the same effect Cicero, De
Nat. Deorum, ii. 60, 61.
8. hut the tongue can no man
tame; the same verb repeated in
accordance with the characteristic
style of the writer, lit. 'no one of
men can tame, not even one.'
The comment of St Augustine is
to be remembered, ' for he does not
say that no one can tame the tongue,
but no one of men ; so that when it
is tamed we confess that this is
brought about by the pity, the help,
the grace of God,' De Nat. et Grat.
c. 15. The words of St James here
help us to understand more clearly
what is meant in v. 2, and on the
other hand the remarkable expres-
sion ' the third tongue ' quoted above
enables us to realise how the results
of a man's speech cannot be esti-
mated by the man himself, and that
words once uttered pass beyond
human control.
it is a restless evil, R.V. In A.V,
we have 'an unruly evil,' but this
is a translation of another Greek
word. The reading ' restless ' is now
generally received, and it fits in no
less well with the context, as if the
tongue resembled in its restlessness
an untameable beast; cf Vulg. in-
quietum. The same adj. is also used
by the wi-iter in i. 8 (and the cognate
noun iii. 16), although somewhat
diflFerently rendered in the transla-
tion. In Hermas, Mand. ii. 3, the
same word occurs, 'slander is evil;
it is a restless demon, never at peace,
but always having its home among
factions.'
In Isaiah liv. 11, where alone it is
III. 9]
JAMES
79
bless we the Lord and Father ; and therewith curse we men,
found in Sept., it is rendered ' tossed
with tempest.'
it is full of deadly poison^ R.V.
The adj. 'deadly' only here in N.T.,
lit. 'death-bringing'; it occurs in
Numb, xviii. 22; Job xxxiii. 23
(doubtful meaning); 4 Mace. viii.
18, 26, XV. 26; and so in classical
writers. The comparison used of
the tongue here may be illustrated
from Pss. Iviii. 4, cxl. 3 ; Bccles. x. 11 ;
and so too, Philo, De leg. ad Cat.
p. 1016 B, it is said of the Egyptians
that they mingled in their tongues
the poison and anger of their native
crocodiles and snakes.
In Testaments of the xii. Patri-
archs, Gad 6, we have the expres-
sion 'the hatred of a diabolical
poison fiUeth the heart,' and it is of
interest to note that in Sib. Orac.
proemium 70, we have a mention of
the worship of snakes and creeping
things as gods, ' out of whose mouth
flows deadly poison,' where the same
adjective is used and the same word
for poison as in St James. Didache,
ii. 5, also speaks of the double tongue
as a snare of death. In classical
writers similar thoughts often find
expression, e.g. Lucian, Fugit. 19,
speaks of false philosophers as having
their mouths full of poison.
It will be noted that R.V. twice
uses the copula 'it is,' and this is
bonie out by the original, where the
change in the gender and tlie case
in the clause ' full of deadly poison '
make it simpler to understand the
word ' the tongue ' as the subject of
both clauses.
9. therewith, lit. ' in it,' signifying
the instrument and means ; cf Matt.
V. 13, ' wherewith shall it be salted ? '
By the repetition of the expression
in the following clause the contrast
here expressed is accentuated ; and
no contrast could illustrate more
pointedly the inconsistent nature of
the tongue, or the vain 'religion,'
i. 27, of the man who fails to bridle
it. .On the evils of the double tongue
Ecclesiasticus dwells repeatedly ; cf.
xxviii. 9, 14, 26, and more especially
perhaps v. 12, where the same
twofold simile of fire and water, as
in St James, has been noted ; in the
same book, xxxiv. 24, the same sharp
contrast as in the verse before us
finds a place (although the general
lesson is difl"erent), 'when one prayeth
and another curseth, whose voice
will the Lord hear ? ' In Sib. Orac.
iii. 36, the same woe is pronounced
upon the liars and double-tongued
as upon those guilty of the most
heinous offences, while Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs, Benj. 6,
describes the good mind as not
having two tongues, one of blessing
and the other of cursing.
hless tee; in relation to God the
word means to praise, to celebrate
Him; cf Psal. cxlv. 21, where the
same verb is used in lxx. The
prayer which every Israelite, inclu-
ding even women, slaves, and chil-
dren, was called upon to repeat three
times a day, was called the Eighteen
Benedictions, in which each 'bene-
diction' ended with 'Blessed art
Thou, 0 Lord,' etc. The word then
was a very likely one for St James to
use in reference to God, and more
especially so if we adopt the reading
' the Lord and Father,' since in this
Jewish prayer, God is not only
addressed in each Berachah as
' Lord,' but three times as ' Father.'
The Jewish-Christians whom St
James was addressing might well
retain their Jewish customs of
80 JAMES [m. 9, 10
10 which are made after the likeness of God : out of the same
prayer, as there can be no doubt
that the groundwork of the Eighteen
Benedictions was of very considerable
antiquity; see Schiirer, Jewish
People, Div. ii. vol. ii. pp. 85, 87 ;
Edersheim, Jewish Nation, p. 340.
At the same time it must be re-
membered that the Jews on uttering
the name of God always added
'Blessed be He.'
It is noteworthy that St James
in his reproof still associates himself
with his brothers and uses the first
person, not simply with reference to
the teacher, cf. v. 1, but quite gene-
rally.
the Lord and Father, R.V. (so
W.H. wdth strong support). For the
language, see above, and in O.T.
1 Chvon. xxix. 10; Isaiah Ixiii. 16.
We have also in Ecclus. xxiii. 1, 4,
the prayer 'O Lord, Father and
Governor of all my whole life,' where
the writer has just been speaking of
sins of the tongue, and we may
ventm-e to compare the words of the
Divine Teacher, jMatt. xi. 25. Here
God is thought of in His sovereignty
and in His love.
curse tee men; commonly con-
trasted in the original with the word
'to bless,' Psalm Ixii. 4, cix. 28;
Luke vi. 27; Kom. xii. 13, etc.; and
see also above. The verb need not
be confined in its scope to literal
cursing.
which are made after the likeness
of God. The truth was insisted
upon in Jewish literature, both in
and outside the O.T. Cf. Gen. i. 26,
27, V. 1, ix. 6 ; Ecclus. xvii. 3 ;
Wisd. ii. 23; 2 Esdras viii. 44. The
same teaching is found in Philo, M. i.
pp. 16, 35, where after referring to
the words that man was made ' after
the image and likeness of God' he
points out that this 'image' con-
sisted not in external form, but in
the possession of 'reason.' But
perhaps the most striking commen-
tary on the words of St James, and
one Avhich helps us to understand
most fully the contrast in the texts,
is to be found not only in the words
of R. Akiba on Gen. ix. 6, 'Whoso
sheddeth blood, they reckon it to
him as if he diminished the likeness,'
Bereshith Kabbah xxiv., but also
in the passage in which the same
Rabbi refers to Lev. xix. 18, 'Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,'
and adds, ' Do not say : after that
I am despised, let my neighbour also
be despised.' R. Tanchuma said,
'If you do so, understand that you
despise him of whom it was written
"in the likeness of God made He
him."' The lesson would therefore
be that he that curseth curseth not
man but God.
This same truth that man is made
in the image of God finds also an
important place elsewhere in the
N.T.; cf. 1 Cor. xi. 7; Col. iii. 10;
Ephes. iv. 24; in each passage there
is apparently an allusion to Gen. i.
26, 27. Moreover, in the Didache,
which presents so many points
of similarity to the Epistle before
us, in the stress laid, e.g., upon
the thought of God as the Creator,
we read, v. 2, of those who follow the
way of death as 'not recognising
Him that made them... corrupters
of the image of God.'
But further ; it would seem that
Jewish literature was not forgetful
of the additional and most important
truth, implied in the words of St
James, viz. that this Divine likeness
was perpetuated, not destroyed, a
truth emphasised in the oft-quoted
III. 10]
JAMES
81
mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren,
words of Bengel, * We have lost the
likeness of God, but an imperishable
nobility still remains.' Thus in the
' Book of the Generations of Adam '
we read : ' God created man in the
likeness of God.... Adam begat a son
in his own likeness after his image,'
Gen. V. 1, 3; and then follow the
remarks of Ramban : ' It is known
that all that are bom of living beings
are in the likeness and image of their
parents ; but because Adam was
exalted in his likeness and his image,
for it is said of him that in the
likeness of God made He him, it
says expressly here that his offspring
likewise were in that exalted like-
ness, but it does not say this of Cain
and Abel, not wishing to dilate upon
them, etc' (on the whole subject, see
Taylor, Sayings of the Fathers,
pp. 56, 122, 158, 2nd ed.). The
honour of humanity could thus have
been taught by the N.T. writers as
Jews, but as Christians theirteaching
would be deepened and ennobled by
the realisation of a humanity, re-
generated by the word of truth, and
glorified by the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ (i. 18, ii. 1). If that
faith is a reality it says to us to-day,
''Despise none; despair of none.^
' The Jews would not willingly tread
upon the smallest piece of paper in
their way, but took it up ; for possibly,
said they, the name of God may be
on it. Though there was a little
superstition in this, yet truly there
is nothing but good religion in it, if
we apply it to man.' 'Trample not
on any ; there may be some work
of grace there that thou knowest
not of. The name of God may be
written upon that soul thou treadest
on ; it may be a soul tliat Christ
thought so much of, as to give His
E.
precious blood for it: therefore
despise it not ' : Coleridge, ' Aids to
Reflection,' Aphor Ixvi For classi-
cal parallels to the assertion of the
truth of man's likeness to God we may
quote Xen. Mem. i. 4. 14, where men
in comparison with all other living
creatures are said to live as gods :
cf. Ovid, Met. i. 82; Cicero, Tusc.
V. 13.
10. out of tlie same mouth, etc.
The fatal inconsistency is again
emphatically marked. Jewish lite-
rature bore constant testimony
against the evil inconsistencies of
the tongue and their inevitable
results ; cf Pro v. xviii, 21 ; Jalk.
Rub. f. 120, 'whoever has a reviling
tongue, his prayers do not ascend
to God.' St James bids us lay stress
upon the word the same. No man
could be sincere in praising and
blessing God, while he failed to
recognise in his fellow-man the
image of God; cf. 1 John iv. 20.
The Apostle no doubt saw around
him in Jerusalem those who claimed
to be 'religious' thanking God that
they were not as other men, while
all the time they regarded those
who knew not the law as ' accursed,'
St John viL 49 (see further Introd.
p. xxxvii.). And within the fold of
Christ St James may have seen the
same spirit at work, the spirit which
broke out in tones of bitter contempt
against those whom Peter had
evangelised. Acts xi. 2, 3 ; the spirit
which not only refused to tolerate,
but which even excluded from the
pale of salvation those who were
uncircumcised. Acts xv. 1.
My brethren. The familiar word
comes in here with fresh force and
fulness of affection — God is the
Father, and men made in His
6
82
JAMES
[ill. 10-12
1 1 these things ought not so to be. Doth the fountain send
12 forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter ? can
likeness should remember that they
are also brothers, Mai. ii. 10.
oxight not. The Greek word occurs
only here in the N.T. It may be
said to denote fitness or congruity —
it was abnormal that a man should
bless God in his prayers or creed,
and yet should despise or speak
evil of members of his own family,
inasmuch as he and his fellow-men
were the offspring of a common Fa-
ther. It is significant that in Ps. cxli.,
which was sung every evening by
the early Church, the desire of the
Psalmist that his prayer shall be set
forth in God's sight as the incense,
and that the lifting up of his hands
shall be an evening sacrifice, is
closely followed by the petition ' Set
a watch, 0 Lord, before my mouth,
and keep the door of my lips.'
11. Doth tlie fountain. The
article may be used for vividness,
or to emphatically generalise the
question.
from the same opening, R.V. ;
A.V. and Tynd. ' at the same place.'
As in the verse preceding stress
should be laid on the word Uhe
same opening.'
In the N.T. the word occurs only
elsewhere in Heb. xi. 38, where
the heroes of faith wander in caves
and '■holes of the land.' In dis-
cussing this latter expression Bishop
Westcott has the interesting con-
jecture that this may be a quota-
tion from some familiar desciiiition,
and he points out that the word so
rendered as above occurs again in
James iii. 11, with reference to
another feature of the limestone
rocks of Palestine; see further
Introd. p. xxiv.
sweet water and bitter: in the
original the word for water is omit-
ted, and perhaps in this way the
contrast is even more sharply in-
dicated, although for the general
sense of the passage the word may
be fairly understood.
The word rendered * bitter ' is only
found here in the N.T. and in v. 14,
but it is found twice in lxx, in the
same sense, of vdne and of water,
Isaiah xxiv. 9, Jer. xxiii. 15, and often
in a figurative sense. If St Jame.;
is here alluding to the Dead Sea (see
V. 12), its water might be described
as really bitter, and the Greek word,
in this verse, as well as the more
usual word in v. 12, was sometimes
employed of such water, as in Hero-
dotus VII. 35 of salt water, opposed,
as here, to sweet.
To mark the unnaturalness of
blessing and cursing from the same
mouth St James is illustrating from
monstrosities in nature which could
only occur in the last days, the
days of the sinners, when every-
thing was disordered and ripe for
destruction. Thus we read, 'And
salt waters shall be found in the
sweet,' 2 Esdras v. 9 ; 'And in those
times the fruits of the earth will be
backward and not grow in their
season, and the fruits of the trees
will be withheld in their season...
and all things on earth will alter
and not appear in their season,'
Enoch, Ixxx. 3.
12. The comparison of the fig-
tree and of the vine will be familiar
to those who thought of every Jewish
home as having its vine and its fig-
tree, and such illustrations would be
quite natural to a man writing in a
country where the fig-tree, the vine,
and the olive abounded-
III. 12, 13]
JAMES
83
a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither
can salt water yield sweet.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? let him
But the parallel afforded to our
Lord's own words, Matt. \ai. 16 (xii.
33-36), Luke vi. 44, is very striking,
and St James may well have had
these utterances in mind. There is
therefore no reason to suppose that
he is borrowing from some classical
proverbial saying, although no doubt
some close parallels may be foimd to
this teaching in ancient authors, as
e.g. Arrian, Epict. ii. 20; Plut. Mor.
492 f. So Seneca, Epist. 87, writes
that evil is not derived from good,
any more than a fig-tree from an
olive. It is of course quite possible
that our Lord Himself may have
been employing some proverbial
figure in common use to bring home
His Divine teaching.
can a Jig tree ? i.e. is it able ? It
has sometimes been supposed that
St James, having first expressed
something unnatural, would now
express something impossible. But
the general lesson in each case is
the same, viz. that nothing can
produce anji,hing contrary to its
nature; 'like root, like fruit,' this
was for St James a fundamental
law, as it has been called, of nature
and of grace.
neither can salt water yield
su-eet, R.V.^ The sentence reads as
if a negative clause not only in
meaning but in form had preceded.
The words of blessing and of cursing
could proceed out of the same mouth,
but if so, the former would in such a
case be only vain and unmeaning,
while bitterness was nourished in
the heart. Everything in nature
continues this day according to God's
ordinance, and all things serve Him;
man alone would pervert that order
in the endeavour to unite what God
and nature had put asunder.
It is noticeable that the Greek
word rendered 'salt' is frequently
used in the O.T. for the Dead Sea,
which is never so called in the Bible,
but most frequently (nine times) the
'Sea of Salt.'
13. Who is wise and under-
standing, etc. The words might
naturally be referred to the re-
quirements and qualifications of a
teacher, but at the same time the
wisdom to be aimed at is not
regarded as the possession of the
teacher alone but of every true
Christian.
For a similar combination of the
two adjectives see Deut. i. 13, iv. 6;
Hosea xiv. 9.
St James is writing to men who
placed a high value upon wisdom,
while they were in danger of for-
getting its true worth and meaning.
More wisdom more scholars, said
Hillel {Sayings of the Fathers, ii. 8),
but there are passages in the same
collection which may fairly represent
dangers similar to, if not the same
as, those with which St James was
conversant. Such sayings, e.g., as
'whosesoever fear of sin precedes
1 This more conoise reading appears to be that from which other readings
like that of A.V. are derived. It is adopted by nearly all modern editors,
and is supported by Old Latin and Vulgate, as well as by the weight of
Greek mss. But the passage presents such difficulties that Blass regards it
as corrupt.
6—2
84
JAMES
[ill. 13
shew by his good life his works in meelniess of wisdom.
his wisdom, his wisdom stands,' or
' whosesoever works are in excess of
his wisdom, his wisdom stands,' u. s.
iii. 12-14, show that 'the wise,' to
whom reference is so constantly
made, might forget the foundation
of their wisdom or allow it to be-
come barren and void. But our
Lord's own words, Matt. xi. 25 (cf.
St Paul's warning in 1 Cor. i. 18),
in which He thanks His Father for
revealing unto babes what He had
hidden from ' the wise and prudent,'
are sufficient to show that St James
may have been well aware of a danger
which Christ so clearly recognised,
and the words before us read as
an echo of the phrase used by our
Lord-
Many attempts have been made
to distinguish between the two words
'wise' and 'understanding.' The
former word is used of those who
are skilled and expert, of those who
are wise in the sense of learning, like
the Jewish theologians ; St James
if he has this latter sense in mind,
as is probable, explains the word on
its practical side, as of one whose
life is ruled by the time wisdom:
'understanding' in classical Greek
is used of one having the knowledge
of an expert, a specialist, so that the
former word may relate to the pos-
session of wisdom as such, and the
latter to its ai^plication to the
practical details of life ; but it is
very doubtful how far any precise
distinction can be maintained, or
how far it was intended by the
writer.
by his good life. The word trans-
lated 'life' as in R.V. is in A.V.
'conversation,' a term which in its
primary sense meant conduct, man-
ner of life (Ut. a turning hither and
thither, a turning one's self about,
so in Vulg. conversatio, from which
the A.V. rendering may be derived).
The translation 'conversation' is never
used in A.V. to express conversation
in its limited sense amongst our-
selves, but as the wider sense has
become archaic the R.V, render-
ing is fully justified ; cf. amongst
other passages Ps. 1. 23 ; Job iv. 14 ;
Gal. i, 13; 1 Pet. i. 15. In Bunyan's
Pilgrimls Progress we have an
illustration of the word in its
primary sense, 'your conversation
gives this your mouth-profession
the lye ' (Hastings' B. D. ; see
also Smith's B. D.\ 'Conversation.'
The word rendered ' good ' is rather
'beautiful, noble'; cf. ii. 7, iv. 17;
1 Pet. ii. 12 ; it is expressive of that
which is ideal, perfect, or, at least,
attractive to others; cf. John x. 11.
his works in meekness of wisdom,
R.V. St James does not say simply,
'let him show his wisdom,' but he
introduces two of his favourite tenns,
'works '...'meekness,' not words but
deeds, and deeds done in meekness
of wisdom, not as in A.V. '■with
meekness,' as if of some quality in-
serted over and above, but as of
that which is characteristic of true
wisdom, and the possession of which
is a proof of the existence of such
vdsdom. St James may well have
had in mind Ecclus. xix. 20 (especi-
ally as the same passage affords a
somewhat close likeness to the teach-
ing of i. 22, 25 supra), 'all wisdom
is fear of the Lord, and in all
wisdom there is doing ; and wisdom
is not knowledge of wickedness'
(the word for 'knowledge' being
the cognate noun of the adjective
translated 'understanding' in the
opening question of this verse). With
III. 14]
JAMES
85
14 But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart,
the teaching of St James here it is
interesting to compare Ecclus. iii.
17 flF., Didache, iii. 2, 5, 7-9, for
some closely similar thoughts.
'Life '...'works,' in the former the
general manifestation, and in the
latter the particular results.
14. But if ye have. Probably St
James had in mind members of the
Church who showed themselves with-
out wisdom, inasmuch as they were
without the meekness which was an
inseparable attribute of it.
jealousy. Here as often in the N.T.
the Greek word is used in a bad
sense (cf. Acts v. 17, xiii. 45; Rom.
xiii. 13 ; Gal. v. 20), although it is
capable of a good significance (cf.
e.g. 2 Cor. xi. 2), and so generally in
classical Greek and sometimes in
the O.T. That it is used here in a
bad sense is evident from the word
' bitter 'joined with it, with reference
apparently to vv. 11, 12, and also
because it is associated with the
word 'faction' as in Gal. v. 20;
2 Cor. xii. 20 ; and also with ' strife '
in Rom. xiii. 13; 1 Cor. iii. 3. St
James knew well what this zeal and
jealousy meant in its bad sense, and
what it was working in his own
fatherland. There had been from
the times of the Maccabees men
who made it their aim to defend
the Jewish law, 'Zealots' as they were
called, but this spirit of zeal and
jealousy for the law, which on its
good side was characteristic of a
Phinehas, 4 Mace, xviii. 13, or of an
Elijah, 1 Mace. ii. 58, was liable to
be perverted by unrighteous violence
and excess.
St Paul describes himself as 'ex-
ceedingly zealous ' for the traditions
of his fathers, Gal. i. 14, and wo know
to what lengths his 'zeal' carried
him ; St James truly described the
JcTvish-Christians as 'zealous for the
law,' Acts xxL 20, and we know how
this zeal took the form of a bitter
and fanatical opposition to St Paul.
In the political world St James would
have known how this same degene-
rate spirit prompted the formation
of the fanatical sect 'the Zealots'
under Judas of Galilee, with a cer-
tain Pharisee named Sadduk, and
he woiild live to see how this same
fanaticism became the instigator of
every kind of cruelty and violence,
as the pages of Josephus testify. In
the Didache it is noticeable that we
read the following: 'Be not angry,
for anger leadeth to murder, nor
jealous nor contentious (where we
have the two cognate adjectives of
the nouns "jealousy" and "strife"
which are associated as above in the
N.T.) nor wrathful; for of all these
things murders are engendered,'
iii. 1. On the word ' zeal ' or
'jealousy' see Trench, Synonyms,
I. 99, and below.
/action, R.V. here and elsewhere.
The word is joined sometimes with
'jealousy' as above. It is connected
with a noun which means a man
working for hire, a hireling, and
hence it is used as a political term
for the canvassing of hired partisans,
and so for the promotion of party
spirit, factiousness (Arist. Pol. v. 2, 6,
III. 9). It is noticeable that it is em-
ployed by St Ignatius just as here by
St James, Phil. viii. 2, 'do ye nothing
after a spirit of factiousness, but after
the teaching of Christ.'
in your heart, R.V. and W.H. In
Vulg. and Syriac we have 'hearts,'
but sing. best. ' The heart' (see note
on i. 2t)) was regarded as the source
of moral action among the Hebrews;
86
JAMES
[ill, 14, 15
15 glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom is
not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly,
and as our Lord (St Matt. xv. 19)
had taught that no ceremonial clean-
ness could compensate for inward
impurity, so St James would teach
the same principle, and would have
men understand that no loud and
pretentious claim to the possession
of 'wisdom' could avail while 'out
of the heart proceeded evil things.'
On 'Heart' see Art. in Hastings'
B. D. vol. II.
glory not and lie not against the
truth, R.V. In this rendering both
the verbs seem to be connected with
the words 'against the truth.' St
James might of course mean that in
thus giving themselves out to be wise,
while strife and bitterness were in
their hearts, there was a manifest
contradiction to the conditions of
the attainment of wisdom, and so a
contradiction of Divine truth ; cf.
e.g. Wisd. i. 4, 'for into an ill-devising
soul wisdom shall not enter'; vi. 23,
'neither will I go with consuming
envy ; for such a man shall have no
fellowship with wisdom.' But when
we remember his use of the word
'the truth' elsewhere (cf. i. 18, v. 19),
the words gain a still deeper mean-
ing, and men are warned against
expressions and deeds which contra-
dicted 'the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ,' ii. 1, which knows no respect
of persons, and against the violation
of the law of love, which was impera-
tive upon the heirs of the kingdom
of heaven, ii. 5, 8; cf. i. 12 (see also
1 John i. 6)1.
15. This wisdom, i.e. of the man
who has bitterness and faction in his
heart.
is not a wisdom that cometh down
from, above. The participle is used
as an adjective, thus marking a
characteristic of the wisdom which
is truly wisdom ; cf. i. 5, 17. The
thought expressed in the words would
have been familiar to a Jew : cf. Prov.
viii. 22; Ecclus. i. 1-4, xxiv. 4, 7;
Wisdom vii. 25, ix. 4. Passages to
the same effect may be quoted from
Pliilo; so too Enoch, xlii. 2, 'Wisdom
came to make her dwelling among
the children of men and found no
dwelling-place ; thus Wisdom re-
turned to her place and took her
seat among the angels'; cf. Ixxxiv. 3.
earthly. The three adjectives
form a climax ; the first is in direct
antithesis to the previous words, in-
asmuch as this false wisdom belongs
not to the heaven above, but to the
earth beneath ; and those who possess
it have their wisdom set on ' earthly
things,' Phil, iii, 19; John viii. 23.
The word does not occur in the lxx,
but it is used in classical Greek from
Plato downwards, whilst in Plut.
Mor. 566 D, we have the remarkable
expression ' that which is earthly of
the soul.' In Hermas, Mand. ix. 11,
and again in xi. 5, we have ex-
pressions which certainly seem to be
1 Mayor and Beyschlag apparently prefer to take the expression 'against
the truth' to mean 'against the facts of the case,' i.e. the claim to a wisdom
apart from gentleness was in reality a claim to a wisdom which was of the
devil, and not of God. It has very recently been urged that 'the truth' here
as in V. 19 means the ideal of regenerate human life. But it is allowed at the
same time that such an ideal is closely related to the words 'the faith of our
Lord Jesus Christ, our glory ' ; in Him was embodied a fresh revelation of the
glory of man's nature, and a fresh principle of life working within. Parry,
St James, pp. 21 ff.
III. 15, 16]
JAMES
87
16 ^sensual, ^devilish. For where jealousy and faction are,
^ Or, natural Or, animal * Gr. demoniacal.
reminiscences of the passage before
us. In the former, after condemning
doublemindedness, the writer pro-
ceeds, '"Thou seest thus," saith he,
"that faith is fi-om above from the
Lord, and hath great power ; but
doublemindedness is an earthly spi-
rit from the devil, and hath no
power.'"
sensual, in A.V. and R.V., but the
latter in marg. 'natural' or 'animal,'
and the former in marg. 'natural.'
To understand the word we must
remember the trichotomy of 1 Thess.
V. 23 (cf. Jos. Ant. L 1, 2, where
man is represented as composed of
body, soul, spirit), with which we
may compare for the use of the
adjective before us as connoting
opposition to the highest part of
man's nature, 'spirit,' 1 Cor. iL 14,
and Jude ??. 19 (where R.V. renders
the word as here with same marg.
alternatives). This 'sensual' or
'natural' man may be described as
higher than the 'carnal' man {car-
nalis, Vulg.), who is enslaved by his
fleshly appetites, yet he is ruled,
not by that part of his natiire by
which the Spirit of God enters into
communion with the spirit of man
{spiritalis, Vulg.), but by that which
is in comparison the lower (although
not the lowest) part of his nature
{animalis, Vulg.), the part which is
'unspirituaV the part where human
feeling and human reason reign su-
preme i. It is impossible to express
the Greek adjective by one unam-
biguous word in English, as the 'soul'
is so often used to signify man's
spiritual nature, and the distinction
between it and 'spirit' is thus
lost
devilish, A.V. and R.V., but latter
marg. ' demoniacal.' The latter ren-
dering is best, because in the N.T. as
in the O.T. 'demons' are evil spirits,
the ministers and messengers of the
devil, whereas Satan is never spoken
of as a 'demon,' and his ministers
are never called by his name 'the
devil' or 'a devil,' for the Greek
word for the latter is an adjective
and not a noun wher applied to men.
As Dr Plummer points out, it is a
misfortune that our R.V. has not
taken the opportunity of distin-
guishing sharply between 'the devil'
and 'the demons' which are subject
to him, in accordance with the sug-
gested correction of the American
Revisers. If we compare ii. 19 (see
note) the word here used by St James
would seem to describe a fanatical
and desperate malignity, like that
inspired by the 'demons' in their
votaries. No wonder that St James
thus characterises this false wisdom
after he had written v. 6. The
editors of the marginal references in
our R.V. apparently lay stress upon
the lying nature of the pseudo-
wisdom, and its false teaching : cf.
1 Kings xxii. 22; 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10;
1 Tim. iv. 1.
1 The term is sometimes taken as almost equivalent to 'carual' (see
Art. 'Psychology,' Hastings' B. D. iii. p. 167), or at all events to 'deshly,'
2 Cor. i. 12, 'fleshly wisdom,' and so perhaps here, of a wisdom which depends
entirely upon human reason, a wisdom of this world, cf. 1 Cor. u. 14.
Although the word does not occur in the canonical lxx it is used in a philosophical
sense in 4 Mace. i. 32, where desires are divided into 'mental' and 'bodily,
while reason reigns over both; see further Trench, Hyn. u. p. 94, and
Plummer in loco.
88
JAMES
[ill. 16, 17
17 there is confusion and every vile deed. But the wisdom
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
16. confusion. Cf. v. 8 and i. 8.
In the Lxx the word is found in Prov.
xxvi. 28, 'a flattering mouth worketh
ruin,' and in Tob. iv. 13, in a sense
similar to that in the passage before
us. In the N.T. God is said to be
the author not of 'confusion' but
of 'peace,' 1 Cor. xiv. 33 ; with this
the language of St James may be
compared, in which 'the wisdom
which is from above' is characterised
as 'peaceable' and contrasted with
that which comes not fi'om God, but
from those opposed to Him. In
2 Cor. xii. 20 the same word is
joined with jealousy and faction, as
in this passage, with the apparent
meaning of disorders, and in the
same Epistle, 2 Cor. vi. 5, it is found
possibly in the sense of seditions,
but in both these passages R.V. has
' tumult ' in the text (cf also Luke
xxi. 9, of the tumults of war). In
Clem. Rom. Cor. xiv. 1, the same word
is joined with jealousy and arrogance
in the sense of unruliness, as mark-
ing those in the Church who are
disobedient to God, probably with
this passage in mind. There is no
need to suppose that St James is
referring to any divisions between
Jewish and Gentile Christians ; but
he saw plainly enough much in
Jerusalem to justify his warning.
The great Jewish teacher Hillel had
exhorted men to be 'loving peace,
and pursuing peace,' and another
great teacher Rabban Shime'on ben
Gamliel taught 'on three things the
world stands ; on Judgment, and on
Truth, and on Peace' {Sayings of
the Fathers, p. 25).
and every vile deed, R.V. All
E.VV. have 'work,' but the Greek
implies a thing done, as often in
N.T.; cf. Luke i. 1 ; Acts v. 4; 2 Cor.
vii. 11; Heb. vi. 18.
vile (cf. John iii. 20, v. 29 ; 2 Cor.
V. 10 ; Tit. ii. 8), evil in its good-for-
nothingness, as if no good could ever
come forth from it, and so opposed
both in the N.T. and in classical
Greek to 'good.' Trench, Syn-
onyms, II. p. 151. Antithesis, says
Bengel, to ' full of mercy and of good
fruits ' (see below).
17. first pure. The order has
been called one of thought and not of
time, and the writer evidently places
first the 'pureness' of wisdom, be-
cause this ' wisdom from above ' had
its origin vpith God, and came out
of His holy heavens and from the
throne of His glory, Wisdom ix.
4, 9; Enoch, Ixxxiv. 3, etc.
In the famous passage Wisdom
vii. 7 ff., which was plainly before the
mind of St James, a dififerent ad-
jective in Greek is used to describe
wisdom as 'pure'; cf. vii. 25. But it
is said by Philo, De Opif. Mund. 8,
that this word cannot be applied to
any things of sense, so that St James
although by a dififerent word may
here imply, and deepen the same
thought, and denote by ' purity ' the
Divine essence of the true wisdom,
as contrasted with the false wisdom
which is ' earthly,' wholly engrossed
in sense and time ; the words of the
Lord are 'pure' words, Ps. xii. 6.
God Himself is 'pure,' 1 John iii. 3
(in each case the same word in the
original as in St James).
