Introduction to The Book of James, Part 1 (TMF:1870)

Friday, June 10, 2022
Peace to Live By: Introduction to The Book of James, Part 1 (TMF:1870) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       Now, the Book of James was written by a man named James (for the title, then, follows the author of the book). The author bearing the name James was actually Jesus’ half-brother, in my position. The author isn’t the brother of John (the one whom Jesus loved, who wrote the Gospel of John) as that James died a martyrs death early on in the beginnings of the Gospel being proclaimed (see Acts 12). Therefore, that’s why we don’t call him the Apostle James because he was not of the original twelve disciples of Jesus. The date for the writing seems to be in the mid-to-late 40s in the first century, so some fifteen to twenty years after Jesus’ ascension into Heaven. Like Thomas is so famously recorded for, James here, who like I said was Jesus’ half-brother (having been a son of Joseph and Mary; remember, Jesus’ real father was God himself), he did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah that was to come to Israel, God’s original chosen people. Recall, John recorded for us in John 7:5: “For not even his brothers believed in him” (ESV).