Published: January 26, 2023 | Speaker: Dr. Chuck Hartman | Series: The Epistle of James - Part 1 | Scripture: James 1:1; Acts 15:1-29; Galatians 2:1-13
Transcript
View Full Transcript →
0:02
pray that we would not take this privilege for granted but rather continue to be thankful and to prepare ourselves for the possibility that we might not
0:12
always have this privilege help us to be in your word and to listen to the Holy Spirit as he reveals your will in your word
0:23
we pray that as we begin the Book of James that you would help us to understand the meaning of this book the context
0:33
the admonitions the exhortations we pray that the Holy Spirit would do as promised and that is guide us into all truth by illuminating your word to our
0:46
understanding we ask that it would be edifying for us and for us together as a church and most of all father that it would be
0:57
a pleasing offering in your sight as we seek to hear from you through your Holy Spirit Holy Spirit we ask in Jesus name amen
1:11
another administrative item just a reminder that the refreshment list is up on the board for our Thursday evening class so if you would like to bring a refreshment one of the Thursdays
1:24
please go ahead and sign up I believe I believe Angela is planning on doing next week but she didn't sign up so keep that in mind so
1:35
welcome back we are going to begin a study in the book of James
1:45
and hope to um to study the entire book in in one session not one week there's a lot in it and I think it I hope it will be very
1:56
beneficial especially considering the time that we've spent in Paul's letters of course we all know that Martin Luther
2:07
infamously called James an Epistle of straw believing that believing that James was in opposition to Paul on the
2:17
doctrine of justification Luther's statement has been somewhat taken out of context
2:27
um in his 1522 German Bible in his introduction to the New Testament he lists the books of the New Testament and he lists I think four of them
2:38
separated by a space below the other what is it 22 or however many total there are and James and Jude and Revelation and Hebrews are the four that
2:52
he puts down apart from the others convinced that they were not the writings of
3:03
Apostles and he does say that about the book of James that it is definitely not the writing of an apostle but he also does say that there is much good in it
3:14
and so he he really wasn't advocating taking out of the Canon he was simply saying and even the statement that he makes about it being an Epistle of straw even that statement
3:26
is relative is relative it's a comparative statement with Romans and Galatians and and letters of Paul so he's not saying in an absolute sense that James is full of straw
3:38
but relative to Romans and whatnot now I don't agree with Luther and neither did Calvin actually who considered the book to be very much a part of the Canon and
3:50
very much well worth reading um but Luther actually in his later Edition took that comment out about the the straw the straw apparently however I think several
4:01
commentators point out that the damage was done was done um that uh the Epistle of James has definitely taken a back seat to the Epistles of Paul
4:13
and James chapter 2 where he talks about faith and works have have definitely caused consternation caused consternation among readers for the last 2000 years so
4:25
and and so I think it was a good suggestion and it was actually a suggestion that came in in Clint's
4:35
hospital room hospital room as as Clint was in the hospital after his heart attack we were talking about what to study next and I think it might have been your daughter or perhaps it
4:46
was Francis that said how about James um so I think I hope it'll be beneficial to us to us um I don't as I said agree with Luther I think that um he had what we might call
5:00
tunnel vision tunnel vision in terms of his doctrine of justification by faith and therefore he he really wasn't able to understand
5:19
and and this is something that you'll see in uh in denominational uh doctrines where
5:32
perspective that anything that is said in a different way different way is looked at at least askance if not as heresy recently the I used the word perspective
5:44
already but the What's called the new perspective on Paul it's just not new it's been around since the 1970s the 1970s and so it's it's been around a while but it is very much considered to be
5:58
um Off the Mark if not heretical by many reformed theologians and that is because the doctrine of justification
6:10
has for so long been viewed from a forensic perspective forensic perspective meaning Jesus died in our place which is true
6:21
that any other perspective on Paul's teaching on justification is almost immediately considered false the problem is is that
6:34
the wisdom in scripture is is not um what's the word
6:48
single Focus there are perspectives and that's one of the reasons for example we have different Gospels rather than just one they give us a different perspective on
6:58
the truth that God is revealing they don't contradict each other but they are they're also not carbon copies of each other
7:09
and that's a phrase I shouldn't use anymore because anymore because half the population doesn't know what a carbon copy is but uh you know they're not the image of each other they have a
7:19
different perspective and James I think we'll see we'll see um does not in any way contradict Paul and it's hard for me to imagine Paul
7:31