In this Divine 'purity' the single-
heartedness which has sometimes
been regarded as its equivalentwould
be comprised, a sincerity which would
exclude all doublemindedness, the
divided heart, i. 8, iv. 8, the eye not
m. 17]
JAMES
89
single, Matt. vi. 22, all hypocrisies
(see Trench, Syn. ii. 157, 169); which
would proclaim Christ, not of faction
but with pure unsullied motives (see
esp. Phil. i. 17). We note as quite
characteristic that St James in his
picture of wisdom is primarily prac-
tical, a contrast, it has well been
noted, with the picture in the Book
of Wisdom, where the interest is
primarily intellectual.
then peaceable. The preceding
epithet characterises wisdom as it
were from within, whilst the epi-
thets which follow regard it as it
were from without. The first three
adjectives employed are opposed to
the jealousy and faction mentioned
above. As impurity is in reality
selfishness, so the temper of the
possessor of the true wisdom, which
is centred not in self but in God, is
peaceable ; to see God, as the pure
in heart see Him, is to love God,
and he that loveth God will love
his brother also. On the close con-
nection between love and peace we
may compare Ephes. iv. 3 ; Col. iiL
14 ; and in the Talmud Peace is a
Name oiGod{Saying$ o/the Fathers,
p. 26).
It has been well pointed out that
whilst no less than twenty-one epi-
thets are applied to wisdom in the
famous passage Wisd. vii. 22 flF.
mentioned above, not one of them
makes reference to its peaceable and
placable character. In Prov. iii. 11
we read that 'all her paths are
peace,' but nothing further is said to
develop the thought; but on the
lips of Christ the peacemakers are
reckoned as 'sons of God,' and in
His teaching the temper which loves
peace follows closely upon the purity
which sees God ; cf. Matt. v. 8, 9.
In Ecclesiasticus iv. 8, the only
place in which the same adjective
occurs in the Sapiential books of the
Apocrypha, we read, 'Incline thine
eye to the poor, and answer him
peaceful things in meekness,' where
the same word for meekness is also
used as by St James in i. 21 and
iii. 13.
gentle. The adjective employed in
the original is connected primarily
with a word implying what is fit and
reasonable, but in its later meaning
it is evidently associated with a verb
which means 'to yield,' and so the
cognate noun has been taken to
mean a yieldingness which does not
insist upon the utmost tittle of one's
rights, which prefers equity to strict
justice, and which can even put up
with injurious treatment. But it
must not be supposed that the virtue
in question is a weak one, since it is
not only described in terms of com-
mendation by Greek philosophers,
but is ascribed to God by Philo, and
in Psalm lxxxvL5, also Psalms of Sol.
V. 14, 2 Mace. X. 4. Thus too in
Wisdom xii. 18, it is said of God,
'but thou, mastering thy power,
judgest with equity' (A.V.), and as
'the archetype and pattern of this
grace is thus found in God,' what
wonder that we should read of the
meekness and gentleness of the only-
begotten Son Who declared God to
the world, 2 Cor. x. 1. Perhaps
some rendering such as 'gently-
reasonable' is most suitable here,
as combining the thought of tender
and unselfish, but not weak con-
sideration, of fairness, but not mere
concession.
As compared with the virtue of
'meekness' cf. i. 21, iii. 13. This
'gentleness' belongs rather perhaps
to matters of outward bearing and
action in relation to man, as we can
see by its association with benevo-
lence, humanity ; cf. 3 Mace. iii. 15,
90 JAMES [ill. 17
easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
vii. 6 ; whilst ' meekness ' belongs
rather to a temper of mind, a meek-
ness, primarily in respect of God,
although also such in respect of our
fellow-men (but it is doubtful how
far this distinction can always be
maintained). In this 'meekness' we
see (1) how the teaching of the N.T.
is rooted in the O.T. ; the character
of the meek often finds a place in
the Psalms; meekness in Ecclus.
is extolled by the writer throughout
the book, cf. i. 27, faith and meekness
are God's delight, xlv. 4 ; Moses is
sanctified in his faith and meekness ;
whilst it has been truly said that
the Christian Beatitude, Matt. v. 5,
almost literally translates Psalm
xxxvii. 11, and in both passages the
meek are promised the possession of
the earth : (2) how Christianity, as
in the case of other 'passive' virtues,
not only confers a higher place and
dignity upon this virtue than it had
ever gained in the scale of pagan
ethics, cf. Arist. Ethic. Nic. iv. 5,
but also reveals the character of an
ideal meekness and gentleness and
of a Person in Whom that ideal was
embodied, and from Whom men could
learn and find rest for their souls.
Matt. xi. 29 ; 2 Cor. x. i. See, further,
' Meekness,' Hastings' B. D. vol. iii.,
and Trench, Synonyms, i. pp. 173 fi". ;
Lightfoot on Col. iii. 13.
easy to he intreated, i.e. open to
persuasion, conciliatory, compUant,
ready to be guided. But the word
may possibly be active, 'winning its
way by gentleness, persuasive.' In
the one passage to which reference
can be made in the lxx, 4 Mace,
xii. 6, there is some doubt as to the
reading, but in the same book the
noun is used three times of obedience
to law.
full of mercy and good fruits.
The whole clause contrasts with the
every vile deed above. St James,
as is characteristic of him, insists
upon the practical nature of the
true wisdom; faith to be of any
avail must clothe the naked and feed
the hungry, and so too wisdom must
concern itself not merely with matters
of criticism or with causes of provoca-
tion, but with the charities whichheal,
and soothe, and bless (cf. the fruits
Gal. V. 22). In Wisdom vii. 22, 23,
Wisdom is described as not only pure
and undefiled, but 'as ready to do
good, loving mankind ' ; cf. i. 6. With
reference to this description Wisdom
has been called 'the sole true Euer-
getes'(cf. Luke xxii. 25); but the full
realisation of the virtue which pro-
phets and kings desired to see was
only found in the Incarnate Wisdom
of God, 'Who went about doing
good' Acts X. 38.
without variance, R.V. text, but
marg. doubtfulness, partiality, so
A.V. text (but A.V. marg. wrang-
ling). The choice seems to lie be-
tween doubtfulness and partiality,
as the rendering variance is not very
intelligible.
If we translate 'without doubtful-
ness ' the Greek word is rendered on
the analogy of the corresponding
verb as in i. 6, and in contrast to the
doubleminded man, the possessor
of the true wisdom possesses that
which is stedfast and unwavering,
a simple, absolute trust in God.
St Ignatius twice uses the word
in the sense of 'stedfast,' as he writes
to the Magnesians (xv.), that they
should possess 'a stedfast spirit which
is Jesus Christ,' and to the Tral-
lians (i. 1) that they had 'a mind
unblameable and ttedfast in pa-
III. 17, 18]
JAMES
91
18 ^variance, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteous-
ness is sown in peace ^for them that make peace.
^ Or, doubtfulness Or, partiality
tience'; so again St Clement of Alex,
speaks of ''stedfast faith,' Paed. ii.
iii. p. 100^. The thought contained
in the rendering Svithout partiality'
would of course befit a stedfast,
singleminded wisdom which would
make no distinction between rich
and poor, but if we adopt this latter
rendering it would seem to confine
us chiefly, if not entirely, to a warn-
ing against the danger of respect of
persons, which St James condemns
in ii. 1 ff. (with which compare
Didache, iv. 3), or of the rivalries
which he saw around him.
without hypocrisy. Cf. i. 22, 26,
ii. 1 : of the epithets applied to
wisdom in the passage Wisdom vii.
22, we may compare the epithet
rendered 'plain,' i.e. 'whether in
essence or in undeceiving mani-
festations ' (cf Thuc. L 22, where the
neuter of the same adjective in
Greek is rendered 'the truth,' and
the verb cognate to it is used often
of truth opposed to falsehood). The
one Greek word rendered 'without
hypocrisy' is found twice in the
same book of Wisdom, but nowhere
else in lxx. But such a character-
istic may well have been emphasised
by one who remembered that the
true Wisdom from above had taught
the way of God in truth, not regard-
ing the person of men. Matt. xxii. 16.
It is noteworthy that whilst the same
adjective is applied not only by
St James but by St Paul and St
Petertosomecharacteristic Christian
virtue, it is not found in pagan
ethics, although the cognate adverb
2 Or, hy
is used by M. Antoninus, vrtL 5.
Our Lord repeatedly warned His
disciples against the leaven of the
Pharisees, 'which is hypocrisy,' and
in the Didache special warnings are
directed against the same faiilt; cf.
ii. 6, iv. 12, V. 1, viii. 1.
18. tJie fruit of righteousness,
i.e. the fruit which is righteousness,
that wherein the fruit consists; cf
Heb. xii. 11 (although it is some-
times taken to mean the fruit which
righteousness produces; cf Ephes.
V. 9). The verse gives us the result
of the true wisdom, just as r. 16
had described the results of the
false vpisdom. There are several
places in the O.T. with which the
present passage may be compared,
e.g. Amos v. 7, where, as here, 'the
fruit of righteousness ' is opposed to
'bitterness'; Hos. x. 12; Pro v. xi.
21 ; so too Isaiah xxxii. 16, 17.
is sown; a pregnant expression, for
not the fruit but the seed is sown.
We may compare with the thought
here such passages as Prov. xi. 30,
and Apocalypse ofBaruch, xxxii. 1,
'but ye, if ye prepare your hearts,
so as to sow in them the fruits of
the law,' etc.
in peace. The words are to be
taken with the verb, and can only
mean 'in peace,' i.e. the spirit in
which, and the conditions under
which, alone the seed sown ripens
to the fruit of righteousness. The
thought and language are quite
characteristic of a man who knew
the Beatitudes, Matt. v. 8, with their
blessing on those who work peace,
1 The passages are referred to by Dr Plummer ; see also Mayor in loco.
92
JAMES
[ill. 18
with their stress upon the acqui-
sition of righteousness, not only in a
future world, but in the practical
daily life of a kingdom in which no
evil deed or confusion could have
place (cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 33).
for them that make peace; better
perhaps 'that work peace,' as the
words thus embrace a voider range
than that of the mere reconciling of
persons at variance. The phrase is
found in 2 Mace. i. 4; 3 Mace. ii. 20;
and also in Bphes. ii. 15. But the
closest parallel x^Psalms of Solomon,
xii. 6, where it occurs closely con-
joined with a warning against a
slanderous tongue : ' the Lord direct
the man that worketh peace in his
house.' ' For them,' but R.V. marg.
'by them.' The dative is taken
sometimes as a dative of the agent,
sometimes as a dativus commodi,
but in either case the peacemakers
are those who sow the seed and
those who reap this fruit of right-
eousness. The verse has been well
described as a characteristic and
most suggestive apothegm : ' How
are we to get from human life a
harvest of righteousness ? James
answers that this harvest must be
sown in peace, and it will be reaped
by those whose spirit and temper
make peace. Not through a fierce
and angry temper, by which we
ourselves are liable to be betrayed
into gross injustice and into many
other sins, but by gentleness, kind-
ness, peaceableness, will righteous-
ness at last come to prevail : the
wrath of man worketh not the
righteousness of God.' Dr Dale,
Epistle of St James, p. 120.
CHAPTER IV.
1 — 3. The Divine wisdom produces peace; from whence then come
wars, whence come fightings among you ? come they not from the
pleasures which wage war against all that checks their gratification ? you
desire, but the desire remains unsatiated ; fighting, war, leaves you still
lusting, yet not obtaining ; even in your prayers you pray amiss, because
your heart is set not upon God but upon self. 4 — 8. But in so doing
you break your vows to God, you choose a love which is enmity against
Him, and He is a jealous God, and longs for the whole undivided afi'ection
of the heart. If this seems too great a demand, He giveth more grace, and
that to those who are humble. The proud are wilful, but the humble seek
not their own will, but that of God ; resist the devil, who opposes that holy
will, and he vnll flee from you, for temptation comes not from God ; by that
very act of resistance you are the moi*e fit to draw nigh unto God, Who will
Himself draw nigh unto you. But this approach to God must be made with
hands cleansed from evil, for how else can they be raised in prayer ? and
with hearts purified from every debasing desire ; and thus in thought and
deed, doubleraindedness will be put away.
9, 10. This approach to God will teach you to express your repentance
both inwardly and by outward signs; your laughter must be turned to
mourning and your rejoicing to heaviness, in so far as merriment and
joy have been the joy not of the Lord but of the world ; but in thus
humbling yoiu-self before God you will realise the promise that he that
IV. l]
JAMES
93
humbleth himself shall be exalted. 11, 12. But this spirit of humility
could not coexist with the spirit which speaks against the brethren ; such
censoriousness in speech leads in itself to one of the worst forms of pride ;
the man who is guilty of it sets himself not only against his brethren, but
against the law of love and Him who gave it ; to God alone, as the source
of all law, belong the issues of judgment ; who art thou that presumest to
judge? 13 — 17. This same spirit of presumption and self-assurance,
this same want of humility and dependence upon God, is at work on every
side. Instead of reckoning upon time and getting gain, you ought to
consider that your life is fleeting, that you yourselves are a vapour, and
that the truly religious man would say in view of the future ' if God will ' ;
but ye glory in your boastful talk, and so, knowing and not accepting
that good and perfect will of God, ye sin.
IV, Whence come wars and whence come fightings among
IV. 1. Whence come wars and
whence come fightings among you ?
The two words for 'wars' and
' fightings ' are sometimes said to be
employed just as we distinguish
between 'war' and 'battle,' the
former denoting the whole course of
hostilities, the latter no more than
the actual encounter of armed forces
(Trench, Syn. ii. p. 157).
The latter word is frequently used
with a secondary meaning, as e.g. in
Prov. XV. 18; Ecclus. xxviii. 8; 1 Tim.
vi. 4 ; Tit. iii. 9 ; and so in classical
Greek, So, though less frequently,
is the former word, not only in
classical Greek, but in Psalms of
Solomon, xii. 4, a Psalm which is
entitled 'concerning the tongue of
the wicked' (see above on iii. 6),
we read of the evil man that by
his words he would set fire to
houses with his lying tongue, 'and
put to confusion the houses of the
wicked by kindling strife with slan-
derous lips,' where 'strife' is the
same word as St James employs and
which is translated here 'wars.' (Of.
with this 'Psalm of Solomon,' Ps. cxx.
V. 2 and v. 7.) See for similar use
Testaments of the Twelce Patri-
archs, Dan 5, Gad 5, Sim. 5,
where in each case 'war' is used in
connection with the results of envy
and hatred as above. No doubt
both words might be used of the
strifes and disputes of the Jewish
sects and Rabbis, the former word
denoting perhaps a lasting state of
hostility, the latter a sharp out-
burst of passion, but as St James
wrote he had before him the state
of society in Jerusalem and Pales-
tine, wherein righteousness had once
dwelt, but now robbers and murder-
ers ; cf Matt. xxi. 13 ; Luke xiii. 1 ;
Acts xxi. 38 ; Jos. B. J. n. 1. 3 ; A7it.
XX. 8. 5, XVIII. 1.
The repetition of the word
'whence' in R.V. is indicative of
the strong intensity and passion of
the writer. With the language here
and the question, cf Clem. Rom.
Cor. xlvi. 5, where the similarity
is clear: 'Wherefore are there strifes
and wraths and factions and divisions
and war among you ? '
am.ong you. The expression may
indicate that the writer passes as it
were beyond the circle of ' teachers,'
and has in view the community aa a
whole.
94
JAMES
[IV. 1, 2
you ? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war
2 in your members ? Ye lust, and have not : ye kill, and
even of ynnr pleasures, R.V.
The word 'lusts' in A.V. is in the
original simply ' pleasures,' but this
latter word, although seldom used
in the Greek Test., is always found
there in a bad sense : cf. Luke viii.
14; Tit. iii. 3; 2 Pet. ii. 13.
As the German Lust so the Greek
word is used of the desire for the
pleasure, and for the pleasure itself.
Sometimes in philosophical lan-
guage, as in Xen. Mem. L 2. 23, the
Greek word for 'pleasures' is used
for evil desires, and in 4 Mace. 1.
20flF. the same word is used of
different desires of the soul and
body which lead to sin unless
governed by 'pious reason,' and
again, 4 Mace. v. 23, wisdom is said
to teach temperance, so as to control
pleasures and desires ; cf. the lan-
guage of Plato, Symp. 196 c, and his
definition of temperance. So Philo
speaks of 'the unreasonable plea-
sures,' and often joins together
' pleasures and desires ' of evil things.
A further parallel may be found in
the Letter of Aristeas, 277, 'Why,'
asks the king, 'do not men receive
virtue?' And the answer is 'be-
cause by nature all are incontinent
and are inclined to pleasures. From
this results unrighteousness, and an
abundance of selfishness.'
that war in yoar members.
Carrying on the metaphor these lusts
are described as having their camp
in the members of the body, in the
sensual man; there they encamp,
not for rest, but to make war against
all which interferes with, and against
everyone who crosses, their gratifica-
tion. This seems best on the whole,
and fits in well with the follovring
verse, so that there is no need to
supply the words ' against the soul '
as is sometimes proposed (cf Rom.
vii. 23; 1 Pet. ii. 11), although the
very fact that the 'pleasures' thus
war is a proof that they are not
subject to the law of God, or to the
higher nature of the man.
A remarkable passage in Plato,
Phaedo., 66 c, 'wars and factions and
fightings have no other source than
the body and its lusts,' has often
been compared with the words of
St James : but whereas in the words
which follow Plato speaks of getting
rid of the body as that which
prevents us from seeing the truth
and attaining to the heavenly wis-
dom, St James would teach us that
now, in this life, the wisdom from
above may be enjoyed by the pure
in heart, that now, as peacemakers,
we are the friends and sons of God,
not slaves to the service of the body^
From this point of view a strik-
ing passage may be quoted from
Testaments of the Twelve Pa-
triarchs, Dan 5, 'Keep, my chil-
dren, the commandments of the
Lord and obey his law... speak the
truth every man to his neighbour,
and ye shall not fall into pleasure
(same word as here used by St James)
and turmoil, but ye shall be in peace,
having the God of peace, and no war
(same word as in St James) shall
overcome you.'
2. The punctuation of R.V. as in
W.H. leaves what has been called
the extraordinary anti-climax '■ye
1 The passage from Plato is quoted in full by Plummer, p. 218, and the
contrast drawn out between his teaching and that of St James. For parallels
in the language of Philo to the metaphor of St James see Mayor in loco.
IV. 2j
JAMES
95
kill and covet,' marg. R.V. 'are
jealous, as the Greek may be used
in either sense (of. iii. 14, 1 Cor. xii.
31); so too A.V. text has 'ye kill and
desire to have.'
But in A.V. marg. we have 'ye
envy' instead of 'ye kill' by the
adoption of another reading. This
makes very good sense ; desire, envy,
jealousy insatiate, result in wars
and fightings, but it cannot be said
that there is the least manuscript
authority to support the proposed
changed
Another suggested change of im-
portance is to place a colon, or a
full-stop, after 'ye kill,' and in this
way we have two sentences of similar
meaning, exactly balancing one an-
other, whilst no violence is done to
the Greek. Thus ' ye lust and have
not' corresponds with 'ye covet and
cannot obtain,' and 'ye kill' vrith
'ye fight and war,' and thus too
the abrupt collocations 'ye kill,' 'ye
fight and war,' the abruptness being
quite characteristic of St James,
express in each case a result of what
precedes; so Mayor and W.H. marg.
If therefore we read 'ye kill' it
may be fairly urged that there was
quite enough of violence and fa-
naticism in the social life around
St James to justify even this charge
of murder against his fellow-country-
men, and that in such a state of
society murder might often be re-
garded as an expedient always ready
to hand, and not only as a last
and final resource. And upon such
fatal violence insatiable covetousness
might well follow and fresh deeds of
blood ensue.
It has indeed been suggested
that the verb translated 'covet'
in this verse might be rendered ' ye
act as zealots,' as if the ^vriter had
in mind the men who called them-
selves by this name, and gloried in
the most atrocious acts. If this
technical name was not in existence
at the early date to which we may
refer the Epistle, yet St James must
have seen in the followers of Judas
the Gaulonite, in their reckless
violation of law and order, in their
utter disregard of the value of life,
the immediate precursors of the
Zealots, whilst he would have known
something of the anarchy which
prevailed through the country at a
still earlier date when Varus was
prefect of Syria, in days when deeds
of murder were rife amongst the
Jews and were committed not only
against the Romans but much more
frequently against their own country-
men : Jos. A7it. XVII. 10. 4, 8, xviii. 1 ;
B.J.u,8. 1, VII. 8. 1 (see also above,
iii. 14).
How atrociously the Jews on
occasion could anticipate the de-
cisions of law and judgment w©
very plainly see in the conspiracy
related in Acts xxiii. 12, 13.
Certainly in face of the use of the
same verb in v. 6, cf ii. 11, and the
striking passage in Didac/ie, iii. 2,
'be not angry, for anger leadeth to
murder, nor jealous, nor contentious,
^ The reading was adopted by Erasmus and others, and so earlier by
Oecumenius in his text but not in his note ; bo too by Tyiidale and Cranmer
amongst E. Versions. Mayor supposes that in the Greek the word for 'ye envy'
was carelessly written and was then corrupted into a somewhat similar Greek
word ' ye murder,' and on this occasion he is in agreement with Spitta. But
would a reading which makes the sense more difficult have been introduced
from the easier ' ye envy ' ? and would not the latter easily suggest itself
from the frequent collocation of the nouns ' envy ' and ' zeal ' ?
96
JAMES
[IV. 2, 3
^ covet, and cannot obtain : ye fight and war ; ye have not,
3 because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye
^ Gr, are jealous.
nor wrathful, for of all these things
murders are engendered,' there can
be no decisive reason against a literal
rendering here, and St James might
well have feared that even Jewish-
Christians might be tempted perhaps
by a perverted view of the Messiah's
kingdom to join in deeds of selfish
extortion and murderous violence.
On the other hand the expression
still presents such difficulties to many
minds that it has been maintained
that there is no alternative but to
take the verb as used to denote that
hatred of his brother which makes a
man a murderer, Matt. v. 22, 1 John
iii. 15^; but if this interpretation is
admitted it still remains strange
that such a strong word should
precede 'covet,' as we should have
expected a reverse order.
One other explanation, connected
to a certain extent with the foregoing,
may be mentioned. In Ecclus. xxxiv.
21, 22, we read: 'the bread of the
needy is the life of the poor : he that
defraudeth him thereof is a man of
blood. He that taketh away his
neighbour's living slayeth him (the
same word as is used in the passage
before us for " to kill "), and he that
defraudeth the labourer of his hire
is a bloodshedder' ; cf. Deut. xxiv. 6.
This meaning, half literal, half meta-
phorical, as it may be fairly described,
is commended by the fact that St
James so clearly shows his acquaint-
ance with Ecclesiasticus elsewhere,
and also because such an explanation
fits in well with the rest of the
picture of Jewish social life as St
James presents it^
Perhaps, however, the best solution
of the passage is to be found in
adopting the punctuation of W.H.
marg. (see above), and with this
sequence of the clauses the passage
in the Didache above is in accord-
ance, where jealousy and wrath en-
gender murder, and so too is the
passage Clem. Rom. Cor. iv,. 7, 9,
where jealousy and envy are de-
scribed as working a brother's mur-
der, and causing persecution \mto
death ; so too vi. 4, where it is said
of jealousy and strife that they have
overthroAvn great cities and uprooted
great nations.
ye fight and war ; ye have not,
because ye ask not. So R.V. but A.V.
renders ' ye fight and war, yet,' etc.
But 'yet' should be omitted, not
only because it has so little support,
but because even without the punc-
tuation suggested above, it is not
needed^, as the terseness of the
sentence is quite characteristic of
St James.
ye have not. The repetition of a
preceding clause is again character-
istic of the writer ; cf. i 6.
ye ask not. It may be observed
that in the original the verb is in
the middle voice, and so too in the
1 So Estius, and amongst recent commentators von Soden and Beyschlag.
2 Among recent commentators both Dr Zahn and Dr Plummer favour this
interpretation.
3 It is omitted by W.H Von Soden retains the word ' and ' before < ye
have not,' for which there is certainly more authority than for the adversative
copula expressed in A.V.
IV. 3, 4]
JAMES
97
4 ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures. Ye
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
murder ; a Russian peasant can tuni
the face of his eikon to the wall,
whilst he violates some command of
God's law. The words of Seneca,
JSjnst. X. (the first half of the
passage being quoted by him from
Athenodorus), stand out still as a
rebuke to the failures of Christians :
' Then know that you are freed from
all evil desires, that you ask nothing
of God except what you could ask
openly. So live with men as if God
sees ; so speak with God, as if men
hear.'
that ye may spend it, viz. what
you thus dare to ask from God.
'Consume,' A.V., is used for another
word in the original elsewhere. For
the verb here cf. Luke xv. 14. One
important MS. has a compound of
the same verb which expresses even
more strongly the entirety of the
expenditure; it occurs in Wisd. v. 13
of men ' utterly spent ' in their own
wickedness : cf. also below, v. 5.
in your pleasures; the preposition
marking the realm in which (not the
object on which) the expenditure is
made, viz. in the kingdom of the
senses, in the lower part of the man's
nature.
4. Ye adulteresses. The authori-
ties may be fairly called absolutely
decisive for this reading, and its diffi-
culty is also in its favour. It is very
probable that the masculine was
inserted, as in A. V. ' adulterers and
adulteresses,' because it was thought
that the word was to be taken
literally, and it seemed strange that
St James should refer only to the
weaker sex. But the context in v. 5
shows that the language is iigurativo
(while no doubt the mention of
sensual pleasures in v. 3 would natu-
7
second clause of v. 3, whereas in the
first clause of the verse the same
verb is used in the active voice.
No very satisfactory explanation of
this is forthcoming, and it is very
doubtful how far we can make any
precise distinction, or how far any
such distinction was in the mind of
the wTiter. It is indeed contended
that, as in the case of some other
verbs, the active and middle voices
may be used indiscriminately. It is
also very doubtful how far the word
employed here expresses, as many
writers have held, the request of an
inferior to a superior, whereas it
would rather seem that the verb in
question denotes a request for some-
thing to be given, not done, empha-
sising the thing asked for rather
than the person (Grimm-Thayer).
3. because ye ask amiss; they
pray, but in vain, because whilst
their words fly up their thoughts
remain below, fixed solely on the
acquisition of some material gain
and pleasure : ' In church thou shalt
confess thy transgressions, and shalt
not betake thyself to prayer with an
evil conscience,' Didache, iv. 14. And
so the essential condition of all ac-
ceptable prayer was omitted, 1 John
V. 14, 'if we ask anything according
to His will he heareth us.'
The history of Christendom is, alas!
full of instances of the manner in
which men can 'ask amiss,' even
when they retain the formality of
prayer as the outward aid to wor-
ship.
St Augiistine would ask God to
give him continence and chastity,
but not yet, Conf. viii. 1 7 ; a Cornish
VFi'ecker could pass from church to
his fiendish work of plunder and
98
JAMES
[IV. 4
is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a
rally suggest the thought of estrange-
ment from God's love). God is con-
ceived of as in O.T. language — e.g.
Ps. Ixxiii. 27 ; Isaiah liv. 5 ; Jer.
iii. 20 ; Hos. ii. 2 — as the husband of
Israel vphich is bound to Him by a
marriage tie ; of also our Lord's o^vn
words, Matt. xii. 39, xvi. 4 ; Mark
viii. 38. The American Revisers thus
add suitably in the margin after
the word 'adulteresses,' 'that is,
who break your marriage vow to
God.'
It has been sometimes suggested
that the feminine noun is used here
with a touch of scorn as well as of
indignation : of. Horn. Iliad, ii. 225,
' women, not men, of Achaia.'
One or two passages from Jewish
writings may be cited in connection
with the above. In the Jerusalem
Talmud, in commrnts on the Ten
Words, andamongstthem our Seventh
Commandment, 'Said R. Levi, It is
written (Prov. xxiii. 26), My son,
give me thine heart, and let thine
eyes observe my ways : the Holy
One, blessed is He, saith, If thou
bast given me thy heart and thine
eye, I know then, thou art Mine.'
In the Mechilta it is asked, ' How
were the Ten Words given ? five on
this Table and five on that... It was
written. Thou shalt have no other
etc., and it was written opposite to
it, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
The Scripture shows that whosoever
practises strange worship, the Scrip-
ture imputes to him as if he com-
mitted adultery fi'om God, for it is
said (Ezek, xvi. 32), As a wife that
committeth adultery, which taketh
strangers instead of her husband,
and Hos. iii. 1.' It would therefore
seem quite plain that the spiritual
adultery might be attributed not
only to the Jewish Church, but to
each individual member of it.
knoic ye not. The writer appeals
to the Christian consciousness of his
readers: cf. 1 Cor. iii. 16, vi. 9, 19;
Rom. vi. 16.
the friendship of the world. The
whole context vv. 5 and 6 seems to
show that the relationship of the
soul to God — 'thy Maker is tliy
husband' — is inconsistent vrith the
introduction of a friendship with
that which is opposed to Him. The
appeal of St James comes naturally
from one who had heard and no
doubt enforced our Lord's own
warning. Matt. vi. 24; Luke xvi. 13;
cf. John XV 19. The word is best
taken actively as 'friend' (cf. 'enemy'
just below), although it might include
the being loved as well as the loving.
The noun itself is found only here iu
the N.T. but it is frequent in lxx.
Our Lord's words, referred to above,
speak of wealth, Mammon, as that
which is loved, or clung to, in pre-
ference to God, and so some have
taken this word here to mean the
love of worldly goods, and others of
earthly lusts, Tit. ii. 12, but the word
'friendship' may well include the
love of sinful companions as well as
of things sinful ; see note on i. 27.
is enmity with God. The Greek
word is best taken as a noun, so in A.
and R.V. (as an adj. by the Vulgate) ;
and thus the contrast is marked
between the two opposites, hatred
and friends] lip. There is no need
to suppose that the words are a
quotation from some other source
imknown to us.
Whosoever therefore would be,
R.V., 'will be,' A.V. Stress is some-
times laid upon the verb in the
original, as indicating that this
IV. 4, 5]
JAMES
99
5 friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God. Or
think ye that the scripture ^speaketh in vain? ^Dqi^Jj ^^e
spirit which ^he made to dwell in us long unto envying?
^ Or, saith in vain, ^ Or, The spirit which he made to dwell in us he
yearneth for even unto jealous envy. Or, That spirit which he made to dioell
in us yearneth for us even unto jealous envy. ' Some ancient authorities
read dwelleth in us.
man's choice of friendship is de-
liberately made with all his mind
and will, a choice again emphasised
by the rendering 'maketh himself
the enemy' (see below), or as mean-
ing that where a man cannot from
circumstances be the open enemy
of God, he has yet the wish to be,
and so is equally guilty of enmity
against God.
maketh himsel/{cf. iii. 6), is there-
by constituted, Vulg. constituitur,
so in iii. 6; Rom. v. 19 (2 Pet. i. 8)^.
The words again recall oui" Lord's
saying, Matt. vi. 24.
5. Or think ye; cf. i. 26: he will
show by means of the question how
utterly incompatible the two things
are — love of God and love of the
world.
in vain. Cf Deut. xxxii. 47 ; Isaiah
xlix. 4, Lxx.
the scripture speaketh; cf 2 Cor.
vi. 17, as here in R.V. marking a
reference to the general sense rather
than to the actual words. It is
sometimes urged that the word
'scripture' when used in the N.T.
in the singular always refers to a
particular passage of Scripture, and
that in most cases there is no diffi-
culty in fixing the particular passage
referred to^. But it cannot be said
that there is no such difficulty in
this verse, and a consideration of it
would rather lead us to refer the
expression here, not to any one
passage, but to the general sense of
several passages ; cf e.g. John vii. 38,
where our Lord Himself apparently
applies the words ' the scripture
hath said' not to any one passage,
but to the thought expressed in
several O.T. passages. The difficulty
Avas evidently felt so much by the
Revisers that in distinction to A.V.
they break up the sentence into
two questions (cf W.H. marg.), 'Or
think ye that the scripture speaketh
in vain ? Doth the spirit which he
made to dwell in us long unto envy-
ing ? ' The difficulty is thus avoided
of regarding the words 'the scripture
saith' (A.V.) as introducing a passage
from the O.T. which does not occur
there. But it is very doubtful
whether the Revisers have adopted
the best explanation by their second
question, if, that is, it is understood as
an inquiry whether the Holy Spirit
so longeth for us as to be an example
of envy and jealousy, the implied
answer being No ; He is a Spirit of
gentleness : see further below.
lotig unto envying? The A.V. by
its rendering 'lusteth to envy,' i.e.
to a degree bordering on envy, gives
even more positively a bad sense to
1 See Mayor's note on the many instances of the verb in the passive voice;
on the other hand Grimm-Thayer take it here and in iii. 6 as middle.
