Epistle of James

The Epistle of James is a general epistle and one of the 21 epistles (didactic letters) in the New Testament. It was written originally in Koine Greek. James 1:1 identifies the author as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" who is writing to "the twelve tribes scattered abroad". Traditionally, the epistle is attributed to James the brother of Jesus (James the Just), and the audience is considered generally to be Jewish Christians, who were dispersed outside Israel. Framing his letter within an overall theme of patient perseverance during trials and temptations, James writes in order to encourage his readers to live consistently with what they have learned in Christ. He condemns various sins, including pride, hypocrisy, favouritism, and slander. He encourages and implores believers to live humbly by godly, rather than worldly, wisdom; he encourages prayer in all situations. Famously, Luther at one time considered the epistle to be among the disputed books, and sidelined it to an appendix, although in his Large Catechism he treated it as the authoritative word of God. The epistle aims to reach a wide Jewish audience. During the last decades, the epistle of James has attracted increasing scholarly interest due to a surge in the quest for the historical James, his role within the Jesus movement, his beliefs, and his relationships and views. This James revival is also associated with an increasing level of awareness of the Jewish grounding of both the epistle and the early Jesus movement.