Should the Letter of James Be Included in the Bible?

James 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.

Trials and Temptations

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faithproduces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should notexpect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Today we start our journey through the epistle of James. Most think the writer is not either of the apostles, who were named James, but James, the brother of Jesus. This James was a leader in the early church in Jerusalem.  James is a book that has been questioned in terms of whether it should have been included in the canon of scripture. (Canon means the final decision about what books should be included in the bible) In different times in history it was been either included or excluded, especially during the first 4 centuries of the church. It was finally included by Athanasius in the New Testament canon in 367 A.D. and pretty much stayed in the bible since then.  Luther was not fond of this letter and called James a "straw gospel". 

Why was there so much controversy over the letter written by James?  Without getting into too much detail, the most pressing matter was James' focus on "works".  I.e. Faith without works is dead.  Also, there is not much mention of Jesus is the book (only 2 times in 5 chapters) Similarly the concept of grace is only mentioned 2 times.  When compared to Paul's focus on grace alone, faith alone based on Christ alone, we can see why there has been some drama surrounding this letter and its inclusion in the New Testament.  

James is sort of like the New Testament proverbs as it kind of rambles on with no apparent structure and lots of prescriptions of right behavior. and ethics  It is certainly not linear.  There is also argument over the dating of the letter. Some argue an early date around 50 A.D. and others much later toward the end of the century, when there was much persecution happening in the church.  Some harmonize Paul and James by saying Paul focused more on the issue of justification, as it was a major issue to the churches he wrote to.  Others say James argued about Christian lifestyle and works, because in his day believers were saying, "I have faith so I don't need works!"  Of all the arguments, I think this is most plausible, because as we know the most important principle to interpreting the bible is context.  Many of Paul's letters were to very young churches and he wanted to make sure their doctrine was correct, especiallly concerning the person and work of Christ.  Whereas James seems more interested in the authenticity of the Christians in a heathen society.  He was more interested in themes like good works, giving to the poor, and resisting temptation.  

We see this last theme in the verses above.  These are in my opinion some of the best verses on tempatation especially verses 2-4. Here are the major points gives in these 3 verses. 

1. Consider joy when you face trials.  Right away this seem counter-intuitive but he will explain why this soon.  The word "consider" has to do with make a mental decision, or having a mindset that focuses on the outcome of overcoming temptation. 

2. Trials of many kinds.  James does not limit temptation to a specific sin, but shows that there are many different ways in which we are tempted.

3. James intentionally uses the word "tempt" with "test", as if they were two sides of the same coin.  What someone would view as temptation could be looked at as testing, especially as one grows stronger as they resist and overcome temptation. 

4. Resisting temptation produces perserverance, which when it completes it work produces maturity and completeness.  In this view temptation is what matures a Christian to be more reliant on Christ.  As the fire purifies the precious metal, temptation purifies a believers heart.  Therefore maturity in Christ relates to being able to recognize temptation for what it is and realize we can have joy because it will ultimately make us stronger as we overcome it.  

So you can see James is very practical.  We all are tempted in many ways every day.  We give in to temptation on a regular basis, but as we confess our sins we move on and try to grow in maturity.  There were sins in my life that were very hard to root out early on, but now they don't seem as tempting to me. Whereas other sins of the flesh like pride and vanity are more noticeable to me.  

Bottomline we will be growing to Christ-like maturity our whole lives and struggle with temptation until Jesus takes us home.  In the meantime we can consider it joy knowing that temptation tests our faith and makes us more like Christ, who though tempted never gave into temptation.  A great goal for us.