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Scripture Reading: James 1:1, 17-18, 21, 25; 2:2, 9-10; 3:13, 17; 4:4-5
In the Gospel of Mark we see a life — the life of the Lord Jesus — that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. By contrast, in the Epistle of James we see a life that is not fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. In this message and in the message following we shall consider a number of points in the book of James that indicate a mixture of the New Testament economy with the Old Testament dispensation.
James was a very godly man, and, humanly speaking, he was quite wise. But in instance after instance we see that James was occupied too much with Old Testament matters. No doubt, he was saturated, soaked, with the feeling, flavor, and atmosphere of the Old Testament. We cannot find a strong indication with James that he passed through the Old Testament dispensation fully into the New Testament economy. Probably James had been baptized. However, according to his writings, I do not believe that he ever experienced a thorough termination and burial of himself along with all the things of the past, both good and bad,
In his Epistle James still keeps the twelve tribes of the Old Testament dispensation. This is indicated by the way James begins this book: “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion (1:1).” The fact that James addresses his Epistle to the twelve tribes in the dispersion may indicate the lack of a clear view concerning the distinction between Christians and Jews, between God’s New Testament economy and the Old Testament dispensation. James may not have been clear that God in the New Testament has delivered and separated the Jewish believers in Christ from the Jewish nation. Therefore, the expression “twelve tribes” in 1:1 is too old; it is something of the Old Testament dispensation.
According to Paul’s writings, the Jewish believers in Christ have been called by God out of the old dispensation. In the book of Galatians Paul even regards Judaism as the present evil age: “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (1:4).” According to the context of the entire book of Galatians, the present evil age in Galatians 1:4 refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world, the Jewish religion. This is confirmed by Galatians 6:14-15, where circumcision is considered a part of the world, the religious world, which is crucified to the Apostle Paul. Therefore, Paul indicates in the book of Galatians that Christ gave Himself for our sins in order to rescue us out of the Jewish religious world, the present evil age.
The present evil age in Galatians 1:4 is equal to the “perverse generation” in Acts 2:40. On the day of Pentecost Peter told the people to be saved from this perverse generation. How, then, could such a godly person as James address his Epistle, which was written to Christian Jews, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion? This certainly was contrary to God’s New Testament economy.
In 1:17 and 18 James says, “All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow cast by turning. Having purposed, He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a certain firstfruit of His creatures.” These verses indicate that the Father of lights brought us forth to be the firstfruit of His creatures. This refers to the divine birth, our regeneration (John 3:5-6), which is carried out according to God’s eternal purpose. The fact that we have been brought forth by the word of truth means that the word is the seed of life, by which we have been regenerated (1 Pet. 1:23). Therefore, James indicates that we possess the divine life through the divine birth.
On the one hand, James addresses his Epistle to the twelve tribes. On the other hand, he speaks regarding the divine life received through the divine birth. The twelve tribes are something altogether of the Old Testament, whereas the divine life received through the divine birth is certainly a matter of the New Testament. What a mixture there is in the writing of James! He mixes the Old Testament with the New Testament. How could those regenerated by God, begotten of Him, still be addressed as the twelve tribes? How could James speak to the twelve tribes and then say that God has brought them forth to be a certain firstfruit of His creatures? Nevertheless, this is what James did in this book. How could the twelve tribes be brought forth by God to be a certain firstfruit? When we compare 1:1 with 1:17 and 18, we see how cloudy was the situation with James, as indicated by this Epistle.
At this point I wish to say that we should not be attracted to a person simply because he is godly. Throughout the centuries, many godly people have been in a cloudy condition with respect to God’s economy. They were under a cloud, veiled by their godliness. It is possible for us to be misled by a godly person just as Paul was misled by the godly James in Acts 21. It is not easy to avoid the influence of a situation that is spiritually cloudy.
In Acts 21 Paul took James’ suggestion to go to the temple with certain ones who had a vow and to pay the charge for them. We may think that in doing this Paul was broad and acting according to his word to the Corinthians: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order that I might gain Jews; to those under law, as under law (not being myself under law), that I might gain those under law” (1 Cor. 9:20). But in Acts 21 the Lord was not as broad as Paul supposedly was. On the last day of the vow, the seventh day, a disturbance took place, and Paul was arrested. If we read Acts 21 carefully, we shall see that the Lord did not agree with what was happening in Jerusalem, and He came in to deal with it.
In 1:21 James says, “Wherefore, putting away all filthiness and abundance of malice, receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” In this verse James likens the word of God to a plant of life planted into our being and growing in us to bring forth fruit for the salvation of our souls. This surely is a wonderful matter. However, this also is mixed with Old Testament matters in James’ writing.
