Book of James - Part 2

October 16, 2022

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

The phrase "let's put these words into practice" takes on a whole new meaning when you know the Biblical Hebrew for "the word". It's "ha-de-va-reem" (ha = the). It does mean "word" as we think of it, but also means "thing." It's almost as if words actually were what they represent; alive, as it were. Putting words into action would have been a natural thought to the ancient Israelites.

Verse 1:21 embodies a great theme for studying scripture. Paraphrased, it includes "humbly accept the word planted in you." Having the attitude that "scripture is always right (even for our time and place) and that when you disagree, you may have to figure out why," is really the only way to study divinely inspired scripture. It also coincides nicely with 1:25, "let it into you."

I love the "instantly" in verse 1:22. It's typical James: blunt and imperative. There are nearly 60 imperative verbs out of 108 sentences in the entire book! No wonder James got so much into so few chapters.

Bonus

Why is the Torah often referred to as the Law? Torah would be more accurately called Teachings or Guides. The very root of Torah has to do with sending an arrow out straight, guiding it, as it were.

Part of the reason for this confusion is the fact that the Greek translation of the Torah, the Septuagint, translated the word Torah as nomos, law. Compounding that was the fact that soon thereafter, Latin translations used the word lex which also means law.

So again, why did the Greek translators use nomos (law) rather than didaskalia (as in didactic), teaching? An interesting answer to that question comes from this article. The author suggests that it was a 280s B.C. attempt to thwart gnosticism. (I don't know how to evalaute that position, but it's interesting.) A read of the article will also give you some other interesting factoids about these translations.