Robert J. Foster asserts that there is no consensus concerning who wrote the Book of James, in which four views on the authorship have been fronted. Not only is the authorship of the book contentious, but also the dating of the epistle. There are those who hold the notion that the book was written before the Pauline letters, while other people strongly believe that James’s letter was written after the Pauline letters. The Pauline letters constitute thirteen books in the New Testament, the pseudonymous letter and the last one in the category is the letter that entails material initially from James but later on an editor working on it. The author referred to himself as James the servant of the Lord which was confusing as there were six different people named James in the Bible. Jesus had two of his apostles with the name James. One was James the son of Alpheus while, of which very little was known about him, while the other disciple was James, the son of Zebedee. It is unfortunate that none of them wrote the letter (Calloway, 2015). The authorship of the book of James, however, is directed to James who was referred to the brother of Jesus to whom Jesus appeared to after He resurrected as told in the New Testament as this particular James was widely known among his disciples.
In the mid-3rd century, the early Christian writers who were designated church fathers (patristic) authors cited James the brother of Jesus greatly took part in the authorship of the book. James was not among the disciples, but he was highly revered among the Christians as he had a fundamental role in the leadership of the church in Jerusalem (Calloway, 2015). According to Paul, James was one of the three pillars of the church, and he even referred to him as “the brother of the Lord.” James, the brother of Jesus, is recognized and honored by the epistle in pseudonymous authorship. Scholars point out that the epistle was written and distributed after his death. Opponents of this view hold that the book was written by the less known apostle, James, son of Alphaeus. Martin Luther King is one of the prominent personalities that refuted that the book was the apostle’s work. He later termed it as the “Epistle of straw” to avoid the conflict that he thought would be raised with Paul in regards to the doctrine of justification. The sacred tradition of the second largest Christian church known as the Orthodox Church disagrees with the other claims. James, the brother of the Lord, was the first bishop of the first Christian church.
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Of the three James who were closely associated with Christ, I believe that James the brother of the Lord was responsible for the authorship of the epistle of James. He was different from the other two James of the twelve disciples. This is because his teachings were almost similar to that of Jesus and emphasize obedience to the law and talk about how salvation is obtained. This is therefore reasonable that he wrote the book of James. He after that expounded on the Law and revealed the new covenant further. James closes his letter with an equal emphasis on faith with action. He addresses the believers who are happy, suffering, and ill to pray and praise God. (1 Kings 17; 18) he cited Elijah’s example; He prayed that the rains would stop and God listens and after that prayed for the rains to come and they did.
In conclusion, James elaborates the most important thing the believers should do to their fellow believers is to get them back to Christ from their misleading ways. This practice had the greatest reward. This confirms that James was very concerned about the believers he led. This followed the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Bibliography
Calloway, Brent A. THE BOOK OF JAMES:(CPH CHRISTIAN LIVING COMMENTARY) . Vol. 15. Christian Publishing House, 2015.
Version, King James. Holy Bible . Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017.
