James, Volume 48

By Ralph P. Martin

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Overview of Commentary Organization

• Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.
• Each section of the commentary includes:
• Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope.
• Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English.
• Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation.
• Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here.
• Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research.
• Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.
  • General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Apr 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9780310588580

Ralph P. Martin

Ralph P. Martin (1925-2013) was Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Fuller Theological Seminary and a New Testament Editor for the Word Biblical Commentary series. He earned the BA and MA from the University of Manchester, England, and the PhD from King's College, University of London. He was the author of numerous studies and commentaries on the New Testament, including Worship in the Early Church, the volume on Philippians in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series. He also wrote 2 Corinthians and James in the WBC series.

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Editorial Board

Old Testament Editor: Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford (2011–)

New Testament Editor: Peter H. Davids (2013–)

Past Editors

General Editors

Ralph P. Martin (2012–2013)

Bruce M. Metzger (1997–2007)

David A. Hubbard (1977–1996)

Glenn W. Barker (1977–1984)

Old Testament Editors:

John D. W. Watts (1977–2011)

James W. Watts (1997–2011)

New Testament Editors:

Ralph P. Martin (1977–2012)

Lynn Allan Losie (1997–2013)

Volumes

*forthcoming as of 2014

**in revision as of 2014

Word Biblical Commentary

Volume 48

James

Ralph P. Martin

General Editors: David A. Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker

Old Testament Editors: John D. W. Watts

New Testament Editors: Ralph P. Martin

ZONDERVAN

James, Volume 48

Copyright © 1988 by Word Inc.

Previously published as James.

Formerly published by Thomas Nelson. Now published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsChristian Publishing.

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ePub edition April 2018: ISBN 978-0-310-58858-0

The Library of Congress has cataloged the original edition as follows:

Library of Congress Control Number: 2005295211

The author’s own translation of the Scripture text appears in italic type under the heading Translation.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

CONLEGIS AMICISQVE

SCHOLAE FULLERIANAE

IN OPPIDO PASADENA

SS THEOLOGIAE PROFESSORIBVS

GRATO ANIMO

D. D. D.

AVCTOR

Contents

Editorial Preface

Author’s Preface

Abbreviations

General Bibliography

Commentary Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

JAMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Introduction

James the Lord’s Brother

JAMES IN JEWISH CHRISTIANITY

The Gospel according to the Hebrews

The Clementine Literature

THE ROLE OF JAMES IN ECCLESIASTICAL CIRCLES

Hegesippus

Clement of Alexandria

Origen

Eusebius

JAMES AND HIS EPISTLE

James and Ananus II: Historical Questions

James’ Role in a Jerusalem Setting

The Letter of James

Themes in James

Perfection

Wisdom

The Piety of the Poor

BACKGROUNDS TO JAMES

Wisdom

The Righteous Sufferer

STRUCTURE AND OUTLINE OF THE LETTER

CANONICAL STATUS OF THE LETTER

JAMES: TEXT AND COMMENTARY

I. ADDRESS AND GREETING (1:1)

II. ENDURING TRIALS (1:2–19A)

1. Trials, Wisdom, Faith (1:2–8)

2. The Reversal of Fortunes (1:9–11)

3. Testing: Its Source and Mischief—and Rationale (1:12–19a)

III. APPLYING THE WORD (1:19B–3:18)

1. The Obedience of Faith (1:19b-27)

2. Problems in the Assembly (2:1–13)

3. Faith and Deeds—Together (2:14–26)

Excursus: Note on Faith and Deeds in 2:14—26

4. Warning about Teachers and Tongues (3:1–12)

5. Two Types of Wisdom (3:13–18)

IV. WITNESSING TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE (4:1–5:20)

1. Community Malaise and Its Antidote

(i) False Hopes (4:1–10)

2. Community Problems

(ii) Godless Attitudes (4:11–17)

3. Judgment on Rich Farmers (5:1–6)

4. Call to Patience (5:7–11)

5. Community Issues: Oath-Taking; Reactions to Trouble, Sickness, and Sins (5:12–18)

6. Final Words and Fraternal Admonitions (5:19–20)

Indexes

Editorial Preface

The launching of the Word Biblical Commentary brings to fulfillment an enterprise of several years’ planning. The publishers and the members of the editorial board met in 1977 to explore the possibility of a new commentary on the books of the Bible that would incorporate several distinctive features. Prospective readers of these volumes are entitled to know what such features were intended to be; whether the aims of the commentary have been fully achieved time alone will tell.

First, we have tried to cast a wide net to include as contributors a number of scholars from around the world who not only share our aims, but are in the main engaged in the ministry of teaching in university, college, and seminary. They represent a rich diversity of denominational allegiance. The broad stance of our contributors can rightly be called evangelical, and this term is to be understood in its positive, historic sense of a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation, and to the truth and power of the Christian gospel.

Then, the commentaries in our series are all commissioned and written for the purpose of inclusion in the Word Biblical Commentary. Unlike several of our distinguished counterparts in the field of commentary writing, there are no translated works, originally written in a non-English language. Also, our commentators were asked to prepare their own rendering of the original biblical text and to use those languages as the basis of their own comments and exegesis. What may be claimed as distinctive with this series is that it is based on the biblical languages, yet it seeks to make the technical and scholarly approach to a theological understanding of Scripture understandable by—and useful to—the fledgling student, the working minister, and colleagues in the guild of professional scholars and teachers as well.

Finally, a word must be said about the format of the series. The layout, in clearly defined sections, has been consciously devised to assist readers at different levels. Those wishing to learn about the textual witnesses on which the translation is offered are invited to consult the section headed Notes. If the readers’ concern is with the state of modern scholarship on any given portion of Scripture, they should turn to the sections on Bibliography and Form/Structure/Setting. For a clear exposition of the passage’s meaning and its relevance to the ongoing biblical revelation, the Comment and concluding Explanation are designed expressly to meet that need. There is therefore something for everyone who may pick up and use these volumes.

If these aims come anywhere near realization, the intention of the editors will have been met, and the labor of our team of contributors rewarded.

General Editors: David A. Hubbard

Glenn W. Barker†

Old Testament: John D. W. Watts

New Testament: Ralph P. Martin

Author’s Preface

Years ago—in 1924 to be exact—F. C. Burkitt wrote of the letter of James in the New Testament:

The problems presented by this work are in many ways unlike that of the other canonical and deutero-canonical writings. . . . The ordinary English reader of the Epistle of James is troubled by few doubts as to its authenticity. There is an air of rugged freedom about it, of interest in practical ethics and the poorer classes, that recalls the Synoptic Gospels rather than the other New Testament Epistles. . . . If the document be a forgery, we feel, why was it ever accepted? What stage of second-century thinking can it be supposed to represent? Why should it have been written? and why should it have been accepted as canonical? (Christian Beginnings, 65–66)

Many issues are raised in this one short paragraph; and the following pages of Introduction and Commentary will attempt to address them. By any reckoning this letter of James stands alone among the New Testament books. It has about it an appeal that is timeless, and we are hard pressed to place it in a historical time-frame. Ethical challenges leap out from the page at every turn, and they are concerned about such practical matters as wealth and poverty, trials and temptations, social crimes of fighting and war, along with graphic depictions of wealthy magnates living in uncaring luxury and a downtrodden, victimized labor force. The writer’s sympathies are expressed in no uncertain way; he is the champion of the poor and persecuted.

When he seeks to offer a basis for his moral outcry and his earnest hope that the cause of the needy will be vindicated, his appeal is to strictly Old Testament-Judaic ideas and principles. He has a marvelously wide range of images—from the worlds of nature and human nature—at his command; and he uses metaphors and models to telling effect. The language of law is very near the surface of his ethical admonition both as a way of obedience and as an instrument of condemnation. But of new life in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit he is more or less silent.