reading James chapter 2. and not saying amen you know Paul reading James saying faith without works is dead
7:42
I think Paul would have said amen he would not have disagreed with that at all so all so James has has lived under This Cloud
7:53
for hundreds of years now and and hopefully our time in it if if there's still some Shadows of doubt in your mind concerning the Epistle of James hopefully our time in it during
8:03
this session will um take those away and we'll be able to see the presence of the Holy Spirit very powerfully in this epistle as much as any of those written by Paul
8:17
James starts out very simply by giving his name he um
8:29
he um he says James a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes who are dispersed
8:42
one of the most um well the most common aspect of any commentary any study of the book of James is the question
8:54
James who James who who is James okay it is evident that when he wrote the letter
9:06
it was enough to give the name James right he doesn't have to give any more information so the question is
9:29
and there are generally agreed upon three to four possible James's possible James's now modern Scholars like to throw in the
9:40
pseudopigraphy that it wasn't a James at all but somebody who wrote Under the name of James and they do this a lot with with Biblical you know this wasn't written by Paul but somebody who called himself
9:51
Paul and Paul and um and and we're not even going to go there because there's there's absolutely no foundation for that historically even though the letter did not
10:03
um make it into the Canon of New Testament scripture as smoothly as say Romans did and it was questioned by some
10:14
the authorship was really never questioned from the second century on it was written by James
10:26
and early on it was accepted that the author was James the Lord's brother but that hasn't been Universal and even during the Reformation that was rejected
10:37
so we're going to look at the options the jameses that we have to work with
10:51
and as I said three to four James's because the first one we're going to talk about is quite easily dismissed in terms of of any solid foundation for thinking that he
11:03
wrote this epistle or that he would be recognized simply by name and recognized as someone who could speak in the name of the Lord to the
11:14
churches or to the Believers and that is James the father of Judas
11:32
only Luke mentions him Luke chapter 6 verse 16 and Acts chapter 1 verse 13. both of which are Apostle lists or disciple lists in the first case and
11:44
then Apostle lists in the second case and it's fairly apparent that this James is mentioned just so we don't confuse this Judas
11:54
this Judas with Judas Iscariot okay there's no other mention of the father of Judas of Judas and so this James is two nondescript
12:08
that there's this there's just nothing for us to go on in the scripture that would give this man the gravitas necessary to Simply say James
12:18
and have that letter accepted as as authoritative or even considered as Canon material okay so this this is why there's three to four because many of
12:29
the commentators don't even mention him but he is there he's in the scripture okay the second one we're going to mention and we're going to mention them in order of removability as far as options
12:52
and acts 1 and again these are just lists of the disciples that Jesus chose and then those in the upper room okay after the Ascension of
13:03
Our Lord okay so they're just decide they're just Apostle lists and again I think the only mention of James is to distinguish the two judases the one who had already at this point
13:15
had already betrayed and and died okay but we'll make sure that everybody understands this is not the Judas that betrayed the Lord this is the Judas the son of James okay they obviously knew
13:27
who he was but then beyond that nobody knows who he was and it's it's hard to imagine in fact no no scholar that I've encountered has ever seriously considered him to be
13:39
the author of this letter second one however asked if no serious scholarships ever been applied to this James why is this James even in the
13:49
running just because a is only in the running because he's mentioned in scripture he's a James yeah he's a James that's why he's a James mentioned in scripture okay there's no other qualification but he's mentioned by one
14:00
author Luke and in the context of it is fairly clear that the attention was not being drawn toward him and so there's just really even that mention in scripture is almost a cameo
14:10
appearance here like Alfred Hitchcock in one of his movies but um the next one is James
14:26
the brother of John ah here we got somebody who's got some hutzpah right here we got James is one of the inner three right Peter James and John are often seen
14:39
apart from the other disciples with the Lord Jesus in the last hours of his life they are there in Gethsemane um sleeping but they're there
14:51
apart they're the ones on the Mount of transfiguration and see the Lord transfigured and His glory revealed and witnessed Moses and and Elijah so here's a James that certainly would have the
15:02
gravitas of writing a letter simply James the problem is and this is something I always found fascinating about God's
15:14
Providence and that is Jesus Takes these three James and John and Peter and and clearly you know these are the James and John or
15:24
