The Book of James

So I've decided to make a NEW blog, devoted just to my devotions.  This is mainly so I can have all of my devotions and notes all in one place :).  Here are a few posts that I'm transferring from my old journal, to this new blog :D.


Theme: Genuine Faith
Date Written: A.D. 44-49
Author: James
Setting: Jerusalem

This is the general idea of the book of James from my commentary:

The book of James is the earliest New Testament epistle or letter.  James was a leader of the church in Jerusalem.  Many people of the church of Jerusalem were scattered to Roman provinces because of persecution.  James wants to encourage them in their struggles.  He explains that genuine faith will produce real changes in a person's conduct and character.  He presents a series of tests by which a person's faith in Christ can be measured.  If real change is absent, then readers should examine themselves to make sure they are not showing signs of dead faith - which is really no faith!

First let's start with who James is.  There are many people from the Bible named James.  James was the half-brother of Jesus.  They had the same mother, but not the same father (Joseph was the legal father of Jesus, but Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit).

James and the other brothers of Jesus did not believe in Jesus as their Lord during the years of His public ministry (This I did not know. See John 7:2-8).  In Acts 1:14 we see that James became a believer sometime before the Pentecost day.  We know that his experience was genuine, because for the rest of his life he served Christ, as the book of Acts reveals.

Now that we have some background information we can start reading the book of James.
James Chapters 1-2 are about Actions of Faith.  I shall get to that tomorrow.

~ Mallory


James 2:17
"Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead."