JAM-01 James: Introduction

Imagine, for a moment, growing up with a close sibling or friend. You play together, learn together and reach adulthood together. For most of your life, this person has been by your side and then one day, your friend or sibling claims to be God’s “Chosen One.” Well, for James, the brother of Jesus, this wasn’t just an imaginary scenario. In his younger years, he doubted that Jesus was the Savior. But later in his life, he not only became a follower of Jesus; he became the leader of the church at Jerusalem and wrote the New Testament book that bears his name.

This is the first lesson in our series on The Epistle of James, and we’ve entitled it “Introduction to James.” In this lesson, we’ll touch on a number of introductory issues that will enable us to pursue a faithful interpretation of this portion of the New Testament.

We’ll approach our “Introduction to James” in two ways. First, we’ll explore the background of the book. And second, we’ll examine its structure and content. Let’s begin with the background of the book of James.

With any biblical book, it’s important to understand the context surrounding its writing as much as possible. The various books of the Bible were written in real historical settings by people with particular motivations and concerns. So, studying these kinds of background issues can help us understand the books themselves. When we consider the settings and motivations associated with the book of James, we’re better equipped to understand what the epistle meant when it was first written. And we can apply James’ words more effectively to our lives today.

To understand the background of James, we’ll consider first the authorship of the book. Then we’ll look at the original audience. And finally, we’ll examine the occasion on which the letter of James was written. Let’s begin with the authorship of the epistle of James.

Although we know that the Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures, many books in the Bible, like James, also identify their human authors. And the more we know about biblical authors, then the better prepared we are to understand and interpret what they wrote. So, for this reason, we must learn all we can about who wrote the epistle of James.