The Letter of James - baylor.edu

1 The Letter of James G E N E R A L E D I T O R Robert B. Kruschwitz AR T ED IT O R Heidi J. Hornik RE vI Ew ED I T O R Norman Wirzba pROcLAmATION EDITOR William D. Shiell A s sI s T A N T ED I T O R Heather HughespRODucTION AssIsTANT Elizabeth Sands Wise DE s I G N E R Eric Yarbrough pu bL Is hE R The Center for christian Ethics baylor University One Bear Place #97361 Waco, TX 76798-7361 phO N E (254) 710-3774 TO L L- FR E E (u sA ) (866) 298-2325 w Eb sI T E E - mA I L Scripture is used by permission, all rights reserved, and unless otherwise indicated is from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of 1535-8585 christian Reflection is the ideal resource for discipleship training in the church.

2 Multiple copies are obtainable for group study at $ per copy. Worship aids and lesson materials that enrich personal or group study are available free on the Web Reflection is published quarterly by The Center for christian Ethics at baylor University. Contributors express their considered opinions in a responsible manner. The views expressed are not official views of The Center for christian Ethics or of baylor Center expresses its thanks to individuals, churches, and organizations, including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, who provided financial support for this publication. 2012 The Center for christian Ethics at baylor UniversityAll rights reservedIntroduction 8 Robert B. KruschwitzGod Gave Us Birth 11 Mariam J. KamellFaith-In-Action: An Ethic of Perfection 20 Patrick J. HartinTaming the Tongue 29 Todd D. StillJames s Theological Grammar 36 Robert W. WallDrawing James 46 Heidi J. HornikJames the LessPaul SoupisetApostle St.

3 James the LessDomenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El GrecoThe Seed James the LessPaul SoupisetEx Libris James the LessPaul SoupisetWorship Service 53 Bruce Gillette and Carolyn Winfrey GilletteO Lord, May All We Say and Do 60 Carolyn Winfrey GilletteSeeing Ourselves in the Mirror of the Word 62C. Stephen EvansLiving as the Friends of God 70 Paul J. WadellContentscontinuedJames s Amazing Grace Gumbo 79 Bert MontgomeryFollowing James s Map 83 Jeremy ColliverFinding a Central Thread in James 87 David M. MoffittEditors 94 Contributors 96 christian Reflection sTuDy GuIDEs & lesson pLANs Click on Free Study Guides. ONLINEFree These excellent companions toChristian Reflection integrate worship,Bible study, prayer, music, and ethicalreflection for personalor small group six study guides integrate Bible study, prayer, worship, and reflection on themes in The Letter of James . d Ga v e Us Bi r t hOn a common misreading, the Letter of James seems like an awkward misfit that constantly focuses on works instead of the grace of God through Christ.

4 Instead, the Letter is an appeal for disciples to become what they are: the firstfruits of a restored creation, set free to live according to God s i t h-in-ac t i o n: an et h i c o F Pe rF e c t i o n James challenges us to live faithfully, to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Such wholeness or completeness demands that we embrace a life where action and faith go together. Our faith must express itself in our actions, and our actions in turn bear witness to our m i nG t h e to nG UeThe things that we say or fail to say serve as a barometer of our christian character , according to James . The ability to master our words is both a metric for and a mark of spiritual m e s s th e o l oG i c a l Gr a m m a rA theological grammar of James , guided by the Church s apostolic Rule of Faith, can help us uncover the Letter s rich Trinitarian theology. It enables a faithful community to mine this sacred text for a wisdom that saves and a christian maturity that performs every good work.

5 Se e i nG oU r s e l v e s i n t h e mi r r o r o F t h e Wo r dOne who hears the Word of God but doesn t act accordingly is like one who observes his bodily face in a mirror but turns away and forgets what he looks like. In James s parable, Kierkegaard explains, we learn that Scripture is fundamentally practical. We cannot hear it or read it properly unless we have a fundamental concern for how it should govern our lives. li v i nG a s t h e Fr i e n d s o F Go dJames calls the Church to be a living sacrament of friendship with God, a compelling sign of hope and a credible witness of a more promising and truly human way of life. This is what the friends of the world have a right to expect from the friends of God and, perhaps, even long to see in U d y GU i d e s & le s s o n Pl a n s Reliable guidance in engaging the ethical dimensions of today s worldPa s t is sU e s:in k l i nG s o F Gl o r y s aG i nGGl oB a l We a l t h s co n sU m e r i s mPa r aB l e s s sU F Fe r i nG s ch i l d r e nma r r i aG e s sa B Ba t h s sP o r t saP o c a l yP t i c vi s i o n s cl o n i nGth e Po r n oG r aP h i c cU l tU r e s Fr e e d o mPe a c e a n d Wa r s my s t i c i s m s he a l t hch r i s t i a n i t y a n d is l a m s im m iG r a t i o nFo rG i v e n e s s s Pr a y e r s Pr oP h e t i c et h i c sse r m o n o n t h e mo U n t s Pe a c e a n d Wa rWo m e n a n d t h e ch U r c h s Fr i e n d s h iPWh e r e Wi s d o m is Fo U n d s ho sP i t a l i t ymo r a l la n d s c aP e o F cr e a t i o nFo o d a n d hU n G e r s vo c a t i o nca t e c h i s m s th e Ga mB l i nG cU l tU r esi nG i nG oU r li v e s s ci t i e s a n d to Wn sad v e n t et h i c s s he a v e n a n d he l lsc h o o l s i n a Pl U r a l i s t cU l tU r emo n a s t i c i s m ol d & ne W s ra c i s mvi r

