Book of James - Part 1

October 9, 2022


#BibleProject 8-minute summary of the Book of James

Pastor Patrick started this series on the Book of James. A video of the message is here. Our Conversation Starter for this week is here.

Before we begin here, let me point you back to a Bonus entry a couple weeks ago that was essentially an introduction for us to this series: here.

I'm going to start with some interesting tidbits...

In James 1:8, James uses the word double-minded (Greek, dipsuchos). This word is used only twice in the New Testament, both times in James: 1:8 and 4:8. You can see the core meaning in the word itself, "dip" is from dis, two; and "suchos" is from psyche, soul. So it's "two-souled." Strong's Concordance suggests it boils down to a person split in half, vacillating like a spiritual schizophrenic. Because this word is only in James, some suggest James coined this term. Such a double-minded person would clearly be unstable. In the first reference (1:8), James is talking about someone wavering or in doubt. In the second (4:8), he's talking about divided interest between God and the world. There is one word in the Old Testament, used once, sometimes translated as double-minded, say-afe (Pslam 119:113 NASB). It means divided or half-hearted.

Much of the message dealt with trials and temptations. It's interesting that there is only one word for both trials and temptations in both Hebrew (mas-saw) and Greek (peirasmois). In Biblical Hebrew it can also mean despair or test. The Greek word can also mean an experiment, probation, calamity, and affliction.

While we're doing words... Toward the end, Patrick mentioned "first fruits" (James 1:18) as a "taste of the future." Being a Torah guy, I immediately thought of first fruits as used in the Torah which is "the best / the first." The best of the herd, the best of the grain, the first born, the first produced or harvested (a time reference, too). It was from the first fruits that you brought an offering to God, and the best at that. The Hebrew word is bik-koor and is used 18 times in the OT. This does not negate the NT usage of called to a resurrection, saved, future blessings, etc.

The Torah reveals methods for getting closer to God. One of those was the sacrificial system. Many ask, since the sacrificial system has gone away, how do we get close(r) to God now (become or move to perfect or complete)? James has an answer to that: trials (James 1:4).

A good piece of advice for getting (back) on God's path may be: "Start small." I was reminded of this when I stumbled onto a discussion of the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, yud (rhymes with "good"). It looks like an apostrophe in English and relates to the iota in Greek. When Jesus says he will not change a jot or a tittle of the Old Testament, the jot is the yud. (A tittle in Hebrew is a little stroke at the bottom of some letters that distinguishes them from other letters.) The piece I found referenced the number of very significant words in Biblical Hebrew that start with this tiny letter, yud. JHVH/Jehovah, God's name, is a biggy. Jesus' name in Hebrew (Yeshua) starts with a yud. Jerusalem starts with a yud. And on and on. It is also the most frequently used letter of the aleph-bet in the Hebrew texts, at a whopping 11% (out of 22 letters). Starting small is a big deal.

Following the message, we celebrated Communion. As is often mentioned, this symbolizes the transition from the old covenant of perfection to the new convenant of faith, grace, and salvation in/through Jesus. However, I'm not sure it's fair to characterize the old covenant with the word perfection. I find no reason to believe that the Torah ever expected anyone to be perfect; quite the contrary. It is clear the Torah considers mankind flawed and cannot reach perfection. Among other things, this is why there's a Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, commanded in the Torah. I would characterize the old covenant as "Follow my instructions to make you better and to make the world better. And when you mess up, atone." Some have described this as Practical Rightousness, though neither that nor any other term/phrase I've read strikes me as the right summation. This begs the question, "How does God determine who 'gets in' and who doesn't?" I have no idea. I trust God deals in perfect justice, however that process works.

Bonus

(ANE = Ancient Near East)

I've come back around to Leviticus lately in my studies. When was the last time you heard anyone say "I'm going to a class on Leviticus tonight!" with any enthusiasm. Right, me either.

But like with much of the Torah, we moderns must get past the details (that the ANE folks probably understood readily) and get to the MEANING. For example, the test for a wife accused of adultery by her husband was not about the details of the potion, it was about how to make a marriage go on when the husband suspects a wife of adultery. Numbers 5:11-31.

The sacrificial system is a big part of Leviticus. We must understand that in the ANE, everyone sacrificed to their gods, mostly to ward off evil or to persuade their gods to do something for them. The Israelites would have recognized sacrifcing to a god right away. This was the "old vessel."

So what was the "new wine" in these old vessels? First, part of the ANE sacrifice was to feed their gods. Nothing about the Torah's sacrifices involves feeding God. In fact, the process clearly showed the food either being eaten by the priests or the Levites or the people or being burnt up entirely into smoke. There was nothing left for any god to eat.

Another big lesson of the Torah is that killing animals is a big deal. You can't just kill any animal any time. And when you do, you have to follow a prescribed process. In many ways, Torah started animal rights.

No eating of the blood of the animal. The blood represented the "life force" or the living essence" (nefesh) of the animal. It had to be returned to God (by plashing on the altar). Man can have the carcass.

No reading of entrails. The Torah is completely anti voodo, magic, prognostication by entrails, etc. (and tea leaves, too, presumably).

There were no secret codes in God's sacrificial system. All the Children of Israel were told exactly how it's to be done. There was virtually no way for the priests/Levites to corrupt the system.

Sacrificing was for sins against God. Sins against Man demanded restitution to the victims.

It's all about how to get close to God.

And, as Prager points out in addition to the above, don't we get closer to that which we sacrifice for? Like our kids! Whatever it is we "sacrifice" for (time, money, effort, etc.), right or wrong, we get closer to. There's little way to deny that.