the sons of thunder boajanis you know they're the ones who who want to be at the right hand in the left hand you know so they're they're they're they're almost as front and center as Peter is right in terms of of the gospels we hear
15:38
very little about most of the other disciples and nothing about some of them in terms of the recounting of of the narratives of Jesus's life but we you know John he's right there in the in the
15:50
Inner Circle Inner Circle um but he's also martyred very very early he's killed by Herod Agrippa
16:01
launching one of the earlier persecutions of Christians persecutions that were brought about not by the Romans but by the Jews
16:13
and and so James while he has the name recognition he's taken out of the picture very early in fact there I don't know
16:25
that there are any Scholars who believe that James would have written this letter because he's taken out by about A.D 44 which in the history of the
16:37
church is quite early and in fact so he's killed
16:54
and what I was saying about the Providence of God you know you you think that Jesus taking those three men into the Inner Circle was would indicate that they were going to have a unique part to play right well God's Providence doesn't
17:06
work like we think it does it was certainly not a surprise to to God that James was martyred so early on and as it turns out
17:18
um as far as the book of Acts is concerned and the history that we do have James the son of Zebedee had essentially no role no role to play I'm sure he did they all did
17:31
but in terms of what we know and what was recorded for our understanding can show up again until he's martyred by Herod Agrippa okay
17:42
two early two early martyrdoms that of Stephen and that of James caused a scattering of the disciples in Jerusalem
17:55
and so um if the death of James the son of Zebedee contributed to Believers Jewish
18:06
Believers leaving Jerusalem because we read in in Acts that Herod saw that it pleased the people that he killed
18:16
James and so he started going after more of them including Peter earlier on of course we read about Saul going about and going after Jewish Believers he wasn't going after Gentiles
18:28
we talked about that in the Pauline studies he wasn't attacking Gentile Christians he was going after Jewish Christians nazarenes people who followed the way the way but these people
18:40
were in Damascus but they they knew about these people back in Jerusalem the reason is probable and we're trying to reconstruct history a little bit
18:51
but we have the early church is is quite
19:01
in Jerusalem until we start getting into the missionary activities that take us to Syria and then on or I'm sorry Antioch in Syria and then on into Asia Minor and Beyond we know that there's already a
19:13
church forming in Rome because when Paul writes his letter there's already a church there so I'm not saying that Jerusalem was the only church but this was kind of the epicenter
19:24
especially of Jewish Christianity and so with these two persecutions or or the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution by Saul of Tarsus and then
19:36
the martyrdom of James and then of Herod Agrippa persecuting what this did was Jewish believers
19:48
left they they scattered and the idea within the Jewish mind all Jews who lived outside of Israel and
20:00
especially all Jews who were unable to get to Jerusalem for the annual Feasts were members of the diaspora the
20:10
dispersion okay so these Jews out here
20:20
they had a name okay and and even those who were listening to Jesus the unbelieving uh scribes and Pharisees when when he said that I have other sheep they were wondering well what is he
20:31
going to go he's going to go preach to the diaspora the diaspora and that had a meaning in that culture it meant the Jews who live outside of Palestine the Jews who are away from
20:43
Jerusalem and so James is actually addressing his letter to the diaspora that's the word in chapter 1 verse one in the Greek the 12 tribes of the diaspora of the
20:55
dispersion now we'll talk next week Lord willing about whether they're Jews or Christians but the word dispersion diaspora had a meaning
21:06
to Jews of the second temple era and that meant they were scattered they were Exiles from their land so if we piece this together correctly if I'm and I'm not saying I am because
21:17
it is conjecture but if if it was the death of J James the son of Zebedee that contributed that contributed to the diaspora
21:28
it was Harley B James the son of Zebedee who is writing to the diaspora does that make sense he's dead now and his death is what is causing these
21:39
Jewish Christians to flee from Jerusalem and later become the recipients of the letter of James does that make sense
21:50
okay so it kind of disqualifies James on two counts he dies too early and his death
22:03
was possibly and I would go so far as to say probably because we do have indication that these attacks upon Stephen and upon
22:13
caused Believers to leave okay so it was possibly a Cause
22:30
to which and I'm going to put the name in to which our letter is addressed so he could hardly be the cause and the
22:41
author at the same time or his death being a motivating cause for further persecution causing further scattering then leading to a now a population of
22:54
Jewish believers who are now exiles away from their homes and understanding the nature of the audience as the dispersion will make a
23:07
lot of sense better sense of what it is James actually writes
23:20
but they're probably thousands of Jacobs yeah yeah so it's a very common name and so we're we really are talking about somebody it's it's very very common name and so