In 1:25 James says, “But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues in it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in his doing.” The perfect law, the law of freedom, is an excellent thing. This is the law of life inscribed on our hearts (Heb. 8:10), the moral standard of which corresponds to that of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens decreed by the Lord on the mount (Matt. 5—7). Although the keeping of the perfect law of freedom is a very positive thing, James speaks of keeping this law in the Old Testament practice. This is indicated by what he says in 1:26 and 27: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this one’s religion is vain. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” Here we see that James charges the believers to keep the perfect law of freedom in relation to three things: bridling the tongue, visiting orphans and widows, and keeping oneself unspotted from the world. None of these is a crucial item in God’s New Testament economy. By this we see that James does not tell us to keep the perfect law of freedom in the New Testament practice. Rather, by charging us to bridle our tongue, visit orphans and widows, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world, he is speaking of Old Testament practices.
As we read chapter one of his Epistle, we see that James held to the concept of keeping the perfect law. In 1:22 he says that we should become doers of the word and not hearers only. Then in 1:25 he says that the one who looks into the perfect law and continues in it, being a doer of the work, will be blessed in his doing. James is clearly saying that we must be doers of the law. A doer of the law, according to James, is one who keeps the law. However, he does not tell us the New Testament way to keep the perfect law of freedom. The New Testament teaches that we keep the law of freedom by living and walking according to the Spirit. The entire New Testament is not for us to keep by ourselves; it is for us to live by the Spirit so that we may keep it. Merely keeping is a matter of doing by ourselves, whereas living is by the indwelling Spirit who is in our regenerated spirit. Now we do not need to try to keep the law by ourselves, and we do not need to be its doers by our own effort. What we need is a walk according to the Spirit. This means that instead of being those who do by ourselves we should be those who live by the Spirit. There is a great difference between one who keeps the law by himself and one who lives according to the Spirit.
In the Epistle of James there is not much that is according to the concept of the New Testament. Instead, to a large extent, the concept in this Epistle is that of the Old Testament. Yes, James speaks of the law of freedom, but he speaks of it in the Old Testament way of keeping the law of letters. James may have thought that the Mosaic law was not complete, not perfect, but that the New Testament teaching is perfect. James may have realized that the New Testament teaching is perfect and gives us freedom. Thus, according to James, we need to keep it; we need to be its doers. His concept of how to fulfill the law is not clearly according to the New Testament. His way of handling the law was according to the Old Testament way of keeping and doing by ourselves, not according to the New Testament way of living, walking, behaving, and having our being according to the Spirit.
Some readers of the Epistle of James may think that there is nothing wrong with being a doer of the perfect law. They may say, “James is right in saying that we should be doers of the law. Surely, we all must be doers of the perfect law of freedom.” If we read the Bible this way, we read it according to the natural understanding, not according to the enlightenment of the Spirit. Actually, all the New Testament teachings are definitions of the living and the indwelling of the all-inclusive Spirit within us. To try to keep these teachings or to do them by ourselves is not our need; our need is to walk according to and by the indwelling Spirit. When we walk according to and by the Spirit, we live the perfect law, the law of freedom; we live the entire New Testament. We do not keep the New Testament by our own effort; we live by the Spirit that we may keep it. Doing is something that is of ourselves, but living is by the Holy Spirit. This is the reason Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” The New Testament concept is this: no longer I, but Christ lives in me. The Epistle of James is not clear in this matter. James knew that we have been born of God, that God has brought us forth by the word of truth. Nevertheless, his concept concerning the living of God’s people, and in particular concerning practical Christian perfection, seems to be based on the concept of the Old Testament.
James mixed the practice of the New Testament economy with that of the recovered Old Testament dispensation. This is indicated by his use of the word “synagogue” in 2:2. We have seen that the Greek word sunagogeis composed of two words: sun,together and ago, to bring; hence, a collecting, gathering, congregation, assembly. It came to denote the place of gathering and was used in the New Testament to denote the congregation (Acts 13:43; 9:2; Luke 12:11) and congregating place (Luke 7:5) of the Jews. In Jerusalem there were quite a few synagogues of various kinds of Jews (Acts 6:9).
Synagogues did not exist before the Babylonian captivity of the children of Israel. After the temple was destroyed, the synagogues were formed. The Jews came to the synagogue seeking the knowledge of God by studying the Holy Scriptures (Luke 4:16-17; Acts 13:14-15). When the Jews returned from captivity, they brought back to their own country this practice of meeting in synagogues. This was a practice of the recovered Old Testament dispensation after the Jews had been recovered from Babylon. In Jerusalem there were synagogues for Jews who had returned from different areas and had their own languages and customs. After they came back to Jerusalem, they established synagogues according to these languages and customs. This was the reason there were different synagogues among the Jews in Jerusalem.
