The New Testament Book of James

James the Just (as he was called), the brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem church exhorts us to be a doer and not just a hearer of the word.

James has oft been a book that believers turn to when they need to reground themselves as to what the evident life of a Christian looks like to the rest of the world. When focus of the Christian walk seems to almost exclusively lean towards grace and mercy (fine attributes unto themselves, but when modeled exclusively look more like apathy and decay) and exclude the hard hitting messages of repentance and evidence of a changed life, James is a gem of an epistle and a valuable “Go To” for those who need to “exercise” the victorious attributes of a life in Christ.

James is careful to cover the theology of Suffering / Testing, Eschatology, Christology, Poverty-Piety, Law, Grace and Faith, Wisdom, and ultimately Prayer.

James has long languished in comparative neglect, while its more famous sister-letters in the Pauline corpus enjoyed the limelight of New Testament study. While James has suffered from many unlearned teachings, as to its out-of-step message with the whole of scripture, careful study of this magnificent work reveals just the opposite is true. James and Paul are perfectly in tune with each other in their representation of Christ and the Christian experience.

James will reward all who take the time to unearth its richness.