23:33
we're to be able to address your letter by simply saying yaakov and people understand who it is that wrote the letter means this guy must have been pretty well known
23:49
no or the public pressure on that on that set not really if we read the book of Acts we find that there were periods when God gave them great grace and peace
24:00
and peace and that they grew in numbers so there were times of persecution but there were also times of of great peace because remember we've talked about the expectation that was in the air in the second temple
24:12
era knowing from The Book of Daniel for example that that God was it was time for him to do something so that you know there were a lot of people who um who are being brought in
24:24
large numbers three thousand in one day and then a large number of the priests we read are are coming into the faith so it's it's it's still a minority sect
24:34
within Judaism but it's not necessarily an unpopular one especially among the lay people lay people okay remember the vast majority of the
24:46
Jewish people are neither High priests nor Pharisees nor Pharisees there might have been five thousand Pharisees in Palestine at this time it's not a lot
24:57
okay so it's a it's it's still a popular move okay and there are those of course you don't understand there are still zealots thinking they're going to overthrow the
25:08
Romans I mean it still has all that same stuff that Jesus contended with when he was walking the Earth but uh you know people don't leave their homes
25:19
without good cause you you know that I mean they just don't get up and especially if you're a Jew living in
25:39
but when we read the book of Acts we see there wasn't always pressure okay let me let me find one of the uh see if I can find one of the passages where we actually read that they have a time of peace and growth
25:51
um in the early part of of Acts
26:08
and this is after the persecution of Saul of Saul we read so the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace being built up and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of
26:19
the Holy Spirit he continued to increase okay so yes there were times of pressure but there were also times of peace
26:30
what what I'm saying is when Herod Agrippa killed James that was a time of pressure when Saul was breathing out threats and murder that was a time of pressure
26:41
but in between those two this is chapter 12 that's chapter eight in between those two you had a time of peace and growth okay now there will be you know in Acts 21
26:53
Paul is making his last trip to Jerusalem James is still there Peter's not Peter's not of course he's already founded the
27:04
Church of Rome and he's Pope he's got other work to do um yeah you got to keep that in mind but Peter's not in Jerusalem in fact neither is John is John there doesn't appear to be any Apostles
27:15
left in Jerusalem in Acts 21. okay so yeah there's going to be uh pushing out pushing out but James is still there and there's still a significant number
27:26
of Believers there in Jerusalem even as late as as what might have been the early 60s early 60s okay had to be very early 60s we'll talk about that in a little bit all right so
27:37
I think we can say James the son of Zebedee was not the author okay and that is the general conclusion but we get to the next one James
27:58
now I I do not go into the discussion of what it meant to be a brother of Jesus I think we're all familiar with what the Roman Catholic Church maintains as the Perpetual virginity of Mary
28:10
and that and that what are those that are mentioned as brothers and sisters of Jesus were in fact cousins or half-brothers or Step Brothers from Joseph's previous marriage
28:20
and there's a whole bunch of stuff then it gets into whether alpheus is the same as cleopas as cleopas and I'll tell you what ancestry.com could not figure out and sort out some
28:30
of these commentaries as to who is who and who's related to whom it was almost as if the 12 disciples were just one big family reunion it's really weird but none of them are Jesus's brothers they're just cousins so
28:43
I'm not even going to go there I don't go there in the notes um it's it's almost mind-boggling but James the son of alpheus he's an apostle okay and so just like James the son of
28:54
Zebedee he has that um prima facie authority of being an anointed Apostle called by Jesus Christ so he is
29:05
an apostle and I'm going to use the no one in the early church the first several centuries
29:17
several centuries thought that James the son of alpheus was the author of the letter of James mainly because other than being listed as an apostle
29:27
he's a complete non-entity in the rest of the scriptures we don't hear about him from him at all at all like many of those 12 we don't hear
29:38
about them again now Legends will grow up later as about where they went and and they're nothing more than Legend because they have no foundation in any extant records of
29:50
History but during the Reformation they're kind of re-arose a qualification for canonicity
30:12
a book needed to be written by or under the direct supervision of an apostle and so Thomas Manton for example has this to say Thomas Manton was a 17th century English
30:25
Puritan in the general it is certain that the author was an apostle no Epistles but theirs being received
30:37
into the rule of faith so there's there's no consideration as to who this guy is presented to us as being
30:49
in Scripture in Scripture it is sufficient that there were two Apostles named James the first one though far better known
31:01
died pretty much too early to have written this Apostle or this epistle the second one we have nothing else from his pen nothing from his mouth
31:13
nothing about him from Luke in the book of Acts of Acts and yet and yet he's an apostle and therefore he wrote the letter
31:25
the logic is only an apostle can write a letter in the New Testament what years was that
31:36
well it's always been a part apostolicity okay there's always been a sense in which to be part of the New Testament Canon the author needed to be or be under the
31:47
direct supervision of an apostle okay and this is why books like Hebrews were were so well Mark was with Peter
31:58
Luke was with Paul okay even though Paul was not an eyewitness of the ministry of Jesus nonetheless it was sufficient under this Skies to say Mark and Luke are okay
32:10
because they were each with an apostle Mark with Peter and Luke with Paul that's okay um The Book of Revelation
32:22
says it's John but the nature of the book caused a lot of people to doubt including Luther the book of Hebrews is one that had a
32:33
tremendous amount of trouble and and I've I'll comment on this again because of its its bearing on this idea of apostolicity you know there are
32:43
just like the Book of James and what Thomas Manton says there is a a strong minority these days it was a majority for most of at least
32:54
Reformation history Protestant history that the book of Hebrews was written by Paul because the the language is very Pauline
33:04
it it seems to go over the things that Paul goes over not really but it feels like that Paul had a hand in it plus Paul was an apostle and if he didn't write this letter then
33:16
we don't know who did but we kind of wanted to keep it in the New Testament New Testament and so in order to do that we assign it to Paul but I've I've said this so many
33:26
times that you're probably um tired of hearing it but in in Hebrews 2 verse 3 the writer the author is saying um how can how should we escape if we neglect so great is salvation after it
33:39
was at the first spoken through the Lord it was confirmed To Us by those who
33:51
this is something that Paul would never have said in fact he says the exact opposite in several of his other letters where he says he received that's a chapter two of Hebrews
34:01
verse 3. verse 3. and Paul makes it very clear in other places that he did not receive his gospel second hand but rather directly from the Lord
34:13
so even in the face of such a disqualifying statement is that it still has to be Paul because he's an apostle okay apostle okay he had to write Hebrews because
34:25
he's the only one he's the only Apostle who could have written it and therefore he must be the author but that that's not I mean that's judging on the basis of a of a man-made principle
34:38
that that has no backing in scripture itself there's nowhere that we say you know we find written that um you know Thou shalt not allow any document not written or
34:49
under the supervision of an apostle to be admitted to the New Testament no we don't we don't see that anywhere and we see from the Old Testament but we don't know the authors of many of
35:00
the books of the Old Testament you know so there's even this idea of apostolicity is not backed up by the Canon of the Old Testament we really don't know to this day who wrote
35:14
Ecclesiastes I know a lot of people think it was Solomon but a lot of people don't okay so um this this is not this is not good enough
35:28
to bring James the son of alpheus the the prize the prize and his otherwise complete anonymity speaks strongly against him especially as we consider
35:40
the notoriety the notoriety of the fourth James a man a man more well known in that time than Peter
35:51
okay in Jerusalem and elsewhere we're going to find out that this James was an incredibly famous person a person who could
36:02
um who could have his name inscribed on a bone box and 2 000 years later the archaeological world is in an uproar okay this yaakov is is uh way above the
36:17
multitude of yakovs that are in Judea at that time and way above James the son of alpheus and so we we kind of dismiss you know he's he's a
36:29
disciple an apostle but otherwise he is
36:41
anonymous just not the type of person who could simply append his name to the beginning of a letter and it be recognized as authoritative pretty much wherever it
36:52
went so that takes us to the fourth one
37:21
well some of them actually say these are the same men but that he wasn't really a brother because alpheus is the same as glopus and that was he was married to a Mary
37:32
the sister of Mary okay uh Mary one and Mary two I guess um that's not so unusual because the Romans did the same thing they you know Julia
37:42
Julia Julia so um but these these Mary's were sisters and so either James and Jude and and the sister the the names of the Brethren the
37:54
brothers and sisters of the Lord that we read of in this in the Gospels they're either children of Joseph from a previous marriage previous marriage of which we know nothing about
38:05
or they are first cousins to Jesus because the Roman Catholic position prevents them from in any way admitting that Mary had any children by natural
38:18
generation that would violate the doctrine of Perpetual virginity okay so however they look at it it's got to come out where they they didn't come out of Mary's womb not that Mary