Yet side by side with nomistic idioms, suitably qualified by such terms as royal and perfect and related to the command to love your neighbor as their epitome, there is the vocabulary of grace: key terms like faith, prayer, and the word are in rich profusion. This is surely the paradox of the epistle, and sets the puzzle we must try to solve. Even more than its lack of positive christological teaching and reference, the strange blend of works (but not works of law in the sense used by Paul of his Judaizing opponents) and faith (but not faith in Christ as Paul handles the expression) presents us with a conundrum. It also invites us to consider again some suggestions for a historical setting of this document, and the possibility that there were two distinct stages in its composition, as recent studies are suggesting.

The quest of the historical James is a topic we cannot evade, though many modern interpreters disavow its relevance as a clue to the meaning of the letter. The attempt to locate the ethical matters presented in the letter in some defined time-span (e.g., in Palestinian social and economic conditions in the early 60s) gives point to some of the material. As G. H. Rendall put it: ethical values depend upon the surroundings which bring them into play (The Epistle of St. James and Judaic Christianity, 110).

The pages that follow will be the place to justify the positions taken regarding such controverted matters as the setting of the letter, both in its traditional and redacted form, and its relevance to proposed situations. The Introduction will seek to consider the data regarding the role played by the historical James in the New Testament and later church circles along with other matters of historical and literary criticism. The section headed Form/Structure/Setting is concerned with tracing a literary and contextual pattern through the document, and offers some reason why the view that James is only a mélange of loosely connected moral maxims ought to be resisted. The Comment section is no more than routine commentary on individual words and phrases, and draws on modern exegetical books for comparison. The author has used the Explanation pages to offer timely help in applying the letter to some prevalent situations, using the historical investigations of what may be known of Palestinian political and economic stresses in the first century of the common era. Readers who wish for a synopsis of what this letter has to say, in both its original setting and in its appeal to the church in the world today, should turn to the Explanation first.

It is time to cast up one’s debtors and express appreciation, mainly to three pieces of writing that have been a catalyst for this book. I have mentioned Rendall’s The Epistle of St. James and Judaic Christianity, a work which—appearing in 1927—anticipated many of the trends in more recent studies. The treatment of the epistle is amazingly suggestive and seminal. It has been neglected by recent commentators, I believe, to everyone’s loss. Then, B. H. Streeter’s The Primitive Church (1929) is another older study which the present author first read in student days and found to be both stimulating and a model of lucid reasoning. Ahead of Walter Bauer and others he accurately discerned the influence of geographical locations in the development and diversity of early Christianity. His chapter on the apostles and the churches still makes interesting reading for reflection.

Passing by—but not without gratitude—recent commentators from Dibelius to Laws, Davids, Moo, and Vouga by way of Windisch, Adamson, Mussner, and Mitton, I must indicate appreciatively my principal creditor, Martin I. Webber, for parts of the Introduction. His unpublished dissertation ΙΑΚΩΒΟΣ Ὁ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣ: Origins, Literary Expression and Development of Traditions about the Brother of the Lord in Early Christianity was prepared when he was my promovendus and it was accepted for a Ph.D. award in 1985. While his work is not strictly that of a commentator, his grasp of historical development and his knowledge of the trajectory that runs from the pre-Pauline traditions about James to gnostic literature and the patristic writers have greatly helped me, and I gladly pay tribute to his efforts. His hypothesis of a line of development from the James of New Testament times to the varied ways later groups (Jewish Christian, Catholic, and gnostic) formed a picture of James according to their interests and desires has been strikingly confirmed by the full study of Wilhelm Pratscher, Der Herrenbruder Jakobus und die Jakobus-tradition (1987), whose concluding paragraph I have just summarized and whose work, regrettably, reached me only when this commentary was in its final stage. I regret also that Wiard Popkes’ useful survey of Jacobean problems, Adressaten, Situation und Form des Jakobusbriefes, SBS 125/126 (Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1986) arrived too late to be consulted.

