James 1:1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ
The opening of the Epistle of James introduces us to its author, "James". In the Greek, the name is "Iakobos," which is equivalent to the Hebrew "Ya'akov," or Jacob. This name was common in Jewish culture, and it is widely accepted that this James is the half-brother of Jesus, a leader in the early Jerusalem church. His identification as a "servant" (Greek: "doulos") is significant, as it denotes a bondservant or slave, emphasizing humility and total devotion. This term reflects a deep commitment and submission to the will of God, a theme that resonates throughout the epistle. The phrase "of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" establishes the dual authority under which James writes. The conjunction "and" (Greek: "kai") links God and Jesus Christ, affirming the divinity of Christ and the unity of the Father and the Son. This is a profound theological statement, especially considering James's Jewish background, which underscores the early Christian belief in the deity of Christ. The title "Lord" (Greek: "Kyrios") is a term of respect and authority, often used in the Septuagint to translate the divine name YHWH, further affirming Jesus's divine status.

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion
James addresses his letter "to the twelve tribes", a phrase that evokes the entirety of Israel. This is a symbolic reference to the Jewish Christians scattered abroad, known as the "Dispersion" or "Diaspora" (Greek: "Diaspora"). Historically, the Diaspora refers to Jews living outside of Israel, a result of various exiles and migrations. By addressing the twelve tribes, James connects the Christian community to the historic people of God, emphasizing continuity and fulfillment of God's promises through Christ. This also reflects the early church's understanding of itself as the true Israel, a spiritual community transcending geographical and ethnic boundaries.

Greetings
The word "Greetings" (Greek: "Chairein") is a common Greek salutation, meaning "rejoice" or "be glad." It sets a tone of joy and encouragement, which is fitting given the trials and challenges the recipients face. This greeting is not merely a formality but an invitation to embrace the joy found in Christ, even amidst suffering. It reflects the overarching message of the epistle, which calls believers to live out their faith with perseverance and joy, grounded in the wisdom and grace of God.

Persons / Places / Events
1. James
The author of the epistle, traditionally identified as James the Just, the half-brother of Jesus and a leader in the early Jerusalem church. Known for his wisdom and leadership, James played a crucial role in the early Christian community.

2. God
The one true God of Israel, whom James serves. This reflects the monotheistic belief central to Jewish and Christian faiths.

3. The Lord Jesus Christ
The Messiah and Son of God, whom James acknowledges as Lord, indicating his divine authority and role in salvation.

4. The Twelve Tribes
Refers to the Jewish people, symbolically representing the entirety of Israel. In the context of the New Testament, it can also represent the spiritual Israel, including both Jewish and Gentile believers.

5. The Dispersion (Diaspora)
The scattering of the Jewish people outside of Israel, often due to persecution or exile. In the New Testament context, it can also refer to Christians living outside of their spiritual homeland, facing trials and challenges.
Teaching Points
Servanthood in Leadership
James identifies himself as a servant, not by his familial connection to Jesus, but by his commitment to serving God and Christ. This teaches humility and service as key aspects of Christian leadership.

Identity in Christ
The reference to the "twelve tribes" reminds believers of their identity as part of God's chosen people, called to live out their faith in diverse and challenging environments.

Facing Trials with Faith
The mention of the Dispersion sets the stage for the themes of perseverance and faith amidst trials, encouraging believers to remain steadfast in their faith journey.

Unity in Diversity
Addressing both Jewish and Gentile believers, James emphasizes the unity of the church despite cultural and geographical differences, a call for unity in the body of Christ today.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does James's identification as a "servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" challenge our understanding of Christian leadership and service?

2. In what ways can the concept of the "twelve tribes of the Dispersion" apply to modern Christians living in a secular world?

3. How does James's greeting set the tone for the themes of faith and perseverance that will be explored in the rest of the epistle?

4. What can we learn from James's approach to addressing both Jewish and Gentile believers about fostering unity within the church today?