* See however Art. 'Scripture,' Hastings' B. D., where Dr Hort (1 Pot. ii. 6)
is quoted as saying that in St Paul and St John the expression 'the Scripture '
'is capable of being understood as approximating to the collective sense.'
7—2
100
JAMES
[IV. 5
the original word, a sense which is
by no means necessary. For this
verb, rendered 'to long' or 'to yearn,'
is frequently used elsewhere in the
N.T. and always in a good sense, as
also its cognate substantive and ad-
jective; cf. Rom. i. 11, XV. 23; Phil.
1. 8, iv. 1 : in lxx it also frequently
occurs, and rarely with a bad mean-
ing. It seems best therefore to
translate, with the second marginal
rendering of R.V., 'That spirit
which he made to dwell in us yearn-
eth for us even unto jealous envy.'
The first marginal rendering of the
Revisers is not so good, for if God
is taken as the subject of both verbs
He is represented as yearning for
His own Spirit in us (a view, how-
ever, to which Mr Mayor now
inclines), although it is of course
possible to take 'the spirit' as
meaning the human spirit ; cf Gen.
ii. 7 ; Zech. xii. 1 ; Eccles. xii. 7. And
this makes perfectly good sense \ the
main objection being that the human
spirit would scarcely be spoken of as
the spirit which God 'made to dwell
in us' (see the passages in Hermas
quoted below).
If therefore we adopt the second
marginal R.V. the thought is in
reahty a sequel to that which has
preceded; no adultery, no alien
friendship, can be tolerated by the
Spirit, Who claims from us and in us
an undivided affection. In adopting
this interpretation the Scripture
reference is not to any one passage,
but rather to a combination of
passages, or at any rate to their
collective sense, as e.g. Deut. xxxii. 10,
11, where we have the tender care of
God for Israel described, and the same
verb used as is here rendered 'yearn-
eth,' and 19, 21, where we have
the thought of God's jealousy ex-
pressed in view of the nation's
unfaithfulness; cf Zech. i. 14, viii. 2;
see also Isaiah Ixiii. 8-16; Ezek.
xxxvi. 17; Gen. vi. 3-5.
It has indeed been further sug-
gested that if the words before us
are compared with Gal. v. 17, as
affording a parallel to the words
there used, 'the Spirit lusteth against
the flesh,' so here 'the Spirit lusteth
against envy,' there may be a common
Hebrew original, a Hebrew gospel
now lost to us, behind the two texts I
But whilst it is no doubt trae that
the preposition employed by St
James, and in Gal., can well be
rendered 'against' (as Luther, Ben-
gel, and others have taken it here),
yet such a rendering, allowable if
hostility was implied, would be
obviously out of place if we attach
to the verb 'to yearn' its usual
meaning of strong affection. A
similar explanation has been at-
tempted for the other part of the
verse, 'the spirit which dwelleth in
us,' by citing as parallels Rom. viii.
9; 1 Cor. iii. 16. But if the differ-
ence in reading between the expres-
sion used by St James Tnade to dwell
and that in Rom. and 1 Cor. dwelleth
might be passed over, the difliculty
in the above interpretation of the
^ Amongst recent commentators von Soden and the Eomanist Trenkle, and
in England Parry, St James, pp. 39 ff. The solution proposed by Weiss, viz. to
regard the words after 'speaketh in vain' to 'grace' parenthetically, and to
regard the interrupted quotation as taken up again in ' wherefore the scripture
saith,' seems forced and not very natural. It is equally unsatisfactory to refer
the words 'Or think ye saith in vain' to the latter part of v. 4, as not
only is there no quotation in that verse, but the formula 'the scripture saith'
refers more naturally to what follows than to what precedes.
2 Resch, Agrapha, pp. 131, 256. (For the recent conjecture that the words
irpbs Tbv 6tbv should be substituted for the words rendered 'unto yearning,' irpds
<pd6vov, see Studien %md Krltiken, 4, 1904.)
IV. 6]
JAMES
101
6 But he giveth imore grace. Wherefore the scripture saith,
^ Gr. a greater grace.
other part of the supposed quotation
still remains. With regard to the two
readings made to dwell (adopted
here by nearly all modern editors)
and dwelleth a striking passage in
Hernias, Mand. iii. 1, may be
quoted in connection with the verse
under discussion ; ' again he saith
to me, " Love truth, and let nothing
but truth proceed out of thy mouth,
that the Spirit which God made to
dwell in this flesh may be found
true in the sight of all men ; and
thus shall the Lord who dwelleth in
thee be glorified." ' Lightfoot appar-
ently takes the word ' the Spirit ' as
referring here to the Holy Spirit;
and in Hermas, Sim,, v. 6. 5, we have
' the Holy Preexistent Spirit which
created the whole creation, God
made to dwell in flesh that He de-
sired.'
6. But he giveth m,ore grace, or
R.V. marg. 'a greater grace.' Adopt-
ing the interpretation of the previous
words as above, the best meaning
appears to be that the Spirit of God
bestows upon those who submit to
the Divine will, and surrender them-
selves to it entirely, richer supplies
of grace to effect that complete sur-
render to the yearnings of the Divine
love, and to count all things as loss
in re^^ponse to it.
The words are sometimes taken
as part of the quotation, but as the
wi'iter at once supports the state-
ment by a definite passage of Scrip-
ture, it is best to regard this sentence
in question as a complement to the
preceding verse made by the writer,
'the more we suirender, the more
He bestows' (cf Mark x. 29, 30) ; and
the greater our weakness, His grace
is still sufidcieut. In a somewhat
similar manner St Paul after a
quotation from Gen. ii. 7, in 1 Cor.
XV. 45, adds a complement in his
own words.
In advocating the reference of
'spirit' in v. 5 to the human spirit, it
is suggested that the words before us
refer to a greater gift than that
spirit, viz. the gift of regeneration,
wherefore we should submit our-
selves wholly to God, because the
danger is greater in neglecting this
greater gift.
But this interpretation does not
seem fully to recognise that the
passage is not entirely one of stern
warning : it is also one of expecta-
tation ; the humble are thought of
as well as the proud, and to the
humble, as the words are taken
above, God gives grace, and that too
more abundantly, that they may
respond to His afi"ection.
Wherefore the scripture saith,
R. v., but the words 'the scripture' are
marked as not in the original, so that
it is allowable to supply 'God' as the
subject ; cf Ephes. iv. 8, or L 12 above ;
or the verb may be regarded as
impersonal. The quotation is from
Prov. iii. 34 in the Lxx, with the
exception of 'God' for 'Lord'; cf.
1 Pet. v. 5, and for the thought Job
xxii. 29. The main object of the
quotation is evidently to justify the
declaration as to the ungrudging
bestowal of God's grace. At the
same time we can easily understand
how St James would identify the
friends of the world witli 'the proud';
'the beginning of i)ride is wlicn one
departeth from God, and his heart
is turned away from his M;iker,'
Ecclus. X. 12 ; cf Treiicli, Syii. L
115 (cf. in. 18). The 'luwly' is set
102
JAMES
[IV. 6, 7
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
7 Be subject therefore unto God ; but resist the devil, and
over against the 'proud' as so often
in the Psahns, as e.g. cxxxviii. 6, and
in Ecclesiasticus ; see note on i. 9.
In the Psalms of Solomon the same
contrast is also found ; of. ii. 35, where
the Sadducean princes and their
party are spoken of as the 'proud'
whom God lays low, because they
know Him not, and where, as in
vv. 14 ff., the Psalmist may well be
tacitly contrasting the wealthy Sad-
ducees with the poor and needy
who have taken God alone for their
hope and help, the God Who makes
glad the soul of 'the humble' by
opening His hand in mercy. This
contrast meets us again in a striking
manner in Luke i. 51, 52 (cf. Dida-
che, iii. 9) ; and the question has been
asked if St James was acquainted
with the Magnificat. In answer it
may at least be said that the thought
expressed both here and there is one
which breathed 'the atmosphere of
religious life in which the Holy
Family lived and which St James
shared.' The pride or haughtiness
here referred to was specially noted
in our Lord's warning, Mark viL
22, and it finds a place in 'the way of
death,' Didache, v. 1, in contrast to
'the way of life' (which is, first of all,
the love of God, i. 2).
resisteth, a word perhaps used to
express, as in the metaphors of war-
fare so common in St Paul, ' arrayeth
himself against,' but see also below.
The same quotation is found in Clem.
Rom. Cor. xxx. 1, and it is probable
that he may have borrowed it from
St James, as it occurs in the same
form, and as, in the context, we read :
'holding ourselves aloof from all
backbiting and evil-speaking (cf. St
James iv. 11), being justified by
works, and not by words.' It is
interesting to note how often this
verse quoted here finds a place in
the Confessions of St Augustine.
There seems no sufficient ground
for regarding the words as a saying
of our Lord (as Resch maintains),
although Bphraem Syrus appears to
cite them inexactly as such.
7. Be subject. The antithesis in
the original has been noted, although
it can scarcely be pressed in English,
'God setteth himself against the
proud — set yourselves as under God.'
This submission, so hard for the
proud and self-reliant, ought to be
natm-al for the truly lowly, for they
serve in reality only one Master, even
God; cf. Col. iii. 22 ; Tit. ii. 9 ; Didache,
iv. 11; or the thought of warfare
may still be prominent, 'be subject
to God, and not enemies to Him.'
The verb is frequently used in
the Psalms of submission to God:
cf. 2 Mace. ix. 12. The tense
and mood in the Greek denote both
here and in the word ' resist ' urgent
entreaty and command.
but resist, R.V.; cf. 1 Pet. v. 9.
'But' retained not only by R.V. but
by W.H. (perhaps dropped out in
A.V. with the view of giving to the
clause a more independent form).
However submissive, yet as loyal
subjects they must resist the enemy
of the Lord. The verb is not the
same as above, v. 6, although both in
A. and R.V. the two verbs are ren-
dered by the same English word,
and may perhaps continue the same j
military metaphor; cf. for use of the
verb in lxx, Wisd. xi. 3, 21 ; Ecclus.
xlvi. 7; 1 Esd. ii. 19.
the devil, i.e. the slanderer, who
slanders God to man and man to
IV. 7, 8]
JAMES
103
8 he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners ; and purify
offering sacrifices or ministering in
the Temple, but also in a wider
sense, Isaiah xxix. 13; Hos. xii. 6;
and in the N.T. Heb. vii. 19. The
teaching is similar both in sub-
stance and form to several O.T.
passages ; of. 2 Chron. xv. 2 ; Zech.
i. 3 ; Mai. iii. 7 ; and see also Isaiah
Ivii. 15, to which our Lord refers,
Mark vii. 6. It is noticeable that in
Test. xii. Pat, Dan 7. 6, we have
the exhortation to fear the Lord and
beware of Satan and his spirits closely
followed by the exhortation, 'Draw
nigh to God,' but the context, 'and
to the angel who prays for you,'
stands out in contrast to the teach-
ing of St James before us. In
resisting the devil it may be said
that ipso facto one draws nigh unto
God, or it may be objected that
St James does not follow the correct
order in placing resistance to the
devil before the approach to God,
since prayer is the first and best
means of resistance ; but it is likely
enough that St James was thinking
of a man hard pressed by temptation
calling upon God in his trouble, and
that he wished to assure him of
God's gracious response to his need.
'He will draw nigh unto you,'
laetissimum verhmn, 'a most glad-
some word,' says Bengel. Here
again, in the fuller sense of God's
presence, the promise was verified,
'He giveth more gi-ace.'
Cleanse your hands. As the
word to draw near w;is used on
occasions in connection with the
approach of the priests to the Lord,
Exod. xix. 2-2, and afterwards of
spiritual worship, so the washing
God, and in whose work men
associate themselves by envy, hatred
and discord; of. John viii. 44; no
wonder that St James pleads for
resistance to such works with the
word 'brethren' on his lips, v. 11.
and he will flee, perhaps ' shall
flee,' not merely an assurance from
man to man, but a Divine promise ;
laetum verbum, 'a gladsome word,'
says Bengel; cf. 1 John v. 18. Our
Lord's own temptation shows us how
submission to the will and appoint-
ment of God issues in the defeat
and flight of the Evil One. Here
again an attempt has been made to
refer the words 'Resist the devil'
etc. to an imrecorded saying of our
Lord, and to refer to the same source
the passages 1 Pet. v. 8 ; Ephes. vi.
11, 13 (iv. 27). But it is of course
quite possible that such sayings might
have formed part of the common
stock of Apostolic teaching and exhor-
tation, in fact, a current maxim ^ A
striking parallel to the words of St
James is undoubtedly presented by
Hernias, Mand. xii. 5. 2, where in
connection with the devil we read,
' if ye resist him he will be van-
quished and will flee from you dis-
graced'; cf also xii. 4. 7. But in
view of the early date which we
assign to the Epistle, Hermas may
fairly be supposed to have St James
in mind, and there is no need to refer
his words also to some lost Hebrew
gospel. The second part of the
verse also occurs in Testaments of
the xii. Patriarchs, Napht. 8 (cf.
Issach. 7, Dan 5, etc.).
8. Draw nigh to God; used in
the Lxx specially of the priests
1 Kopes, Die Spriiche Jesu, p. 41, in answer to Dr Rfisch,
104
JAMES
[IV. 8, 9
9 your hearts, ye doubleminded. Be afflicted, and mourn,
and cleansing of hands was connected
primarily with ceremonial purity,
and then with moral purity; of.
Exod. XXX. 19-21 ; Ps. xxvi. 6 ;
Isaiah i. 16, etc. It is quite possible
that as the writer has spoken of
drawing nigh to God, which would
no doubt be taken to include at all
events the thought of drawing nigh
in prayer, he is thinking here of the
pure hands raised in prayer to God ;
of. 1 Tim. ii. 8; Clem. Rom. Cor.
xxix. 1, 'let us therefore approach
Ilim in holiness of soul, lifting up
pure and undefiled hands unto Him.'
It is also quite possible that as the
writer had spoken of fightings and
murders in Jewish social life, he may
have used the expression of the hands
as the instriunents of action (cf.
Isaiah i. 15, lix. 2, 3), and so they are
also spoken of by Philo. Men with
hands so stained with blood could
not draw nigh unto God; cf. Ps.
xxiv. 1-4.
ye sinners. The word shows what
kind of cleansing is meant, and men
guilty of sins such as those described
might well be summed up mider
such a category; the word is in
itself a call to repentance, to change
of heart and life. It was, we may
note, a term characteristic also of a
Jewish wi-iter; cf. its frequency not
only in the Book of Enoch, but in
the Psalms of Solomon, where it is
often used to denote not Romans or
heathens but irreligious Jews.
purify your hearts. This clause
and the preceding are strikingly
combined in Ps. xxiv. 4, Ixxiii. 13.
The verb is again one used primarily
of ceremonial purification, as con-
stantly in Lxx, but here it is used of
spiritual cleansing: cf. 1 Pet. i. 22;
1 Joh. iii. 3
On the doubleminded, see on 1. 8; cf.
Hos. X. 2 ; and Hermas, Mand. ix. 7,
with an evident reminiscence of the
warning of St James, 'cleanse thy
heart from doublemindedness,' and
Clem. Rom. Cor. xi. 2, show how the
sin was noted in the early Church
as one for special warning. In
Testametits of the Twelve Patri-
archs, Asher 3, we have an interest-
ing passage in the present connec-
tion : ' The double-faced serve not
God but their own lusts, to please
Beliar, and men like to him.' In
modern literature we may recall
John Bunyan's Mr Facing-both-
ways.
We must remember that St James
does not address two different
classes, but that the sinners and the
doubleminded are the same.
It is possible that in the purifying,
rendered sometimes 'make chaste,'
we have an allusion to the adultery
of V. 4, but the latter expression may
be best explained as above in com-
ment on that verse, and those guilty
of acts of lust, envy, murder, are also
guilty of this spiritual adultery.
The likeness to our Lord's teach-
ing as to the undivided mind and
the purity of heart essential to the
true service of God is unmistakable ;
cf. Matt. xxiv. 51, and xv. 1-9.
9. Be afflicted. The word may
refer to the inward feeling of
wretchedness following on the sense
of sin, even in a contrite heart ; the
Romanist commentators for the
most part take it of abstinence from
comfort and luxury, such outward
acts of mortification being regarded
as the expression of inward sorrow,
and as a help to break the power of
sin. St James was himself noted
for his ascetic life, and fasting and
IV. 9]
JAMES
105
and weep : let your laughter be turned to mourning, and
sackcloth were the frequent ac-
companiments, in Jewish prophetic
language, of the call to repentance :
Jer. iv. 8; Joel i. 13, 14. It would
therefore seem quite natural that
he should insist upon the volimtary
assumption of hardship and labour,
and the word may be used here of
the endurance of such labours, as it
is used primarily of enduring hard-
ship in classical Greek. But it should
be also noted that in the Lxx the cog-
nate noun and adjective are often
used to denote wretchedness and
misery, and so in classical Greek ; and
the word may be used here much as
is the adjective in Rom. vii. 24, Rev.
ill. 17, to describe the sense of
wretchedness consequent on sin.
Clem. Rom. Cor. xxiii. 3, after a
warning against doublemindedness,
adds words of interest in the present
connection : ' Let this scripture be
far from us where He saith : Wretch-
ed are the douhleminded, which
doubt in their soul and say, These
things we did hear in the days of
our fathers also, and behold we have
grown old, and none of these things
hath befallen us.'
and mourn, and weep. If the
previous verb expresses the inward
grief and pain, the mourning and
weeping may denote its outward
manifestation. The two verbs are
joined together as in 2 Sara. xix. 1 ;
Neh. viii. 9 ; cf our Lord's own words,
Luke vi. 25 (Mark xvi. 10 ; Rev.
xviii. 15, 19). The grief has some-
times been referred to clothing in
sackcloth and other such external
evidence of sorrow, and these, as we
have seen above, might well be in-
cluded among the Jews, but in any
case a godly sorrow, a change of
heart and mind must result. The
cast of St James's language here is
very similar to that of the old
Hebrew prophets; cf. e.g. Jer. ix.
18; Joel i. 10; Micah iii. 4; Zech.
xi. 2.
let your laughter... and your joy,
R.V., employing the pronoun with
each noun. We may compare again
for the language, Amos viii. 10;
Prov. xiv. 13 ; Tobit ii. 6 ; 1 Mace,
ix. 41, etc. ; and also our Lord's own
prophecy, Luke vi. 25, which St James
may have had in mind.
Laughter and joy are not of course
evil in themselves ; cf e.g. Job viii.
21, where God filleth the mouth
with laughter. It is noticeable how-
ever that the noun ' laughter ' is only
found here in the N.T. and the verb
only twice in Luke vi. 21, 25, and
this rarity has suggested the remark
that so little is heard of ' laughter '
in the N.T. because Hebrew laughter
was a grave and serious thing ; ' it
had had no comedy to degrade it.'
But in this passage the stress is laid
on your laughter, your joy ; it was the
unseemly laughter and merriment of
the friend of the world, the sport of
the fool, which St James reproved;
Prov. X. 23.
heaviness; only twice in Biblical
Greek, but the cognate adjective
occiu's Wisd. xvii. 6. The noun is
found often in Philo, and it occurs
also in classical Greek and in Jose-
phus. Literally it signifies a casting
of the eyes downwards, and it is used
by Plutarch, Thetn. 9, as a synonym
of despondency, despair. Here St
James calls upon the 'sinners' to
adopt as it were the attitude of the
publican who could only call himself
' the sinner,' and who ' would not so
much as lift up his eyes unto heaven,'
Luke xviii. 13.
106
JAMES
[IV. 9-11
10 your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall exalt you.
11 Speak not one against another, brethren. He that
speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speak-
10. Humble yourselves. This may
refer back to the promise of ». 6 ;
or it may be that as the writer has
bidden them to cleanse themselves
and to draw nigh to God, they are
now thought of more specially as
'in the sight of the Lord' (in the
parallel, 1 Pet. v. 6, it is noteworthy
that the expression is different), in
Whose presence the haughtiness of
men shall be brought low, but Who
dwells with the humble and contrite
spirit; cf. also the language of
Ecclus. ii. 17, iii. 18.
the Lord, i.e. God, not Christ in
this passage ; cf. v. 7.
shall exalt you, R. V. This render-
ing brings the words more closely
into connection with the words of
our Lord; cf. Matt, xxiii. 12; Luke
xiv. 11. At the same time the
teaching would be also familiar to
every Jew in the O.T. ; cf. Job v. 11 ;
Ezek. xxi. 26, etc.; so also Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs, Jos. 18,
'if ye walk in the commandments
of the Lord, he will exalt you.' For
the further bearing of the words
see note on i. 9.
11. Speak not one against another,
brethren, KV. In A.V. 'speak not
evil,' etc. ; so in Rom. i. 30, the cognate
adjective == backbiters in both A.V,
and R.V., but the word does not
always contain the idea of secrecy.
Humility before God and the friend-
ship of God would guard from this
sin and love of censoriousness and
fault-finding, not only because the
love of God must mean love of men
as brethren, but also because true
humility would prevent every Clnis-
tian from usurping the right of God
to be the sole judge. St James had
already insisted upon the same
urgent necessity of freedom from
this fault, and here the whole
previous context might have well
led him to recur to a similar exhor-
tation. The command seems to be
quite general — cf. ' one another ' and
' brethren ' — and not to be confined
to the teachers as some have thought,
or to those who may have been
tempted to refuse brotherly love to
the sinners and 'adulterers' who
had vexed them with their lawless
deeds. The verb (although only in
1 Pet. ii. 12, iii. 16, elsewhere in
N.T.) is frequent in lxx, and cf. for
its meaning here Ps. 1. 20, ci. 5, and
Testaments of the Ticelve Patri-
archs, Gad 5. The cognate noun
occiu'S Wisdom i. 11, where however
it is used of disparagement of God.
The same noun is fomid 2 Cor. xii.
20, 1 Pet. ii. 1, of evil-speaking
against men, and for the same sense
cf. Clem. Rom. Cor. xxx. 1, 3, where
it occurs in a context which reminds
us closely of St James, inasmuch as
the same quotation from Prov. iii. 6
occurs. In Hermas, Maud. iL 2, it
is noteworthy that we have both the
verb and the noun: 'First of all
speak evil of no man... evil-speaking
is evil ; it is a restless demon, never
at peace, etc'
He tlmt speaketh against a brother,
or judgeth his brother, R.V., but
A.V. renders ''his brother' in both
cases, and instead of 'or judgeth'
renders 'and judgeth.' But the
pronoun 'his' is only found in the
IV. 1], 12]
JAMES
107
eth against the law, and judgeth the law : but if thou
judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 One only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able to
original in the second clause, where
it intensifies the appeal to brother-
hood (the word 'brother' occurs thrice
in this sentence), and in the second
clause the disjunctive *or' is sup-
ported by the highest authorities.
To speak evil presupposes a judg-
ment already formed, but on the other
hand, the act of judgment in the
context may indicate something more
fonnal and definite than the evil-
speaking, or the two terms may be
practically synonymous ; cf. v. 12,
where only the latter verb is used
(Matt. vli. 1). In connection with
the warning here we may read
Didache^ ii. 3, 7, 'Thou shalt not
speak evil... thou shalt not hate any
man, but some thou shalt reprove,
and for some thou shalt pray, and
others thou shalt love more than thy
life.'
speaketh against the law, i.e. the
royal law, 'Thou shaJt love thy
neighbour as thyself,' ii. 8, a refer-
ence which is rightly made plain by
the RV. reading, v. 12, 'who art
thou that judgest thy neighbour?^
By speaking against his neighbour
a man speaks against the law of
brotherhood, and practically declares
for the abrogation of the law. As
elsewhere, St James takes up a
previous phrase and repeats it in
the context; cf. note on i. 4.
It is tempting to take the law as
meaning the whole Mosaic law, and
it is no doubt probable that the
question of the observance of that
law had already been mooted. From
the first some Jewish-Christians had
foreseen that it was only transitory,
and perhaps some of these might
have been tempted to speak against
others who were strong in its obser-
vance. But St James is not himself
prepared for this, and so he reminds
them that none can change this law
but the only Lawgiver and Judge.
It is, however, best on the whole in
accordance with the general tone of
the passage to interpret the words
as above.
hut if thou judgest. By this act of
judgment and setting yourself ipso
facto above the law you pass out of
the category of 'doers of the law' and
you arrogate to yourself the position
of a judge to which you have no
right (see next verse); cf. Matt. vii. 1.
12. One only is the lawgiver
and judge, R.V. The words 'and
judge' are added by R.V., W.H.
You cannot 'lay down the law' in
the sense of either enactment or
pronomicement, since both enact-
ment and pronouncement are with
Him Who has the power of life and
death; cf. John xix. 11, and the
teaching of St Peter and St Paul,
1 Pet. ii. 13, Rom. xiii. 1.
one, emphatic; not man, but One
Who is the ultimate and only source
of all law. The reference is not to
Christ here, as some have urged from
v. 9, but to God ; see Isaiah xxxiiL
22, where God is spoken of aa judge
and lawgiver.
lawgiver, a classical word, only
found here in N.T., but cognate verb
and noun occur in N.T. and in Lxx.
even he, R.V., drawing out the
force of the '•One only' and closely
connected with it.
able to save and to destroy, since
He alone has control over the issues
of life and death: 2 Kings v. 7;
Luke vi 9; cf. also Matt. x. 28.
108
JAMBS
[IV. 12, 13
save and to destroy : but who art thou that judgest thy
neighbour ?
13 Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will
In Hermas, Mand. xii. 6. 3, Sim.
ix. 23. 4, similar expressions are
referred to God, a fact which speaks
for the reference of the words law-
giver and judge to Him as above.
(It is to be remembered however
that the reference in Matt. x. 28 to
God has been keenly disputed, as
e.g. by F. D. Maurice ; see also the
margin in loco.)
With the words and thought we
may compare Sayings of the Fathers,
iv. 31, 32, where God is spoken of as
the framer, the creator, and the dis-
cerner, and the judge... with Whom
is no iniquity, nor forgetfulness, nor
respect of persons... ybr all is His:
'Let not thine imagination assume
then that the grave is an asylum, for
perforce thou wast framed ( Jer. xviii.
6), and perforce thou wast born, and
perforce thou livest, and perforce
thou diest, and perforce thou art
about to give account and reckoning
before the King of the kings of kings,
the Holy One, blessed is He.'
but who art thou that judgest thy
neighbour? marking the powerless-
ness of man in contrast to the
supreme power of God: 'but thou
who art thou?' etc. Cf. for the
question Rom. ix. 20, xiv. 4. The
attitude of men in presence of God
is best marked by Clem. Rom. Cur.
xiiLff., where, after quoting the words
of Christ, 'As ye judge, so shall ye
be judged,' he proceeds to exhort to
lowliness of mind, and instances
Abraham, who in the presence of
the Judge of all the earth exclaimed,
/ am dust and ashes ; and the law-
giver Moses, through whose minis-
tration God judged Egj-pt, who said
at the bush, Who am I that thou
sendest me?
thy neighbour? So R.V., W.H.
and all editors.
'Judge not thy friend,' said Hillel,
' until thou comest into his place' ; cf.
Sayings of the Fathers, ii. 5.
13. Go to note; only here and in
v. 1 in the N.T.^ The phrase is used,
like an adverb, to arouse attention,
and in this case special attention to
the waniings which follow.
ye that say. The whole section to
ch. V. 6 is sometimes taken to refer
not so much to Christians, as to the
rich outside the Christian community;
cf. ii. 6. But we cannot be sure, in
the first place, that the same persons
are addressed in iv. 13-17 as in v.
1-6 (see below on v. 1), and it is
possible to insist too much upon a
parallelism between the two sections
on the ground that they both com-
mence with the same 'Go to now.'
It is quite true that in the section
begun thus, iv. 13-17, the word
'brethren' is wanting, but so it is in
iv. 1, while it is scarcely fair to
allege that the call to repentance is
also wanting, as it may be heard in the
language of vv. 15, 17. At the same
time it is evident that the exhorta-
tions and warnings are of such a kind
as would be fitly addressed to Jewish
Christians engaged Uke so many of
their fellow-countrymen in the rest-
less activity of commercial enterprise ;
men engrossed in business and its
gains would be jieculiarly liable to a
friendship with 'the world' and to
the sins of presumption, improvi-
dence, and pride (see below).
To-day or to-morrow. So A. and
^ On the phrase and its Biblical use see Hastings' B.D. ii. 194,
IV. 13, 14]
JAMES
109
go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and
14 get gain : whereas ye know not what shall be on the
we will go, so A. and R.V., i.e.
'will make our journey,' as if from
this point of view all was mapped
out definitely and securely ; of. note
on the noun in i. 10 rendered 'goings,'
R.V. The future indicative (rather
than the conjunctive which is render-
ed by some authorities) emphasises
this confidence in their own plans,
and the samepresumptuouscertainty.
mto this city, R.V., i.e. that par-
ticular city which each intending
traveller had in his mind, or which
each points out as it were upon the
map. A.V. renders 'into such a city,'
i.e. this or that city, indefinitely, as
if the writer was quite unaware what
city the speakers would name. The
former rendering seems here to fit
in best with the context, as the more
forcible.
and spend a year there, R.V., the
noun being the object of the verb
and not simply accusative of dura-
tion. This rendering brings out more
vividly and more coiTcctly than A.V.
the thought that their time was
regarded as in their own power to
measure out as they pleased. The
reading 'one year' is retained by
some authorities (although omitted
by A. and R.V., W.H. and Mayor);
'one year,' 'so they speak,' writes
Bengel, 'as if soon alM)ut to deliberate
as to the following years.'
and trade, R.V., 'buy and sell,'
A.V. The verb in the original =
primarily to travel, and then to
travel for traffic or business, to act
as a merchant; so in Lxx, Gen. xxxiv.
10, 21.
and get gain. Their hearts were
with their treasures, and so in
R.V., following the Received Text,
and so in this case Mayor and W.H.
Another reading gives 'to-day and
to-morrow,' and it is urged that this
makes the boasting more marked,
inasmuch as a longer journey is thus
intimated, and confidence is assumed
not only with regard to to-morrow,
but also in regard to the day after.
It may also be said that 'to-day and
to-morrow' had become a proverbial
Jewish expression, denoting the
present and the immediate future
(cf. Luke xiii. 32, 33), and thus St
James might naturally employ it
here. Possibly the same phrase may
be found in Psalms of Solomon, v.
15^ But with either reading, a
warning is plainly directed against
the man who forgets to say 'my times
are in Thy band,' Psalm xxxi. 15; cf.
also Luke xii. 16 6".
'If St James rebukes the pre-
sumption of those who say, "to-day
or to-morrow we will go," etc., Seneca
in a similar spirit says that the wise
man will "never promise himself any-
thing on the security of fortune, but
will say, I will sail unless anything
happen, and, I vnll become praetor
unless anything happen, and, my
business will turn out well for me
unless anything happen,"' Lightfoot,
Philipplans, p. 287 (and for further
similar instances cf Wetstein in loco).
Philo has an interesting passage.
Leg. Alleg. ii. p. 103b, 'The husband-
man says, "I will cast seeds, I wiU
plant, the plants will grow, they will
bear fruit,".,. but he who made these
calculations did not enjoy them, but
died beforehand ; it is best to trust
God, and not uncertain calculations.'
