1 - From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: Greetings to all God's people scattered over the whole world. (GNB - See Note 1)
***Vs. 1 – "James" - Letters written in our time, almost always come with the following format: Hello. Subject. Goodbye from me. Letters in 60 AD combined the hello and the goodby-from-me at the first. This is sort of like a business letter, with the letterhead, office address and such. We still don’t usually put our name on the letter until the end. The letter is ‘from James’ (no last name - “Last name” is a fairly modern phenomenon). There are several James that could be the likely author - see the discussion on the “Intro to James” page.
‘A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,’ – James is proudly claiming to be a slave. Other translations (see Note 2, below) use the word ‘bond-slave’, which is the nuts and bolts of the words ‘servant’ seen here. See the following definition: a bond-slave is “metaphysically, one who gives himself up to another's will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men”. In simpler terms: a slave.
The term ‘bond-slave’ comes from the OT. Normally, a person became a slave to another in order to pay off a debt. This situation was not a permanent position for Jews. After the debt was paid, the ‘slave’ was freed. If the debt could not be paid off, the Israelite would be set free in a Jubilee year (see Lev 25).
However, the slave could voluntarily become permanently bonded to the master. See: “It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.” (Deut. 15:16-17)
James is stating the simple truth that when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we do so voluntarily. We are not forced to believe Him or love Him. But when we do, we are completely and permanently His.
James bonds himself to God, and to Jesus. The significance of this: Jesus is not “less” than God. Not that I see that as a possibility, but there are others who question that Jesus indeed may be God Himself. In God’s theology, the trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three-in-one. Jesus claimed ‘one-ship’ with the Father. Denying that Jesus is Lord places the declarer in jeopardy.
“Greetings to all God's people scattered over the whole world.” - So the letter is going out to Christians, wherever they may be in the empire. It probably was meant for Jewish Christian believers because other translations say, “to the twelve tribes”. This may place this letter about 48-50 AD. Also, the emperor Claudius ejected Jews from Rome about this period. Jewish Christians would have been kicked out along with non-Christian Jews. They moved to far-flung places in the Roman kingdom to escape persecution. It is significant that it was not just devout Jews that were displaced.
About 51 AD Paul and Barnabas made the presentation to the elders (leaders) in Jerusalem. James (who wrote this letter) says that Gentiles do not need to become Jewish before becoming Christian.
This is important because Christianity now becomes its own entity, not just another Jewish sect. (See Acts 15:1-30.) Just as there is various denominations in the Christian churches, there were factions of the Jewish faith (e.g., Pharisees vs Sadducees.) If the trend had continued, if James and the leaders of the Jerusalem church would have come to a different decision, the members of the church would have first had to convert to Judaism. But God announced in Isaiah that Gentiles would come to Him, on their own (Isa 49:10-11, 56:7b). Until Paul and Barnabas got confirmation from the other apostles, Gentile Christians were kind of an afterthought. Note: Paul and Barnabas made the defense of the Gentiles about 57 AD. (Acts 15:12,13) - James, and the other elders, understood that the Gospel was for all, not just some. Forgiveness was purchased for all men (people).
***A more poetic statement of Jam 1:1 is found in 1 Pet 2:9-10: “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” (NASB-1995)(see Note 2, below)
***Note 1: GNB = Good News Bible - Today’s English Version; American Bible Society; 1992. The ‘Good News for Modern Man’ was the Bible I had when I committed my life to Jesus Christ at Explo ‘72. And I started reading it. The books that affected me most were Colossians and James. At one point (later) I had most of Colossians memorized, and some of James. Unfortunately, I no longer have them completely committed to memory - old age has diminished my ability to memorize or to quickly call up that which I still retain. However, I still love to read Colossians and James in the GNB translation, even though it may not be the most accurate. When I come to a verse that is made more clear by a different translation, I will refer to it.
Note 2: For example, New American Standard Bible (NASB-1995), or Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB-2010), are a couple of the other versions I have used.
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