5. How can we apply the idea of being part of a spiritual "Dispersion" to our personal faith journey and community involvement?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Acts 15
James's leadership in the Jerusalem Council highlights his role in guiding the early church, emphasizing unity and adherence to faith in Christ.

Galatians 2
Paul’s interaction with James underscores the importance of James's influence and authority in the early church.

1 Peter 1:1
Similar greeting to the "elect exiles of the Dispersion," showing a common theme of addressing believers scattered and facing trials.

Hebrews 11
The concept of faith and perseverance, which James will address, is echoed in the "Hall of Faith," encouraging believers to remain steadfast.
A ServantJohn Adam.James 1:1
A Servant of GodF. T. Basett, M. A.James 1:1
A Servant of God and of ChristT. Manton.James 1:1
An Argument for the Deity of ChristS. Cox, D. D.James 1:1
Fourth Sunday After Easter Second SermonMartin LutherJames 1:1
George Buchanan, ScholarCharles KingsleyJames 1:1
God Regards the AfflictedT. Manton.James 1:1
Moral Relationship Better than CarnalT. Manton.James 1:1
On CharityJohn Wesley James 1:1
Peace Heightened into JoyS. Cox, D. D.James 1:1
Servants of God and ChristR. Turnbull.James 1:1
ServiceT. Manton.James 1:1
Service the True Idea of a Christian LifeJoseph S. Exell, M. A.James 1:1
St. James and His EpistleS. Cox, D. D.James 1:1
The DispersionT. Manton.James 1:1
The DispersionJohn Adam.James 1:1
The DispersionC. Wordsworth.James 1:1
The Ministry of JamesU. R. Thomas.James 1:1
The Writer and His WorkT.F. Lockyer James 1:1
A Joyful Salutation for a Time of AdversityC. Jerdan James 1:1-4
People
James
Places
Dispersion
Topics
Abroad, Bondman, Bondservant, Bond-servant, Christ, Dispersed, Dispersion, Greeting, Greetings, Hail, James, Jews, Love, Nations, Scattered, Sends, Servant, Tribes, Twelve, Wishes
Dictionary of Bible Themes
James 1:1

     1654   numbers, 11-99
     5328   greeting
     5391   letters
     7135   Israel, people of God
     7145   remnant
     7160   servants of the Lord
     7212   exile
     7266   tribes of Israel
     7449   slavery, spiritual
     7520   dispersion, the
     7944   ministry, qualifications

Library
February 28. "Count it all Joy" (James i. 2).
"Count it all joy" (James i. 2). We do not always feel joyful, but we are to count it all joy. The word "reckon" is one of the key-words of Scripture. It is the same word used about our being dead. We do not feel dead. We are painfully conscious of something that would gladly return to life. But we are to treat ourselves as dead, and neither fear nor obey the old nature. So we are to reckon the thing that comes as a blessing. We are determined to rejoice, to say, "My heart is fixed, O God, I will
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fourth Sunday after Easter Second Sermon.
Text: James 1, 16-21. 16 Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

George Buchanan, Scholar
The scholar, in the sixteenth century, was a far more important personage than now. The supply of learned men was very small, the demand for them very great. During the whole of the fifteenth, and a great part of the sixteenth century, the human mind turned more and more from the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages to that of the Romans and the Greeks; and found more and more in old Pagan Art an element which Monastic Art had not, and which was yet necessary for the full satisfaction of their
Charles Kingsley—Historical Lectures and Essays

October the Eighteenth Unanimity in the Soul
"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." --JAMES i. 1-8. If two men are at the wheel with opposing notions of direction and destiny, how will it fare with the boat? If an orchestra have two conductors both wielding their batons at the same time and with conflicting conceptions of the score, what will become of the band? And a man whose mind is like that of two men flirting with contrary ideals at the same time will live a life "all sixes and sevens," and nothing will move to purposeful
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

