Re-Assembly Required - Part 3
September 25, 2022Pastor Patrick continued this series, working on how to reconcile with spouse, friends, and the like; how to re-assemble broken relationships. A video of the message is here. Our Conversation Starter for this week is here.
This has been a great series on repairing broken relationships, focusing on what each of us needs to do, not what "the other person" needs to do. I encourage you to watch the videos from each week (there's a link in the first paragraph each week).
I'll tackle one little piece of today's message. During his discussion of "speck in his eye versus log in yours" discussion, Patrick mentioned the passage that goes something like "judge not lest you be judged." My ears perked up at that. I came to understand years ago that this is a typically misunderstood statement. It would more clearly be put, "judge, and be prepared to be judged by the same standard."
It always struck me as nonsense that we should never judge. God judges. God is just. What we need to do is understand God's justice and attempt to apply it in this world.
Here's a good article should you wish to explore this idea: "What does it mean to judge not lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1)?".
What I'd like to spend most of today's essay on is below in the Bonus section. We're two weeks away from starting a verse-by-verse message series on the Book of James. I'd like to offer some thoughts about James up front...
Bonus
Introductory Thoughts on the Book of James
One of the first things I ran across when looking into info about the Book of James was that this short book may be the most Torah-oriented book of the New Testament. Let's go!
Many of the new belivers in Jesus' time and shortly thereafter were Jewish. In fact, Jesus was a practicing Jew. And James, Jesus' half-brother, was a practicing Jew. Let's start with his name...
In Hebrew, his name is Ya'akov, "Jacob." Going from Hebrew/Aramaic (Ya'akov/Jacob) to Greek (Iacobus) to Latin (Iacomus) to French (Jammes/Gemmes) to English where we finally get "James."
He was steeped in Jewish teachings and apparently was a chief rabbi and leader of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). See verses 13-21 to see specific reference to James and his discussion about "don't make it hard for the Gentiles."
One gets a sense of the direct relationship to the Jewish world and the Old Testament right off the bat in James 1:1 where "the twelve tribes scattered among the nations" is mentioned. It's hard to imagine this is not a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel. And already, it seems, the Israelites/Jews are scattered out in the world, in the "diaspora," a Greek word that refers to a people residing in places other than their homeland, in this case, Jews not in the Holy Land.
To be fair, not everyone thinks the Book of James was written by Jesus brother, James. There are two other possibilities: James (the apostle) son of Zebedee and brother of John, and James son of Alphaeus. But I'm convinced James, brother of Jesus, is most likely. Some also think it's simply a pseudonym.
James is a book about how to act, how to live a good life as God/Jesus describes. That's exactly how I see the Torah: an instruction manual on how to do good and right in God's view!
Most people think of the book of James as a "letter." Another possibility is that it's a recorded teaching or set of teachings from the Torah, re-asserted for these new Christians. Remember the pictures of men on the steps of the temple/synagogue teaching to seated folks about them. As has been Jewish tradition for millenia, each Sabbath a portion (parsha) of the Torah is read and discussed in such as way as to complete a reading of the Torah every year (some use a 3-year cycle). Based on the overlap of topics (discussed in a moment) covered by James in this book and a parsha in Leviticus, it is possible that James' "letter" is actually recorded notes taken by students sitting beneath him that could rewrite them into Greek. In Jewish circles, this would be refered to as a yalkut, a collection of rabbinical teachings which were often pulled together by students. This would make sense as James was likely a chief rabbi.
In modern Hebrew, a yalkut is a backpack containing an array of books and papers of a student.
So, if James' book relates to a parsha of the Torah, which one? Interestingly, the Book of James maps well with a parsha of the Torah known as Kedoshim which contains Leviticus 19. It maps partially like this:
| Leviticus 19 | Concept | Book of James |
|---|---|---|
| 19:12 | Don't swear by My name | 4:13-15, 5:12 |
| 19:13 | Don't cheat your neighbor | 5:4 |
| 19:15 | Do justice. Don't be partial. | 2:1 |
| 19:16 | Don't gossip. Don't attack neighbor. | 3:1-12 (taming the tongue) 4:11 (slander) |
| 19:17 | Don't hate | 5:20 |
| 19:18 | Love your neighbor as yourself | 2:8 |
| 19:19, 37; 20:8 | Keep my statutes... | 2:10-12 |
From: Friedman, David, James the Just: Presents Applications of the Torah
In this portion/parsha is one of the central tenets of the Torah, "love your neighbor as yourself, I am God" (Leviticus 19:18), which James references. Interestingly, this verse is "central" both in tenent and literally. Literally, it's in the middle verse of the middle chapter of the middle book of the Torah!
Most people never complete that verse by leaving off the "I am God" part. Many commands/laws in the Torah end with "I am God." These are mostly the laws that could be violated without anyone knowing. But lest you violate one such law, know that I God am watching!
There's even discussion in James about swearing oaths which harkens back to the relatively obscure Nazarite Law (Number 6:1-21). Hint: neither the Torah nor James likes the taking of vows (as described in these two places).
There are many "Do"s and "Do Not"s in the Torah - and in James!
James is thought to be one if not the earliest books of the New Testament. I've seen dates from as early as 34 A.D. to no later than 49 A.D. Nothing in James goes beyond Acts 9 chronologically.
James is clearly addressing believers. And is making it quite clear that while earning salvation by following the law is not necessary (flash: it wasn't necessary in the Torah either), he does think that following the law is what should be done in response to salvation. It's how God wants us to behave! As James put it, "Be doers of the word."
While the Book of James may have been originally recorded in Greek, the notions are clearly Old Testament, from the Hebrew. Let's take one example for now (I hope to share many more as we go along...). In James 1:17, God is refered to as "the Father of lights" (in Greek: tou patros ton photon). This reflects many references from the Old Testament, from Genesis on including Exodus, the Psalms, Daniel, and Isaiah.
I found an interesting 30-minute video on YouTube: Background of the Book of James. It's not exactly contradictory, but it's very dissimilar. Not a word from the Old Testament. You'll get a kick out of his 2-year-old bedtime demonstration of subordinate clauses! And, you'll have some clue as to why James is one of the shorter books.
Can't wait for our study on the Book of James!...