With Dr. Webber’s permission I have been able to give some of his work visibility in what follows, and the section entitled The Role of James in Ecclesiastical Circles is almost wholly his contribution. As with an earlier volume in this series, Richard E. Menninger has assisted me with some excellent drafting of parts of the commentary, and with proofreading. In the latter task Lynn A. Losie has also ably contributed to make the sense clearer. Tertullian’s words may be adapted to justify this procedure: it is allowable that that which pupils publish should be regarded as their masters’ work (Adv. Marc. 4.5).

A final acknowledgment is made to the staff of the Word Processing Department, including Janet M. Gathright, David Sielaff, Sandy Underwood Bennett, and Carey Jo Wallace, for much valued and uncomplaining work in preparing the text for publication. No faculty member has been better served—and saved many hours of tedious revising and alteration which go into a commentary like this. At a time of transition from the United States to Britain, I have been especially grateful for their cooperative effort.

RALPH P. MARTIN

Christmas 1987

Fuller Theological Seminary/

Department of Biblical Studies,

The University of Sheffield, England

Abbreviations

A. General Abbreviations

B. Abbreviations for Translations and Paraphrases

C. Abbreviations of Commonly Used Periodicals, Reference Works, and Serials

D. Abbreviations for Books of the Bible, the Apocrypha, and the Pseudepigrapha

OLD TESTAMENT

Gen

Exod

Lev

Num

Deut

Josh

Judg

Ruth

1 Sam

2 Sam

1 Kgs

2 Kgs

1 Chr

2 Chr

Ezra

Neh

Esth

Job

Ps(Pss)

Prov

Eccl

Cant

Isa

Jer

Lam

Ezek

Dan

Hos

Joel

Amos

Obad

Jonah

Mic

Nah

Hab

Zeph

Hag

Zech

Mal

NEW TESTAMENT

Matt

Mark

Luke

John

Acts

Rom

1 Cor

2 Cor

Gal

Eph

Phil

Col

1 Thess

2 Thess

1 Tim

2 Tim

Titus

Philem

Heb

Jas

1 Pet

2 Pet

1 John

2 John

3 John

Jude

Rev

APOCRYPHA

E. Abbreviations of the Names of Pseudepigraphical and Early Patristic Books

F. Abbreviations of Names of Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Texts

G. Abbreviations of Targumic Material

*optional title

H. Abbreviations of Other Rabbinic Works

I. Abbreviations of Orders and Tractates in Mishnaic and Related Literature

J. Abbreviations of Nag Hammadi Tractates

Note: The textual notes and numbers used to indicate individual manuscripts are those found in the apparatus criticus of Novum Testamentum Graecae, ed. E. Nestle and K. Aland et al. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1979²⁶). This edition of the Greek New Testament is the basis for the Translation sections.

General Bibliography

Barker, G. W., Lane, W. L., and Michaels, J. R. The New Testament Speaks. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.

Bengel, J. A. Gnomon of the New Testament. Ed. A. R. Fausset. 2 vol(s). New York: Sheldon, 1862.

Beyer, K. Semitische Syntax im Neuen Testament. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1962.

Bornkamm, G. The New Testament: A Guide to Its Writings. Tr. R. H. Fuller and I. Fuller. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973.

———. Paul. Tr. K. Grobel. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.

Bruce, F. F. New Testament History. London: Nelson, 1969.

Bultmann, R. Theology of the New Testament. 2 vol(s). New York: Scribner’s, 1951–55.

Burkitt, F. C. Christian Beginnings. London: University of London Press, 1924.

Cullmann, O. The New Testament: An Introduction. Tr. D. Pardee. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968.

Dalman, G. H. Words of Jesus. Tr. D. M. Kay. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1902.

Dibelius, M. A Fresh Approach to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature. New York: Scribner’s, 1936.

Ellis, E. E. Paul’s Use of the Old Testament. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1957.

Enslin, M. S. Christian Beginnings: The Literature of the Christian Movement. New York: Harper, 1956.

Feine, P., Behm, J., and Kümmel, W. G. Introduction to the New Testament. Tr. A. J. Mattill, Jr. Nashville: Abingdon, 1966; 1st ed. in ET. See Kümmel.

