JAMES, EPISTLE OF

with the deliberate intention of contradicting St. Paul. His arguments, so regarded, are obviously inadequate, and make no attempt, even superficially, to meet St. Paul's real position. It is, however, quite possible that he may have written as he did to correct not St. Paul himself, but misunderstandings of his teaching, wtiich no doubt easily arose (2 P 3"). On the other hand, if with Mayor we adopt a very early date for the Epistle, St. Paul may equally well be combating exaggerations of his fellow-Apostle's position, which indeed in itself must have appeared insufficient to him; we are re-minded of the Judaizers ' who came from James ' before the Council (Ac 15^). St. Paul, according to this view, preserves all that is valuable in St. James by Ills insist-ence on life and conduct, while he supplements it with a profounder teaching, and guards against misinter-pretations by a more careful definition of terms; e.g. in Gal 2" (cf. Ja 2") he defines 'works' as 'works of the law,' and 'faith' as 'faith in Jesus Christ.' We must also bear in mind the possibility that the resem-blance in language on this and other subjects may have been due to personal intercourse between the two (Gal 1", Ac 15); in discussing these questions together they may well have come to use very similar terms and illustrations; and this possibility makes the question of priority in writing still more complicated. It is, then, very hard to pronounce with any certainty on the date of the Epistle from literary considerations. On the whole they make for an early date. Such a date is also suggested by the undeveloped theology (note the non-technical and unusual word for ' begat ' in 1'*) and the general circumstances ol the Epistle (see below); and the absence of any reference to the Gentile controversy may indicate a date before the CouncU of Ac 15, i.e. before 52 a.d.

(6) Again, the points of contact with 1 Peter (1" 5"; 1 P 1« 48) and Hebrews (22; He 11"), though striking, are inconclusive as to date. It is difficult to acquiesce in the view that James is 'secondary' throughout, and makes a general use of the Epp. of NT.

(c) It will be convenient to treat here the relation to the Gospels and particularly to the Sermon on the Mount, though this is still less decisive as to date. The varia-tions are too strong to allow us to suppose a direct use of the Gospels; the sayings of Christ were long quoted in varying forms, and in 5" St. James has a remarkable agreement with Justin (Ap, i. 16), as against Mt 5". The chief parallels are the condemnation of 'hearers only' (122- a, Mt 7», Jn 13"), of critics (4", Mt 7i-«), of worldUness (I" 2s- « etc.. Mt 6'»- ", Lk 6"); the teaching about prayer (V etc., Mt 7', Mk 11^'), poverty (2s, Lk 62«), humiUty (4i«, Mt 23"2), the tree and its fruits (3", Mt 7"; see Salmon, Introd. to NT' p. 455). This familiarity with our Lord's language agrees well with the hypothesis that the author was one who had been brought up in the same home, and had often listened to His teaching, though not originally a disciple ; it can hardly, however, be said necessarily to imply such a close personal relationship.

3. The type of Christianity implied in the Epistle. — We are at once struck by the fact that the direct Christian references are very few. Christ is only twice mentioned by name (!' 2^1); not a word is said of His death or resurrection. His example of patience (S'"- "; contrast 1 P 2a), or of prayer (5"; contrast He 5'). Hence the suggestion has been maide by Spitta that we have really a Jewish document which has been adapted by a Christian writer, as happened, e.g., with 2 Esdras and the Didache. The answer is obvious, that no editor would have been satisfied with so slight a revision. We find, indeed, on looking closer, that the Christian element is greater than appears at first, and also that it is of such a nature that it cannot be regarded as interpolated. The parallels with our Lord's teaching already noticed, could not be explained as due to independent borrowing from earlier Jewish sources, even on the very doubtful

JAMES, EPISTLE OF

assumption that any such existed containing the substance of His teaching. Again, we find Christ mentioned (probably) in connexion with the Parousia (5'- ') [58- " are probably not references to the cruci-fixion, and ' the Lord ' is not original in I'^J ; ' beloved brethren' (I"- " 2'), the new birth (1'*), the Kingdom (2^), the name which is blasphemed (2'), and the royal law of liberty (l^s 2') are all predominantly Christian ideas. It cannot, however, be denied that the general tone of the Epistle is Judaic. The type of organization implied is primitive, and is described mainly in Jewish phraseology: synagogue (2^), elders of the Church (S"), anointing with oil and the connexion of sin and sickness (ib.). Abraham is 'our father' (221), and God bears the OT title 'Lord of Sabaoth' (5*) [only here in NT]. This tone, however, is in harmony with the traditional character of James (see James, 3), and with the address 'to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion' (!•), taken in its literal sense. St. James remained to the end of his Ufe a strict Jew, noted for his devotion to the Law (Ac 15. 21™), and in the Epistle the Law, though transformed, is to the writer almost a synonym for the Gospel. His argument as to the para^ mount importance of conduct is exactly suited to the atmosphere in which he lived, and of which he realized the dangers. The Rabbis could teach that 'they cool the flames of Gehinnom for him who reads the Shema [Dt 6*],' and Justin {Dial. 141) bears witness to the claim of the Jews, 'that if they are sirmers and know God, the Lord will not impute to them sin.' His protest is against a ceremonialism which neglects the weightier matters of the Law; ct. esp. 1^', where 'religion' means religion on its outward side. His Epistle then is Judaic, because it shows us Christianity as it appeared to the ordinary Jewish Christian, to whom it was a something added to his old religion, not a revolutionary force altering its whole character, as it was to St. Paul. It seems to belong to the period described in the early chapters of the Acts, when the separation between Jews and Christians was not complete; we have already, on other grounds, seen that it seems to come before the Council. Salmon {IrUrod. to NT p. 456) points out that its attitude towards the rich agrees with what we know of Jewish society during this period, when the tyranny of the wealthy Sadducean party was at its height (cf. Jos. Ant. xx. viii. 8; ix. 2); there are still apparently local Jewish tribunals (2«). The movement from city to city supposed in 4" may point to the frequent Jewish migrations for purposes of trade, and the authority which the writer exercises over the Diaspora may be paralleled by that which the Sanhedrin claimed outside Palestine. We may note that there are indications that the Epistle has in mind the needs and circumstances of special communities (2'"- 4' 5"); it reads, too, not like a formal treatise, but as words of advice given in view of particular cases.

On the other hand, many Continental critics see in these conditions the description of a later age, when Christianity had had time to become formal and secular-ized, and moral degeneracy was covered by intellectual orthodoxy. The address is supposed to be a literary device, the Church being the true Israel of God, or to have in view scattered Essene conventicles. It is said that the absence of Christian doctrine shows that the Epistle was not written when it was in the process of formation, but at an altogether later period. This argument is not altogether easy to follow, and, as we have seen, the indications, though separately indecisive, yet all combine to point to an early date. Perhaps more may be said for the view that the Epistle incorporates Jewish fragments, e.g. in 3'-" 4"-5'; the apostrophe of the rich who are outside the brotherhood is rather startling. We may indeed beUeve that the Epistle has not yet yielded its full secret. It cannot be denied that it omits much that we should expect to find in a Christian document of however early a date, and that its close is

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