May the Fifth Healthy Listening
"Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only." --JAMES i. 21-27. When we hear the word, but do not do it, there has been a defect in our hearing. We may listen to the word for mere entertainment. Or we may attach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the word. We may assume that some magical efficacy belongs to the mere reading of the word. And all this is perverse and delusive. No listening is healthy which is not mentally referred to obedience. We are to listen with a view to obedience,
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

On Patience
"Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:4. 1. "My brethren," says the Apostle in the preceding verse, "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." At first view, this may appear a strange direction; seeing most temptations are, "for the present, not joyous, but grievous." Nevertheless ye know by your own experience, that "the trial of your faith worketh patience:" And if "patience have its perfect work, ye shall be perfect and
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

On Charity
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." 1 Cor. 13:1-3. We know, "All Scripture is given by inspiration
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Loving Advice for Anxious Seekers
However, the promise is not to be limited to any one particular application, for the word, "If any of you," is so wide, so extensive, that whatever may be our necessity, whatever the dilemma which perplexes us, this text consoles us with the counsel, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." This text might be peculiarly comforting to some of you who are working for God. You cannot work long for your heavenly Lord without perceiving that you need a greater wisdom than you own. Why, even in directing
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 13: 1867

All Joy in all Trials
Beginning with this word "brethren," James shows a true brotherly sympathy with believers in their trials, and this is a main part of Christian fellowship. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." If we are not tempted ourselves at this moment, others are: let us remember them in our prayers; for in due time our turn will come, and we shall be put into the crucible. As we would desire to receive sympathy and help in our hour of need, let us render it freely to those who are
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 29: 1883

The Days of the Week
JAMES i. 17. Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is neither variableness, nor shadow of turning. It seems an easy thing for us here to say, 'I believe in God.' We have learnt from our childhood that there is but one God. It seems to us strange and ridiculous that people anywhere should believe in more gods than one. We never heard of any other doctrine, except in books about the heathen; and there are perhaps not three people
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Sermon on a Martyr's Day
Of three sorts of spiritual temptation by which holy men are secretly assailed; to wit: spiritual unchastity, covetousness, and pride. James i. 12.--"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. ALL our life (says Job), so long as we are upon earth, is full of struggle and temptation, insomuch that this life is not called a life by the Saints, but a temptation. When one temptation is over,
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

The Sixth Petition Corresponds as we have Observed to the Promise of Writing the Law...
The sixth petition corresponds (as we have observed) to the promise [26] of writing the law upon our hearts; but because we do not obey God without a continual warfare, without sharp and arduous contests, we here pray that he would furnish us with armour, and defend us by his protection, that we may be able to obtain the victory. By this we are reminded that we not only have need of the gift of the Spirit inwardly to soften our hearts, and turn and direct them to the obedience of God, but also of
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Deepest Need of the Church Today is not for any Material or External Thing...
The deepest need of the Church today is not for any material or external thing, but the deepest need is spiritual. Prayerless work will never bring in the kingdom. We neglect to pray in the prescribed way. We seldom enter the closet and shut the door for a season of prayer. Kingdom interests are pressing on us thick and fast and we must pray. Prayerless giving will never evangelise the world.--Dr. A. J. Gordon The great subject of prayer, that comprehensive need of the Christian's life, is intimately
E.M. Bounds—Purpose in Prayer

Biographical Preface.
"The Church! Am I asked again, What is the Church? The ploughman at his daily toil--the workman who plies the shuttle--the merchant in his counting-house--the scholar in his study--the lawyer in the courts of justice--the senator in the hall of legislature--the monarch on his throne--these, as well as the clergymen in the works of the material building which is consecrated to the honour of God--these constitute the Church. The Church is the whole congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Antecedents of Permanent Christian Colonization --The Disintegration of Christendom --Controversies --Persecutions.
WE have briefly reviewed the history of two magnificent schemes of secular and spiritual empire, which, conceived in the minds of great statesmen and churchmen, sustained by the resources of the mightiest kingdoms of that age, inaugurated by soldiers of admirable prowess, explorers of unsurpassed boldness and persistence, and missionaries whose heroic faith has canonized them in the veneration of Christendom, have nevertheless come to naught. We turn now to observe the beginnings, coinciding in time
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