Fuller, R. H. A Critical Introduction to the New Testament. London: Duckworth, 1966.

Grant, R. M. A Historical Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.

Guthrie, D. New Testament Introduction. Chicago: Inter-Varsity Press; London: Tyndale Press, 1963 (2d ed.), 1970 (3d ed.).

Harrison, E. F. Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964.

Hoppe, R. Der theologische Hintergrund des Jakobsbriefes. FzB 28. Würzburg: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1977.

Hunter, A. M. Introducing the New Testamet. 2d ed. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1957.

Johnson, L. T. The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986.

Koester, H. Introduction to the New Testament. Vol. 2, History and Literature of Early Christians. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982.

Kümmel, W. G. Introduction to the New Testament. Rev. ed. Tr. H. C. Kee. Nashville: Abingdon, 1975.

Martin, R. P. New Testament Foundations. Vol. 2. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1978 (1st ed.), 1987 (rev. ed.).

Marxsen, W. Introduction to the New Testament. Tr. G. Buswell. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968.

Maynard-Reid, P. U. Poverty and Wealth in James. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1987.

McNeile, A. H. Introduction to the New Testament. Rev. ed. C. S. C. Williams. Oxford: Clarendon, 1953.

Metzger, B. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. London: United Bible Societies, 1971.

Michaelis, W. Einleitung in das Neue Testament. 2d ed. Bern: Berchthold Haller Verlag, 1954.

Moffatt, J. An Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament. 3d ed. New York: Scribner’s; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1918.

Moule, C. F. D. An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1959.

Moulton, J. H., Howard, W. F., and Turner, N. A Grammar of New Testament Greek. 4 vol(s). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1908–76.

Perrin, N. The New Testament: An Introduction. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974; rev. D. C. Duling, 1982.

Price, J. L. Interpreting the New Testament. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1961.

Richardson, A., ed. Theological Word Book of the Bible. New York: Macmillan, 1951.

Riddle, D. W., and Hutson, H. H. New Testament Life and Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946.

Robert, A., and Feuillet, A. Introduction to the New Testament. Tr. P. W. Skehan. New York: Desclée, 1965.

Roberts, C. H. Manuscript, Society, and Belief in Early Christian Egypt. London/New York: Oxford UP, 1979.

Robertson, A. T. A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research. 4th ed. Nashville: Broadman, 1934.

Schenke, H.-M., and Fischer, K. M. Einleitung in die Schriften des Neuen Testament. Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1978.

Spittier, R. P. Testament of Job. In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. J. H. Charlesworth. 2 vol(s). Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983–84. 1:829–68.

Thayer, J. H. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. 4th ed. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1901.

Trench, R. C. Synonyms of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947.

Vielhauer, P. Geschichte der urchristlichen Literatur. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1975.

Wikenhauser, A. New Testament Introduction. Tr. J. Cunningham. New York: Herder & Herder, 1958.

Zahn, T. Introduction to the New Testament. Tr. J. M. Trout et al. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1909.

Zerwick, M. Biblical Greek. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1963.

——— and Grosvenor, M. A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament. Rome: Biblical Institute, 1974.

Commentary Bibliography

Adamson, J. B. The Epistle of James. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976.

Barclay, W. The Letters of James and Peter. The Daily Study Bible. 2d ed. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960.

Blackman, E. C. The Epistle of James. TBC. London: SCM, 1947.

Burdick, D. W. James. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 12. Ed. F. E. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981.

Cantinat, J. Les épîtres de s. Jacques et de s. Jude. SB Paris: Gabalda, 1973.

Carpenter, W. B. The Wisdom of James the Just. London: Isbister, 1903.

Chaine, J. L’épître de s. Jacques. EBib. Paris: Gabalda, 1927.

Davids, P. H. Commentary on James. NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982.

Dibelius, M. James: A Commentary on the Epistle of James. Hermeneia. Reissued by H. Greeven. Tr. M. A. Williams. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976, ET of Der Brief des Jakobus. MeyerK 15. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1964.

