Facts about the Book of James...
- The Book of James is probably the first book of the New Testament to be written. It has a strongly Jewish flavor. James 1:1 makes reference to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. The lineage of individual Jews was still known at that time as exemplified by the lineages in Matthew 1:1ff and Luke 3:23ff
- James uses nature to illustrate spiritual truth thirty times.
- James is a very practical Epistle. It deals with some unpopular subjects. Some unpopular subjects include:
- Controlling one’s tongue
- The danger of kowtowing to the rich
- The need to show that our faith is real by our lives.
- The Book of James makes frequent references to the law.
- “the perfect law” (1:25)
- “the royal law” (2:8)
- “the law of liberty” (2:12)
- There are resemblances to the book of Proverbs in James. The word wisdom recurs frequently.
- Another key word in James is brethren. It occurs fifteen times.
- In the short space of 108 verses, there are fifty-four commands (imperative forms).
- James on prayer:
- If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. - James 1:5
- Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts - James 4:3
- Is any among you afflicted? let him pray... Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. - James 5:13-18