38:40
because because they they've adopted the view that has been common in Pagan religions and that is the the sanctity of virginity of virginity they've accepted the principle that Mary was herself blessed and born without sin
38:51
that's the doctrine of Immaculate Conception not Jesus's conception but Mary's so Mary herself was born sinless she is now the Queen of Heaven
39:02
it is the mariolatory that that it requires this because for Mary to go ahead with Joseph and have children like a normal woman would completely in their minds debase
39:14
her of the Majesty that she holds as the Queen of Heaven so it's tied up in the dock the false doctrine of virginity
39:24
being more uh holy than motherhood than motherhood okay so it's a it's a it's a mess but there is some logic to it
39:34
and I don't know you know chicken in the egg type of thing but I would say that it that very close to the beginning of all this was the elevation of virginity as being a higher level of sanctity
39:47
than normal Mortals and then once you do that well then you have to there's no way she had children in addition the word adelphoy
39:57
can mean cousins okay both the Hebrew and the Greek are not are not uh they don't have a huge vocabulary especially in the ancient world and so Brethren can mean
40:11
um cousins as well as actual Brothers now what kind of falls apart is when I was a John or is it Matthew whoever one
40:22
of them mentions his sisters now that wouldn't have been you wouldn't have mentioned sisters when you were talking about cousins you know it was a male it was you know
40:35
very everything was male oriented and that was that would not have been a comment made which means very clearly that these were his brothers and sisters and that's where you get the idea okay okay yeah
40:46
fine but they're only half brothers because they were of Joseph from a previous marriage previous marriage see you know you gotta gotta get gotta twist you gotta move you got to get away from the idea that Mary actually had
40:59
what it boils down to is that she actually had intercourse with Joseph okay because that that would violate her
41:19
burning their gifts to the Queen of Heaven yeah in Jeremiah
41:34
now there's all these courses for that we don't have it but here I'm reading that it's not a good thing no no no no in fact God says very clearly it's something I never commanded yeah the whole idea of praying to the Queen of
41:44
Heaven is right there in Jeremiah and the the Jews were doing it and and God was Yahweh is is is condemning them for it and now we have it within the Roman
41:55
Catholic Church the idea that she is the Queen of Heaven so but I would say to answer your question probably the first one was the the idea of the sanctity of virginity so looking at James the Lord's
42:05
brother and and and I think we need to accept the scripture um as as it comes to us and in its plain sense and that is these are the brothers and sisters of Jesus
42:17
born to Mary and Joseph after Jesus was born so their younger siblings we are told in John John chapter 7 that
42:28
the brothers were not believing at that so um the The View wherein these two men are the same man
42:44
is contradicted by the fact that this James wasn't a believer as far as we can tell after the resurrection now I don't even have time
42:56
to mention all of the places where this James is mentioned in the New Testament okay compared to these you know
43:07
you know he's he's on the you know the New York Times bestseller list but one of the more important places I think only because it does single him
43:17
out as out as as a unique individual is First Corinthians 15. where Paul is recounting
43:28
verse 3 for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received that the that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the
43:40
third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to cephas and then to the twelve and after that he appeared to more than 500 Brethren at one time most of whom
43:50
remain until now but some have fallen asleep then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles and last of all as it were to one untimely born he
44:00
appeared to me also James gets his own mention there okay now is this the same James well I think so because the next PATH next Clause is the apostles
44:12
hey James has mentioned by himself James shows up of course in Galatians in Galatians and again
44:22
and again how do we know that the James you just referenced isn't it because he's lumped together with the next Clause all and then to all the
44:34
apostles you know um and I think it's more of a chronological this this was they first he came to Peter then he you know then through the 12 then although there
44:45
probably were only 11 but then to 500 at one time and then to James then to all the apostles would you then
44:56
make an assumption and it's dangerous word I understand that we have had death burial resurrection of Christ and James number four is now
45:09
saved yes yes so he's not appearing to an unsafe brother he's appearing too uh that may have been the appearance that saved him yeah just as it was for Paul okay yeah right we don't have any we
45:20
don't have his testimony they didn't do that then um too bad we don't have a copy of his Bible it would be written in the front
45:31
yeah you can figure it out um no it's it's generally believed that this is the point at which James his brother was brought in um we can't be dogmatic about that
