First, a word of clarity. There is a spurious 2nd-century work that goes by the common title “The Gospel of James”, full of terrible inconsistencies, heretical assertions and strange stories. This book is not what is in view here.
Rather, it is the actual Gospel and the historical person James , the brother of our Lord, that I’m thinking of as I type this and prepare to preach through his epistle to the church. As I have researched and contemplated the man behind the pen of that letter I have discovered a rich history full of the patience and mercy of God.
It is a story that begs one to consider the Gospel; to think of one’s own lost condition before God’s intervention and how God can make so much of so very little in a person’s life. For a more thorough history of his life, including many of the events recounted here, you may want to read here.
James’ epistle is thought to be the first of the New Testament documents to be written and distributed. There is a tremendous amount of grace and Christian truth in his letter and a significant call to the practical outworking of the Christian faith. One may look to that inspired (and inspiring!) letter and learn a great deal about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A study of James’ life renders a similar effect, calling on us as a Christian community to consider God’s patience and mercy as he deals with us sinners and to be assured that His purposes for us are far greater than what we often see in ourselves.
James, the Unbelieving Young Man
Although there is very little in the New Testament about the early life of James and perhaps nothing of historical antiquity to tell us about him, the Bible tells all there is to know about James in John 7:1-5. In that story James and the other brothers of Jesus somewhat disparagingly invite him to accompany them to Jerusalem, to the Feast of Booths, challenging His messianic messages and signs saying “If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” (John 7:4). John interprets this by saying “For not even his brothers believed in him” (7:5).
This attitude of James speaks to the utterly lost condition of man apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. It is frightful to consider how familiar a person can be with Jesus, so exposed to the things that he did and taught, and still be unable to grasp his messianic mission. No one could boast of being more familiar with Jesus than James and his siblings- they grew up in the same home together! Yet it is true that until God intervened in James’ life and caused him to believe on Christ that James was totally lost in his sins.
In order for saving faith to be present in a person’s life there must be Gospel proclamation. It is impossible for a person, having not heard, to believe. It is very possible, even common, that person would hear and not believe. Opponents of the Christian faith often assert that if God would just “show them a sign” or “reveal himself to them” that they would believe; James’ story contradicts this. The depravity of man is not such that works of the flesh can reverse it. They, like James, would reject Jesus if they grew up in same house as Him. Because we are all born into the world as sinners we can be sure that we too, apart from the effectual calling of God and gift of faith, would reject Christ as the Savior and hope of mankind.
God Was Not Content to Leave James in Unbelief
We can’t say with certainty when it was that James was rescued from his unbelief and became a follower of Jesus. The Gospels don’t record anything about his conversion but Paul does say (I Cor. 15:7) that after Jesus’ resurrection He appeared to Peter, the other apostles and James- with James singled out from the rest. Perhaps it was at this time that James repented of his unbelief and looked in faith towards Christ. Nonetheless, we know that James experienced the effectual calling of God, enjoyed the benefits of regeneration and was declared righteous before God. Such is the case for all believers (Rom. 8:30).
How could this be? James had every opportunity during the course of Jesus’ life to follow Him. James, more so than any of Jesus followers, had opportunity to observe Jesus’ life and still he didn’t believe in Him. It is so hard, so scandalous to believe to God would allow James to experience the blessings of salvation after James had displayed such obstinate unbelief.
This is one of the great mysteries of the Gospel. It is an everyday occurrence, yet no less miraculous, that God reveals himself to those men and women who have most adamantly opposed him. We can be sure, you and I, that God has dealt no differently with us. Those of us living in Western society are exposed to more Gospel proclamation, literature and community than any people at any time in the history of the world yet do we not reject the goodness of God? Do we not question and doubt His Word and the works of the only begotten Son? Before we were ransomed from sin and our darkness was turned into marvelous light were we any less guilty before the Lord than James? In His divine patience and mercy God calls, not a moment too late, to His church on the earth.
James, The Leader in Jerusalem
After James’ conversion he did not become a passive member of the church. The testimony of Acts and Paul’s letter to the Galatians confirms that James became a central and authoritative figure in the early. His ministry took place in Jerusalem, the first century epicenter of the Christian faith. Paul identified James as one of the “pillars” of the church (Gal. 2:9) alongside Peter and John. When the infant church faced serious doctrinal issues pertaining to circumcision and the Gentiles these issues were hashed out at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15) and deliberations involved Jewish believers, elders of the Jerusalem church, Peter, Paul and Barnabas. At this deliberative council it was James who handed down the final word on the matter (Acts 15:13) and to whose authority the others, including the apostles, agreed to submit.
So pious was James that he came to be called “the Just”. C.A. Torrey remarked that James was given another title, “Oblias”, and said “James, the bishop of Jerusalem, was given the title in question as the guardian, the protector, of his flock.” The second century Christian historian Hegesippus, cited in the article referenced earlier, commented on James’ extreme piety and high esteem among the people of Jerusalem.
When God called us to Himself, he didn’t do so with intentions to make us casual churchgoers. Although in His wisdom God has not chosen all of us for the same ministries or services, he has determined to mold all of us into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) and to use us to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. How wonderful it is to contemplate this aspect of God’s redemptive work! James, an unbeliever during the ministry of Christ, became one of the most adamant defenders of the faith. We pray that God will take us as well, considering us worthy in Christ to do great things for the Kingdom.
A Witness to the World
Eventually James’ faithful proclamation of the Christian Gospel would cost him his life. He was taken on the wing of the Temple at Jerusalem before the people of the city and called upon as a respected and just man to denounce those who followed Christ. His response:
“Why do ye ask me respecting Jesus the Son of Man? He is now sitting in the heavens, on the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come on the clouds of heaven.”
Thus he was thrown from the Temple, where he fell to the ground though he did not die. He was subsequently stoned and finally received a fatal blow of a club to the head. It was there in 69 A.D. that he made much of Christ and it was there that they lay his lifeless body, soul in Heaven, to rest. Said Hegesippus, “Thus he suffered martyrdom, and they buried him on the spot where his tombstone is still remaining, by the temple. He became a faithful witness, both to the Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ.”
Such it is in the Christian history. The story of the church of Christ is the story of countless martyrs; men and women who counted all as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. James’ story, like many before and after him still to this day, is the story of a man who lived out Paul’s famous words: to live is Christ and to die is gain.
The Christian Gospel is plain, yet mysterious. Sometimes it is described as simply as taking a drink of water, some give their whole lives to elaborating its intricacies. For some it is foolishness, for others it is the very essence of life and hope. The Gospel is seen plainly in the life of James; a sinner rejected Christ in darkness of heart, God graciously revealed himself to James and ransomed him then made much of Christ through the new life into which James was born. So it is with us. We cannot understand why a sovereign God has chosen us out of the world or why he would demonstrate patience and mercy to us, calling us to himself at the appropriate time and using us as vessels to make much of Christ. Nonetheless, may God continue to bless us with His riches in mercy, grace and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Preston Kelso 