In 2:1 and 2a James says, “My brothers, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with respect of persons. For if there comes into your synagogue....” In 2:1 James speaks of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in verse 2, of the synagogue. This clearly indicates a mixture of God’s New Testament economy with the practice of the Old Testament dispensation after the recovery from Babylon. Apparently, James did not have any concept concerning the distinction between Christians and Jews. As used by James, the word synagogue may indicate that he regarded the assembly and assembling place of the Jewish believers as one of the synagogues among the Jews, perhaps a Christian synagogue. This may indicate that he considered the Jewish Christians still as a part of the Jewish nation, as the chosen people of God according to the Old Testament. If so, this indicates that he lacked a clear vision concerning the distinction between God’s chosen people of the Old Testament and the believers in Christ of the New Testament. What a serious mixture this is!
In chapters two and four of his Epistle we see that James still kept the Old Testament law of letters. For example in 2:9 and 10 he says, “But if you respect persons, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law, yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” This word indicates that James still practiced the keeping of the Old Testament law. This corresponds to the word in Acts 21:20 spoken by James and the elders in Jerusalem to Paul. Many thousands of Jewish believers still remained in a mixture of the Christian faith and the Mosaic law. James and the others even advised Paul to practice such a semi-Judaic mixture (Acts 21:17-26). In Acts 21 James encouraged Paul to keep the law. He was not aware that the dispensation of law was over and the dispensation of grace should be fully honored, and that any disregard of the distinction between these dispensations was against God’s dispensational administration and would be a great damage to God’s economical plan for the building up of the church as the expression of Christ. Thus, James’ Epistle was written under the cloud of a semi-Judaic mixture.
In his Epistle James emphasizes the importance of wisdom. In 1:5 he says, “But if anyone of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and does not reproach, and it will be given to him.” James realized that the wisdom of God is needed for practical Christian perfection. In 3:13 James speaks concerning the meekness of wisdom: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good manner of life his works in meekness of wisdom.” According to the context of chapter three, meekness of wisdom refers to restraint in speaking. In 3:17 James goes on to talk of the wisdom from above, saying, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, forbearing, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, unfeigned.” This wisdom includes the meekness in verse 13 and the human virtues mentioned in verse 17, all of which are characteristics of practical Christian perfection according to James’ view.
What James says about wisdom has an Old Testament flavor. According to James’ understanding, the wisdom that is from above may have been much like the wisdom given by God to Solomon. Solomon’s wisdom did not come from below, from the world, from Egypt; his wisdom came from above, from God.
The kind of wisdom James talks about is wisdom for human behavior. This wisdom has an Old Testament flavor, and it has nothing to do with New Testament wisdom. In the New Testament the wisdom of God is a matter of living Christ, of having Christ as everything. In 1 Corinthians 1:30 Paul says that Christ has been made wisdom to us from God. Furthermore, the New Testament wisdom of God is not for the building up of our character or Christian perfection; it is for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ. If you read 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, Ephesians 1 and 3, and Colossians 2, you will see what a great difference there is between these two categories of wisdom — the wisdom of the Old Testament for human behavior and the wisdom of the New Testament for having Christ as everything so that the church may be built up.
Many Christians appreciate the type of wisdom found in the book of James. The reason they appreciate this kind of wisdom is that they do not see the crucial matters of Christ as life and the building up of the church. Among today’s Christians, few messages are given concerning enjoying Christ as everything so that the church, the Body of Christ, may be built up. Instead, believers have a high regard for the Epistle of James. However, we can see that there is a great discrepancy between the wisdom in the Epistle of James and the wisdom of God revealed in the Epistles of Paul.
In 4:4 and 5 James says, “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever determines to be a friend of the world is constituted an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain: The Spirit who dwells in us longs to envy?” This is the only time James mentions God’s indwelling Spirit, and this negatively, concerning the abolishing of the friendship of the world, not positively, concerning the living of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ. Therefore, James does speak of the indwelling Spirit, but he speaks of the Spirit only in relation to dealing with the world.
Concerning the Spirit, there is a great difference between the book of James and the Epistles of Paul. Paul has much to say concerning the indwelling Spirit. For example, in Romans 8 the indwelling Spirit causes us to have life in our spirit, in our mind, and eventually even in our mortal body. In this way the indwelling Spirit causes our tripartite being to be fully saturated with the divine life. Of course, in Galatians 5 Paul also speaks of the striving of the Spirit against the flesh: “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (v. 17). Elsewhere in Galatians Paul speaks of the Spirit of the Son: “Because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father!” (4:6). We have received the Spirit of the Son so that Christ may be formed within us (Gal. 4:19). What a great matter it is to have Christ formed in us! Therefore, the Spirit of the Son is not merely for us to overcome the flesh and deal with the world, but is for Christ to be formed within us. Here we see a positive emphasis concerning the Spirit that is not found in the book of James.
