September 25th, 2021

This Sunday is our last week in the Epistle of James, with the text this time being at the very end of this literary masterpiece [5:13-20; there is also the option of reading the first twelve verses of chapter five]. But the end is not necessarily the most important point. Sometimes a final important point may be earlier within the work.

There are obviously a LOT of important points that the writer makes within this entire work. Are there any points which are slightly more important than the others? What is the overall structure and message of the work, and to what is it ultimately pointing? To help answer such a question, it is important to look again at the beginning of the work to find out what has been emphasized.

In the case of the Epistle of James, it is important to remember that the writer originally wrote to those who were of ‘the twelve tribes in the dispersion’. The first readers and hearers were both Jewish and dispersed. And the Jewish nature of the text is seen in the numerous commands. In some cases, these commands were gathered into groups of ten. It will be noted here that the Hebrew language had a very close connection to numbers; their letters were also their numbers.

With this importance of commands, it is also important to remember the two ‘levels’ of commands; when these commands are numbered, those that are counted are the more direct imperatives, in the ‘second person’ and not in the ‘third person’. (The word ‘let’ is usually incorporated in the translation to show that the imperative is in the third person.) The other distinction was the positive command (‘do this’) and the negative command (‘do not do that’).

The first half of the first chapter had a positive command that had to do with being dispersed, and then there was a negative command that also had to do with the dispersion. After the negative command, there were some very positive words about God, the Father, giving good and perfect gifts from above (see 1:17).

After this, there are a few negative commands; and some of the first of them seem to be at the beginning of sections rather than the end (see 2:1 & 3:1). There is a double negative command in the third chapter that seems to be near the end of a section. Interestingly enough, after this double prohibition (‘do not exult over and lie against the truth’; 3:14b), there is a contrast from the positive words that were in the first chapter: ‘This is not the wisdom from above, coming down, but on the contrary, is earthly, natural, demon-like (3:15; a somewhat-literal translation).’

After this section, the writer is nearing the end. That can be seen because he uses the word ‘therefore’ for the first time within the work (at 4:4). The commands after this word are a bit more important. What follows after ‘therefore’ are the following ten commands (with, again, somewhat-literal translations):

            #1 (4:7a) Therefore, be subject to God….
            #2 (4:7b) and oppose the devil….
            #3 (4:8a) Draw near to God….
            #4 (4:8b) Sinners, cleanse hands….
            #5 (4:8c) and two-souled, hallow hearts….
            #6 (4:9a) Be distressed….
            #7 (4:9b) and mourn….
            #8 (4:9c) and weep….
            #9 (4:10) Be humbled before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
            #10 (4:11a) Do not speak against one another, brothers.

Like in the first chapter, after this section, there follows something quite positive, although it is somewhat hidden. The following is a somewhat-literal translation of what immediately follows the last command (1:11b-12). What seems to be the most positive words have been put in bold print.

The one speaking against a brother or judging the brother of him speaks against law and judges law. And if you judge law, you are not a doer of law but a judge. One is a lawgiver and a judge, the one being able to save and to destroy. And who are you, the one judging the neighbor?

This could be considered a ‘second stage’ of the gifts that were given in the first section of the epistle. These gifts are wonderful; they came from the Father above. They are able to save, and they are able to destroy—and those two things are a HUGE difference. If you would like to think of what point in the structure of the tabernacle or temple would match this, it may be the altar of sacrifice. At that point, because of what is sacrificed on the altar, something is destroyed, but something is also saved. And the one who is in charge of saving and destroying at that point is much better at his job than we could ever be.

The section that follows this positive point could be called a transition-point to the final section of the work (chapter 5). This section starts and ends with the phrase, ‘Come now.’ (4:13 & 5:1; and there is only one other use of the word ‘now’, in between these two occurrences, at 4:16, and there are no other occurrences of this word ‘come’ in this epistle.) The word basically means ‘lead’, and that is not a bad idea for those who are scattered. By a phrase which would appeal to those who are scattered, the writer has the attention of those who are ‘dispersed’ in some way. (Along with this section is the reminder that scattered people can easily focus on themselves by saying something like, ‘Tomorrow I am going to go HERE.’ The writer of this epistle, in a very wise way, puts our scattered focus on the Lord; see 4:15.)

After this ‘Come now’ section, it also happens that there are ten more commands. Note that the negative commands are not at the end this time, but are the fifth and the seventh. This is not the end of the writing, but in between these two commands is a better ending; it contains the last use of the word ‘telos’ or completion. And the Lord’s ending is a better ending than the ending of anyone else.

Here are the ten commands in the last chapter of the epistle (again, in somewhat-literal translations):
​
            #1 (5:1) weep….
            #2 (5:7) Therefore, be longsuffering, brothers, until the Parousia of the Lord.
            #3 (5:8a) Also you be longsuffering….
           #4 (5:8b) Strengthen the hearts of you, because the Parousia of the Lord has                      drawn near.
           #5 (5:9) Do not murmur, brothers, against one another, lest you are judged.
           Behold, the judge stands before the doors.
            #6 (5:10-11) Take an example, brothers, of the suffering evil and of the
           longsuffering of the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we                  esteem blessed the ones enduring; you heard of the endurance of Job; and you                  saw the completion of the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and pitying.
           #7 (5:12) And before all things, my brothers, do not swear….
           #8 (5:16a) Therefore, confess to one another the sins….
           #9 (5:16b) and pray on behalf of one another….
          #10 (5:19-20) My brothers, if anyone among you is led astray from the truth
           and anyone turns him, know this—the one turning the sinner out of the error of               way of him will save soul of him out of death and will hide a multitude of sins.

The sentence which contains the last imperative, the last sentence of the entire epistle, has similar language to the first negative ‘do not be led astray’ at 1:16. All through this epistle, the writer has had things to say to those who are scattered.

Before this last list of commands, it was mentioned why the negative commands are basically in the middle, surrounding the Lord’s completion. If, like above, you are thinking about what point in the tabernacle or temple would match this point in the epistle, one could think of the most holy place or ‘the holy of holies’. This is where the high priest ended up on that very special day of the year. This is a good place to have an ‘ending’ or ‘completion’, especially if one feels ‘scattered’.

This completion of the Lord that is in the sixth command may be pointing us to the cross. Even if the Jews who were getting this epistle were not present outside of Jerusalem when Jesus was on the cross, the symbol of the cross was significant in the Christian Church from basically the beginning, and the cross was a significant ‘gathering point’ for these who were scattered. Jesus, with his cross, brought them to completion. And he does similar things today.

Perhaps a tabernacle/temple structure will be studied in the next epistle, the Epistle to the Hebrews. Within all these laws is some very good news, just as in the tabernacle/temple there is also some good news. That importance of the negative commands may also be pointing us to the four prohibitions which come up in Acts 15, which James relates for the first time and also which may be connected to the four gospel accounts. In the same way, after some bad news comes some good news. More details about those connections must be saved for another time as well.

What is the point of looking at this text in this way? It is a good reminder that all words are not created equal. There are some small sections that are pointed to that are important, and these contain the closest thing to good news in this epistle. The people who were hearing these words for the first time—and this applies to some people today—those people were very focused on the Law, the bad news. But this epistle seems to be hinting at things that are much more important.