Easton, B. S., and Poteat, G. The Epistle of James. IB Ed. G. A. Buttrick et al. Vol. 12. New York/Nashville: Abingdon, 1957.

Hauck, F. Die Briefe des Jakobus, Petrus, Juda und Jakobus. NTD 10. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1937.

Hiebert, D. E. The Epistle of James: Tests of a Living Faith. Chicago: Moody, 1979.

Hort, F. J; A. The Epistle of St. James: The Greek Text with Introduction, Commentary as far as Chapter IV Verse 7, and Additional Notes. London: Macmillan, 1909.

Hubbard, D. A. The Book of James: Wisdom That Works. Waco, TX: Word, 1980.

Kistemaker, S. J. The New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Epistle of James and the Epistles of John. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1986.

Knowling, R. J. The Epistle of St. James. WC. London: Methuen, 1904.

Kugelman, R. James and Jude. New Testament Message. Vol. 19. Wilmington: Glazier; Dublin: Veritas, 1980.

Laws, S. A Commentary on the Epistle of James. HNTC London: A. & C. Black; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1980.

Martin, R. A. James. Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1982.

Marty, J. L’épître de Jacques. EBib. Paris: Alcan, 1935.

Mayor, J. B. The Epistle of St. James. The Greek Text with Introduction, Notes and Comments. 1897. Reprint. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954.

Mitton, C. L. The Epistle of James. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1966.

Moffatt, J. The General Epistles of James, Peter, and Jude. MNTC. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1928.

Moo, D. James. TNTC rev. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

Motyer, J. A. The Message of James. The Bible Speaks Today. Leicester/Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1985.

Mussher, F. Der Jakobusbrief. HTKNT Vol. 13/1. Freiburg: Herder, 1964.

Oesterley, W. E. The General Epistle of James. Expositor’s Greek Testament. Vol. 4. Ed. W. Robertson Nicoll. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910.

Plummer, A. The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude. New York: A. C. Armstrong, 1903.

Reicke, B. The Epistles of James, Peter, and Jude. AB Vol. 37. Ed. W. F. Albright and D. N. Freedman. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964.

Ropes, J. H. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle of St. James. ICC Ed. C. A. Briggs, S. R. Driver, and A. Plummet. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1916.

Ross, A. The Epistles of James and John. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954.

Ruckstuhl, E. Jakobusbrief, 1.–3. Johannesbrief. Neue Echter Bibel. Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1985.

Scaer, D. P. James, the Apostle of Faith: A Primary Christological Document for the Persecuted Church. St. Louis: Concordia, 1983.

Sehlatter, A. Der Brief des Jakobus. Stuttgart: Calwer, 1956.

Schrage, W., and Balz, H. Die katholischen Briefe. NTD 10. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1973.

Sidebottom, E. M. James, Jude, and 2 Peter. NCB. London: Nelson, 1967.

Spitta, F. Der Brief des Jakobus untersucht. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht (in Zur Geschichte und Litteratur des Urchristentums, 2:1–239), 1896.

Stevenson, H. F. James Speaks for Today. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1966.

Tasker, R. V. G. The General Epistle of James. TNTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; London: Tyndale Press, 1957.

Vouga, F. L’épître de s. Jacques. CNT. Vol. 13a. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1984.

Wessel, W. W. James, Epistle of. ISBE (1982) 2:959–66.

Williams, R. R. The Letters of John and James. The Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1965.

Windisch, H. Die katholischen Briefe. Ed. H. Preisker. HNT 15. Tübingen: Mohr, 1951.