1 See James and Kyle's edition, p. .^59. The reading 'and' in the verse before
us is supported amongst modern editors by Beyschlag and von tjodcn.
110 JAMES [IV. 14
morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapour, that
thought they map out each stage
of the progress to the goal they had
set before them, with no doubt
whatever as to the certainty of the
issue. The cumulative force of the
conjunction ' and ' is thus strikingly
marked here (cf. i. 24), while the
attractive hold of the friendship of
the world is witnessed to by the one
object of their journey — to get gain.
The picture here drawn is quite con-
sistent with what we know at this
early period of the trading migratory
life of the Jews of the Dispersion :
cf. Acts xviii. 2, 18; Rom. xvi. 3.
(Carr's note in the Cambridge Greek
Testament is interesting in its quo-
tations bearing on the commercial
life of the Jews.)
14. whereas ye know not; in ap-
position to the preceding nomina-
tive : 'seeing that ye belong to a class
of persons, to persons whose nature
is such that they know not,' etc.
what shall he on the morrow, lit.
the thing, the event of to-morrow ;
so R.V. or, according to another
reading, adopted by W.H. in marg.,
plural, ' the things, the events of to-
morrow'; cf. for similar phrases Luke
XX. 25 ; Rom. xiv. 19 ; 2 Cor. xi. 30'.
In relation to the morrow an almost
similar expression meets us in lxx,
Prov. xxvii. 1, where we read in
the spirit of St James, 'boast not
thyself of to-morrow'; and none had
emphasised more strongly the folly
of building on to-morrow than our
Lord Himself; cf. Luke xii. 16.
In heathen sources the same
teaching as to the limit of man's
knowledge of the future was very
general ; so e.g. Seneca writes, ' No
one has gods so propitious that he
can promise to himself to-morrow.'
Phokylides declares, ' No one knows
what shall be on the day after to-
morrow, or during the next hour.'
The Jews teU how Rabbi Simeon,
on returning from a feast at which
a man had boasted that he would
keep old wine for the joy of his son,
was met by the angel of death, who
told him that he was appointed to
destroy those who boasted that
they were able to do this or that,
and that accordingly the boaster
should die after 30 days (Wetstein,
in loco). It has been suggested that
the words may mean that they are
peoi>le of such a kind as not to know
the one thing which the future of
to-morrow must bring ('the thing
of to-morrow'), viz. the transitoriness
of all that is around them ; but this
is rather a strained interpretation of
the Greek.
What is your life? So R. V., placing
a full-stop after the preceding clause.
This would not be unfitting for the
abrupt style of St James, but the
conjunction 'for' if retained naturally
explains and substantiates their lack
of knowledge. Perhaps better 'of
1 It should be noted that there is another reading adopted by W.H. and
Dr Plummer, and by Dr B. Weiss in Germany, which might be rendered as
follows : ' whereas ye know not on the morrow of what kind your life shall be.'
But it may be fairly urged that the thought thus expressed is weaker than that
of the reading adopted in the text, since it presupposes that they wiU still live
on the following day, whereas even the morrow, in the rendering preferred,
is represented as something doubtful. See also Mayor's criticism on the
weakening of the passage, and on the harshness of the construction in the
proposed alteration.
IV. 14]
JAMES
111
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
what kind is your life,' in a de-
preciatory sense (cf. 1 Pet. ii. 20), of
what a sorry, pitiable nature. Bede
would interpret the expression of
the life of the ungodly, since the
writer says ' your life ' not ' our life ' ;
but the thought is more general, and
reminds all readers of the fleeting
nature of human life (although in
Wisdom ii. 4, v. 14, the context
refers somewhat similar words to the
life of the ungodly).
For ye are a vapour. The (second)
'for' (omitted by W.H. in marg.) con-
tinues the same depreciatory note.
In A.V, 'it is even a vapour,' but
R.V. is strongly supported and also
gives a much stronger sense ; the
life is not seen, but ye, says St James,
are seen, although only for a little
while ; cf. what is said of the rich in
i. 10. From another point of view
indeed, and in so far as men were
mindful that they belonged to 'the
things unseen eternal,' that the
spirit does not mean the breath,
they would also know that the true
Christian had in his true self an
abiding possession although the out-
ward man decayed ; cf. esp. Heb. x.
34, R.V. marg.
a vajyiur; only here in N.T. and
in Acts ii. 19 (from Joel ii. 30), trans-
lated as here ; so in A.V, marg.
Wisdom vii. 25. It has in the O.T.
and Apoc. more generally the
meaning of smoke, as of the altar
or furnace. In Clem. Rom. Cor.
xvii. 6, it is found (in a quotation
perhaps from Eldad and Medad) as
meaning 'I am smoke from a pot,'
or perhaps 'steam from a kettle,'
giving the word the signification
which it has also in classical Greek,
wherever it is used of smoke or
steam, Lat. vapor. There is some-
thing to be said for rendering it here
by 'breath,' as one or two recent
commentators urge, on the ground
that this rendering would emphasise
the comparison which is evidently
intended to something of the most
fleeting and transient character. It
is noteworthy that although we can-
not quote Lxx in support of this
meaning in a context similar to the
passage before us, yet in the version
of Aquila the word is used to express
' vanity of vanities,' Ecclesiast. xii. 8,
whilst Theodotion renders Ps. IxiL
9, ' only vanity are the sons of man-
kind,' by the same word, meaning
'breath' (cf. the meaning of the
Hebrew word used), and so again
he renders Ps. cxliv. 4, ' man is like
a thing of nought,' by the same
Greek word, to translate the Hebrew
'breath.'
that appeareth for a little time, etc.
The force of the best supported
reading may be expressed even more
fully, 'which appeareth for a little
while, and afterwards so vanisheth,
as it appeared ' ; appearing, and dis-
appearing as it came. With the
imagery of the verse we may com-
pare Ps. cii. 3, cxliv. 4 ; Job viii. 9 ;
Wisdom ii. 4, v. 14 ; and similar
imagery is frequent outside the N.T.
Thus Aeschylus speaks of human life
as U'^ thing more sure than a shadow
of smoke, Horace speaks of men as
being simply dust and shade, and
parallel expressions meet us in Pin-
dar and Sophocles. St Gregory of
Nazianzus thus sums up tlie diff"ercnt
comparisons instituted to enforce the
lesson of the uncertainty of human
life : ' We are a fleeting dream, a
phantom which caimot be grasped,
the scud of a passing breeze, a ship
that leaves uo track upon the sea,
112
JAMBS
[IV. 15
15 ^For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both
Gr. Instead of your saying.
dust, a vapour, morning dew, a
flower that now springs up and now
is done away': see Speaker's Com-
mentary on Wisdom ii. 5^ One
striking passage from one of the best
and noblest of the Stoics siiows how
much the highest ethical teaching
outside the N.T. wanted of the sure
and certain hope which fortified
Christian resignation even in the
darkest struggles of life. Marcus
Antoninus, ll. 17, writes, 'everything
which belongs to the body is a
stream, and what belongs to the
soul is a dream and vapour, and life
is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn,
and after-fame is oblivion. What
then can keep a man straight ? one
thing and only one, philosophy, and
this consists in keeping the divinity
within free from violence and un-
harmed, superior to pains and
pleasure ; in waiting cheerfully for
death, as being nothing else than a
dissolution of the elements of which
every living being is compounded....
For this is according to nature, and
nothing is evil which is according to
nature.' The interesting story is
well known of the preaching of
Christianity at the Court of Edwin
of Deira by Paulinus, and what en-
sued, in consideration of the light
thrown by the new faith upon what
had preceded and what followed the
life of man, 'which appeared for a
little time'; see Bede, ii. 13. The
pagan priest had already asked that
the new religion might be inquired
into, and he was followed by a lay
noble in words so touching that
the poet Wordsworth thought them
worthy of his verse {Eccles. Sonnets,
16): 'The present life of man, O
king, seems to me like to the swift
flight of a sparrow through the room,
wherein you sit at supper in the
winter with your commanders and
ministers, and a good fire in the
midst, whilst the storms of rain and
snow prevail abroad ; the sparrow
flies in at one door and immediately
out at another ; while within, he is
safe from the wintry storm, but soon
he vanishes out of your sight fi-om
one winter to another.' 'So,' he
added, 'this life of man appears for
a short space, but of what went
before, or what is to follow, we are
wholly ignorant.' ' If therefore,' he
concluded, 'this new doctrine con-
tains something more certain, it
seems justly to deserve to be fol-
lowed.' Paulinus was heard, and
the conversion of the people ensued.
15. Fur that ye ought to say;
but R.V. marg. 'instead of your
saying,' plainly referring the words
back to 'ye that say' in v. 13, v. 14
being regarded as parenthetical.
If the Lord will, i.e. God: cf. Acts
xviii. 21 ; 1 Cor. iv. 19, xvi. 7 ;
Heb. vi. 3. Similar sayings may be
quoted from classical wi-iters. In
Sayings of the Fathers, ii. 4, we
read, ' Do His will as if it were thy
will, that He may do thy will as if it
were His will, annul thy will before
His will, that He may annul the will
of others before thy will'; and in
Didaclie, iii. 9, it is part of 'the way
of life ' to receive the accidents that
1 In the R.V. we have the article expressed in the phrase ' which appeareth
for a little while,' but W.H. omit it. Mayor however defends its retention, and
remarks that thus ' the tendency to appear and disappear is made a property of
the vapour, and not a mere accidental circumstance.'
IV. 15, l6]
JAMES
113
16 live, and do this or that. But now ye glory in your vaunt-
shall befall men as good, knowing
that nothing is done without God.
So too we may compare the saying
of Ben Sira, quoted by Grotius, ' Let
a man never say that he will do
anything unless he first says, "If
God will.'" For Jew and Christian
ahke a living personal Will ruled
the universe; the very word 'Lord'
used by both of them signified
One Who had authority and con-
trol
tee shall both live, and do this or
that, R.V., making it evident that
our life as well as oiu- actions is
equally determined by God. The
Textus Receptus (but not A.V.)
reads the verb 'live' in the sub-
junctive, and the sense would be ' if
the Lord will and we live, we shall
do this or that.' But the rendering
is not so correct in meaning as above,
although it is found in the Syriac
and the Vulgate, because it really
regards our life as independent of
God, and the weight of manuscript
authority is undoubtedly against it.
Equally forcible objections may be
made against reading the verb 'live'
as the future indicative, and yet
placing it in the protasis, for the
incorrect meaning is in this way still
retained, and the construction in
the original would be considerably
strained. It is noteworthy that the
repetition of the conjunctions 'both'
...'and' may be compared with the
repetition of the same conjunctions
in V. 13, and may thus bear out the
above rendering as being in accord
with St James's style.
16. But now,i.e. as the case stands,
instead of saying what you ought to
say : cf 1 Cor. v. 1 1, xiv. 6 ; and Luke
xix. 42.
ye glory, R.V. The verb is used
K.
elsewhere of glorying with or with-
out reason ; so frequently in lxx.
your vauntings, R.V., i.e. in such
speeches as in v. 13, 'we will go.. .we
vdll get gain,' and in their anticipa-
tion of time to do all this would be
their 'boasting'; cf Pro v. xxvii. I,
' boast not thyself of to-morrow, for
thou knowest not what a day may
bring forth.' In classical Greek the
word is often associated with brag-
gart and boasting talk, and Plato
joins together 'false and boastful
words'; in Wisd. ii. 16 the cognate
verb is used contemptuously or of
vaunting and idle bragging ; and St
Clement of Rome, Cor. xxi. 5, speaks
of foohsh and senseless men who
exalt themselves and boast in the
arrogance of their words, using the
same noun as, and for 'boast' a verb
closely allied to, that employed by
St James; see also on ^?. 6 above.
But the word may be employed here
quite generally of empty presumption
and display, which manifest a trust
in the stability of earthly things, and
it was so interpreted in this verse by
the earlier co mmentators Oecumen ius
and Theophylact; cf. 1 John ii. 16,
and Wisd. v. 8, where we read, 'what
hath pride profited us ? or what good
hath riches with vaunting brought
us ? all those things are passed away
like a shadow'; cf. also 2 Mace. ix. 8,
of the braggart vauntingof Antiochus
Bpiphanes, and see also for further
similar use 4 Mace. i. 26. The plural
may be used here to mark the
various ways in which this display,
this pride of life, may assert itself.
We have perhaps no word which
renders the noun at all so adequate' ly
as the German 'Prahlcrci,' as Trench
points out, and it may be noted that
it ifl so rendered in the German
8
114
JAMES
[iv. 16, 17
17 ings : all such glorying is evil. To him therefore that
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
translation of the passage 4 Mace.
i. 26.
all such glorying. There is a
glorying which is commended (cf.
i. 9), but not such glorying; the
glorying here is merely bragging
and boasting : cf. 1 Cor. v. 6.
17. This may be taken either as
a conclusion of all that has gone
before, reaching back to i. 22, or as
referring to the particular sin of
presumption, and to such words as
those in v. 13. But it is not quite
easy to see why St James should intro-
duce a general maxim here, where
other exhortations are to foUow. If
we take the words as having a special
connection with the verses imme-
diately preceding, the 'doing good'
would be the making one's decisions
dependent on the will of God; the
'knowing' would be the daily ex-
perience of the unreality of human
life; the 'not doing' would be the
boastful braggart purposing 1. At
the same time we cannot forget how
solemnly our Lord has emphasised
this great truth that failure to do
right is sin. Matt. xiv. 46.
Another effort has been made in
connection with this verse to show
that St James may here also go back
to a pre-canonical Gospel, and that
he may be quoting a saying derived
from our Lord. This is supported
by a quotation of Luke xii. 47 by
Origen in Jerem. xvi. 7, where the
verb used for 'knowing' His will is
the same as is here used by St James
for 'knowing' what is good, while
St Luke seems to follow another
translation of the supposed Gospel
in reading another word for 'know-
ing.' But it is urged by Resch that
the general sense in Luke, Origen,
James, is the same, and points back
to the existence of some old docu-
ment behind all three. It cannot^
however, be said that any reliable
force attaches to Eesch's contention
here.
CHAPTER V. V
1 — 3. From the spirit of commerce and trading, transition is made to the
consideration of a spirit more wicked still, a spirit not only of selfishness, but
of tyranny and oppression in the employment of wealth. The rich are bidden
to weep and howl ; no call to repentance, but a foretelling of the certainty
of their coming misery ; the rottenness of their com, the decay of their
garments, the rust of their gold, are symbols of the destruction which is
in store for themselves ; and yet they have laid up treasures in the last days,
when the time was so short and the judge so near. 4 — 6. Already the cry
of the labourers, whom they had hired and then cheated of their wages, has
obtained a hearing from the Lord of Hosts, but they, whilst that exceeding
bitter cry went up to heaven, had been taking their pleasure on earth,
fattening themselves like sheep for slaughter, sacrificing not their self-will
^ Von Soden, and much to the aame eHect Plummtir ; see too Century Bible^
in loco.
V. 1] JAMES 115
or their treasures, but the righteous one, who does not resist, because as the
Lord's servant he must not strive. 7—9. The brethren therefore must
be patient, like the righteous one ; the coming of the Lord is sure, and the
reward is sure for those who wait for Him, as sure as for the husbandmen
of Palestine who wait in patience for the harvest of the earth. Be on your
guard against murmuring and discontent amongst yourselves; ye too no less
than your oppressors will be judged ; be patient therefore ; the Judge is at
hand, do not usurp His office. 10, 11. In the prophets of old we have
examples of suffering and of patience, and those who patiently endure we
call 'blessed.' Job endured, and we know the issue, how for him mercy
gloried over judgment.
Thus St James may be said to work back as it were to the opening Beatitude
of his Epistle (cf. i. 12), and all that follows is a kind of postscript suggested by
the special circumstances around him.
12, 13. Above all things, i.e. bearing in mind the different foi-ms of
murmuring and impatience to which they might be tempted, the speaking
against one another and the forgetfulness of their relationship as brethren,
let theirs be the yea^ yea, and the nay, nay, and let no further sanction be
needed, that they fall not under judgment ; but whatever their emotions
might be, whether of joy or of sorrow, let them be sanctified by worship,
the worship of prayer and praise. 14, 15. One form of suffering is
common enough, sickness ; if it comes upon anyone, let him send for
the elders of the Church, let them pray over the sick and anoint him with
oil ; if it be God's will the bodily health will be restored, and not
only so, but by the prayer of faith, the sins, which may have been the
cause of the sickness, shall be forgiven. 16 — 18. Confess therefore your
faults to one another, and pray for one another, that the time of healing may
come from the presence of the Lord. Elijah is an examjile of the power
of prayer and intercession, when offered by a righteous man, and yet by
a man of like passions with ourselves. 19, 20. Prayer, remember, may
prove to be the first step towards the conversion of one who has wandered
from the truth ; and this bringing back into the right way will save a soul
from death, and confer a blessing upon him who gives, and upon him who
accepts, a brother's guidance.
V. Go to now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries
V. 1. Go to now, ye rich. It is v. 7, for whom the coming of the
a difiicult question to decide whether Lord is to be a comfort, in contrast
the persons addressed in the section to the terror which the same jutlg-
before us are the same as those ment is to bring upon 'the rich,' r. 1,
addressed in iv. 13-17. On the one indicates that two different classes
hand it is urged that there is no of persona are intended The 'rich'
exhortation to repentance, and no here would thus be as the rich in
mention of a hope of salvation, which ii. 6, 7, unbelieving Jews. Moreover,
would not have been omitted in the it is urged that the words 'go to now'
case of Christian believers, and that indicate not a parallelism between
the return to the word 'brethren,' the two sections, iv. 13-17, v. 1-6,
8—2
116
JAMES
[v.i
but rather a new beginning. On the
other hand, the following points are
noted in favour of regarding the
persons in both sections as Christians;
(1) that it would have been purpose-
less to address such a deniinciation
and one dealing so intimately with
practical life as that contained in
vv. 1 — 6 to unbelieving Jews in a
letter not intended for them at all
but for Jewish believers; (2) that
from this point of view the manifest
parallelism between the two sections,
both introduced by the same phrase
'go to now,' must be considered; if
the merchants of the first section are
believers, as may be inferred from
iv. 15, it would seem that the rich of
the section succeedingmust be placed
in the same category; (3) that the
exhortation to patient endurance, v.
7, introduced by the word 'therefore'
is evidently based upon the oppres-
sion of the rich landowners, and that
both oppressor and oppressed be-
longed to the Christian community :
'murmur not brethren one against
another,' v. 9 (see however in loco)\
But it cannot be said that these
arguments are convincing, and a
further suggestion has been made
us a solution of the difficulty (see
above, p. xxxix.). If we maintain a
very early date for the Epistle, and if
we remember that the character of
St James for sanctity and piety was
■widely known amongst his fellow-
countrymen, he may have expected
that his words would gain a hearing
in some circles where his name still
carried respect, and where the fol-
lowers of Jesus of Nazareth would
not be regarded as those who had
broken away entirely from the Jewish
religion and polity 2. Closely on the
lines of this suggestion is that which
would regard St James as here
apostrophising after the manner of
the O.T. prophets those who belonged
neither to hearers nor readers (just as
the prophets addressed themselves
to heathen towns and people). That
the whole section before us reminds
Tis of the stem denunciatory tone of
the O.T. cannot be denied, and even
in a practical letter such words may
well have flowed from the pen of the
writer. James the Just, who like
another Joel or Amos, possibly in his
very dress, most certainly in the
stern sanctity of his own life, would
find his heart burn within him at the
insolent impiety and greed which
were eating into the very life of
his nation, had caught something
of the Spirit of One greater than the
greatest prophet in His announce-
ment of the inevitable doom about
to follow upon the extortion and
excess, which devoured the house of
the widow and neglected mercy,
judgment, and faith. Nor does it
seem difficult to understandhow from
such a passage as iv. 13-17 a writer
might easily pass in thought to the
sins of the rich, so closely connected
with national and social life : cf. in
the O.T. Amos iii. 10-13, viii. 1-10;
Hab. ii. 9; Isaiah xxxiii. 1 fi".; Jer. v.
1, etc.
go to now. Cf. for the phrase
iv. 13. As the merchantmen of the
former section were warned against
glorying in their vauntings, so here
St James, we may well believe,
would have the rich ask the question
of Wisdom v. 8, 'what good hath
riches with our vaunting brought
1 See especially Zahn and Belser in their N.T. Introductions.
» Cf. J. V. Bartlet, Apostolic Age, pp. 232-236; and see also Stanley, Sermons,
on the Apostolic Age, pp 299-301.
V. 1, 2] JAMES 117
2 that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and
us?' where the same word is used
for 'vaunting' as in iv. 16 (see
above, p. 113).
weep and howl (of. Luke vi. 24, 25) ;
not here in repentance, but in
anguish for the impending judg-
ment. The former verb is used of
crying, not silently but aloud, and is
of frequent occurrence in the O.T.
prophets. The second verb is added
to intensify the wretchedness of the
prospect: cf. Isaiah xv. 3, and so
too xiii. 6. In these places it is used
as here in close connection with im-
minent judgment, 'howl ye, for the
day of the Lord is at hand.' The
verb, an onomatopoetic word, is only
found here in the N.T., and whereas
in classical Greek it may be used of
cries of joy and thanksgiving, in the
Lxx it is used only of cries of grief.
The word 'weep' is in the aorist,
not instead of a future tense, but
as signifying what ought to be done
forthwith.
miseries. See above on iv. 9. The
noun is only found here in N.T. and
Rom. iii. 16, in a quotation from
Isaiah lix. 7, 8. It is frequently
found in the lxx with various shades
of meaning : cf e.g. Ps. cxxxix. 10 ;
Amos V. 9, etc.
that are coming upon you, R.V.
('shall come,' A.V.), the present
participle denoting that the mise-
ries are close at hand, at the
door (cf Luke xx. 35), or, more
abruptly, the words might be ren-
dered, 'your miseries that are coming
on ' (cf Bphes. ii. 7, where the same
verb is used absolutely), as in the
best texts there is no word express-
ing 'upon you': 'coming on,' i.e. at
the Parousia ; cf vv. 7, 9. The con-
fusion of the rich in the day of judg-
ment, and the 'woe' pronounced
upon them, are frequently mentioned
in the Book of Enoch ; cf e.g. xciv.
6, 8, xcvii. 8-10.
2. Your riches are corrupted.
The throe verbs which follow repre-
sent in the style of the O.T.
prophets that the 'miseries' of the
rich are already come upon them.
It is a question whether the words
are used of wealth in general ; cf
the use of the verb in Ecclus. xiv.
19 (the whole passage from v. 3
should be compared with tlie text
here), 'every work which is cor-
ruptible shall consume away.' But
as the same verb is used in connec-
tion with the withering of fruit, and
of the 'rotting' of the heathen idols,
Ezek. xvii. 9, Epistle of Jeremy, v. 72,
it is suggested that here the word
refers to such 'riches' as would be
comprised under com, oil, etc., and
might be translated 'rotted.' This
meaning would fit in with the con-
text, as gold and silver are sepa-
rately mentioned just below. If the
more general signification of 'riches'
is retained, the wealth becomes
specialised as garments and trea-
sures. From this point of view
a striking passage may be quoted
from Enoch, xcvii. 8-10, of the 'woe '
upon the rich in the day appointed
for the judgment of unrighteousness.
After speaking in the previous verse
of men who will put on more adorn-
ments than a woman, who will be
poured out as water in royalty and
grandeur, in silver and gold, in
splendour, and in food, the writer
proceeds : 'from hencefortli ye know
that all your oppression wlierewith
ye oppressed is written down every
day till the day of your judgment
and now, know ye that ye are
prepared for the day of destruction ;
118
JAMES
[v. 2, 3
3 your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver
are rusted ; and their rust shall be for a testimony ^against
1 Or, unto
wherefore do not hope to live, ye
sinners, but ye shall depart and die ;
for ye know no ransoms; for ye
are prepared for the day of the great
judgment and for the day of tribula-
tion, and great shame for your
spirit.'
your garments are moth-eaten, of
which in Oriental countries wealth
was so largely composed : cf 1 Mace.
xi. 24 ; Acts xx. 33. In Matt. vi. 19,
of which the expression here very
fitly reminds us, the word moth,
the clothes-moth, clearly indicates
garments as part of the treasure.
The adjective is only found here in
the N.T., but cf. Job xiii. 28 ; Isaiah
li. 8; also Ecclus. xlii. 13. The word
is also used of idol images, Orac.
Sib. fragm.
In Enoch, xcviii. 1-3, the transitory
glory of gold and silver and purple
and coloured garments is emphati-
cally condemned, and those who give
themselves wholly to such external
possessions are described as finally
losing their personality in them, as
water is lost in the earth. St James
would have had before his eyes the
picture of the man in fine clothing
whom he had so graphically de-
scribed in ii. 2.
3. are rusted; and their rust.
A. v. renders 'are cankered,' but
in the original we have a cognate
verb and noun, so that the R.V. is
justified, and the same rendering is
given by Wycliffe. The verb might
well be rendered 'are rusted through
and through' or 'are covered with
rust,' as in the original the simple
verb is compounded with an intensi-
fying preposition. The same verb as
here is found in Ecclus. xii. 11,
in relation to a mirror, where, in the
Speaker's Commentary, Dr Eders-
heim pleads for the rendering
'tarnished' (although the combina-
tion and meaning are difficult),
a rendering which he would also
adopt in the verse of St James before
us. In Ecclus. xii. 10 and xiix.
10 we have the simple verb, but
nowhere else in the lxx. The figure
of rusting would be easily transferred
in rhetorical and popular language
from less costly metals, like bronze,
Ecclus. xii. 10, to silver and gold,
of which it could not strictly be used ;
cf JEpist. of Jer., vv. 12, 24, where
the cognate noun 'rust' is applied
to the gold and silver of images.
From the testimony of Strabo it
appears that a fuliginous vapour
arose from the Dead Sea which
caused, as he said, brass and silver
and even gold to rust (the same verb
being used as by St James), although
it appears that the rust referred to
was only a change of colour in the
metals caused by the bituminous
exhalation \ Dr Edersheim in
Speaker's Commentary, u.s., sees in
this verse another proof of the use
of Ecclesiasticus by St James. The
figure used by St James of rust
affecting the unused silver and gold
is derived, he thinks, from this
passage in that book. It is not
found elsewhere in Scripture, and
moreover the noun for 'rust' used
by St James, and by him only in the
same signification in the N.T., is
closely connected with the passage
gee Theile'B note, where the passage is quoted, and also Mayor in loco.
V. 3]
JAMES
119
you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your
in Ecclus. where the cognate verb
is employed, whilst the stronger
form of the same verb, which is used
by St James alone in the N.T. in the
verse before us, only occurs else-
where in Biblical Greek in Ecclus.
xii. 11.
shall he for a testimony against
you, R.V. text; so A.V.; 'unto you,'
marg. R.V. The rendering in the
text would support the meaning,
adopted by many from the days of
Oecumenius, that the rust on the
gold and silver shows that these
riches had been hoarded up and not
employed profitably, and would thus
testify against them to their shame
in judgment, and the pronoun in the
dative case may be so used ; cf Matt.
xxiii. 3. The same phrase occurs
Enoch, xcvi. 4, 'this word shall be
a testimony against you.' But the
preceding words imply that the rust
is the result of the judgment which
had begun, and not the effect of the
want of use of this wealth, and this
consuming of their goods would
rather be a symbol and a testimony
to them of their ovm impending
destruction ; in the destruction of
their treasures they would see that
of themselves. But this process of
judgment might also be described
as a testimony 'against them,' and
the two meanings almost seem to
nm into each other. The words have
also been explained as meaning that
when they saw the rust spreading in
place of the lustre and brightness,
in which they had gloried, they
would see for themselves how greatly
they had erred.
shall eat your flesh. The ex-
pression was a very natural one for
St James to use, as the same phrase,
with the same verb and noun in the
original, occurs Lev. xxvi. 29 ; 2 Kings
ix. 36 ; Micah iii. 2, 3. In the latter
passage a distinction is made be-
tween flesh and bones, the word
'flesh' being in the plural as here, and
signifying as here and elsewhere the
fleshy parts of the body ; cf. Judith
xvi. 17 for a similar use, and so twice
in Psalms of Solomon, iv. 21, xiii. 3,
where as in Micah flesh and bones
are distinguished. Although the
word ' flesh ' need not imply that St
James regards those of whom lie
spoke as being nothing else but
flesh, or as being men who fed their
bodies well, yet it is quite possible
that he would thus wish to empha-
sise the thought that the chief care
of such men was for the flesh ^
as fire, i.e. as fire devours I Here
again O.T. expressions, where the
judgment is frequently represented
as a devouring, destroying fire, show
how naturally St James might add
the comparison : cf. Fs. xxi. 10 ; Isaiah
X. 16, 17, XXX. 27; Ezek. xv. 7;
Amos V. 6. The gradual and certain
corroding by rust is compared in its
1 Both von Soden and the Komanist Trenkle remark that as only tbe
flesh is mentioned the salvation of the spirit is not excluded; cf. 1 Cor. v. 5
and iii. 16.
- Oecumenius (so Grotius) connected this word ' fire ' with the followinp; phrase :
• ye have laid up your treasure as fire,' i.e. as a torturing and consuminf;! fire, and
this punctuation is adopted by W.H. But although this is supported by two lxx
(not Hebrew) passages, Prov. xvi. 27, Micah vi. 10, especially the former, tlie
rendering in the text gives a more natural sense. The Vulgate wrongly
associates the passage with Rom. ii. 5, and renders 'ye have treasured up for
yourselves wrath in the last days.'
120
JAMES
[V. S, 4
4 treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers
who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud,
thoroughness with the utter destruc-
tion by fire, which destroys not only
the wealth but the possessors of it.
It is of course possible that the
introduction of the figure of fire
may also introduce the thought of
'gnawing pain and swift destruction';
of. Enoch, cii. 1, 'in those days when
He brings a grievous fire upon you,
whither will ye flee and where will
ye find deliverance ?'; but this is not
emphasised specially in the text,
and the comparison may be quite
general.
Ye have laid up your treasure,
R.V., expressing the one word in the
original: cf. Tob. iv. 9 for the ex-
pression. In Psalms of Solomon
the same verb is connected with the
thought of judgment : 'whoso doeth
righteousness layeth up for himself
life at the Lord's hand... for the
judgments of the Lord are in right-
eousness according to each man and
his house,' ix. 9, 10.
in the last days, R.V. In A.V. we
have ' for,' not ' in,' but this does not
aflford a correct rendering of the
preposition employed. 'The last
days' are those which precede the
coming of the Lord, as is evident
from the context vv. 8, 9 ; see further
on these verses. The phrase or one
similar frequently occurs in the O.T.,
e.g. Isaiah ii. 2, Hos. iii. 5, and cf
Acts ii. 17, Didaclie, xvi. 3. Here it
intensifies the irony of the passage,
and the senselessness of the conduct
which laid up treasures which were
so soon to profit nothing. As in the
original we have simply 'in last
days' it is held by some that the
words may be taken more generally
as of the last days of life, and not
necessarily of the Parousia ; cf.
Prov. xxxi. 25. But it is doubtful
how far such stress can attach to
the absence of the article, since it
occurs, e.g. in Dldache, xvi. 3, where
the reference to the Parousia is
evident, although it is wanting in
1 Pet. i. 5, to say nothing of perhaps
a more general reference in 2 Tim.
iii. 1.
4. Behold, occurring four times
in this chapter and twice in iii., is
Hebraistic, and quite characteristic
of the fervent, graphic style of the
Epistle and of the intense earnest-
ness of the writer : lutrod. p. xxxiii.
of the labourers; in the N.T. usually
agricultural labourers, husbandmen,
although the word might be used
quite generally, "Wisdom xvii. 17;
Ecclus. xix. 1. In strong contrast
to the idle luxury of the rich, who
were laying up treasure on earth
and not in heaven, St James sees
the labourers who have done their
work waiting for the pay due to
them, and wailing and crying in vain
to those who had hired them.
who mowed, R. V. In A. V. ' reaped,'
but as the original word here is differ-
ent from that used for reaping below,
the Revisers have distinguished, and
this is not perhaps to be wonder-
ed at when we remember that the
word before us is only found here
in N.T., whilst the verb translated
'reaping' occurs more than twenty
times. On the other hand, in the lxx
the verb before us is found five times,
and each time it is translated 'to
reap ' in R. V., whilst the verb below
is found very frequently in the lxx,
and is used apparently of both reap-
ing and mowing. It has therefore
been urged that no distinction need
be made between the two; if we
V. 4] JAMES lai
crieth out : and the cries of them that reaped have entered
look, however, at the probable de-
rivation of the verb before us it
will seem to refer primarily to cutting
and secondarily to gathering in.
