SATURDAY November 2, 2019
A Man of Truth
James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
James 1:1
In the Greek-Roman culture, when they wrote a letter, they would always sign the letter at the beginning. They first wanted the recipient to understand who was writing the letter to them, whereas we place a signature at the end of the letter.
The Apostle James wrote this letter to mostly Christian Jews, who were scattered abroad. James was the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. As we examine the detailed structure of the letter, we know Christian Jews would have understood his terminology used outside of Palestine. James had so much to say to his Jewish brethren through this short epistle. The word brethren in the Greek languagesimply means that they were brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As students of God’s Word, we need to be careful to know which James in the Bible we are speaking about. There was James the son of Zebedee. He was one of Jesus’ first Disciples, and brother to John known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” These brothers lived around the Sea of Galilee, and both were fishermen. They were also called the “Sons of Thunder,” perhaps because they had short fuses ––were hot-tempered. James became a martyr; he was killed by Herod Agrippa. Another disciple of Christ was named James the Son of Alpheus (Luke 6:15).
It is very clear who the author of the book of James was–– it was none other than James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Another half-brother of Jesus was Jude. Both brothers were not believers during Jesus’ earthly ministry. They become believers after the death of Christ.
The Apostle James was known as a man of truth. Are you determined to be a man or woman of truth?
Jesus said, “I Am the way and the Truth and the Life.”
~John 14:6 NLV~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit Somebodylovesyouradio.org!