6 TU a l li v e s s ch r i s t m a s a n d eP i P h a n yPr i s o n s th e le t t e r o F Ja m e sFo r t h c o m i nG is sU e s:ca r i nG F o r cr e a t i o ndi s aB i l i t yle n tWo m e n i n t h e Bi B l eHOW DO YOU REQUEST A FREE SUBSCRIPTION? christian Reflection is an ideal resource for discipleship training in the Church. To request a free subscription to this printed version, please contact us through our Web site or by phone. Your free subscription will begin with the forthcoming (toll-free): 1-866-298-2325 ARE BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE?Download and print free PDFs of christian Reflection past issues, study guides, and lesson plans from our Web site. Multiple print copies of the current issue and many back issues can be purchased at $ per copy. Please check our Web site or phone us for availability. HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT christian REFLECTION?Please continue to pray for this publication series. Share past copies of christian Reflection with your friends, direct them to the Web site for free PDF versions of past issue contents, and encourage them to request their free subscription to the print possible, make a financial gift.

7 Simply go to the Web site, click on Donate, and press the button to enter a secure online form. Because your gift to the Center for christian Ethics Excellence Fund is a tax-deductible charitable donation to baylor University, you will receive a grateful acknowledgement from the University. 8 The Letter of James IntroductionBY ROBERT B. KRUSCHWITzThough often neglected by scholars and church members alike, the Letter of James has much to teach us about God s grace and our faithful response within the Church. Our contributors sift James s vivid illustrations, pithy parables, and trenchant sayings for their transforming possibilities for our it is too often neglected by scholars and church members alike, the Letter of James has much to teach us about God s grace and our faithful response within the Church, the body of Christ. Yet to hear and practice its wisdom, Timothy Luke Johnson has warned, we must let this epistle speak to us in terms of its own voice rather than in terms of its supposed muting of Paul s voice.

8 Our contributors do this by sifting James s themes for their transforming possibilities for our to one common misreading, the Letter of James is a theologi-cal embarrassment for Christians, ignoring the grace of God through Christ and exhorting readers to pull themselves up by their spiritual bootstraps. But the opposite is true, as Miriam Kamell shows in God Gave Us Birth (p. 11). James sees God as beginning a new work of creation in the Church, she writes. This work is initiated by God s will and sustained by his presence, but now the word has been implanted and the calling is thereby higher and yet truly achievable. Another problem is that the Letter of James can seem to wander about in a disorganized way. In James s Theological Grammar (p. 36), Robert Wall orders the epistle s major teachings around five themes the Creator God, Christ Jesus, Community of the Spirit, christian Life, and Consummation to help us uncover its rich Trinitarian theology.

9 James insists that religious Introduction 9orthodoxy must be thoroughly embodied, Wall notes. James articulates practices a pure and undefiled congregation performs as acceptable to God: a piety of poverty or powerlessness, purity in speech, rescuing way-ward believers from theological and moral error, and hospitality. Patrick Hartin in Faith-in-Action: An Ethic of Perfection (p. 20) traces the theme of purity through the epistle. To be pure or unblemished or per-fect (teleios in Greek), according to James , is to be complete and authentic. This involves giving oneself wholeheartedly in obedience to God in the con-text of God s people. Such wholeness or completeness demands that we embrace a life where action and faith go together, Hartin concludes. Our faith must express itself in our actions, and our actions in turn bear witness to our faith. In Taming the Tongue (p. 29), Todd Still notes how frequently James returns to the subject of purity or integrity in speech.

10 For James , what one says or fails to say serves as a barometer of one s christian character , Still writes. The (in)ability to master one s words is both a metric for and a mark of spiritual maturity. The moral instruction in James often comes alive through vivid illustra-tions, pithy parables, and trenchant sayings. No wonder, then, that James was a favorite epistle of S ren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth-century Chris-tian philosopher who loved arresting word-play. As Stephen Evans explains in Seeing Ourselves in the Mirror of the Word (p. 62), Kierkegaard understood James s parable of the mirror (1:22-27) as a sly expos of our strategies to avoid hearing God s word as addressed to us. We will squabble about the most difficult passages in the Bible or study ten dictionaries and twenty-five commentaries to indefinitely postpone really hearing what God is say-ing to us. An especially arresting image is James s depiction of Abraham as a friend of God in stark contrast to the friendship with the world that so tempts us.