The tense which is used indicates
that the wages were due.
your fields. It may be the sin is
regarded as intensified in the case
of men who owned such large estates
and lands, implied probably by the
word in the original ; the fields them-
selves may in some cases at least
have been added to property by acts
of injustice ; cf. Isaiah v. 8 and the
context of the present passage.
which is of you kept back by
fraudK So A.V. and R.V. If this
construction of the words is retained
it would seem that 'of ' is equivalent
to 'by,' a common usage in earlier
English (14th — 16th centuries) to
express the agent after a passive
verb (Hastings' Diet, Art. 'Of'); or
it might be rendered 'on your part,*
the preposition in the original being
one which might be used to denote
that the fraud proceeds from them,
although they might not be the
direct agents in its perpetration.
But by many of the ablest commen-
tators the words 'of you' are connect-
ed with the verb 'crieth,' 'crieth from
you,' i.e. from your coffers, or your
dwellings, the place where the money
was so wrongfully detained. In
support of this reference is made
to Gen. iv. 10; Exod. ii. 23; cf Enoch,
xlvii. 1, 'and in those days the prayer
of the righteous and the blood of
the righteous will have ascended
from the earth before the Lord of
Spirits,' and also lii. 5-7. But even
more to the point perhaps is the
fact that in more than one of the
passages, where the wrong detention
of wages is condemned, we read, 'the
wages of an hired servant shall not
abide with thee all night till the
morning,' Lev. xix. 13, and so again,
'let not the wages of any man that
hath wrought for thee tarry with
thee (abide with thee all night), but
give it him out of hand,' Tob. iv. 14.
This sin of keeping back the reward
of the labourers had been denounced
by the prophets, Mai. iii. 5, Jer. xxii.
13, and its mention both in earlier
and later times seems to mark its
frequent recurrence. Lev. xix. 13 ;
Deut. xxiv. 14, 15; Job xxiv. 10;
Tob. iv. 14 ; and when we remember
the other parallels in this Epistle to
passages in Ecclesiasticus, the de-
nunciation in that book against de-
frauding the labourer of his hire,
chap, xxxiv. 21, 22 (cf iv. 1, xxix.
6), where the same verb is used as
here, may well have been present to
the writer's mind; 'the bread of the
needy is the life of the poor : he that
defraudeth him thereof is a man of
blood. He that taketh away his
neighbour's living slayeth him ; and
he that defraudeth the labourer of
his hire is a bloodshedder.'
crieth out; often in Lxx of the cry
against wrong and robbery, of crying
to God, to heaven ; a vivid and poetic
touch ; if men are dumb and silent,
if no just judge appear, the money
cries for vengeance; cf. Hab. ii. 11.
In Hernias, Vis. iii. 9. 6, where the
writer is exhorting those who refuse
to share with others to look to the
coming judgment, he adds words
which are an echo, one might well
1 W.H. with Mayor and other editors adopt a different n^adinpr, but the verb
which they prefer is very similar in aense to that in our English Version.
122 JAMES [v. 4, 5
5 into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived
suppose, of this passage in St James,
'look ye therefore (to the judgment)
ye that exult in your wealth, lest they
that are in want shall moan, and their
moaning shall go up unto the Lord.'
and the cries. The cognate verb is
used specially of cries for help, and
the noun itself is so used in closely
similar expressions, Exod. ii. 23 ;
1 Sam. ix. 16; frequent in the lxx,
but here only in N.T. The thought
of the cries of men entering into the
ears of God finds frequent expression
in the O.T.: cf. Ps. xviii. 6; Isaiah t.
9. In Enoch, xcvii. 5, we read con-
cerning those who have acquired
silver and gold in unrighteousness,
'in those days the prayer of the
righteous will reach unto the Lord,
and the days of your judgment will
overtake you.'
of them that reaped. The parti-
ciple shows that their work is done,
they have reaped a harvest for others,
but nothing for themselves ; not even
for their hard work in the summer
heat and in 'the joy of harvest.'
have entered: see above ; the cry
is not only uttered but heard; cf.
Ps. xxxiv. 15.
into the ears. If the phrase had
become a kind of proverbial expres-
sion (as von Soden holds), how natural
is its use by St James ! The ears of
the Lord are frequently referred to
in the O.T. as open to prayer, es-
pecially the prayer of the oppressed ;
cf. also Psalms of Solomon, xviii.
3.
the Lord of Sabaoth. So A. V. and
R.V. 'Sabaoth,' i.e. hosts. The ques-
tion has been asked, what hosts are
intended ? Originally it may be the
armies of Israel, but the word was
used also of the angels, who may have
been originally denoted by that ex-
pression, and stars and forces of
nature, as well as of an army of men.
But whatever may have been the
origin of the title it is used in the
prophets (where the genitive Sabaoth
occurs some 246 times out of 282) as
'the highest and most majestic title'
of the God of Israel, expressing not
only His majesty and power as
creator and ruler of the world, but
also as commander of the hosts of
heaven. In the hxx the Hebrew
title is often rendered by the Lord
Omnipotent, the Lord All-sovereign;
cf. 2 Cor. vi. 18, and frequently in
Rev. in N.T. The Jewish belief in
the Lord Omnipotent as the Lord
also of the angels is expressed in a
remarkable passage, 3 Mace. vi. 17,
where the Jews are represented as
crying loudly to heaven, and 'the
Lord Omnipotent' opens the celestial
gates and sends down to the aid of
His people two bright angels terrible
to behold ! Here the title is used to
emphasise the fact that the poor were
not those who had no helper, but
that they had on their side the Lord
of Hosts "Who could destroy the
tyranny and punish the injustice of
the rich oppressors. It is noticeable
that the same title occurs frequently
in Malachi, and that James may well
have it in mind in connection with
the oppression of the hireling in his
wages; cf. Mai. iii. 5. See Art.
'Lord of Hosts,' Hastings' B. D., and
'Names ' in Encycl. Biblica, in. 3328.
The expression is only used here in
the N.T. (for Rom. ix. 29 is a direct
quotation), and its use certainly
points not only to a Jewish author
but also to a Jewish audience. For
the curiously wrong manner in which
'Sabaoth' became identified with
'Sabbath ' by English classics, Spenser,
V. 5] JAMES 123
delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure ; ye have
Bacon, Johnson, Scott, see Art.
'Sabaoth,' Smith's Bibl. Diet.
5. To injustice was added self-
indulgence, and the juxtaposition
to the preceding words again em-
phasises sharply the contrast between
the selfish luxury of the rich and
the hard lives and bitter wrongs of
the poor. Ye have lived delicately
on the earth; not merely expressing
in the last three words their earthly
life, but as marking the fact that they
lived on regardless of the judgment,
far above out of their sight, proceed-
ing against them in heaven ; regard-
less that from His throne in heaven
the Lord's eyes behold the children
of men. Or, the expression ' on the
earth' may emphasise the thought
that this life of luxury was not last-
ing, that it ceased when man return-
ed to his dust; cf. Matt. vi. 19. The
tense of the verb in the original
may here and elsewhere in the verse
be fairly rendered by the English
perfect, but the standpoint is that of
the day of judgment, as if the writer
was looking back from that day upon
the sinful and luxurious Uves of the
rich. It has been well noted that
we have here the converse of the old
Epicurean doctrine ; in Tennyson's
Lotos-eaters the gods in ceaseless
enjoyment are 'careless of mankind,'
and smile at their woes and lamen-
tations ; here men contemn God and
say, 'Thou wilt not require it'; yet,
in spite of their contempt, *Thou
hast seen it... to take it into thy
hand'; cf Enoch, xcviii. 7, 'you do
not see that every sin is every day
recorded in the presence of the Most
High. From henceforth ye know
that all your oppression wherewith
ye oppressed is written down every
day till the day of your judgment.'
The verb translated as above in
R.V. is only found here in the N.T.,
but it is used of a soft and luxurious
life, in a bad sense here, and so in
Ecclus. xiv. 4, and generally in
classical Greek ; but in a good sense
in Neh. ix. 25, Isaiah IxvL 11, and
so also its compounds, cf Ps. xxxvi.
4, Isaiah Iv. 2. It is derived from
a verb which means to break down,
and so to enervate, and its cognate
noun is found in Luke \ii. 25, 2 Pet
ii. 13, and, it should be noted, four
times in Ecclus. and once or twice
in Wisdom. Another cognate noun
is also employed in Ecclus. xxxiv.
(xxxi.) 3, in the picture of the rich
man filled with delicacies, in con-
trast, V. 4, to the profitless labours
of the poor; cf. Luke xii. 18. For
a list of Bible passages in which
'delicately' means 'luxuriously,' Art.
'Delicate' in Hastings' B. D. maybe
consulted.
This and the following verb ren-
dered 'have taken your pleasure' in
KV. and 'have been wanton' in A.V.
are sometimes regarded as synony-
mous, but whilst both verbs are used
of self-indulgent, dissolute living, the
second ajiparently adds the thought
of prodigality, wastefulness: Trench,
Synonyms, ii. 17. It is doubtful
whether the 11. V. is strong enough
to express this. In 1 Tim. v. 6 the
participle of the same verb is ren-
dered 'she that giveth herself to
pleasure,' and in Ecclus. xxi. 15 'he
that is given to pleasure' is contrast-
ed with the man of understanding.
It is interesting also to note that in
Ezek. xvi. 49 it is found to express the
prosperous ease of Sodom, whilst it
is added in condemnation of that
city, 'neither did she strengthen the
hand of the poor and needy.' But
the association of the word with the
thought of wantouutjbs would cer-
124 JAMES [v. 5, 6
6 nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. Ye have
tainly seem to be supported by the
use of the compound verb in Amos
vi. 4, and of the cognate noun in
Ecclus. xxvii. 13, and in the passage
before us it may be fairly rendered
'ye lived a life of wantonness.' In
the explanation of the word given
by Clem. Alex. Strom, iv. p. 450
both notions of prodigality and
wantonness seem to be combined.
The verb is found, as usual, in a bad
sense, Epist. of Barnabas, x. 3, of
men living a life of luxury, whilst
Hermas, Sim. vi. 1, employs the two
verbs as here, in close combination,
of the sheep led astray by the angel
of self-indulgence.
ye have nourished your hearts:
of. Judg. xix. 5; Ps. civ. 15; Luke
xxi. 34 ; Acts xiv. 17. The verb
probably implies, as sometimes in
classical Greek, to fatten, to satiate
with food ; cf. Lxx, Jer. xxvi. 21,
where the same verb is used of fatted
calves. ' Hearts ' is sometimes taken
as = bodies (the heart regarded as
the seat and centre of physical life),
sometimes as a Hebraism = you, your-
selves, but perhaps best explained
as signifying not merely the body,
but the heart in which the sense of
reflection is felt ; see also below on
Enoch, xcviii. 8, 11.
in a day of slaughter, R.V. ; so
W.H., omitting 'as' A.V.; cf. v. 3,
' in the last days.' For the use of a
similar expression see Jer. xii. 3,
XXV. 34, and of similar imagery
Isaiah xxxiv. 2, 6, Ezek. xxi. 15, in
describing the day of the Lord's
judgment; cf. also Psalms of Sulo-
moti, viii. 1, where a trumpet pro-
claims 'slaughter and destruction'
in the approaching visitation of the
Lord in judgment, and more fully
Enoch, xciv. 9, where of the rich
and sinners we read, ' ye have com-
mitted blasphemy and unrighteous-
ness and have become ready for the
day of slaughter and the day of
darkness and of the great judgment,'
and xcviii. 8, 11, 'woe to you, ye
obstinate of heart whence have
ye good things to eat and drink and
to be filled?... know that ye shall
be delivered into the hands of the
righteous, and they will cut oflF your
necks and slay you.' Like beasts,
fattened to be killed, and feasting
on the day of their slaughter, so the
wicked in their folly were 'nourishing
their hearts,' unmindful of the coming
doom. In the terrible days of the
Roman siege, when the Zealots in
their fanatical rage against the rich
slew them or left them to die of
hunger, when they drank the blood
of the populace to one another,'
some of those whom he now warned
may have recalled the words of
St James. See the whole description
Josephus, B. J. V. 10. 2, xiii. 4K It
may well be said that the words of
the Jewish historian become here
the best commentary on the words
of the Christian Apostle.
Other explanations of the phrase
are sometimes proposed, as e.g. that
reference is made to feasting and
banqueting, and the slaying of oxen
and fatlings for the same, as if life
was one perpetual feast (cf Isaiah
xxii. 13), but the phrase seems more
naturally explained by connecting it
with the thought of judgment as
above. An attempt has been made
to exclude all reference to the judg-
ment on the ground that in the
original the word ' day ' has no
article prefixed, so that the ex-
1 See too Plummer in loco, and Farrar, Early Daui of Christianity,
pp. 344, 345.
V. 6]
JAMES
125
condemned, ye have killed
not resist you.
pression simply means that a man
has killed his higher life through the
indulgence of the lower, and has
spent his days in that which leads
to the loss of his true life; but the
question of grammar may be met
by such passages as Rom. ii. 5,
1 Pet. ii. 12, and the attempted
explanation entirely loses sight of
the O.T. and Jewish use of the
phrase.
6. Ye have condemned, ye have
killed, R.V. The omission of ' and '
A.V. heightens the effect, and ex-
presses the hastiness with which
the murder follows upon the con-
demnation. The verbs are to be
taken literally, cf. iv. 2 above, and
there is no need to refer to Ecclus.
xxxiv. 21, where the verb used here
for killing is also found as follows :
' he that taketh away his neighbour's
living slayeth him.' In the con-
demnation we may see perhaps a
reference to the judgment-seats of
ii. 6. The verb employed here is
found in classical Greek of formal
and official condemnation; in the
Lxx it occurs several times, and
four times in Wisdom, notably in
ii. 20, 'let us condemn him (the
righteous) with a shameful death,'
in the famous picture of the poor
righteous man, the faithful Israelite,
oppressed and condemned to death
by his wealthy and luxurious fellow-
countrymen (see V. 12), a picture
strikingly parallel to that before us
(see also on ii. 6, above) ; cf. Amos ii.
6, 7, v. 12.
the righteous one, R.V. ; 'the just,*
A.V. In Acts iii. 14, vii. 52, xxii.
14 (1 John ii. 1), our Lord is em-
phatically called 'the Righteous One,'
but R.V. makes a distinction between
these places and the passage before
the righteous one ; he doth
us by rendering in Acts 'the
Righteous One' and in 1 John il 1,
where the reference is clear ; cf.
1 Pet. iii. 18, 'the righteous.'
In this verse however many able
commentators from the time of
Oecumenius have referred the title
to our Lord, and no doubt it was
in early use as a name for the
Messiah ; cf Enoch, xxxviii. 2, liii. 6.
The tense (aorist) used in the pre-
ceding verses does not destroy this
interpretation, as it might be used
of a specific action, as in ii. 21, or
of a course of action, as in the verbs
of V. 5. On the other hand, it is
urged that the context does not suit
this application of the words, and
that ' the righteous one^ is employed
to designate no particular individual
but a class in general ; cf. the passage
in Wisdom above, and the use of the
same Greek adjective for a class,
Isaiah iii. 10, Ivii. 1, and in N.T.
Heb. X. 38, 1 Pet. iii. 12, iv. 18, etc.
And the sjiirit against which the
prophets had uttered their constant
protest, and which they had so
sternly condemned, was still alive ;
St James saw it working all around
him, St Stephen had fallen a victim
to it, and James the son of Zebedee,
and many of the ' saints,' Acts xxvi.
10.
It may be said that in these
words the writer seems to anticipate
in prophetic spirit his own death,
and it has been thought that Hege-
sippus in his description had this
passage in mind when he writes
that the scribes and Phari.sees said,
'Let us go up and cast him do\vn,'
i.e. from the pinnacle of the Temi)le.
'So they cast down James the Just
and began to stone him.' Euscb.
II.E.n.2i.
126
JAMES
[v. 7
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the ^coming of the
^ Gr. pretence.
he doth not resist you, i.e. the
righteous one. In itself the present
tense does not militate against
the reference to our Lord. St
James might thus vividly picture
His patient endurance, and the
dramatic eflfect is intensified by the
omission of the connecting ' and ' in
R.V., although the same tense could
of course indicate that the same
suflferings and patience were being
accomphshed in His brethren in
the world. The tense expresses
in a graphic manner the habitual
bearing of the righteous under per-
secution, especially in face not only
of the Jewish picture in Wisdom
(of. Enoch, ciii. 15), but also of our
Lord's command, Matt. v. 39 (cf.
1 Pet. ii 23), and of the constant
stress laid by St James upon patience.
How beautifully St James himself
preached in suffering this doctrine
of patient endurance we know from
the record which tells us how when
the cruel hail of the stones beat
upon him, he kneeled down, saying,
'My Father, I beseech Thee forgive
them, for they know not what they
do,' Eusebius, IT. E. ii. 23.
Either of the above interpretations
seems preferable to that which would
refer the clause to the present patient
long-suffering of the Lord. This
thought is not in the immediate
context, and is rather contained in
the verses which immediately follow.
Another rendering of the words
adopted by W.H. places an inter-
rogative at the end of the verse ;
' doth not (the Lord) resist you V cf.
the same verb as used in iv. 6. But
this does not seem so original, or so
terse and dramatic as the usual
punctuation.
7. Be patient therefore, brethren.
From utterance of his indignation
St James turns again to the thought
of his suffering brethren ; whatever
the wicked might do meanwhile,
they are to keep before their eyes
the picture of 'the righteous one,'
not resisting evil. The curtain falls
as it were upon the scene, but it will
quickly rise again-upon another, upon
a more terrible and yet upon a
brighter day, when judgment shall
return imto righteousness ; cf. Ps.
xciv. vv. 15, 20, 2 L The word trans-
lated 'be patient' is not the same
as is translated 'endureth' i. 12,
although this latter verb is sometimes
rendered 'to be patient' (cf. Rom. xii.
12 ; 1 Pet. ii. 20), whilst its cognate
noun is three times translated
'patience' in this Epistle, i. 3, 4,
V. 11 ('endurance' in margin). A
distinction however is drawTi be-
tween the noun which is cognate
to the verb in the verse before us,
and the noun just referred to, which
may help us here ; the former is the
self-restraint which does not hastily
retaliate a wi-ong, the latter is the
temper which does not easily suc-
cumb under suffering, although the
distinction is not always true without
exception (Lightfoot)l This dis-
tinction of meaning, however, is
quite in accordance with the con-
text in the present passage, and also
with what follows in vv. 10, 11 (see
1 See further Trench, Syn. n. 10; Westcott, Hebrews, p. 157. The two nouus
rendered ' endurance ' and ' lonK-suSering ' occur together in 2 Cor. vi. 4, 6 ;
Col i 11- 2 Tim. iii. 10; and the contrast between the two connate verbs is
well marked in 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 7, 'Love suflerelh long endureth ail things.*
V. 7]
JAMES
127
below). The verb in our verse with
its corresponding noun is used of
God, as He bears with man, Rom. ii.
4, 1 Pet. iii. 20 (so too in the O.T.,
and Apoc, Wisd. xv. 1 ; Ecclus. xviii.
11), and men strive to imitate this
Divine long-suffering, GaL v. 22;
Col. iii. 12.
With the language of St James
we may also compare the frequent
exhortation to the righteous in
Enoch to persist in their cry for
judgment, and to be hopeful and
believing in the face of their rich
oppressors; cf. xcvii. Iff., civ. 3ff.
until the coming of the Lord,
* presence ' in R. V. marg. The word
is the same which our Lord Himself
used of His coming, three times in
St Matthew's account of the discoiurse
on the Mt of Olives ; cf xxiv. 27, 37,
39, and see also v. 3. We can see
the impression which the word made
upon the Apostolic writers, since it is
used by St Peter, St Paiil, and
St John, and by all of them of the
coming of the Lord Jesus in glory.
Here we believe that it is used by
St James with the same reference,
and it is noticeable that the whole
passage before us has three points of
contact with the discourse of Jesus
to which reference has just been
made; cf. e.g. Matt. xxiv. 9, 13, with
«. 11 below, and xxiv. 33 with v. 9.
No doubt with the other N.T. writers
St James conceived of the coming
as near at hand, and not only may
the current Jewish expectancy of the
nearness of the end have contributed
to this conception, but our Lord's
own words would have intensified
the expectancy in Christian circles.
It is indeed maintained by Spitta
that this word 'presence' need not
be used here of Christ, as it occurs
in Jewish writings, e.g. Testaments
of the xii. Patriarchs, Judah 22,
'until the "presence" of the God of
righteousness' (the words are not
found in the Armenian translation) ;
so again in Test. Abr. xiii., 'until
the great and glorious "presence"
of God,' and also 'at the second
presence' or ' coming' '; while the
cognate verb is used of the day of
judgment, Deut. xxxii. 35 ; Joel ii. 1.
But St James had already assigned a
Divine attribute to Jesus, and had
spoken of Him as the Lord of glory,
ii. 1, and there is no difBculty in
supposing that with our Lord's words
before him St James should have
assigned to the Christ the further
Divine prerogative of judgeship. No
doubt in Jewish apocalyptic and
pseudepigraphical literature we have
to take into account two judgments,
the Messiah's, and the final ; the for-
mer executed by the Messiah or the
saints, and the latter, except in
Enoch, xxxvii-lxx., by God alone.
But the N.T. writers and our Lord's
own words represent Him, as in the
most sublime conception of Enoch,
as a supernatural being and as the
universal Judge at the last day.
When we consider the lowliness of
Jesus of Nazareth and the extreme
ignominy of His death, it would
have been marvellous enough if men
like the Apostles, Hebrews of the
Hebrews, had associated Him at such
an early date with the conception of
a Judge such as that given in the
Psalms (f Solomon,\y\i., xviii., wliere
1 This identical expression is also used by Christian ecclesiastical writers of
the ' second coming ' of Christ as opposed to His ' first coming,' which took place
in His Incarnation and earthly life. And there can be no doubt that the
occurrence of the phrase in the Testament of Abrahavi is one of the Christian
elements in that document (see Introd. p. iliii.). This Spitta forgets. Moreover,
his other references only help to show us that a term which was used of God
could also be used by Christ and of Christ.
128
JAMES
[v. 7
Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious
fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until 4t receive the
1 Or, he
the Messiah appears as a judge, but
not as a pre-existent being, a sub-
ordinate to God in the judgment.
But the marvellousness is increased
when we remember that to this Jesus
of Nazareth is assigned the tre-
mendous office of the Judge of quick
and dead, an office which even in the
O.T. is not assigned to the Messiah,
although in some prophetic passages
He is associated with Jehovah as
His agent in ' the day of the Lord.'
Certainly St James tells us less
than some of the other N.T. writers
as to the details of Christ's coming,
but this silence not only offers a
marked contrast to the fantastic
elaborations of Jewish theology in
dealing with such subjects, but it is
quite natural in a letter so brief in
itself, and in which much would be
no doubt assumed as already known.
See on the whole subject Encycl.
Bibl. II., Art. ' Eschatology,' by Dr
Charles ; Hastings' B. D. i. 749, 751 ;
and Psalms of Solomon, Ryle and
James, pp. li. ff.
Behold, the husbandman tcaiteth
for. See on iii. 6, and v. 4. The
language of the verse and the com-
parison are very natural from a
native of Palestine (see below, and
Introduction), and in this particular
passage they would fall in well with
the previous mention of the labourers
and the reapers. There is a close
likeness to Ecclus. vi. 19, where it
is said of Wisdom, ' Come unto her
as one that ploweth and soweth, and
wait for her good fruits,' although
the verb for 'wait for' is not the
same as in the present passage (cf.
however 1 Thess. i. 10, where it is
used of a waiting in patience and
trust), and the same lesson is familiar
to us in our Lord's own parables.
In 1 Pet. iii. 20 a cognate if not
an exactly similar verb is used of
the long-suffering of God, and in
Heb. X. 13 the same verb is used of
the ' waiting ' of Christ for His final
triumph.
precious, everywhere, and no-
where more so than in Palestine ; the
epithet marks the justification of the
patient waiting.
being patient over it, i.e. over the
fruit ; the participial clause gives
more definition to the preceding
verb, a watchful and constant ex-
pectancy. 'Over it' ; the prep, in the
original is often so used after verbs
which signify a mental affection or
emotion, as in English we often use
the word ' over ' (Grimm-Thayer) ;
cf. Ecclus. xviii. 11, xxix. 8, xxxv.
(xxxii.) 18 ; Matt, xviii. 26, 29.
until it receive, RV., but ' he ' in
marg., and good authorities may be
quoted for either. Most probably
the subject should be found in the
nearest object ' fruit.' The thought
of the fruit receiving the early and
latter rain would be very natural to
an inhabitant of Palestine ; cf Deut.
xi. 14, Joel ii. 23, Jer. v. 24, Zech. x.
1, for the thought of God giving, or
raining down, the early and latter
rain. The majority of modems take
this view, but a few still follow Luther
in regarding 'the husbandman' as
the subject, on the ground that a
change of subject is not warranted,
and that attention is fixed primarily
and chiefly on the husbandman him-
self. Of com'se if we adopt for the
following words the rendering ' early
and latter fruit ' the same word can-
V. 7,8] JAMES 12d
8 early and latter rain. Be ye also patient ; stablish your
not be taken as the subject of the
verb ' receive.' This rendering 'early
and latter friiit ' is justified on the
ground that the clause 'until he
receive the early and latter fruit ' is
thus constituted a precise parallel
to the vrords 'until the coming of
the Lord,' but this parallel cannot
fairly be found, nor is it needed (see
below). There seems little doubt
that the better rendering is 'the
early and latter rain,' as A. and R.V.
In some good authorities, e.g.
W.H., the reading is simply 'the
early and latter,' but in their text the
phrase is marked by W.H. as a quo-
tation, and it is to be remembered
that in the lxx the complementary
noxm in the same phrase is always
' rain.' Its omission would of course
account for the two variations 'fruit'
and *rain,' and its addition is cer-
tainly far more probable than its
erasure.
' The early and latter rain ' was a
common phrase in the lxx, and would
have been understood by every in-
habitant of Palestine, although it is
true that the former adjective is used
with reference to early figs, Jer.
xxiv. 2, Hos. ix. 10, and the latter
wath reference to wheat and rye,
Exod. ix. 32.
The early and the latter rain were
both needftil for the harvest of the
precious fruit, and both tried the
patience and skill of the husband-
man. 'Towards the end of October
heavy rains begin to fall, at intervals,
for a day or several days at a time.
These are what the English Bible
calls the early or former rain,
literally the Pourer. It opens the
agricultural year ; the soil hardened
and cracked by the long summer is
loosened, and the farmer begins
ploughing The latter rains of
Scripture are the heavy showers of
March and April. Coming as they
do before the harvest and the long
summer drought, they are of far
more importance to the country than
all the rains of the winter months,
and that is why these are passed
over in Scripture, and emphasis is
laid alone on the early and tlie latter
rains' G. A. Smith, Historical
Geography of the Holy Land,
p. 63.
8. also, i.e. after the example of
the husbandman ; ' the point of the
simile lies in the patient waiting,
not in that which is waited for.'
stablish your hearts, for the due
exercise of patience, and also no
doubt with the thought that this
patience would not be of long dura-
tion. For the expression cf Judg.
xix. 5, 8, Ecclus. xxii. 16, etc., and
in N.T. 1 Thess. iii. 13, 1 Pet. v. 10,
where, as generally elsewhere, it is
the Divine power which stablishes ;
cf. Ecclus. vi. 37 ; Psalms of
Solomon, xvi. 12. From the frequent
combination of this verb and noun
in Jewish literature it may be fairly
said that the ^vi-iter is using a regular
Hebrew mode of expression. This
stablishing the heart would be the
best preservation against the sin of
doublemindedness. With St James's
thought here and his remedy against
the sin just named, it is interesting
to compare Clem. Rom. Cor. xxiii. 3,
where the doubleminded are ex-
horted to hope and to consider that
as in nature the fruit of the tree
soon attaincth unto mellowness, so
tlie Lord wlioni tlioy expect will
come quickly, and will not tarrj'.
9
130
JAMES
[V. 8, 9
9 hearts : for the ^coming of the Lord is at hand. Murmur
not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged :
1 Gr. presence.
for the coming of the Lord is at
hand. The verb in the original is
in the perfect tense, ' has come nigh,'
and so, is at hand. With the ex-
pression we may compare similar
language, Luke xxi. 31 ; 1 Pet. iv. 7 ;
Phil. iv. 5; Heb. x. 25; and in the
O.T. Joel ii. 1, 'for the day of the
Lord Cometh, for it is nigh at hand.'
The words have sometimes been
classed as a Christian watchword,
the Aramaic form of which occurs in
1 Cor. xvi. 22, Didache, x. 6, but it is
very doubtful whether the expression
Maranatha can be interpreted to
mean that our Lord cometh (see
R.V. marg.), is at hand, will come, or
even ' has come ' ; and whether it
may not be best explained as an
ejaculation in a supplicatory sense,
' Our Lord come ! ' ; of. Rev. xxii.
20 ; see Art. ' Maranatha,' J. H,
Thayer in Hastings' B. Z>., and also
Art. on same in Encycl. Bihlica.
The N.T. wi'iters it would seem
all expected the Parousia quickly,
having respect to our Lord's words,
Mark xiii. 30, Matt. xxiv. 34, Luke
xxi. 32, and it may be justly said
that this expectation was fulfilled,
not indeed in the visible return of
Jesus, but in the overthrow of
Jerusalem ; and in this connection
we do well to remember that our
Lord Himself had said, ' Henceforth
ye shall see the Son of Man sitting
at the right hand of power, and
coming on the clouds of heaven ' ;
He thus intimates His claim to
judge not only hereafter but 'hence-
forth,' and His coming to judgment
is rightly seen in all the gi-eat moral
catastrophes of the world's history.
Voltaire could make merry at the
earthquake of Lisbon, ' How absurd
to talk about divine judgments !
Lisbon is overwhelmed, whilst at
the same moment in Paris, a city
equally guilty, people were dancing!'
But it has been well pointed out that
if Voltaire had lived on a few years
longer, and witnessed the first great
French Revolution and the streets
of Paris red with blood, he might
have seen another illustration of the
Lord's parable, 'Wheresoever the
carcase is, there will the eagles be
gathered together'; he might have
been constrained to exclaim with
the Psalmist, ' Verily there is a God
that judgeth the earth.'
9. Murmur not, R.V., i.e. com-
plain not, lit. groan not. A.V. has
'grudge not,' but the word, whatever
may have been its former meaning,
now rather denotes 'a suppressed
feeling of ill-will'; in Psalm lix. 15
however the same verb is used as an
equivalent of 'murmur' (complain)
(see Driver's Parallel Psalter) ; cf.
Shakespeare, Much Ado, iii. 4. 90;
and Langland, Piers Plowman, 6.