45:41
except to say that at some point between John 7 John 7 and First Corinthians 15. James gets saved um likely because John 7 is is really so
45:53
close to the crucifixion that it was after the resurrection so um then in Galatians 2 we read about the um
46:05
um the tetat between cephas Peter and Paul but earlier
46:19
after an interval verse one after an interval of 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus also and he goes on he says um
46:32
but we did not verse five we did not yield in subjection to them even an hour so that the truth of the Gospel might remain with you but from those who were of high reputation what they were makes no difference to me
46:43
God shows no partiality well those who are of reputation contributed nothing to me but on the contrary seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been to
46:54
the circumcised the circumcised for he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcise effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles and recognizing the grace that
47:05
had been given to me James and cephas and John who were reputed to be pillars gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of Fellowship that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised
47:17
James gets First Billing in the list and again at this point this James I'm sorry this James is probably already
47:33
so because we're we're now either shortly before or after he's talking about the Jerusalem Council which is an ad 50. and when we go to Jerusalem
47:46
we find that James is occupying a position of of leadership for the assembled meeting to debate this
47:57
doctrinal issue as to how Gentiles are to be saved and in Acts 15 we see that in Jerusalem there is still a party who is advocating not only circumcision
48:08
but obedience to the law of Moses in other words they're advocating proselyte conversion to Judaism for all Gentiles who desire to be
48:20
Christians their logic at that time would have been quite powerful quite powerful Jesus is the Jewish Messiah is he not these have been the things given to us
48:31
by God by God through Moses through Moses and so this is the way that a gentile just as it's always been if a gentile
48:42
wants to become a member of the people of God he must become a Jew so we can't immediately dismiss these people as being unbelievers
48:54
they were most certainly as they're presented these people are presented in Acts 15 as brethren they're not judaizers they're not the ones that are going out and troubling the Gentile Christians
49:05
that Paul is dealing with these are Jewish Believers in Jerusalem who really probably haven't encountered that many Gentile believers
49:17
but in their mind they still have to come through Moses because it's Moses and the Old Testament that gives us the promise of the Messiah
49:29
you can't get to the Messiah without going through Moses and so that's kind of the Crux of the debate in Acts 15. well we look at acts 15 and we we can't
49:41
necessarily because we are Gentiles we can't necessarily see it as it would have been seen at that time what it would have been at that time a
49:53
Council of Elders was called a Sanhedrin the Sanhedrin that meets and condemns Jesus
50:04
the Sanhedrin that meets and judges John and Peter and Peter that was the great Sanhedrin that was the Sanhedrin of the Jews these were the elders and the chief
50:16
priests but the word Sanhedrin would be like our word synod word synod okay it was not always capitalized like it like it is with the the one that
50:27
met in Jerusalem that the chief priest presided over anytime the Jews would come the Elders of Israel would come together to debate and discuss that's a
50:39
Sanhedrin and in a Sanhedrin Robert's Rules of Order basically required a chief rabbi sometimes he was called a president but he was essentially
50:50
the rabbi who presided and moderated and he would be the one who would summarize and conclude
51:01
so let's look at Acts 15. because when we do that we very quickly see first of all the structure of a Sanhedrin
51:13
which is quite loose in the sense um that it doesn't have rigid requirements in terms of speaking
51:23
anybody can speak and so looking at Acts chapter 15 um where do I begin let's see verse 5 but certain ones of the sect are
51:35
the Pharisees who had believed okay stood up saying it is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the law of Moses see they just stood up and said that's
51:48
how it was somewhat chaotic they would speak they would speak I think um in in First Corinthians 14 something comparable is going on in the
51:58
Corinthian Church only with prophecy and that is someone's getting up and prophesying and someone else getting up at the same time and prophesying and Paul says whoa
52:09
let's do this in order you know the spirit of Prophecy is subject to the prophet wait till the other guy's finished and then when the other man stands up
52:19
you sit down you know when the other Prophet stands up and then you all kind of Judge you judge what's being said well that's what's going on here they're not in a rigid hierarchy of
52:33
speaking they're able to speak and we find out that a lot of speaking is going on Before Peter Before Peter says anything
52:43
says anything and so verse 6 and the apostles and the elders came together to look into the matter and after there have been much debate Peter stood up now I wonder why Peter took so long
52:54
because actually what he has to say and then what Paul and Barnabas have to really cuts through the fog