Introduction

1. JAMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Blinzler, J. Die Brüder und Schwestern Jesu. SBS 21. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1967. Brown, R. E., Donfried, K. P., Fitzmyer, J. A., and Reumann, J. Mary in the New Testament. Philadelphia: Fortress; New York: Paulist Press, 1978. Bruce, F. F. Peter, Stephen, James, and John: Studies in Early Non-Pauline Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979 (British title: Men and Movements in the Primitive Church. Exeter: Paternoster, 1980). Crossan, J. D. Mark and the Relatives of Jesus. NovT 15 (1973) 81–113. Gunther, J. J. The Family of Jesus. EvQ 46 (1974) 25–41. Günther, W. Brother. NIDNTT 1:254–58. Lambrecht, J. The Relatives of Jesus in Mark. NovT 16 (1974) 241–58. Lightfoot, J. B. The Brethren of the Lord. In St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. 20th ed. London: Macmillan, 1896. 252–91. McHugh, J. The Mother of Jesus in the New Testament. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1975. 200–254. Meyer, A., and Bauer, W. The Relatives of Jesus. In New Testament Apocrypha, ed. E. Hennecke and W. Schneemelcher, tr. R. McL. Wilson et al. London: Lutterworth, 1963. 1:418–32. Patrick, W. James the Lord’s Brother. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1906. Schmithals, W. Paul and James. SBT 46. Tr. D. M. Barton. London: SCM, 1965. Scott, J. J. James the Relative of Jesus and the Expectation of an Eschatological High Priest. JETS 25 (1982) 323–31. Ward, R. B. James of Jerusalem. RestQ 16 (1973) 174–90.

A. INTRODUCTION

No fewer than six or seven persons known to the New Testament writers carry the name of James. In Mark 3:16–19 two members of the apostolic band whom Jesus called were known as James: the son of Zebedee and brother of John, and James the son of Alphaeus. Among the persons associated with the Gospel story there was James the younger (ὁ μικρός) in Mark 15:40, whose mother named Mary evidently reappears in Mark 16:1 as mother of James (= Matt 27:56; Luke 24:10). Other characters also surnamed Ἰάκωβος are not so well known: there is James the father of Judas (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13), possibly otherwise identified with Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus, to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot (Mark 3:18; Matt 10:3), and there is James the brother of Judas (= Jude) by whom the letter of Jude claims to have been written (v 1).

Outside this circle there is James the brother of Jesus, who may or may not be the same as the author of the letter known as James (1:1).

For our purposes attention may be directed to three persons in the above list.

(1) About James son of Alphaeus all that is known for certain is his place in the lists of the Twelve (Matt 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), where he is named as one of the Twelve. If he is the same person as James the little one referred to in Mark 15:40 and other texts along with Mary his mother, it seems that Joses was his brother’s name (Mark 15:47). This link uniting James and Joses encouraged Jerome to suggest that the Mary in question is the one referred to in Mark 6:3, thereby coalescing in one person no fewer than the three Jameses identified as the small one, the son of Alphaeus, and the Lord’s brother. He made Mary’s children (James, Joses, Judas, Simon, some sisters) cousins of Jesus by a different mother, also called Mary. The two women were each called Mary, and one of them had as her husband Alphaeus, also known as Clopas (in John 19:25). These identifications have remained fairly standard in the Catholic tradition, but are to be questioned (see Ropes, 59–62). We must remain content with the little we do know about son of Alphaeus.

(2) James the son of Zebedee (and evidently of Salome, Matt 20:20; based on Mark 15:40 = Matt 27:56) is a more prominent figure in the Gospel tradition. His family connections (Mark 1:19–20) and the role he played in Jesus’ ministry (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 13:3; 14:32–33) suggest a person of some importance. The stories in Luke 9:28, 54–56; Mark 10:35–41 involve James as coupled with his brother John, and are illustrative of the designation Boanerges (mentioned in Mark 3:17 and interpreted there as sons of thunder). His early martyrdom, according to Acts 12:2, virtually excludes him from consideration when the question of his continuing role in early Christianity is asked. There is no reason to link him with the letter written by James.

(3) We are left with James the Lord’s brother as a final candidate, though it is possible that the James of 1:1 in the letter may be an

Reviews for James, Volume 48

[matthauck_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

James commentaries tend to run a little short, but Martin had good exegetical information where others were sometimes lacking. He has some interesting views about the setting of the Epistle, and makes a lot of connections with the Zealot movement, a little unconvincing and strange. Other than that, helpful. Compared w/ Blomberg, Davids and Adamson, this gets rank 3.