219. See further on verse 1 for the
reference of the words here, and so
also of ' brethren ' in the immediate
context.
one against another. If the refer-
ence is to the Christian brother, and
not to the wealthy oppressors just
mentioned, we must remember that
St James was a keen judge of human
nature, and was well aware that the
temptation to impatience towards
those with whom they were most
closely associated would often make
itself felt in the irritation produced
by continuous oppression.
that ye be not judged, R.V.,
V. 9, 10]
JAMES
131
10 beliold, the judge standeth before the doors. Take, brethren,
for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets
'condemned,' A.V,, but authority
is overwhelming for the reading in
text: cf. Matt. vii. 1; Luke vi. 37
(Rom. ii. 1 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5). It is urged
that there is no need to suppose
a reference to our Lord's words on
account of the difference of context,
but in St Matthew at all events the
thought of ' the day ' of the Lord is
not far removed from the exhortation
in question : cf Matt. vii. 22; see also
below on v. 12.
hehold, the judge, i.e. the Lord
Christ, Who is judge both of you
and of those from whom you differ ;
the words are thus a warning as well
as an encouragement: cf ii. 13. The
language here has a striking parallel
in Apocalypse of Baruch, xlviii. 39:
'for the judge will come, and will
not tarry.'
standeth he/ore the doors; signify-
ing the imminent nearness : cf Matt,
xxiv. 33 ; Mark xiii. 29. There is
thus no need to find an allusion to
Isaiah xxvi. 20 or to the figurative
language which is there employed ;
the reference to our Lord's own
words with respect to His coming
seems far more natural. This near-
ness of the Judge should prevent
the brethren from anticipating His
judgment of their complaints against
their neighbours, and so taking upon
themselves the office of judge, as
was the case vrith the friends of Job.
The noun which A.V. renders 'door'
(R.V. ' doors ') is in the plural as in
the passages cited from the Gospels.
Tlie striking scene in the martyrdom
of St James, Eusebius, H. E. ll. 23,
as given by Hegesippus, describes
the scribes and Pharisees as setting
him on a pinnacle of the Temple
and asking, 'What is the door of
Jesus ?': and the Just answers, 'Why
do ye ask me concerning Jesus the
Son of Man ? He is both seated in
heaven on the right hand of Power,
and will come on the clouds of
heaven.' The expression is some-
times referred to our Lord's words
John X. 7-9.
10. hrethren, R.V., is better at-
tested than my hrethren. But either
form of expression was, as we have
seen, characteristic of the writer.
for an example. The word is
used of the example of Enoch,
Ecclus. xliv. 16, of the example
of the brave old scribe Eleazar,
2 Mace. vi. 31, of the example of the
seven brethren who would not trans-
gress the law of their fathers, 4
Mace, xvii, 23. In the N.T. it is
used of our Lord's own example,
John xiii. 15.
of suffering, R.V. The noun is
used only here in the N.T., but
the cognate verb is found below
m V. 11, 2 Tim. ii. 3, 9, iv. 5. It
is found elsewhere, Mai. L 13, 2
Mace. ii. 26, 27, and in 4 Mace. ix. 8,
where it is used, as is the word
' example ' above, in connection with
the same brethren who answer the
tyrant Antiochus, saying, 'for we
sliall receive the rewards of \irtue
through this sufi"ering and endur-
ance,' the latter noun being also the
same noun which occurs thrice in
the Epistle (cf i. 3, 4, v. 13). Deiss-
m&nn, Bibelstudien, ir. 91, apparently
takes the word on the evidence of
inscriptions to signify the endurance
of suffering or affliction.
When we read in the next verse
that 'we call them blessed which
endured,' it is most natural to asso-
ciate such words with our Lord's
9—2
132
JAMES
[v. 10,11
1 1 who spake in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call them
blessed which endured : ye have heard of the ^patience of
Or, endurance
own Beatitudes, Matt. v. 11, 12. At
the same time the blessedness of
those who endured martyrdom
under the tyrant Antiochus was
often celebrated, as e.g. in 4 Mace. i.
10, vii. 22, X. 15, xii. 1. patience; see
on V. 7.
the prophets. It is best to refer the
words to the O.T. prophets ; but it
has sometimes been maintained that
prophets in the Christian Church
may also have been included, who
suffered like things with them of
old times.
■in the name, i.e. with the power,
and as the representatives of Him
Who sent them ; cf. for this same
formula Isaiah I. 10, Jer. xi. 21,
Micah iv. 5, and see also Matt. vii.
22, X. 41, and see further v. 14
below; cf Deissmann, Bibelstudien,
L 26\ and Hastings' £. D., Art.
* Name.'
The words are no doubt meant
to cheer the suffering Christians,
and would help to remind them that
even if the prophets who were so
holy that God spoke through them
endured persecution and suffering,
they must not wonder if a fiery trial
was theirs also ; Bede's comment to
this effect is interesting, and he in-
stances not only the prophets who
were so free from fault that the
Holy Spirit spake through them
God's mysteries to men, but also
the Maccabean martyrs.
The example of the prophets was
often appealed to : cf e.g. Matt, xxiii.
.34 ; Acts vii. 52 ; Heb. xi. So too
Abraham, Isaac, David, and 'the
three children' were cited as ex-
amples of those who endured,
4 Mace. xvi. 21.
If we ask why St James appealed
to the old prophets, and not to the
example of Jesus Christ, the great
ensample of godly life, it may be that
he wished to keep before the eyes of
his converts Jesus as the Lord of
glory, as the Lord Whose coming
drew nigh, and that his readers
were not quite prepared for the
preaching of the Person of the Mes-
siah as an example of human virtue ;
if the Epistle was wi-itten at a very
early date it is quite possible that the
details of the life of Jesus would be
far less familiar to the readers than
the old and oft-repeated stories of
the sufferings and patience of the
prophets, and it may also be added
that St James may have already
alluded to Christ when he spoke
of the unresisting 'righteous one,'
V. 6.
11. Behold, we call thetn blessed
which endured, R.V. This transla-
tion brings out more distinctly than
AV. 'happy' the connection between
the verb 'to call blessed' and the
adjective 'blessed' found, not only in
i. 12, but also used by om* Lord in
the Beatitudes ; cf. especially Matt.
V. 12 with the verse before us .
it is also based upon what seems
to be undoubtedly the correct
reading (adopted by W.H. as by
R.V.), the aorist part, 'which en-
dured' instead of the present 'wliich
^ For those who study German, reference should also be made to Heitmiiller'a
exhaustive volume, Im Namen Jesu, p. 86 (1903).
V. 1]]
JAMES
133
Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord
is full of pity, and merciful.
endure.' The same verb rendered
'we call blessed' is applied to
Daniel and his endurance in the deu
of lions, 4 Mace, xviii. 13.
ye have heard of the patience, but
in R.V. marg. 'endurance,' because
the word in the original is the
cognate noun of the verb employed
at the end of the preceding clause ;
possibly R. V. retained ' patience ' in
the text on account of the common
proverbial expression. Here the
reference may only be to that per-
sistent trust in God which Job mani-
fested in his troubles and amidst
the calumniations of his friends. In
Psalms of Solomon, xvi. 15, we read,
'the righteous man if he continue
stedfast shall therein find mercy of
the Lord,' a sentiment strikingly in
agreement with the words of St
James (see also below), and rendered
all the more so not only by the
fact that the verb ' continue stedfast '
is the cognate verb of the noun
rendered here ' endiu-ance,' but also
because the writer of the Psalms
evidently had Job in his mind, for
he remarks in the previous verse,
' thou dost prove a man in his flesh,
and in the affliction of poverty.'
The well-known passage in Ezek.
xiv. 14, 20, where Job is mentioned
with Noah and Daniel as an example
of tnie righteousness, is sufficient to
show how important a place Job
occupied in Jewish thought, and the
Yulg. of Tob. ii. 12-15 contains an
explicit reference to the patience of
Job. A reference may also be made
to Test. Ahr. xv., where Michael
says of Abraham, 'and there is no
man like him upon the earth, not
even Job, that marvellous niiin,' a
reference which showg how Abra-
ham and Job stood out in marked
prominence in Jewish thought, just
as in the Epistle of St James the
former appears as the example of
faith, and the latter of endurance.
heard. The word is sometimes
taken to refer to the public reading
in the synagogues, but there is no
need to restrict the reference to
this. It is noticeable that this is
the only reference to Job in the N.T.
and that the Book of Job is only
once quoted, 1 Cor. iii. 19 = Job v.
13. Philo has a quotation from Job
xiv. 4. In Tanchuma, 29. 4, we have
a quotation of Job xlii. 10, where we
read tiiat Job in this world was
tried much, but God has rewarded
him double, as it is said, 'and the
Lord gave Job twice as much as he
had before.' Amongst early Christian
writers St Clement of Rome fre-
quently refers to Job. Thus in Cor.
xvii. 1, 3 he exhorts his fellow-Chris-
tians to be imitators of the prophets,
of Abraham, and of Job, of whom it
is written that he was righteous and
unblameable, and further quotations
from Job are found in xx. 7, xxvi. 3,
xxxix. 3, Ivi. 6.
and have seen. So A. and R.V.
and W.H. I.e. like a drama unfolds
itself scene by scene. This is best,
but by some editors a more abrupt
reading is adopted, viz. the impera-
tive, with a full-stop after ' Job ' :
'See ye also,' etc.
the end of the Lord, i.e. the end
which the Lord makes, and gives ;
ye have seen how all things work
together for good (cf Job xlii. 12).
It is quite possible that St James
has before him the Rabbinical phrase
which corresponds to the exi)l;uiation
of the words as above ; so Loo the
134
JAMES
[v. 12
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither
Syriac renders 'the end which the
Lord made for him.' Job is thus
rightly spoken of as blessed. It is
sometimes urged that the words may
be specially referred to the appear-
ance of the Lord at the end of the
Book of Job as settling the contro-
versy, and that this sense well fits in
with the idea of the Parousia as the
final scene which Christians antici-
pated ; this sequence of thought is
possible with the alternative reading
mentioned above, but certainly not
otherwise, and even then it is not
supported by the context.
It should also be mentioned that
the words under consideration have
been sometimes taken as by St
Augustine to refer to the death of
Christ, 'the end of the Lord' (cf.
Sermo ad Catechumenos, x.). The
same interpretation of the words
was adopted by Bede and by Wet-
stein.
The latter comments, 'He under-
stands the death which the Lord
Jesus endured for our salvation, and
which is represented in the Holy
Supper,' apparently refemng in the
last clause to the words 'ye have
seen the end, i.e. the death, of the
Lord.' But this interpretation how-
ever tempting cannot be said to be
borne out by the context
how tlm% R.V. ; explanatory of the
preceding, showing and describing
the nature of ' the end of the Lord.'
the Lord, i.e. the Lord of the O.T.,
and so the words just preceding refer
evidently to the same Lord.
full of pity. The exact word is
not found elsewhere except Hermas,
Mand. iv. 3. 5, Sim. v. 7. 4, used
each time of the Lord of the O.T., but
the Lxx has a very similar expres-
sion, ' plenteous in mercy,' cf. Exod.
xxxiv. 6. In the ' Prayer of Manasses'
we have a word somewhat simi-
larly compounded, joined with two
other adjectives, 'long-suflfering' and
'plenteous in mercy,' as in Exod. u.s.,
' for thou art the most high Lord, of
great compassion, long-suffering, veiy
merciful' ; cf , for a somewhat similar
combination, Ps. ciii. 8. With the
expression here, and the two ad-
jectives, in the original, cf. Col. iii. 12.
merciful; only found once else-
where in N.T., Luke vi. 36, where it
is used as here of God ; cf Clem.
Rom. Cor. xxiii. 1 ; but frequent in
lxx; cf. esp. Ecclus. ii. 11, 'for
the Lord is full of compassion and
mercy, long-suflering, and very
pitiful, and forgiveth sins and saveth
in time of affliction,' a passage which
may well have been in the mind of
St James, especially when we com-
pare ». 12 with James i. 8 above.
In Psalms of Sohm^on similar attri-
butes are also ascribed to God;
cf. passage quoted above.
This reference to the sure mercy
and pity of the Lord would encourage
Christian endurance to the end ; cf.
Matt. X. 22, xxiv. 13.
12. above all things. It is in-
teresting to find this phrase quoted
from the papyri at the end of a letter.
Two instances of its use in this
way are given in the Oxyrhynchus
Papyri from letters dating 22 and
25 A.D.1
In the passage before us it is of
course quite possible that this em-
phatic phrase may be limited to what
has just preceded, and then it may
be regarded as introducing a special
1 Dean of Westminster, Ephesians, p. 279.
V. 12] JAMES 135
by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath :
warning for those who might be led
by suffering to inipatience and mur-
muring, and so to hasty oaths and
asseverations. But it is perliaps
better to regard the precepts tlius
emphatically introduced as a kind of
postscript to the letter, and in the
first instance to find the need of such
an extreme warning in the prevalence
amongst the Jews of heedless and
false swearing, an evil and dangerous
habit into which those engaged like
the Jews of the Diasporain commerce
and merchandise were very liable to
fall ; of, for its notoriety amongst the
Jews in Rome, Martial, Epig. xi. 94.
my brethren; marking here as
elsewhere (cf i. 16) the earnestness
and yet tenderness of the writer.
swear not. To swear by the heaven
or by the earth was to employ re-
cognised Jewish formulae, and on
more than one occasion our Lord
refers to the use or rather abuse of
such and similar formulae, Matt. v.
34, xxiii. 16, and points out not only
the liability of this usage to lead
men into irreverence and untruth-
fulness, but also its real meaning as
involving, however men might seek
to disguise it, an oath by God Himself.
In any consideration of this verse
it should be carefully noted that the
reference of the words to contem-
porary Jewish habits as to the use
or non-use of oaths does not exclude a
reference to our Lord's words. Matt.
V. 34 ff., as has been often main-
tained. St James employs two
formulae to which reference is made
by our Lord Himself, Matt. v. 34, 35,
and to his words, ' not by any other
oath,' we may fairly find a parallel in
our Lord's command, ' Swear not at
all.'
Von Soden and Spitta (see also
Encyd. Bihl. ii. 1825) deny any
reference by St James to our Lord's
saying, and see in this expression
' the yea yea ' etc. only reference to
a common every-day formula. But
whilst we admit this commonness of
the formula, we have still to re-
member the context in which it is
here placed by our Lord and by St
James, and the solemn use which
they both make of it.
norhy any other oath; it has indeed
been maintained that in the omission
of the words ' neither by Jerusalem
nor by the temple' we may see an in-
dication that St James's Epistle was
not written till after the fall of Jeru-
salem, and this is urged by Schmiedel
{Encycl. Bihl. ii. 1892), but it is much
more to the point to observe that
St James may possibly have referred
to our Lord's command in Matt. v.
in some shortened form, or that his
words ' nor by any other oath ' fairly
include any other usual formulae in
vogue in taking an oath. On the
miserable subterfuges by which the
Jews avoided the obligation of oaths
by maintaining that they were not
binding unless the Sacred Name of
God was introduced, see further p.
153, and Wetstein on Matt. v. 37, vnih
Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, p. 168, and
E.T., pp. 206, 228.
let your yea be yea. It has been
said that the likeness in this verse is
closer than in any other in this
Epistle to the words of the Sermon
on the Mount (cf R.V. marg.), and
St James may well have recalled
his Master's words in enforcing his
Master's principle. For the words
contain no mere prohibition against
falsehood ; the sphere of perfect
truthfulness was that in which all
comnmuication between man and
136
JAMES
[v. 12, 13
but ^let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay ; that ye fall
not under judgement.
13 Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any
^ Or, let yours be the yea, yea, and the nay, nay Compare Matt. v. 37.
man should be conducted; in a Chris-
tian society, where men are truly
brethren in Christian affection, there
should be no need of oaths in the
daily intercourse of social life ; of.
Clem. Alex. Strom, vii. 8, where he
says that no true Christian will ever
perjure himself; he will not even
swear, and for him to be put upon
his oath is an indignity. See Ad-
ditional Note on the Use of Oaths,
p. 153.
that ye fall not under judgement.
For the phrase here of. Ps. i. 5 ;
Ecclus. xxix. 19 ; = 'that ye be not
judged' in ». 9; of. iii. 1, and Matt.
V. 21 ; John v. 24.
Our Lord in the parallel passage,
Matt. V. 37, says, ' and whatsoever is
more than these is of the evil one,'
R.V., as if He would warn men that
their unscrupulous use of the so-
lemnity of an oath must be referred
not to the God of truth but to the
father of lies. So St James also
warns men against the Divine judg-
ment which would follow upon this
participation in what every true
Christian would condemn as evil,
even as Christ his Lord had con-
demned it, together with every 'idle
word' for which account would be
given in the day of judgment. Matt,
xii. 36; and even now the judg-
ment was at hand ; cf. v. 9 above.
This thought of judgment follow-
ing as a condemnation of vain and
needless swearing, a thought so in-
tensified for the Christian con-
science by the words of Christ and
His nearness as Judge, had been
expressed by the writer of Ecclus.
xxiii. 11, 'and if he swear in vain
(without cause) he shall not be
justified^'
13. Is any among you suffering ?
let him pray. Cf. rendering of cog-
nate noun in v. 10, 'suffering,' R.V.
It is doubtful whether the words
have any very close connection with
what has just preceded, and the
various exhortations may be only of
a general character. But on the
other hand it is quite possible to
find some reference to the immediate
context. Thus in the Sermon on the
Mount our Lord, after saying, 'Swear
not at all,' proceeds to enjoin, not
retaliation against, but love towards,
our neighbour. St James inculcates
long-suffering under injury or ad-
versity before a similar injunction
'swear not at all,' and then again
treats of the right attitude under
suffering, the calm attitude of prayer,
not the petulant hastiness wliich
finds vent in oaths. Or again it is
plausible to connect the first case with
V. 10 above, or the second with iv. 9,
but even if this is admitted as
accounting for the primary applica-
tion of the words, they may bear a
much wider reference, and the
remedy in the wider as in the more
limited application is to be found iu
bringing everything before God-
For the verb see 2 Tim. ii, 3, 9, iv. 5,
and for the cognate noun v. 10 above.
1 The reading ' lest ye fall into hypocrisy ' in the clause before us is very
weakly supported, although adopted by Oecumenius, Grotius, and Wetstein. It
may easily have arisen from reading the two words ' under judgment ' as the
Greek word meaning 'hypocrisy.'
V. 13, 14]
JAMES
137
14 cheerful? let him sing praise
The word may include, but is too
general in its signification (so R.V.)
to be identified with, the verb ' to be
sick ' in v. 14. It is quite beside the
mark to regard the exhortation to
pray as a bidding to prayer for
vengeance, and to compare Enoch,
xhii. 2, xcvii. 3, civ. 3. The inter-
rogative form of the sentence, as
also in the succeeding clauses, is
quite in harmony with the vivid
style of St James.
Is any cheerful ? R.V. The A.V.
'merry' refers rather to outward
hilarity than to the universal cheer-
fulness indicated by the original.
The verb is not found in the lxx,
but it is used by Symmachus, Ps.
xxxii. 11, and Prov. xv. 15, 'all the
days of the afflicted are evil, but he
that is of a cheerful heart hath a
continual feast,' and the cognate
adjective is used 2 Mace. xi. 26 of
those who 'go cheerfully about their
own affairs.'
let him sing praise, R.V. ; 'let him
sing psalms,' A. V., but not necessarily
so restricted as to imply only ' Psalms
of David'; Ephes. v. 19, Col. iii. 16.
The word ' psalm ' is derived from the
verb here employed in the original
Greek. This verb meant primarily
to touch or strike a chord, to twang
the strings, and hence it is used
absolutely as meaning to play the
harp, etc., and in lxx to play on
some stringed instrument, and also
to sing to the music of the harp,
often in honour of God (but see also
Ecclus. ix. 4).
In Psalms of Solomon, iii. 2 (a
Psalm entitled 'concerning the
righteous'), the writer in the opening
verse gives the summons to sing a
new song unto God, and in xv. 5 wo
have a point of contact with the
veree before ils in the words wherein
. Is any among you sick ? let
' a psalm and praise with a song in
gladness of heart' are described as
a means for preserving the safety of
the righteous. In the N.T. the same
verb is used of singing of hymns, of
celebrating the praise of God, Rom.
XV. 9; 1 Cor. xiv. 15; Ephes. v. 19
(cf LXX, Judg. V. 3). Here the words
may refer primarily to private de-
votion and worship, but they evi-
dently have a wider application ; cf.
Hooker, E. P. v. 38, on the power of
melody in public prayer, melody
both vocal and instrumental, for the
raising up of men's hearts, and the
sweetening of their affection towards
God. Luther wshed to see all the
arts employed in the service of Him
Who gave them, and he writes, ' The
devil is a sad spirit and makes folks
sad, hence he cannot bear cheerful-
ness ; and therefore gets as far off
from music as possible, and never
stays where men are singing, espe-
cially spiritual songs.' William Law
devotes a whole chapter (xv.) in his
Serious Call to the benefit of chant-
ing psalms in our private devotions,
and he writes : ' He tlierefore that
saith he wants a voice, or an ear, to
sing a psalm, mistakes the case : he
wants the spirit that really rejoices
in God; the dulness is in his heart
and nut in his ear ; and when his
heart feels a true joy in God, when
it has a full relish of what is ex-
pressed in the psalms, he will find it
very pleasant to make the motions
of his voice express the motions of
his heart.'
The two injunctions hero given
to prayer and praise practically teach
us that all our feelings of sorrow or
of joy should bo sanctified. On all
occasions our joy should be the 'joy
in the Holy Gliost' ; on all occiusions
our sufferings should be met 'ac-
138
JAMES
[v. 14
him call for the elders of the church ; and let them pray
cording to the will of God ' ; joy or
sorrow being received with the wor-
ship of praise or prayer. At the
same time it has been thoughtfully
observed that we may with equal
truth transpose the two precepts :
'Is any among you suffering? let
him praise. Is any cheerful ? let
him pray': as thanksgiving sweetens
sorrow, so supplication sanctifies joy
(Pluinmer). It is interesting to note
that in Testaments of the xii. Pat.
Benj. 4, it is mentioned as one of the
general characteristics of the good
man that he praises God in song (or,
hymn).
14. Is any among you sick ? The
mention of suffering in the wider
sense leads to the mention of a
common instance of siiffering, viz.
that of sickness. The verb is used
of weakness in means, i.e. poverty, of
weakness in convictions, and specially
of weakness in bodily health ; so
the participle of the same verb is
used for 'the sick.'
In connection with the present
passage, Ecclus. xxxviii. 1-15 is of
interest, especially v. 9, ' My son, in
thy sickness be not negligent, but
pray unto the Lord, and he wiU
make thee whole.'
let him call for the elders. There
seems to be no reason why the
mention of a body of presbyters in
an official capacity should be re-
garded as indicating a late date, if
we consider such passages as Acts
xi. 30, XV. 6, xxi. 18, and in the light
of such an admittedly early state-
ment as in 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. This
latter passage joined with such
passages as 1 Pet. v. 1-4, Heb. xiii.
17, may fairly justify the description
of the presbyters as the representa-
tives of the domestic religious life
of the Church in every place ; that
is to say, any local body of the
Christian brethren, as locally consti-
tuted and organised (Moberly, Mini-
sterial Priesthood, p. 144); see
further below.
of the church. It is sometimes
said that the word used here for
'church,' and the word translated
'synagogue,' ii. 2, are convertible
terms not only in the Lxx but in
early Christian literature, but such
a general statement should be re-
ceived with some qualification in its
reference to the latter^. In the
verse before us the word 'church'
as indicating the Christian com-
munity differs from the word ' syna-
gogue,' ii. 2, inasmuch as the latter
denotes the place of assembly.
Eusebius emphasises the fact,
Theoph. (Syr.) iv. 12, that Jesus
called His Church not a synagogue
but an Ecclesia, the word used here
by St James. In the Gospels this
word is used on two occasions, and
on each by St Matthew, xvi. 18, xviii.
17. In the first passage our Lord
speaks of ' My church,' evidently in
the widest sense of the word, and in
the second He uses the same word in
a manner which might lead us to
regard it as a title of the ruling
body of the Ecclesia, or congrega-
tion, almost in the sense of 'the
elders' here. And from this fact
that our Lord thus used the term
once no doubt of the whole Church
which He founded, and once it may
be of the Christian community in
any city or village", the term would
very possibly have become familiar
1 See above on ii. 2, and the full examination in Zahn, Einleitung, i. 69.
* The term is thue understood in Matt, xviii. 17 by Grimm-Thayer, and Dr
Hort, EccUiia, p. 9, argues for its application there to a Jewish community.
V. 14]
JAMES
139
over him, ^anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord
^ Or, having anointed
to St James, to say nothing of its
further local use in St Paul's Epistles
and in the earlier portions of Acts.
Moreover, it would seem that our
Lord, by this use of the word
Ecclesia in Matt. xvi. 18, claimed
for His own Church a term which
had been used in the O.T. of the
Jewish Church, the Church of God.
And in the same way it is not
difficult to understand that other
terms may have been easily taken
over as it were from the Jewish to
the Christian Church, as is the ease
with ' presbyters,' ' elders ' (cf. again
Ecclus. XXX. 18 (xxxiii. 18) with
Hebrews xiii. 17), although we must
not hastily conclude that identity
of name involves identity of function.
Dr Schmiedel contends that the
term 'presbyters' in St James is
not necessarily of Jewish origin, but
to support this he dates the Epistle
before us at the same date as St
Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians,
or even as 1 Pet. which he places
about 1 1 2 A. D., Art. ' Ministry,' En cycl.
Bibl. III. 3120.
let them pray. There is evidence
to show that amongst the Jews it
was customary for the holiest of the
Rabbis to go to a sick neighbour's
house and to pray for him (see also
on V. 16)^; it would thus bo only
natural that the elders of the Chris-
tian local community should be called
upon, especially in the case of Jewish-
Christians, for a similar spiritual
oflBce. At a later date in the Chris-
tian Church we find the presbyters
exhorted to visit all those who are
infirm, Polycarp, Phil. vi. 1.
over him; not simply 'for him.'
It is quite possible that the words
mean 'let them pray (stretching
their hands) over him,' in accordance
with the interpretation given to the
words by Origen, Horn, in Lev. il 4,
and this rendering would be quite
in accordance vrith the force of the
original'^. Otherwise, it is taken to
mean that the elders come and stand
over him, or with reference to him,
' as if their intent, in praying, went
out towards him,' i.e. for his healing.
anointing Am ('having anointed'
R.V. marg.)^ The use of oil in
anointing the sick for a remedial
purpose receives illustration from
the O.T. ; cf. Isaiah i. 6 (Jcr. viii. 22,
xlvi. 11): and there is evidence that
it was customary to make a mixture
of oil, wine, and water for a similar
purpose, the preparation of which
was permitted even during the rest
of the Sabbath, Jer. Ber. ii. 2
(Edersheim, Jewish Social Life., p.
167). In the N.T. reference is made
to a similar use in Luke x. 34 (cf.
vii. 46), and oil is frequently men-
tioned as a medicinal agent amongst
the remedies of the ancient world
for all kinds of diseases ; see Art.
'Medicine,' Hastings' B.D. The
beUef in the same efficacious use is
mentioned by Philo, Pliny, Giilen,
Dion Cassius; cf. also Jos. Ant. xviL
6. 5, and B. J. I. 33. 5. For St James,
moreover, such use would have re-
ceived the highest sanction by the
1 See the information given by Dr Schechter in Mr Fulford'a St James,
p. 117.
2 So Grimm-Thayer explains the preposition ' with hands extended over him.'
See also the remarks of Dr Hort, Ecclesia, p. 215.
3 On the force of this aorist participle see Carres note in loco ; it may Bimply
express an action contemporaneous with the principal verb.
140
JAMES
[v. 15
15 and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the
practice of the first disciples, Mark
vi. 13 ; and if we cannot definitely
say that in this passage of St James
our Lord's command is presupposed,
it certainly intimates to us that His
sanction was not withheld \
For instances of cures wrought
by anointing with oil, see Diet, of
Christ. Ant.,k.ris. 'Oil' and'Unction,'
and also Journal of Theological
Studies, 2, p. 60, in the case of
St Pachomius, St Macarius of Alex-
andria, Benjamin of Nitria, Ammon,
etc.
The subject is further discussed in
Additional Note on Anointing with
Oil.
in the name of tJie Lord. The
position of the words seems to con-
nect them with the act of anointing,
and to intimate that this should be
done in trustful dependence upon
the power and authority of Christ.
If it be said that no express com-
mand of Christ had been given for
the anointing, it may be fairly
alleged in reply that in Mark vi. 13
such a command is presupposed (see
also above). On the force of the
expression cf also v. 10. And as in
that verse the true and the false
prophets are contrasted, the true
being those who spoke in the name
of the Lord, so here it may be that
a contrast is marked between those
who healed in the name of the
Lord and those who claimed to
perform their cures by all sorts of
magical formulae (cf. Deissmann,
Bihelstudien, pp. 5 ff.). That cures
were wrought in the name of Jesus
Christ is the testimony of the N.T. ;
cf. e.g. Mark iii. 15 ; Luke x. 17 ; Acts
iii. 6, xix. 13. At the same time it
may be fairly maintained that it
would be quite permissible to con-
nect the phrase with both prayer
and anointing, and if with the
former, the words of St John xiv. 13,
XV. 16, xvi. 23 bear out the reference
of them to prayer in the name of
Jesus.
The phrase gains in significance,
and the probabiUty of its reference to
Christ becomes assured, if we read
simply ' in the Name ' (omitting with
B the words 'of the Lord,' which
are placed in brackets by W.H.).
For a similar emphatic reference to
'the Name,' i.e. of Christ, cf. Acts v.
41, R.V., 3 John 7, and so too in the
early Church, Ignatius, Ephes. iii. 1,
vii. 1.
15. and the prayer of faith (cf.
i. 6), faith not as restricted to the
particular case, but as the condition
of a heart devoted to God. The
prayer is that of the presbyters, but
the fact that the sick man sends for
them is in itself a proof that he is
regarded as a sharer in their faith
and prayer. If we compare Acts iii.
16 we note that there faith is spoken
of as faith in the Name of Jesus, i.e.
in the power of Him Who makes
a lame man whole, and the prayer of
faith here, as the context seems to
suggest, may well be an exercise of
faith in the same Divine Person
and power. In this Name St Peter
takes the lame man by the hand
and 'raises him up,' Acts iii. 6, 7,
where we have the same verb as in
the sentence before us ; cf. Matt. ix. 5 ;
Mark i. 31 ; John v. 8. See also below.
shall save him that is sick, i.e.
from his bodily sickness ; cf Matt ix.
22; Mark v. 23; John xi. 12; and so
1 See the stress laid upon this by B. Weiss, Neue kirchliche Zeitschrift,
June, 1904, p. 438.
V. 15]
JAMES
141
Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have committed sins, it
often in the Lxx of safety from
sickness or death, the same usage
being found several times in the
Psalms of Solomon ; cf the cognate
noun in Isaiah xxxviii. 20. An
attempt has sometimes been made
to take the verb in an eschatological
sense, i.e. as if it related here to
eternal salvation, and reference is
made in support of this to the
meaning of the verb in v. 20. But
the whole context before us is
widely different, and points
primarily at least to a different
meaning. Further support is some-
times found for the same view in
restricting the use of the verb in the
phrase 'him that is sick' to the
dying. But the verb is by no means
always employed in this restricted
sense, either in Biblical or classical
Greek: cf. Job x. 1 ; 4 Mace. iii. 8;
Heb. xii. 3. So in Herod, i. 197 the
present participle of the verb is used
as here describing ' the sick'.^
The Romanist commentators take
the saving to be that of the soul,
and they also refer the ' raising up '
to spiritual comfort and strengthen-
ing; see further below. But it is
admitted by one of the most recent
of them in commenting on this
passage that the latter expression
may often refer to bodily healing,
and that as a result of the spiritual
refreshment a recovery of bodily
health may often follow. Interesting-
cases may be cited from Jewish
literature, in which special efficacy
attached to the prayer of faith, the
prayer of the righteous, for the
recovery of health, the restoration
being regarded as a proof that sins
had been forgiven.
and the Lord shall raise him up,
i.e. Christ, bearing in mind the inter-
pretation given to the words ' in the
Name of the Lord,' and such passages
as Mark i. 31, Acts ix. 34. Although
parted from His Church, all power
is given unto Christ both in heaven
and on earth 2. The fact that all power
belongeth unto Christ, as also the fact
that the anointing is in His Name,
reminds us that although nothing
conditional is expressed in the text,
yet the one condition of all faithful
prayer is understood (John xiv. 14),
so that it may well be said that such
a prayer for recovery even if xm-
answered might truly result in a
higher 'salvation' than that of
bodily health. But although the
thought of a spiritual healing would
thus be not altogether absent, as the
following clauses 'and if he has
committed,' etc., may lead us to infer,
and although the verb transLited 'to
save' is used in i. 21 and ii. 14 of
the salvation of the Lord, yet its
meaning, as has been maintained
above, must be decided by the con-
text, and it seems to be here
associated mainly with the thought of
bodily health ; it would therefore
seem very unnatural to refer the
expression 'shall raise him up' to
the resurrection.