The Puritan Beginnings of the Church in virginia ---Its Decline Almost to Extinction.
THERE is sufficient evidence that the three little vessels which on the 13th of May, 1607, were moored to the trees on the bank of the James River brought to the soil of America the germ of a Christian church. We may feel constrained to accept only at a large discount the pious official professions of King James I., and critically to scrutinize many of the statements of that brilliant and fascinating adventurer, Captain John Smith, whether concerning his friends or concerning his enemies or concerning
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

The Neighbor Colonies to virginia-Maryland and the Carolinas.
THE chronological order would require us at this point to turn to the Dutch settlements on the Hudson River; but the close relations of Virginia with its neighbor colonies of Maryland and the Carolinas are a reason for taking up the brief history of these settlements in advance of their turn. The occupation of Maryland dates from the year 1634. The period of bold and half-desperate adventure in making plantations along the coast was past. To men of sanguine temper and sufficient fortune and influence
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

Directions to Church-Wardens, &C.
CHURCH-WARDENS are officers of the parish in ecclesiastical affairs, as the constables are in civil, and the main branches of their duty are to present what is presentable by the ecclesiastical Jaws of this realm, and repair the Church [1] . For the better information of Church-wardens as to those particulars, which they are to present, [2] articles are to be given them extracted out of the laws of the Church, according to which they are to make their presentments, Can. 119. They are obliged twice
Humphrey Prideaux—Directions to Church-Wardens

Theological Controversies and Studies
(a) Baianism. Schwane, /Dogmengeschichte der neuren zeit/, 1890. Turmel, /Histoire de la theologie positive du concile de Trente au concile du Vatican/, 1906. Denzinger-Bannwart, /Enchiridion Symbolorum/, 11th edition, 1911. Duchesne, /Histoire du Baianisme/, 1731. Linsenmann, /Michael Baius/, 1863. The Catholic doctrine on Grace, round which such fierce controversies had been waged in the fifth and sixth centuries, loomed again into special prominence during the days of the Reformation. The views
Rev. James MacCaffrey—History of the Catholic Church, Renaissance to French Revolution

The Downfall, 1616-1621.
The dream of bliss became a nightmare. As the tide of Protestantism ebbed and flowed in various parts of the Holy Roman Empire, so the fortunes of the Brethren ebbed and flowed in the old home of their fathers. We have seen how the Brethren rose to prosperity and power. We have now to see what brought about their ruin. It was nothing in the moral character of the Brethren themselves. It was purely and simply their geographical position. If Bohemia had only been an island, as Shakespeare seems
J. E. Hutton—History of the Moravian Church

Knox and the Book of Discipline
This Book of Discipline, containing the model of the Kirk, had been seen by Randolph in August 1560, and he observed that its framers would not come into ecclesiastical conformity with England. They were "severe in that they profess, and loth to remit anything of that they have received." As the difference between the Genevan and Anglican models contributed so greatly to the Civil War under Charles I., the results may be regretted; Anglicans, by 1643, were looked on as "Baal worshippers" by the
Andrew Lang—John Knox and the Reformation

Whether Sacred Doctrine is a Practical Science
Whether Sacred Doctrine is a Practical Science We proceed to the fourth article thus: 1. It seems that sacred doctrine is a practical science. For "the end of practical knowledge is action," according to the philosopher (2 Metaph., Text 3), and sacred doctrine is concerned with action, according to James 1:22: "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." Sacred doctrine is therefore a practical science. 2. Again, sacred doctrine is divided into the Old and the New Law, and the Law has to do with
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

Wherefore Let this be the First Thought for the Putting on of Humility...
42. Wherefore let this be the first thought for the putting on of humility, that God's virgin think not that it is of herself that she is such, and not rather that this best "gift cometh down from above from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no change nor shadow of motion." [2172] For thus she will not think that little hath been forgiven her, so as for her to love little, and, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish her own, not to be made subject to the righteousness
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

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