Overview of the Book of James

Moore's Corner Church

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The overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of James, written by the half -brother of Jesus.

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James is one of the earliest of the New Testament books, and the theme is

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Christian living. James is a book about how Christians are supposed to live, and that's essential in order to understand what

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James says in chapter 2 of his letter, especially in verse 24, when he says, You see, then, that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.

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So this confuses people because James seems to come right out and say that we are saved by faith plus works.

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And as you know, the core Christian teaching of the gospel is that a person is saved by grace through faith, not of works.

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Paul makes this very clear in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, also in the book of Romans, in particular chapter 4 of Romans.

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And many throughout church history have compared James chapter 2 to Romans chapter 4.

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And on the surface, it seems that Paul and James are at odds with one another.

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But as Bible believers, we know better than that, that the scripture does not contradict itself.

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So the key to harmonizing this supposed conflict is to understand what the two authors are doing.

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Why is James writing versus why is Paul writing? Paul in Romans is writing to explain the gospel and how to be saved.

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James is writing to explain how saved people are supposed to live.

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So after all, you have to consider Jesus talked about this, how in the Sermon on the

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Mount, Matthew 7, 15 through 23, that there is such a thing as a false profession of faith.

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So if somebody says they have faith, but there's no evidence of that. If they don't have any works, if they're not producing good fruit, then their faith is really a dead faith.

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And James makes it clear that a dead faith saves no one. So James is not really a theological book.

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Paul in Romans, that book is theological. James, this is more of a practical book.

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It contains moral and ethical teachings that demonstrate Christianity is not just a belief that we assent to in our mind.

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It can also be called a religion because it involves what we do. As James says, we are to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

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Otherwise, we deceive ourselves. I'll close with what James says in chapter one, verse 27.

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He says, pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this to visit widows and orphans in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.