1 The same verb is used twice, it would seem, in Wisdom iv. 16, and xv. 9,
once of the dead and once of the sick or dying. This is of interest in connection
with its employment here by St James. The more usual word for sickness is
found in the previous verse.
^ ' "I applied the remedies, the Lord was the healer" is the translation of a
striking inscription in the ward of a French hoRpital, possibly suggested by
these words of St James ' ; see Note on this passage in Expositor, Aug. 1904,
by the Rev. J. H. Dudley Matthews.
142
JAMES
[v. 15, 16
16 shall be forgiven him.
and if he have committed sins, it
shall be forgiven him. So A. and
R.V. It is often urged that the
force of the original is ' even if,' but
although in some cases the same
conjunction and particle in combina-
tion may be rightly so rendered,
there are others in which the rend-
ering of A. and R.V. is fully justified.
The clause is sometimes taken to
refer to the sins which the sickness
may have brought home to the man's
conscience, and not necessarily to
mean that the actual sickness in
question had been occasioned by
sin. But it is best interpreted as
referring to the common connection
in the Jewish mind between sin and
disease : ' No sick man is healed
until all his sins are forgiven him,'
Nedarim, f. 41. 1 ; see also Art.
'Confess' and the connection of
moral and physical troubles, Encycl.
Bihl. I. 884.
Some striking instances of the
prevalence of the common Jewish
notion will be found in the Testa-
jnents of the xii. Patriarchs, Sim. 2,
Gad 5, where Simeon and Gad both
refer their bodily sickness to their
treatment of Joseph, and interesting
notices are given by Dr Bdersheim,
Jewish Social Life, p. 163. In the
N.T. we may refer to such passages
as Matt. ix. 2, 5, John v. 14, ix. 2.
Bede cites 1 Cor, xi. 30, and the
R.V. in marginal references com-
pares the language of Isaiah xxxiii.
24. But ' the prayer of faith ' would
include by its very name a supplica-
tion not only for bodily recovery and
strength, but also for repentance
Confess therefore your sins one to
and forgiveness ; cf. Ecclus. xxxviii.
9, 10; and St James assures us that
the same Divine power which granted
the former would also bestow the
still greater and spiritual blessings of
the latter : ' My son, in thy sickness
be not negligent : but pray unto the
Lord, and he will make thee whole.
Leave off from sin, and order thine
hands aright, and cleanse thy heart
from all wickedness,' Ecclus. u. s.
it shall he forgiven. The same
impersonal construction is found in
Matt. xii. 32. But the forgiveness is of
course conditional ; see previous note,
and cf. Matt. ix. 2, 5, Mark ii. 1-12.
16. Confess therefore your sins
one to another. So R.V,, adding
the conjunction 'therefore' on good
authority (see W.H. and Mayor's
text), and also reading 'sins' instead
of 'faults' with W.H. (see further
below), the former word which
occurs in the immediate context, v.
15, including sins towards God,
while the latter word might refer
rather to offences towards one's
neighbour, although the distinction
cannot always be pressed- The
addition 'therefore' is important
because it shows that the exhorta-
tion to mutual confession is associated
here at all events primarily with the
consideration of the case of the sick
man ; cf. also the words 'that ye may
be healed.' The terms employed
are no doubt quite general, ' confess
your faults one to another,' but the
context may be fairly held to imply
that the confession had already been
made to the elders who had been
summoned^; otherwise 'the prayer
1 This is admitted by Dean Alford, see note in loco, and we may compare
the words of the Bishop of Worcester on the same passage, where he points out
that the general admonition to confess sins mutually one to another probably
implies that the sick man would have confessed his sins to the presbyters whom he
had summoned ; Church and the Ministry, p. 253.
V. 16]
JAMES
143
of faith' could hardly have found
place or mention.
The word translated 'confess'
might simply imply that the confes-
sion was made from the heart, or
that it was made openly in public.
With regard to the latter meaning,
which it is maintained on the high
authority of Bishop Westcott (see
note on 1 John i. 9) that the word
always has in the N.T., support may
be claimed for it in the two inte-
resting uses of the Diduche, iv. 14,
xiv. 1, where in each case the con-
text would imply that public con-
fession was intended, as mention is
made in the first instance of the
Church, and in the second of the
gathering together on the Lord's
Day. ' In church thou shalt confess
thy transgressions, and shalt not
betake thyself to prayer with an
evil conscience' (iv. 14); 'And on
the Lord's own day gather yourselves
together and break bread and give
thanks, first confessing your trans-
gressions, that your sacrifice may be
pure' (xiv. 1).
The usage of the Jewish synagogue
throws light upon these passages in
the Didache, and no doubt such
usage was known to St James.
Before the Day of Atonement,
mutual forgiveness was sought for
sins committed against one another,
and the men were to go apart and
confess one to the other. Moreover,
in a death-bed confession it is in-
teresting to note that while one
form of confession was made directly
to God, another form was sometimes
recited before the persons summoned
for the purpose. The great Jewish
authority Dr Hamburger gives from
Tahuudic literature many instances
of forms of confession of sin for
domestic use, as well as in pubUc
in the synagogue, as e.g. in case of
sickness, or when a man has offended
against his neighbour. He also
points out that in the O.T. con-
fession of sins in private is enjoined
on certain occasions, as well as in
public. In case of a dangerous
illness it seems that it was custom-
ary for the holiest of the local
Rabbis to go to the house, and pray
for God's mercy on the sick man
and exhort him to confess his sins,
and to set his affairs in order ; cf.
2 Kings XX. 1.
These Jewish illustrations, which
might be easily multiplied, enable us
to see how natural it would be for
St James to exhort that in case of
illness the local presbyters of the
Christian Church should be sum-
moned, and that confession of sins
should be made, and how arbitrary it
is to maintain that such directions
point to a late date for the Epistle ^
your sins. Mr Mayor with Alford
retains the reading 'faults' instead
of ' sins ' (although it would seem that
this retention is against the authority
of the best MS.), on the ground that
it is more in agreement with the
sense of the passage if we take it as
referring to our Lord's connnands in
Matt. V. 23, vi. 14, and he also notes
that this same word for 'faults' is
used in the two passages of the
Didaclie referred to above. Ho
further understands the precept as
of general application, and that St
James is recommending the habit
^ For the instances above see Buxtorfs Jewish Synagogue, ch. xx. pp. 3G3, 428
(see Confession and Absolution, Fulham Conference, p. 15) ; Hamburper, lieal-
Encyclopddie des Judentums, ii. S, 1139 S. ; and the extracts given on Dr Schechter's
information by Mr i'ulford, Epistle of St James, p. 117.
144
JAMES
[v. 16
another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
of mutual confession between friends^ ;
in this interpretation the words 'that
ye may be healed' receive a meta-
phorical meaning, and we do not
confine them to the case of the sick
man. But whilst advocating this in-
terpretation of the words,andpointing
out the benefits arising from such
mutual confidences, he rightly urges
that no one should be better fitted
than the parish priest, if he is wise
with theheavenlywisdomof St James,
to receive such confidences and to
give in return spiritual help and
counsel. See further. Additional
Note on Confession of Sins.
and pray one for another. Mutual
and frank confession would lead to
sincerity in prayer, for a man could
not pray whilst he was cherishing
self-righteous thoughts, and also to
sjanpathy in prayer, whether bodily
or spiritual health was in question :
of. Ecclus. xxviii. 3-5, 'One man
beareth hatred against another, and
doth he seek pardon from the Lord?
he showeth no mercy to a man which
is like himself, and doth he ask for-
giveness of his own sins ? if he that
is but flesh nourish hatred, who will
intreat for pardon of his sins ? '
that ye may &e healed. The con-
text points primarily at all events
to bodily healing; cf. vv. 14, 15, and
also the reference made to the mi-
raculous power of Elijah's prayer.
The verb is no doubt also used of
diseases of the soul, although in the
cases usually cited the context shows
that this and not the literal sense
is intended. See e.g. Heb. xii. 13 ;
1 Pet. ii. 24 ; and also Isaiah vi. 10 ;
Ecclus. iii. 28. So too in the re-
markable sajing of Epictetus, ' It is
more necessary to heal the soul than
the body, for death is better than
a bad life,' there can be no doubt
of the meaning ; and so too in the
saying of Arrian that 'healing of
sin ' is evidently only thorough when
a man confesses and repents of his
sin.
The tenses used indicate that St
James is thinking of continuous ac-
tion, and thus from the particular case
he enforces a general rule for similar
I)ractice in all cases of sickness. At
the same time it is quite possible
that St James might use the word,
wellrememberingitsdouble meaning,
and with reference to disease of the
soul as well as of the body ; in v. 19,
20, he speaks of sin and conversion
in a manner which shows us that
the thought of healing in a spiritual
sense may have been present in his
mind, as it was in the days of old to
the mind of the Hebrew prophet:
cf. Isaiah vi. 10. At all events it is
noticeable that in v. 19 we have the
same word used for ' convert ' as is
used by Isaiah u.s. in close connec-
tion with the same verb for ' heal ' as
in the passage before us.
The supplication of a righteous
man availeth much in its working,
R.V. The words are best taken as
strengthening the previous injunc-
tion to pray, and they are illustrated
by the instance of Elijah. Their in-
troduction without any definite word
of connection is quite in the style of
1 On the monastic rule to tell to the common body any thought of things
forbidden, or inadmissible words, or remissness in prayer, or desire of the
ordinary life, that through the common prayers the evil might be cured, see
D.C.A. I. pp. 647, 648. In modern days reference is made to the Moravian
Societies, and to the Methodist Classes which J. Wesley appears to have derived
from them.
V. 16] JAMES 145
The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its
St James. In A.V. the one Greek
word rendered by the Revisers 'in
its working' is removed from its
emphatic position at the end of the
sentence in the original, and resolved
into two adjectives, but the rendering
* effectual fervent prayer availeth
much ' seems to be tautological and
adds little ; a prayer which is ' ef-
fectual' already 'availeth much.'
Bishop Lightfoot, On a Fresh Re-
vision of the N.T. p. 182, has some
interesting remarks on this render-
ing and its admission into the A.V.,
which he is disposed to ascribe to
carelessness in the correction of the
copy of the Bishops' Bible, used by
the revisers of 1611 for the press.
Others, who are still inclined to
think that the R.V., rendering is
not suflSciently strong, would trans-
late 'in its earnestness'; cf. Acts xii.
5, and the name which St James
himself bore, 'righteous,' and his own
practice of always kneeling, in the
intensity of his prayer, in the Temple,
asking forgiveness for the people
(Busebius, H. E. ii. 23).
It is maintained on high authority
(Lightfoot, Gal. v. 6) that the verb in
the original is never used by St Paid
as passive but as middle, and so, as
the passage before us is the only
other place in the N.T. in which any
doubt could arise, it is best to render
the word here as middle, and in his
rendering of the passage before us
a similar view is taken by the German
editor Dr B. Weiss. On the other
hand Mayor in loco argues at length
for the passive signification, and ex-
plains it here as of prayer ' actuated,
or inspired by the SpiritV It is
interesting to note that in the early
Church those who were 'acted or
worked on by an evil spirit' bore the
name of Energumeni, a title which
might support a passive meaning
of the Greek participle before us,
although here of course the word
would refer to a prayer inspired by
God; cf. Rom. viii. 26. Some of the
older commentators interpret the
word of the way in which a good
man's prayer is 'energised' by his
good deeds and efforts ; see Euthy-
mius Zigabenus in loco.
supplication^ The word is different
from that rendered ' prayer ' in p. 15
(and only there so rendered in the
N.T.); it is petitionary, and gives
expression to the thought of personal
need ; it is also used of requests to
men, but both in the lxx and in the
N.T. of petition to God ; cf. Psalm
liv. 1, and so too Psalms of Solomon,
V. 7, it is appropriately used as ex-
pressing petition to God for the relief
of material wants.
of a righteous man. This thought
of a special efficacy attaching to the
prayers of a righteous man would be
quite characteristic of a teacher with
the Jewish antecedents of St James,
and it may be fairly added to the
many links which connect the Epistle
with a Jewish writer. Such passages
as Isaiah xxxvii. 4 = 2 Kings xix. 4,
and so too 1 Kings xviii. 36, in rela-
tion to the prayer of Elijah, or Jer.
1 The Dean of Westminster, Ephesians, p. 247, also maintains the passive
usage by St Paul, but the sense of the passive is not of things to be done, but
of powers to be set in operation, and he thinks that in this notoriously difficult
passage of St James it is at least possible that the verb in question may mean
' set in operation by Divine agency.'
10
146
JAMES
[v. 16
XV. 1, and Ps. xcix. 6, of the prayer of
Moses and Aaron, 2 Esdras vii. 36 ff.,
may be quoted in this connection,
and also the remarkable passage in
Judith viii. 31, in which the people
ask Judith to pray for rain, ' there-
fore now pray thou for us, because
thou art a godly woman, and the
Lord will send us rain to fill our
cisterns, and we shall faint no more'
(for these and other references see
Art. 'Prayer, ^Encycl. Biblica). In the
N.T. as in the O.T. and Apocrypha
this title 'righteous' is used of the
ideally just man : cf. Gen. vi. 9 ; Wisd.
X. 4. So too it is used of Abel,
Heb. xi. 4 ; of Lot, 2 Pet. ii. 7 ; and
our Lord Himself speaks of righteous
Abel, Matt, xxiii. 35, and also of the
' many prophets and righteous men '
who had desired to see what His
own generation saw, Matt. xiii. 17.
But the word might also be taken in
a wider sense, and as ' the poor ' and
'the lowly,' so too 'the righteous'
were doubtless familiar figures to
St James as to every typical pious
Hebrew.
Throughout the O.T. 'the right-
eous' were set over against 'the
sinners, the impious, the ungodly ' ;
cf. Psalm i. 6, xxxvii. 12, 32 ; Prov.
xiv. 19 ; Hab. i. 4, 13 ; Wisd. x. 6, 20 :
and with this we may compare the
marked contrast between the same
two classes which pervades the Book
of Enoch and the Psalms of Solo-
mon (cf. Prov. xi. 31 and 1 Pet. iv.
18). In connection with the passage
before us the emphasis laid upon
repentance in the character of the
'righteous' man in Psalms of Sol.
ix. 15, is important: 'the righteous
thou wilt bless, and wilt not correct
them for the sins that they have
committed ; and thy kindness is
towards them that sin if so be they
repent.' No doubt the character
had fallen short in many ways of
the ideal set forth, e.g. in Ezekiel
xviii. 5-9, but St James would have
known of 'die Stillen im Lande,'
quiet, righteous men, like Symeou
and Joseph and John the Baptist,
Luke ii. 25, Matt. i. 19, Mark vi. 20,
who were waiting for the salvation of
God. But the need of forgiveness and
repentance was by no means, as we
have seen above, excluded from the
character of the righteous, and there
was no contradiction in St James
classing as 'righteous' those who
were most conscious that their own
sins must be confessed and forgiven.
St James would doubtless have said
with St Peter, 'and if the righteous
is scarcely saved, where shall the
ungodly and sinner appear ? ' 1 Pet.
iv. 18. There is thus no occasion to
sujipose that there is any reference
to the thought of a righteous man
appearing before God above for
those confessing their sins, and it
is altogether foreign to the con-
text; Elijah prays on earth, not in
heaven.
On the constant identification in
Old Testament thought of the poor
with 'the righteous' see Art. 'Poor,'
Hastings' B. D. iv.
It is interesting and important to
note how Hooker, E. P. vi. 4. 7
(see also above, p. 143) connects
this verse with the exhortation to
mutual confession : ' The greatest
thing which made men forward and
willing upon their knees to confess
whatsoever they had committed
against God was their fervent
desire to be helped and assisted
with the prayers of God's saints.'
And he adds that St James exhorts
to mutual confession, 'alleging this
only for a reason that just men's
devout prayers are of great avail
with God.'
V. 1(5, 17]
JAMES
147
17 working. Elijah was a man of like ^passions with us, and
^ Or, nature
17. Elijah. The important place
which Elijah held in Jewish thought
is witnessed to by such references as
Mai. iv. 6; Ecclus. xlviii. 1-12; 1
Mace. ii. 58. All kinds of traditions
surrounded his name. Thus his
coming would precede by three days
the advent of the Messiah, and it
was customary to open the door
during certain prayers, that Elijah
might enter and proclaim that the
Messiah was at hand ; when a child
was circumcised a chair was always
left vacant for Elijah as the messenger
of the ' covenant ' ; and often as a
Rabbi was at prayer in the wilder-
ness, or was on a journey, the great
prophet would make himself known
to him (see Smith's B. D. 2nd edit.
p. 913). But we do not need the
evidence of Jewish tradition to as-
sure us of an influence which is so
often patent in the records of the
Evangelists.
As this Epistle of St James pre-
sents so many points of contact with
Ecclesiasticus, it is quite probable
that the stress laid here upon Elijah
may also be partly accounted for
by the fulness with which that book
dwells upon the prophet's history.
The opening words of chap, xlviii.
in Ecclus. may at all events be
brought into connection with the
passage before us, 'then stood up
Elijah the prophet as fire and his
words burned like a lamp by
the word of the Lord he shut up the
heaven O Elias, how wast thou
honoured in thy wondrous deeds !
and who may glory like unto
thee ! '
(>/ like passions with us, or 'of
like nature,' R.V. marg., and .so in
Acts xiv. 15, the only other N.T.
passage in which the Greek adjective
occurs. Primarily the word seems
to mean those of like feelings or
affections, suffering the like with
another, sympathising with them,
and thus it is used quite generally of
those of like nature. Both senses are
found in classical Greek, e.g. in
Plato. The phrase stands here
emphatically to show that no dis-
couragement should be caused by
this reference to the example of
Elijah, for great prophet as he was,
he was also a man of flesh and blood,
liable to human weakness, of which
reminder perhaps St James's readers
stood specially in need, as the power
and greatness of Elijah had been so
enhanced in popular report. There
is no occasion therefore to take the
word as referring specially to suffer-
ings or to connect it with v. 10.
A good instance of the use of the
word may be cited from 4 Mace. xii.
13, where it is alleged against the
tyrant Antiochus that he cut out
the tongues of those of like feelings
and nature with himself.
and he prayed fermntly, R.V. ;
'prayed with prayer,' R. V. marg. : tlie
reduplication in the wording gives an
intensifying force, and many simihir
instances may be quoted from both
Old and New T. of a Hebraism
which was in common use in the
Lxx ; cf. e.g. Gen. iixi. 30 ; Jonah i.
10; Luke xxii. 15 ; Acts v. 28.
Others take the expression simply
to mean that he prayed witli prayer,
and that nothing else but prayer
brouglit about the lciii,'thy drmiglit.
But how could he pray except in
prayer ? It would seem tlicrcfure
that the explaiiatiou lirst given is
thus mure natural
10-2
148
JAMES
[v. 17,18
he prayed ^fervently that it might not rain ; and it rained
18 not on the earth for three years and six months. And he
^ Gr. with prayer.
that it miglit not rain. The O.T.
does not tell us in so many words
that Elijah prayed for the drought,
or for the rain which ended it,
although we are told that he
prophesied both ; cf. 1 Kings xvii. 1,
xviii. 1^. But even if the words
' before whom I stand ' in the former
passage are not taken here as
equivalent to 'stand in pi-ayer' (cf.
Gen. xviii. 22 ; Jer. xv. 1), yet if we
read the passage 1 Kings xviii. 42,
it is evident that Elijah is described
as in an attitude of intense prayer
before the rain was given : ' and he
cast himself down upon the earth,
and put his face between his knees '
(it is said that the attitude itself is
still retained in modern days by
some of the Dervishes). It would
therefore not be strange if St James
inferred the prayer, or he may have
been following some definite Jewish
tradition (cf note on ii. 23). The
words in Ecclus. xlviii. 3 would
seem to refer rather to the prophecy
than to the prayers of the propliet.
and he prayed that it might not
rain, and it rained not: the diction
is remarkable, and in itself empha-
sises the thought of the certain
and immediate avail of the prayer.
Jewish tradition undoubtedly re-
garded Elijah's prayer as a type
of successful prayer : ' " And Elijah
the Tishbite said that there should
not be dew or rain." R. Berachiah
said R. Josa and the Rabbonin
dispute about this ; one said that
God accepted his prayer concerning
the rain but not concerning the dew,
and the other that he was heard
both concerning the rain and the
dew ' : Jalk. Sim. on 1 Kings xvii.
(cf. the Expository Times, April,
1904).
on the earth. Although it may be
said that these words merely fill up
the idea of the verb connected vdth
them, yet it may be noted that the
phrase is characteristically Hebraic :
cf Gen. ii, 5, vii. 12; Psalms of
Solomon, xvii. 20, 'for the heaven
ceased to drop rain upon the earth.'
Here as in Luke iv. 25 it seems
quite unnecessary to suppose that
anything more than 'the land of
Israel ' was implied.
three years and six months. For
the same duration of time see Luke
iv. 25, and many commentators refer
to the Jewish tradition to the same
effect contained in Jalkut Simeoni
on 1 Kings xvi. : see Rabbinical
Illustrations of this Epistle in the
Expository Times, April, 1904. But
others see a reference to the period
which seems to have become of
traditional duration as marking times
of distress and calamity : Daniel vii.
25, xii. 7 ; cf Rev. xi. 2, xiii. 5 (cf.
Century Bible).
The expression 1 Kings xviii. 1,
'in the third year,' might well be
taken by the Jews to cover three
years, and the duration of the
famine would not cease with the
rain, but would continue at least for
a time 2.
18. And he prayed again ; ci. 2
Esdras vii. 39, 'and Elijah prayed
for those who received rain.' There
^ Dean Stanley has some interesting remarks, Jewish Church, ii. p. 264.
' See Plummer on Luke iv. 25, and Schegg, Der kathoUsche Brief dea Jakobus,
in loco.
V. 18,19]
JAMES
149
prayed again ; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
brought forth her fruit.
19 My brethren, if any among you do err from the truth,
is no force in the objection that the
attitude of Elijah in 1 Kings xviii.
42 does not of necessity betoken
prayer, as standing, not kneeling,
was and is the usual attitude for
prayer, but c£ Dan. vi. 10; Neh.
viii. 6 (' Kneel,' Hastings' B. D. iii.).
Elijah's attitude marks rather the
intensity of his prayer.
and the heaven gam rain; a
popular and poetical mode of ex-
pression ; God is said to give rain,
1 Sam. xii. 17 ; Job v. 10 ; Acts
xiv. 17. 'Heaven' and 'earth' are
both spoken of as obeying the
prayer of the prophet or rather the
will of God ; cf. Isaiah v. 6. It is of
interest to note how St James by
his own prayers was said to have
called down rain amidst the droughts
of Palestine, 'and when there was no
rain he lifted up his hands to heaven
and prayed, and straightway tfie
heaven gave rain' (same phrase as
above in the Greek), Epiphanius (p.
104 6).
In Josephus, Ant. xiv. 2. 1, and
XVIII. 8. 6, we have two remarkable
instances of the gift of rain in
answer to prayer, one the prayer of
Onias, b.o. 64, ' a righteous man who
prayed for rain and God rained,' the
other the prayer of the Jewish
people for rain, and probably of
Christians also, in one of the years
of drought which preceded the great
famine, Ant. xx. 5. 2. But this
would be too early to be brought
into close connection with our Epistle,
\mless we adopt a very early date
indeed (see however Plumptre in
loco). In early Church history both
TertuUian, Jp'd. c. 5, and Eusebius,
i/. E. 7. 5, refer to an instance of
a similar kind in answer to the
prayers of the Thundering Legion
for rain. See further. Additional
Note on Prayer.
and the earth brought forth her
fruit, a supernatural cause but a
natural result, her own fruit, Le. the
fruits which she was wont to bear.
For ' brought forth ' cf. Gen. i. 1 1,
Ecclus. xxiv. 17, where the verb is
used transitively as often in later
Greek; but in the other instances of
its use in the N.T. it is intransitive.
19. My brethren. The best au-
thorities support R.V, ; St James's
phrase is thus more emphatic and
sympathetic than the single word
'brethren' of A.V. He is still
plainly mindful of the fellowship
which binds both himself and the
Christian community to the erring
brother: 'if any among you.' The
verse is closely connected with what
had been said in v. 16 ; the thought
of mutual confession and brotherly
charity, as well as that of mutual
prayer, might naturally lead on to
the thought of conversion and re-
storation. No words reveal more
fully the tenderness of St James than
this closing exhortation of the
Epistle, and in them we may see
an indication of his close following
of the great Overseer and Shepherd
of souls. St James, we may also
note, does not speak of the con-
version of many, but of one ; with
all his social teaching ho thus
never forgets to recognise, as the
Gos])el of Christ has always recog-
nised, the infinite value of tlio
individual soul.
do err. Tlic verb is used iiriinnrily
of going astray, as e.g. of a sliocp,
150
JAMES
[v. 19, 20
20 and one convert him ; ^let him know, that he which con-
^ Some ancient authorities read know ye.
Matt, xviii. 12, 13, 1 Pet. ii. 25, and
so metaiihoiically of going astray
from the path of rectitude, cf. Heb.
V. 2; 2 Pet. ii. 15; 2 Tim. iii. 13.
In Wisdom v. 6 we have a remark-
able parallel use of the verb 'we
have erred from the way of truth.'
The presbyters in the early Church
are exhorted by St Polycarp, Phil.
vi. 1, not to neglect the widows, the
orphans, and the poor, and also ' to
turn back the sheep that are gone
astray,' where we have the same
verb which is here used of erring
joined with the same verb which is
rendered here to convert, i.e. to
turn, or to turn back.
from the truth. The words have
been described as marking apractical
and not a theoretical error, but we
must not forget that Christian prac-
tice for St James depended upon
the recognition of the faitli of our
Lord Jesus Christ, ii. 1. It is best
therefore to regard ' the truth ' here
as meaning the sum and substance
of the Apostolic teaching and preach-
ing as it was delivered, the revela-
tion of Christ ; and it is evident that
the Apostle is not thinking of con-
version from Judaism or paganism,
bttt of ' the truth ' acknowledged in
common by Christians, 'if any
among you.' It has been carefully
pointed out that this use of the
expression 'the truth,' although
characteristic of St John, is found
also in each group of the Epistles ;
cf. Westcott on Heb. x. 26, and Art.
'Truth' in Hastings' B. D. No
doubt 'the truth' expresses the
ideal of human or Christian conduct,
the true reality for man, but the
revelation of Christ, it is to be re-
membered, would include not only
the revelation of man to himself,
but a fresh revelation, a new power
implanted in human nature, enabling
a man to walk henceforth in newness
of life.
and one convert him; cf. Gal. vi.
1. The verb is frequent both in lxx
and N.T. In the lxx it is used
both transitively and intransitively;
cf. Lam. v. 21 for an instance of the
first, and Isaiah vi. 10 of the second.
But in the N.T. it is always intrans-
itive except in these two verses of
St James and in Luke i. 16, 17.
The word may of course simply
mean 'to turn back,' Le. to the truth,
but as it is so often used of turning
to the Lord, it may be taken so
here. It has this meaning both in
Lxx and N.T., and it may be noted
that the same use of the cognate
noun is found in Psalms of Solomon,
ix. 19, xvi. 11. The indefiniteness
of the expression 'and one convert
him' shows us that the work was
not regarded as confined to the
presbyters.
20. let him know. So A.V. and
R. V. text ; ' know ye,' R. V. marg. and
W.H. text, but the other reading is
retained in their margin. So far as
the Greek is concerned the 'know
ye' might also be indicative, 'ye
know'; cf. a similar case of doubtful
interpretation in i. 19. If we adopt
the imperative, either in the singular
or the plural, it is introduced as a
word of encouragement, and a motive
to effect the work of restoration ; if
we render the marginal reading
as indicative 'ye know,' the well-
known truth is emphasised that to
convert is to bring into the way of
salvation.
he which converteth a sinner. To
V. 20j
JAMES
151
verteth a sinner from the en-or of his way shall save a soul
from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.
emphasise the fact is the best reason
for the repetition, and it is quite
characteristic of St James thus to
repeat a word ; of. i. 6.
from, the error of his way; cf.
Wisd. V. 6 (see above). Tlie ex-
pression means that the converter
does not only turn the sinner back
from, but out of, his erring way into
the right path, i.e. the path of truth
from which he is represented as
having wandered, and in the same
way ' truth ' is opposed to ' error ' by
St John, cf. 1 John iv. 6. In 2 Pet.
ii. 2 we have the striking phrase
'the way of the truth,' R.V., where
' the truth ' seems used very nmch as
in V. 19 here, and in v. 21 of the
same chapter we have the phrase
'the way of righteousness,' where
evidently the same metaphorical use
of the term 'the way' is employed
as in the verse before us, and often
in the O.T.
sltall save a soul. So A. and R.V.
The words refer to the converted,
not to the converter. It is no doubt
quite true that some Jewish vpritings,
e.g. Ecclus. iii. 3, 30, v. 14, Tobit iv.
10, xii. 9 (Dan. iv. 27, with which
we may compare Dldache, iv. 6), are
often mentioned as in favour of re-
ferring the words to the converter :
'Almsgiving saves from death and
purges away all sin,' says Raphael,
Tob. xii. 9, and with these and similar
remarks in the Apocryphal books
quoted, we may compare the follow-
ing : ' Whosoever makes the many
righteous, sin prevails not over him ;
and whosoever makes the many to
sin, they gi'ant him not the faculty
to repent. Moses was righteous,
and made the many rigliteous, and
the righteousness of the many was
laid upon him': Sayings of the
Jewish Fathers, v. 26, 27, Dr Taylor,
2nd edit.; so again Joma, f. 87. 1,
' who brings many to righteousness,
God lets no sin be done by his
hand.' But in spite of these ex-
pressions of Jewish belief, which
might be easily multiplied, it does
not at all follow that St James is
here maintaining that if a man
makes a convert his own sins shall
be forgiven him. The whole context
' shall save a soul ' and ' a multitude
of sins ' points much rather here to
the 'sinner,' and to the sin which
bringeth forth death, i. 15 ; the con-
verter would scarcely be thought of
as needing restoration from death or
relief from the weight of unforgiven
sin.
from death. For the expression
'shall save a soul' cf. i. 21'. The
whole phrase is sometimes taken as
referring to the day of judgment,
but a man may be in the death of
which St James speaks, i. 15, here
and now, and he may pass out of it
into the true life here and now;
cf the striking parallel John v. 24,
where we have precisely the same
phrase 'out of death,' which is
expressed in the original, with the
thought of the human agency ;ui
saving the soul (cf 1 John v. 16,
R.V. marg.), and there is nothing vm-
scriptural in the thought that the
believer does tliat which God does
through him ; cf. Koni. xi. 1 4 ; 1 Cor.
vil 16.
1 If we adopt the readinp ' shall save his soul ' with W.H.. Weiss, von Sudnn
(Mayor doubtful), the pronoun refers to the converted, not to the cuuverlcT. On
the phrase ' to save out of death ' see Westcott'e note, ilcb. v. 7.
152
JAMES
[v. 20
and shall cover a multitude of
sins. Cf. Prov. x. 12, ' love covereth
all transgressions,' Heb., a passage
even more closely related to all
appearance with 1 Pet. iv. 8, 'love
covereth a multitude of sins.' The
verb used in the Hebrew sometimes
means to cover sin, i.e. to pardon,
forgive; cf. its use in Psalm xxxii. 1,
Ixxxv. 3, Neh. iv. 5 (iii. 37), with
reference to the pardon and for-
giveness of God. But it is re-
markable that in the lxx of Prov.