53:04
but notice that Peter isn't the first one to speak a lot of debate is going on before Peter stands up stands up okay and then after Peter is done
53:20
it actually challenges them you know why verse 10 therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear and in the affirms that salvation is
53:32
through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way for the Gentile as for the Jew verse 12 and then all the multitude kept silent and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating
53:43
what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles and after they had stopped speaking James answered James answered well he's the last one that's going to
53:55
speak because what he's doing now is what the chief rabbi did in any Sanhedrin sometimes for good sometimes for ill in the trial of Jesus it was Caiaphas who
54:06
says what need have we to hear anymore okay out of his own mouth he has blasphemed that's the end judgment is rendered okay
54:17
so the chief Rabbi had that that Duty responsibility to summarize what had been debated and then to conclude it and so James is the one who does that
54:30
Simeon has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name and with these this the words of the prophets agree just as written after
54:42
these things I will return and I will rebuild the Tabernacle of David which has fallen and I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it in order that the rest of mankind May seek the Lord and
54:53
all the Gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord who makes these things known from of old therefore it is my judgment
55:06
now later on when he writes the letter he's going to say it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit so when he's saying my judgment he's not he's not admitting to a mere human
55:18
conclusion he believes himself to have the mind of the holy spirit it's like when Paul talks about my gospel not like it's uniquely Paul's as
55:28
different from Peter's or no it's the gospel that Paul preaches the gospel that comes from God the gospel that anyone else who preaches a different one even an angel should be accursed okay so
55:41
when when James says it is my judgment he is speaking as the chief rabbi as the moderator as the president of
55:51
this Sanhedrin this Sanhedrin we'll find him in the same role although not with any controversy at least not within the churches but in Acts 21
56:03
Acts 21 Paul has returned to Jerusalem after many years
56:14
verse 15. and after these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem and some of the disciples from caesarea also came with us taking us to Nason of
56:24
Cyprus a disciple of long-standing with whom we were to Lodge and when we had come to Jerusalem the Brethren received us gladly and now the following day Paul went in with us to James and all the
56:37
elders were present and after he had greeted them he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry and when they heard it they began glorifying God and said to him you
56:49
see brother how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed and they are all zealous for the law the law and they have been told about you that you are teaching all the Jews who are
57:00
among the Gentiles to forsake Moses this is a very important principle in understanding for example the letter to the Romans the Romans Paul did not teach Jewish Believers to
57:12
forsake the law he himself we read had taken vows okay he did not adhere at all times to the
57:23
Jewish customs Jewish customs unless he was with Jews he did not believe on the one hand he certainly didn't believe that a gentile
57:34
needed to become a Jew in order to become a Christian but he also did not believe that a Jew needed to become a non-jew in order to
57:44
become a Christian and so James says you know we can settle this pretty easily we have these men who have taken the
57:54
Nazarite vow Nazarite vow and their time is up but they don't have any money any money you see in order to get out of the Nazarite Valley you had to basically Ransom yourself Ransom yourself and make an offering
58:06
and apparently these guys were poor and so they had to keep letting their hair grow and couldn't have a glass of wine and you know but their vow had been completed and so he says sponsor these
58:18
men and go with them to the temple and show that will show that even though you are the Apostle to the Gentiles you're still a Jew
58:29
okay James is a Jewish believer and if we read the letter of James in any other light we're going to get confused
58:40
he is definitely coming at it from a perspective of a Jewish believer but I think it'll be very interesting to see what he doesn't mention in the Book of James the letter of James
58:54
circumcision the Sabbath the Sabbath dietary laws dietary laws are not found in that letter so see he didn't disagree with Paul as much as modern
59:06
authors think he did but he was still a Jew and for the most part he was not an
59:16
apostle he was not an apostle to the uncircum or the circumcised he was basically the chief rabbi of the Jewish Messianic synagogue
59:28
and as such became very well known in Jerusalem well known to the point of Legend
59:42
the point of him and this is kind of a silly Legend silly Legend but to the point of him being able to go alone into the most holy place to pray for the people of Israel and that he prayed so often and so much
59:54
that his knees looked like camel's knees