Here is a little-known letter in the New Testament which carries many important messages from the early church. Traditionally the author is said to be Jesus’ brother James, one of the Apostles, but the scholars’ dating process seems to make such an early authorship unlikely. In addition, the author does not in any way mention or imply any special connection with Jesus. Nonetheless, there is much to be learned from this letter which was obviously written by an early church leader.
The “possible” facts are that if this letter was written by James the brother of Jesus then not only was he an early disciple, but early on he became the head of the New Testament Church in Jerusalem, as is documented in the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Acts. It is both interesting and somewhat surprising that we are not told much if anything about how this leadership position came about. In addition, we hear nothing more about James a brother of Jesus and leader of the Church in Jerusalem.
It was James, we should remember, who announced the Church’s ruling in Chapter 15 that: “We should impose no strict restrictions on those of the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19), thereby accepting Gentiles along with Jews into the newly formed Christian fellowship. A powerful announcement, indeed.
It is not certain but likely that the reference to “James,” in the opening salutation of the letter of Jude is meant to link that author to both James and Jesus. These possible connections are thin but yet strongly possible. They matter, of course, because they possibly shed light on both the author of the Letter of James and that of Jude. The whole question of the relationships between and among the members of Jesus’ family in relation to the birth of the church is complex at best.
What really matters here, of course, is what it is that the Letter of James has to say to us today. There are, to be sure, many detailed observations and directions given in James five short chapters. I only want to focus here on a couple of these. Most importantly there is the crucial distinction that James draws between faith expressed in actions and faith simply uttered in word. Embodied faith is the only faith that is real. We are all familiar with the expression “Faith without works is dead.”
James states the distinction this way: “Prove to me that this faith you speak of is real though not accompanied by deeds, and by my deeds I will prove to you my faith.” (2:18) The key distinction here is between faith expressed merely in words and faith expressed by deeds. Or: “As the body is dead when there is no breath in it, so faith divorced from deeds is lifeless as a corpse.”(2:26)
The tricky thing here is that words, too, can count as deeds. When we give a promise, for instance, or answer a question, we do so in statements which are themselves words unaccompanied at that time by any additional actions. And even deeds which seem to make one’s intentions and commitments clear, can be deceptive. Words too are actions. So the most real answer to this seeming paradox is that there must be harmony between what we say and what we do.
James goes so far as to claim that “Faith that does not lead to action is itself a lifeless thing.” (2:17), which would seem to reiterate the line “Faith without works is dead.” Yet sometimes a strongly held silence itself constitutes a deed, while a great deal of action wrongly placed can itself amount to nothing. Sometimes speech is a deed and sometimes deeds themselves are also speech. In all of his wrestling here James pretty well covers all the bases.
The main take-away is that simply saying or thinking one is being faithful (church going, saying the creed, voting for conservative candidates, etc.) is not really FAITH. Faith involves living a life characterized by the same qualities that we see in Jesus: humility, love of ALL neighbors, helping others, etc. Walking the talk.