X. 12, although the same Greek verb
is found for ' cover ' as in the other
verses just cited, the passage runs,
' friendship covers all those that are
not contentious.' As St Peter com-
monly quotes from the lxx he has
in this instance preferred the He-
brew, or it is quite possible that
both he and St James may be refer-
ring to some proverbial saying, and
not consciously to Proverbs. Or it
is possible that both writers may
have in mind an Agraphon of Christ
Himself^. It is noticeable that the
words as given in St Peter are often
found in patristic writings, cf. Clem.
Rom. Cor. xlix. 5, Clem. Horn. ii.
16, and undoubtedly in several of
these instances we may have a
quotation from St Peter's Epistle.
But in Didascalia, ii. 3, we read, ' be-
cause the Lord saith, Love covers a
multitude of sins.' This is the
strongest reference in support of the
view before us, and in addition it
may be noted that Clem. Alex.
Paedag. iii. 12, 91, couples the
passage in question vdth a canonical
saying of our Lord, Luke xii. 25, but
there is much room for doubt as
to whether he regarded both sayings
as spoken by Christ. But, as in the
previous clause, the question arises
as to whether the reference is to the
sins of the converter or of the con-
verted. There seems no doubt that
passages may be cited both from
Jemsh (see previous note) and from
early Christian writers in support of
a reference to the sins of the con-
verter. Perhaps the most notable
passage from Christian writers is
that in which Origen, Horn,, in Lev.
ii. 4, places the conversion of a
sinner amongst the different ways in
which forgiveness of sins may be
obtained in the Gospel 2. This in-
terpretation however hardly com-
mends itself, not only on account of
the difficulties already referred to
(see previous note), but also becaxise
St James as a Christian teacher has
already spoken in very definite terms
as to how the soul may be saved.
There is a third view strongly sup-
ported, which would see in such
words a reference to the truth that
the work of conversion is twice
blessed, blessing both the converter
and the converted. It may well be
that such a thought may fairly be
connected with the words before us,
and such a connection is of course
very different from the idea that a
man could be supposed to set to
work to atone for his own sins by
effecting the conversion of another.
With this whole passage, vv. 19, 20,
our Lord's own words may be fitly
1 Eesch, Agrapha, pp. 248, 253 ; but cf. also Mayor's criticism in loco, and
Bopes, Die Spriiche Jesu, p. 75.
- Mayor quotes this and other passages in loco ; cf. Mr Fulford's valuable note,
Epistle of St James, pp. 93-95. The majority of modern commentators, with the
exception of Spitta and von Soden, adopt the view taken in the text. The
Romanist commentators have as a rule regarded the sins to be covered as those
of the converter, but Trenkle is a recent noteworthy exception. Eeference may
also be made to Art. ' Sin,' Hastings' B. D. iv. 534.
V. 20]
JAMES
153
compared: *If thy brother sin (a-
gainst thee), go, show him his fault
between thee and him alone ; if he
hear thee, thou hast gained thy
brother,' Matt, xviil 15.
The clause under consideration
has sometimes been regarded as
mere tautology, but this is to ignore
the truth that the soul is not only
sayed out of death, not merely
rescued from peril, but blessed, Ps.
ixxii. 1. And so the stern Epistle
ends with a message of blessing,
with an exhortation to consideration
and love, perhaps emphasising in the
very abruptness of its conclusion the
greatness of the Christian duty and
privilege so earnestly commended.
St James himself had known the
blessedness of being converted to
the truth, and of converting others
by his words (Euseb. H. E. ii. 23).
St James had known the blessedness
and privilege of prayer, and the
Epistle closes, ^& it began, with a call
to prayer, prayer for the sick and
suflering, for self, and for sinners
(Pan-y, St James, p. 10).
It is of course quite possible that
the Epistle ends as it does because
it was meant as a general exhorta-
tion and was not addres.sed to any
particular individuals or to any one
Chm-ch.
It has been pointed out that both
the books to which St James most
frequently refers, Ecclesiasticus and
Wisdom, have a similar abruptness
in their conclusion, but there is no
need to suppose that St James was
consciously imitating the \vriters of
those books in this respect, although
we may perhaps agi-ee with Theile
that he concludes more powerfully
than with a series of salutations.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.— THE USB OF OATHS.
The oath, we have been reminded, played a great part among the Israel-
ites in ordinary social life, and no sin was more severely condemned by the
prophets than perjury ; cf. Ezek. xvi 59, xvii. 13-18 (Ps. xv. 4, xxiv. 4),
Zeph. i. 5 ; while such passages as Bcclesiastes ix. 2 and Ecclus. xxiii. 9-1 1
show what a grievous sin the use of vain and reckless swearing was
considered. It is therefore perhaps not surprising to find that men like the
Essenes regarded the taking an oath in the ordinary concerns of daily life
in a worse light than perjury, Jos. B. J. ii. 8. 6. The words of Philo too
are often quoted in which he judges it best to abstain from swearing
altogether, since an oath indicates not confidence but want of trii.st, although
elsewhere he counsels that if a man must swear, he should not swear by
God, but by the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the lieaven (Philo,
Spec. Legg. M. 2, p. 271). But there is no reason to suppose that in
this injunction St James would forbid the use of oaths at all times and
in all places. If he had meant tliat the words were to be so taken it
is diflBcult to believe that he would not have given some furtlier reason
for such an absolute injunction. The Essenes, in spite of thoir strong
dislike of oaths, obliged those who desired to join their community to take
'terrific oaths,' Jos. B. J. ii. 8. 6; Ant. xv. 10. 4. But further tlian this:
appeal is rightly made to the practice of St Paul, Rom. ix. 1, 2 ("or. xi. 31,
Phil. i. 8, in his frequent calling upon God to witness, and in lii.s u.so of
strong asseverations, and, above all, to the fact that our Lord Himself,
although He so severely condemned light and false swearing, so constantly
used the solemn asseveration 'Amen' (Dalman, IFonh- of Jesus, p. 229,
E.T.), and allowed Himself to bo put on oath bclure the high-i)ncst
(Matt. xxvL 63, G4).
154 JAMES
In view of the whole evidence the language of our Article admirably
expresses the Christian view of the use of an oath (see ISmith and Cheethara,
Diet, of Christ. Ant. ii. 1416; and for Jewish and other literature,
Hastings' B. Z)., ' Oath,' and Encycl. Bibl. in. 3452). According to Article
XXXIX., while vain and rash swearing is forbidden to Christian men by our
Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle, yet the Christian religion does not
prohibit the use of an oath, as in a court of justice, provided that the
occasion be in accordance with the three conditions of the prophet's
teaching : 'in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness' (Jer. iv. 2). In an
ideal society, in which men realised that bond of holiest brotherhood, which
St James so often enforces, in a society in which the royal law was fulfilled,
Thou shah love thy neighbour as thyself, there would be no need of anything
more binding than a man's word, but 'for the hardness of men's hearts ' the
use of oaths is not merely allowable but often necessary (see also note
in loco).
No doubt the early Christians had serious scruples about the matter, but
these scruples naturally became intensified at a time when the taking of an
oath before a heathen magistrate became an act of idolatry. But on some
occasions and by always guarding themselves against the adoption of
idolatrous formulae the early Christians were willing to be put on oath;
of e.g. Tertullian, Apol. c. 32 (but see Mayor's note in loco), and Constantine's
general law. Cod. Theod. ii. xxxix. 3, that in a court of justice all witnesses
were to be bound by oath, although there was always the feeling expressed
by St Clement of Alexandria that it was an indignity for a Christian to
be placed on oath, and by St Augustine who, while urging from Scripture
the lawfulness of oaths, desired that they should be employed as little as
Eossible ; cf Ep. clvii., and his remarks on this verse, Serm. 180 (quoted
y Mayor). St Augustine was apparently much puzzled by the words
' above all things swear not,' but, as we have seen, the expression ' above all
things' may be connected with the immediately preceding injunctions, and
there was every reason why St James should emphasise singleness of word
and deed in social life.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.— ANOINTING WITH OIL.
Whilst presbyters are here specially mentioned, perhaps as the represen-
tatives of the whole Church, perhaps as possessing the gifts of healing in
the fullest measure, many instances may be cited to prove that in the early
Church liberty was granted to all Christians to use the anointing oil for
themselves and for their friends. Thus in the third century the Emperor
Septimius Severus was healed by a Christian steward, Proculus Torpacion,
who anointed him with oil, Tert. Ad Scap. iv., and even when it was
provided that the consecrator should be a bishop or presbyter, as in Apost.
Const, viii. 28, and as is apparently assumed in the Sacramentary of Serapion,
the application of the oil was permitted to any Christian. In the important
letter of Innocent I. to Decentius of Gubbio, Ep. xxv. 11, in 416 a.d., whilst
the consecrator of the oil for the sick is a bishop, any of the faithful might
administer it, and so we read, ' it is lawful not for the priests only, but for
all Christians, to use it, for assisting in their own need and in the need of
members of their household'.' Again, in the eighth century we find Bede
referring to these words of Innocent, and in accordance with them holding
that the oil for the sick could be administered by any Christian in his own
or another's necessity. It would seem that it is not until early in the ninth
1 CaesariuB of Aries, 502 a.d., in an epidemic of sickness advises the head of
a household to anoint his family with oil that had been blessed.
JAMES 155
centuT7 that we come across any definite formulation of the theory that bv
the anointing of the sick not only bodily healtli but remission of sins may be
convey ed^ although no doubt it is true that the theory would have been
spreading some time before its authoritative definition. In the tenth
century it would seem that the administration, as well as the blessing of
the oil, was much more, if not entirely, restricted to the priest. Andlhis
restriction led to further and momentous consequences, although it is not
until the twelfth century that we meet with such terms as 'extreme unction'
or 'sacrament of the dying,' expressions clearly showing that the unction is
no longer intended, as originally, for the healing of the body, but it had
become restricted to a time when the sickness was regarded as practically
beyond all human means of recovery^. But the words of St James plainly
show that he was not considering the case only of those sick unto death, but
of the sick generally, and this liict has evidently weighed with some of the
ablest Roman Catholic writers, e.g. Cajetan and Baronius, not to draw from
this passage any sanction for what the Roman Church calls the Sacrament
of Extreme Unction.
In the Eastern Church this latter term finds no place, while the anointing
with oil is employed with a view to bodily cure as well as a means of spiritual
help. Nor in the Bast has the rule ever obtained that the sacred oil must
be 'made by the bishop' ; presbyters might make the chrism for the sick,
as we learn from Theodore of Canterbury, born at Tarsus, in the seventh
century ; and although at present it is deemed desirable that seven priests
sh:ill be brought together for the consecration of the oil, yet the act of one
priest is regarded as sufficient.
In the First Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1549, unction was still allowed,
but in a simpler and more discretionary form than in the older offices for the
Visitation of the Sick, the words being ' if the sick person desire it.' The
words of the accompanying prayer regard the 'visible oil' as an outward
visible sign of an inward spiritual grace, the anointing with the Holy Ghost,
for the bestowal of which supplication is ofi"ered, while the latter part of the
prayer supplicates for a restoration to bodily health and strength^. Earnest
pleas have been made in recent days for a revival of the anointing of the
^ This and other important points are duly emphasised by Mr Puller in his
valuable lectures on the Unction of the Sick, Guardian, Deo. 10th, and following
weeks, 1902. He maintains that in the second benedictory prayer for the Oil of
the Sick in the Sacramentary of Serapion, the clause that the oil may bo to
those who use it ' for good grace and the remission of sins,' is an interpolation,
and certainly no such clause is found in the prayer concerning the oil which
forms part of the Eucharistic liturgy in the same Sacramentary. But at all
events it is evident that this ancient prayer places first the medicinal use of the
oil, and that there is nothing in it to justify later Roman usage and restriction.
So far as liturgical evidence is concerned, it may be added that in the Gelasian
and Gregorian Sacramentaries the form of consecrating the oil shows that it
was used as a means of restoring bodily health (cf. Dr Swete, Services and
Service-Books, p. 158), and that in the East, Egypt and Syi'ia employed in the
fourth century what we may call the non-sacramental unction. These lectures
are now expanded and published as a book, The Anointing of the Sick, S.P.C.K.
1904.
2 On the groundless distinction which the language used by the Council of
Trent attempts to draw between the promulgation of what the Council terms
the Sacrament of Extreme Unction by St James and its insiniKition by St Mark,
see the first of the lectures referred to, Guardian, Dec. 10, iy02, and Plummer,
Epistle of St James, p. 332.
* No provision, however, was made for the benediction of the oil; 'evrn
extreme unction,' the Romanists complained in 1551, 'is administered with
unconsecrated oil'; Dr Swete, Services and Service-Books, p. IGl.
156 JAMES
sick in the English Church, and it is of interest to remember that in the
eighteenth century the Non-jurors retained the use, while in the same
century one of tlie Scottish bishops is said to have kept by him the oils
of confirmation and of the sick. But even those who most strongly advocate
the revival are not unmindful that it must of necessity be safeguarded by
authoritative regulations of the bishops, lest the practice should again suffer
fi-om the superstition and error which became associated with it in early and
later ages of the Church i.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.— CONFESSION.
The words of Mr Mayor, to which reference is made in p. 144, remind
us of similar advice emphasised by Hooker. After pointing out, in
connection with the verse before us, that St James doth exhort unto mutual
confession, alleging this only for a reason that just men's devout prayers
are of great avail with God, and that on this account penitents had been
wont to unburden their minds even to private persons, and to crave their
prayers, and after quoting the allusions of Cassian and Gregory of Nyssa
to the help afi"orded by the sympathy and prayers of others, he adds that of
all men there is, or should be, none in this respect more fit for troubled and
distracted minds to repair unto than God's ministers, E. P. vi. ch. iv. 7.
In the same chapter of his sixth book Hooker makes another reference
(sec. 5) to the same passage in St James. In «». 14 he sees a relation to
that gift of healing which our Saviour promised His Church, Mark xvi. 18,
adding, with reference to v. 15, 'and of the other member of the exhortation
which toucheth mutual confession, do not some of themselves, as namely
Cajetan, deny that any other confession is meant than only that which
seeketh either association of prayer, or reconciliation, and pardon of
wrongs-?'
But it is very interesting to note that in this same chapter we have
Hooker's question, ' Were the Fathers then without use of private confession
as long as public was in use ? ' to which he answers, ' I afiirm no such thing,'
and he quotes passages from Origen, ' the first and ancientest that mention-
eth this confession,' and Gregory of Nyssa. But it will be observed that
this confession is regarded by Hooker as not in any way implying that the
Fathers 'for many hundred years after Christ' taught sacramental con-
fession : ' public confession,' he says, ' they thought necessary by way of
discipline, not private confession as in the nature of a sacrament, necessary.'
It would seem therefore that the early Fathers, whilst they referred to
private confession, connected it more or less directly with public discipline*.
1 See the lectures in the Guardian as above, 'The Unction of the Sick'; and
note on preceding page.
^ The famous Cardinal, so well known for his conference with Luther at
Augsburg in 1518, remarks on James v. 16 that ' nothing is here said as to
sacramental confession, as is plain from the words "confess one to another," for
sacramental confession is not made mutually but only to priests.' The passage
is quoted by Hooker in his note u. s., Works, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
2 One of the most candid of modern Romanist writers, Pierre Batiffol, has
recently discussed very fully the question of public and private confession from
an historical point of view. According to him the power to restore penitents
was deputed in the fourth and fifth centuries to the priests, and the question
which they had to decide was whether the penitent shall be obliged to submit to
public confession before the Church. For this a preliminary or private in-
struction and confession was necessary, and it is easy to see how many persons
would gladly avail themselves of this means of escaping from the shame and
JAMES 157
But the famous letter of Leo to the Campanian bishops (6th May, 459 a.d.)
is justly regarded as marking an era in the history of Confession in the
Latin Church ; by its terms secret confession to the priest was substituted
for open confession before the Church, and the intercession of the priest for
the intercession of the Church ; the door thus opened for escaping the shame
of public confession was never afterwards closed, and secret confession became
the rule of the Church^. The Lateran Council, a.d. 1215, saw this obliga-
tion become binding, as henceforth it was ordered that all of each sex
should confess at least once a year to their parish priest (4 Cone. Lateran.
c. 21).
It was this rule of compulsory confession, as enjoined by this Comacil,
which, as all schools of thought in the Anglican Church are agreed, our
Reformers desired to abrogate.
But English Churchmen of all schools of thought are also agreed that
our formularies, as e.g. the Exhortation to Communion and the Visitation of
the Sick 2, permit private confession and absolution in certain circumstances^,
although how far this permission is encouraged by the formularies, or how
far it should extend in practical life, are matters upon which such general
agreement is apparently unattainable*.
It is of interest to note that the Homily 'Of Repentance' expressly
denies that any authority in support of auricular confession can be derived
from James v, 16, and concludes that it is against true Christian liberty
that any man should be bound to the numbering of his sins, while it
practically repeats and enlarges upon the invitation given by the Minister
in the warning for the Celebration of Holy Communion. In Canon 113 of
1603, the caution given to Ministers not to reveal 'secret and hidden
sins' such as may have been confessed to them 'for the unburdening of
anyone's conscience and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind '
certainly seems to imply that 'the confession of secret and hidden sin'
is one form in which the 'opening of grief may be made (see Fulhara
Conference, pp. 57, 67).
humiliation of public confession, so that by degrees the latter dropped more
and more into abeyance, whilst private confession more and more developed.
Batiffol's examination extends more or less through four chapters of his book,
^tudet d'Histoire et de Theologie Positive, 2nd edit. 1902, in the essay entitled
Les Origines de la Penitence ; see e.g. pp. 106, 146, 158, 165, 200 ff., 212, 217, for
his own views and the criticism of those of others.
^ Art. ' Exomologesis,' Diet, of Christian Antiquities, i. p. 647. For some
valuable points in the history of Confession in East and West see Plummer's
St James, p. 340. See also Dr Swete, ' Penitential Discipline in the first three
Centuries' in Journal of Theol. Studies, April 1903 (with special reference on
p. 322 to St James, ch. v. 16).
2 On the changes made in the different revisions of the Prayer Book see
Fulham Conference on Confession and Absolution, pp. 55, 62.
3 On following the Church's counsel in this respect see the practical remarks
of George Herbert in the chapter on ' The Parson Comforting ' in A Priest to
the Temple.
* In the Introduction to Fulham Conference, p. 8, the Bishop of London marks
as a most valuable point the acknowledgment of the Conference that Confession
and Absolution are permitted in certain circumstances, and he adds, ' the frank
agreement that private confession and absolution are in certain circumstances
allowed is all that the great majority of the parish priests of the Church of
England who ever make use of it wish to maintain.' For practical considera-
tions as to the relation of Confession and Absolution to the spiritual and moral
life of men and women, the pages of the Fulham Conference, 85-108, arc full of
interest. Amongst recent biographies some striking remarks will be found in
that of Felicia Skrine of Oxjord, p. 355.
158 Jx\MES
ADDITIONAL NOTE.— PRAYER.
Two remarks may here be made upon prayer and its relation to modem
thought. (1) It is interesting to note that the same Epistle which en-
courages us to pray for the recovery of the sick, or for changes of weather,
is also the Epistle which lays stress upon the unchangeableness of God, 'the
Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast
by turning,' i. 17. If we turn to recent scientific utterances upon the
subject of prayer it is noteworthy, first of all, that the same utterance which
demands that both science and faith should accept as a truth the reign of
law, sometimes called the uniformity of nature, also tells us that ' if we
have instinct for prayei', for communion with saints or with Deity, let us
trust that instinct, for there lies the true realm of religion,' and again,
'religious people seem to be losing some of their faith in prayer; they
think it scientific not to pray in the sense of simple petition. They may be
right ; it may be the highest attitude never to ask for anything specific, only
for acquiescence. If saints feel it so they are doubtless right, but, so far as
ordinary science has anything to say to the contrary, a more childlike
attitude might turn out to be more in accordance -with, the total scheme.
Prayer for a fancied good that might really be an injury would be foolish ;
prayer for breach of law would be not foolish only but profane ; but who are
we to dogmatise too positively concerning law? Prayer, we have been
told, is a mighty engine of achievement, but we have ceased to believe it.
Why should we be so incredulous ? Even in medicine, for instance, it is not
really absurd to suggest that drugs and no prayer may be almost as foolish
as prayer and no drugs. Mental and physical are interlocked.' Sir Oliver
Lodge, Hibbert Journal, Jan. 1903, pp. 210, 224, 225.
We turn from such utterances to another recent pronouncement in the
field, not of physical but of psychical science, and there also we find stress
laid upon the reality of the religious life and its accompaniments of prayer
and trust: 'in prayer, spiritual energy, which otherwise would slumber, does
become active, and spiritual work of some kind is efl"ected really ' (although
we are not told, whether this work is subjective or objective), James, The
Varieties of Religious Experiences, p. 477. All this is very far removed
from the dogmatic assertion that there is no place in the universe for prayer,
or that prayer at its best is useless and its very attitude degrading.
(2) But all true prayer is conditioned also by the words of this same
Epistle of St James, ' If the Lord will,' iv. 15 (cf. i. 6), yet that will is the will
not of a capricious tyrant but of a righteous Father ; and when we pray we
pray indeed according to law, but according to the law of a Father, the law
of the paternal relation ; and just as in the earthly family there are relations
between parent and child which no science has ever yet been able strictly
to analyse or define, so the Father of spirits may answer His children, may
enter into communion with them, now in one way and now in another,
because He is the Father, and because His love is not the breaking but the
fulfilling of law.
But, further, if we thus believe in a personal God, many of the objections
urged against prayer would seem to be deprived of their plaiisibility. It is
said, e.g., that to pray for a shower of rain is to ask for a violation of the law
of the conservation of force. But is this the right way of putting it ? ought
not a distinction to be drawn between creation of force and distribution of
force? and may not a personal God change by His intervention a whole
series of physical phenomena without creating new energy ? (See further
Jellett's Donnellan Lectures, p. 154; Worlledge, Prayer y pp. 50 fi". ;
Matheson, 'Scientific Basis of Prayer,' Expositor^ 1901.)
INDEX.
Abraham, xii, xliii, xlv, ilviii, xlix,
liv, Iv, 59, 60 S., 132, 133
Adderley, Ixxii, 8, 32
Adeney, xv, Ixviii
Agrapha, 17 ff., 19, 20, 50, 100, 102,
103, 114, 152
Ambrose, St, 65
Anointing with Oil, 139, 154 ff.
Augustine, St, 51, 78, 97, 102, 134, 154
Bacon, B. W., Ixviii
Bacon, Francis, 73, 123
Bartlet, xii, xiv, xxxvii, xxxviii, xxxix,
Ixviii, Ixxix, 4, 38, 116
Baruch, Apocalypse of, xliii, 4, 16, 41,
60,64
Bassett, xxvi, 39, 73, 91
Batiffol, 156, 157
Bede, 65, 112, 132, 134
Belser, xv, xxxiv, Ixviii, 116
Bengel, 5, 10, 18, 30, 39, 62, 81, 100,
103, 108
Bennett, Ixviii
Beyschlag, xii, xix, xxiv, Ixviii, 9, 18,
23, 45, 62, 71, 86, 96, 109
* Brethren of the Lord,' xxvii, Ixiv ff.
Carr, xxiv, xxxvi, Iv, Ixviii, 21, 26, 74,
110, 139
Cell6rier, Ixxii, 1
' Century Bible,' Ixviii, 69, 76, 114, 148
Chase, xiii, xxxix, Ixviii, 42, 55
Christian Language, xvi ff., Ix, Ixii,
26 ff., 33, 39, 48, 53 ff., 81, 84, 90.
98, 102, 108, 112, 127, 130, 131, 134,
135, 150
Church, 42, 188
Clement, St, of Alexandria, liv, 42, 49,
58, 91, 124, 136, 152, 154
Clement, St, of Rome, xlix, 1, lix, Ixx,
12, 88, 93, 96, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107,
108, 111, 113, 129, 133, 134, 139, 152
Clough, 11
Coleridge, 35, 81
Cone, O. , XV, liv, Iv, Ix, Ixvii, Ixx, Ixxi
Confession, 142, 156, 157
Dale, Ixxii, 9, 92
Deissmann, 1, 7, 58, 131, 132, 140
Didache, xii, xiii, xiv, xxiii, 12, 22,
80, 85, 91, 95, 96, 97, 120, 143
Doublemindedness, xxi, 1, Ixivii, 11,
44, 90, 104
Edersheim, xv, Ixvii, 52, 67, 69, 76,
80, 118, 139
Elders, 139
Elijah, xii, 115, 147
Enoch, Book of, 13, 25, 37, 39, 82, 86,
117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124,
125, 127, 137, 146
Euthymius Zigabenus, Ixxii, 3, 145
Faith, 7, 39, 45, 53, 58
Faith and Works, xhi ff., 53 ff.
Farrar, xvi, xxvi, Ixviii, 22, 124
Peine, xxxiii, xxxvi, xlvii, Ixviii, Ixxii,
42
Fulford, Ixviii, 27, 139, 143, 152
Gebser, Ixxii
Grafe, xi, xlvi, xlix, 1, lii, liv, lix, Ix,
1x1 Ixxi
GrotiuB, 5, 65, 113, 119, 136
Harnack, xii, xv, xvi, li, Iviii, Ixii,
Ixviii, Ixxi, Ixxiii, 42
Hermas, 1, li, lii, lix, 10, 12, 35, 36,
37, 41, 48, 57, 78, 86, 101, 103, 104,
121, 124
Hort, XXX, xxxii, xxxiv, xxxix, xlvi,
Ixviii, 27, 28, 42, 99, 139
Ignatius, St, 85, 90, 140
James, the Lord's Brother, xxiv ff.,
xxviii, xxxii ff., Ivii, Ix, Ixiv ff., Ixix,
Ixxiii, Ixxix, 126, 127
James, the eon of Zebedee, xxvi,
xxxviii
James, the son of Alphaeus, xxvi,
xxvii ff., Ixvi ff.
Jewish Fathers, Sayings of the, 6,
12, 28, 31, 33, 40, 41, 48, 57, 60,
63, 69, 81, 83, 88, 89, 108, 112
Job, xii, 115, 132, 133, 134
Joscphus, xxxiv, xxxvi, 4, 34, 43, 57,
58, 65, 66, 87, 93, 95, 124, 140, 149,
153
Jubilees, Book of, 41, 68, GO, 63, 64,
70
Jiilicher, Iviii, lix, Ixiii
160
INDEX
Kern, Ixxii
Kingdom of God, xix, xxi, 46
Kogel, Ixxii
Laughter and joy, 105, 137
Law, xxi, XXX, xxxv, xliv, Ixii, Ixiii,
Ixix, 33, 49 ff.
Lightfoot, xxvii, xxxi, xxxix, xliv,
xlix, Ixv, Ixvii, 23, 30, 43, 63, 65,
101, 145
Local allusions, xiv, xvii, xxiv, xxxiii,
xxxiv, lii, Ixi
Luther, Ivi, 7, 100, 187, 157
Massebieau, xv, xxiv, Ixiv
Matthews, 141
Mayor, xiv, xxi, xxiii, xxv, xxvii,
xxxiii, xxxiv, xliii, xlvi, 1, li, liv,
Ixiv ff., Ixxi, 8, 9, 11, 18, 21, 23, 25,
37, 39, 49, 86, 94, 95, 99, 100, 110,
112, 121, 142, 143, 152, 154
McGiffert, Ixx, Ixxi
Meyrick, Ixvi, Ixvii
Milton, 22, 35
Moffatt, xiv, xxii, xlvi, Ixviii, Ixx, Ixxi,
38
Oaths, xi, liii, 185, 153, 154
Oecumenius, 7, 25, 74, 95, 113, 119,
125, 136
Origen, liv, Iv, Ixv, 114, 139, 152, 156
Paraphrases, 1, 38, 68, 92, 114
Parry, xiii, 1, Iviii, 27, 40, 51, 86, 100,
153
Patience, Ixxvi, 7, 9, 126, 128, 129,
180, 133
Pfleiderer, xlix, 1, li, Ivi, Ivii, lix
Philo, xxxiii, lii, liii, 8, 16, 17, 23, 24,
26, 33, 34, 35, 42, 51, 61, 64, 70, 71,
73, 75, 78, 79, 86, 88, 89, 133, 140,
153
Plummer, xvi, xxvi, xlvii, Ivi, Ixvi,
Ixvii, Ixviii, 20, 51, 87, 94, 96, 110,
114, 124, 138, 157
Plumptre, xxiv, xxvi, Ixviii, Ixxix, 22,
149
Polvcarp, St, 36, 139, 150
Prayer, 10, 97, 136, 139, 140, 144,
158
Psalms of Solomon, xiv, 4, 6, 13, 18,
19, 45, 46, 47, 51, 60, 73, 74, 76, By,
93, 102, 104, 109, 119, 120, 127,
129, 137, 141, 145, 146, 148, 150
Puller, 155, 156
Eamsay, xii, xxxv, 47, 64
Kenan, xxi, xxxiv, 21
Eesch, 17, 19, 20, 50, 100, 102, 103.
114, 152
Eitschl, Iv, Ivi, Ixviii, 18, 81
Bopes, 17, 19, 103, 152
Sabaoth, 122
Salmon, xv, xxi, xxiv, xxvi, xlvi, Ixviii
Sanday, xlii, Iv, lix, Ixviii
Sanday and Headlam, xliv, xiv, xlvi,
7, 10, 12, 23, 61
Schegg, Ixix, 148
Schmiedel, xx, xxvii, xlvi, 135, 139
Seneca, 78, 83, 97, 109, 110
Shakespeare, 30, 35, 53, 69, 77, 130
Sieffert, xiii, xxvii, xxix, xxxiv, Ixvii,
Ixviii, 1
Social Life, xiii, xiv, xvii, xxii, xxiii,
xxxiv ff., xxxix, xl, liii, Ixi, Ixxiii ff.,
12, 36, 41, 43, 45, 47, 54, 85, 90, 93,
102, 104, 106 ff., 109, 113, 116,
120 ff., 135, 154
Soden, von, xvi, Ivii, Iviii, 18, 23, 55,
69, 71, 96, 100, 109, 119, 122, 135,
151
Spitta, XV, xvi, xliii, xiv, xlvi, Ixiv, 3,
9, 13, 16, 23, 25, 26, 49, 74, 127,
135, 152
Stubbs, Bishop, Ixxvi
Swete, xiv, 155
TertuUian, Ixvi, 17, 149, 154
Testament of Abraham, xlii, 64, 127,
133
Testaments of the xii. Patriarchs, lii,
21, 42, 52, 54, 62, 68, 79, 93, 102,
104, 106, 127, 142
Theile, Ixxii, 118, 153
Theophylact, 25, 113
Trenkle, xxiv, Ixix, 100, 119, 152
Tyndale, 10, 22, 54, 71, 72, 82, 95
Votaw, xxiv
Weiss, B., xxi, xxxi, xlvi, xlviii, Ixi ff.,
Ixviii, Ixxi, 11, 18, 100, 110, 140,
145, 151
Westminster, Dean of, 10, 134, 147
Wetstein, 5, 36, 42, 54, 74, 76, 110,
134, 135, 136
Wisdom, xiii, lii, Ixxvii, 5, 83, 86 ff.
Worcester, Bishop of, xxxviii, 142
Worlledge, 158
Wycliffe, 28, 72, 77, 118
Zahn, xxiv, xxv, xxvii, xxviii, xxxiii,
xxxiv, xxxvii, xxxviii, xii, xiv, 1, lii,
liv, iv, Ixiv, Ixv, ixvi, ixviii, Ixxiii,
4, 6, 7, 14, 18, 30, 40, 96, 116
PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
H • 03
0)
o
g
®
^
i^
O
Jh
cd
: -^
■p o
CO -ri
0 »>
to ^
•H O
•> u
01 o
0) s
O
0)
m
•H
a.
w
Eh
-<: H
v_
University of Toronto
Library
DO NOT
REMOVE
THE
CARD
FROM
THIS
POCKET
Acme Library Card Pocket
Under Pat. "Ret. Inda FU«"
Made by LIBRARY UREAU
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11