A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of James

AN

EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES,

ON THE

EPISTLE OF JAMES.

CHAPTER I.

Verse 1. — James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered, abroad, greeting.

JAME8,^\ There were two of this name, the son of Zebedee, and the son of Alpheus : the latter is the author of this epistle, as in the prefatory discourse on the title more fully appeareth. S^A servant of God, ,] The word SovXoq is sometimes put to imply an abject and vile condition, as that of a slave or bondman; so the apostle Paul, when he saith " bond or free are all one in Christ " (Gal. hi. 28) ; for " bond " he useth the word covXoq; and this great apostle thinketh it an honour to be ?od\og, the servant of God. The lowest ministry and office about God is honourable.

But why not apostle ? Grotius supposeth the reason to be, because nei- ther James the son of Zebedee, nor James of Alpheus, was the author of this epistle, but some third James ; not an apostle, but president of the presbytery at Jerusalem ; but that we have disproved in the preface. I answer therefore, he mentioneth not his apostleship, — 1st, Because there was no need, he being eminent in the opinion and repute of the churches. Therefore Paul saith, he was accounted a pillar and main column of the Christian faith (Gal. ii. 9). Paul, whose apostleship was enviously ques- tioned, avouched it often. 2dly, Paul himself doth not in every epistle call himself an apostle. Sometimes his style is, "Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ" (Philem. 1); sometimes, "Paul a servant of Christ" (Phil. i. 1); sometimes nothing but his name, "Paul," is prefixed, as 1 Thes. i. 1, and 2 Thes. i. 1. It followeth [and of the Lord Jesus Christ, ~\ Some take both these clauses in a conjoined sense, as applied to the same person, and read it thus, " A servant of Jesus Christ, who is God and Lord ;" as, indeed, this was one of the places urged by the Greek Fathers for the godhead of Christ against the Arians. But our leading, which disjoineth the clauses, is to be preferred, as being least strained, and more suitable to the apostolical inscriptions. Neither is the dignity of Christ hereby impaired, he being proposed as an object of equal honour with the Father ; and, as the Father 2 CHAPTEB I. VERSE I.

is Lord as well as Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ is God as well as the Father. Well then, James is not only God's servant, by the right of crea- tion and providence ; but Christ's servant, by the right of redemption ; yea, especially deputed by Christ as Lord (that is, as mediator and head of the church), to do him service in the way of an apostle. And I suppose there is some special reason for this disjunction, "a servant of God and of Christ," to show his countrymen, that, in serving Christ, he served the God of his fathers, as Paul pleaded, (Acts xxvi. 6, 7,) that, in standing for Christ, he did but stand " for the hope of the promise made unto the fathers, unto which promise the twelve tribes, serving God day and night, hope to come." \To the twelve tribes\ That is, to the Jews and people of Israel, chiefly those converted to the faith of Christ. To these James writeth, as the " minister of the circumcision " (Gal. ii. 9). And he writeth not in Hebrew, their own tongue ; but in Greek, as being the language then most in use ; as the apostle Paul writeth to the Romans in the same tongue, and not in Latin. XlVhkch are scattered abroad,~] In the original, tcuq lv ry Siacriropq,, to those which are in or of the dispersion. But what scattering or disper- sion is here intended ? I answer, 1 st, Either that which was occasioned by their ancient captivities, and the frequent changes of nations ; for so there were some Jews that still lived abroad, supposed to be intended in that ex- pression, "Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles ?" (John vii. 35.) Or, 2dly, More lately, by the persecution spoken of in the eighth of the Acts. Or, 3dly, By the hatred of Claudius, who commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome (Acts xviii. 2). And it is probable that the like was done in other great cities ; the Jews, and amongst them the Christians, being everywhere cast out, as John out of Ephesus, and others out of Alexandria. Or, 4thly, Some voluntary dispersion, the Hebrews living here and there among the Gentiles a little before the declension and ruin of their state, some in Cilicia, some in Pontus, &tc. Thus the apostle Peter writeth, " To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1 Pet. i. 1). [Xaipuv, greeting '.] A usual salutation, but not so frequent in Scripture. Cajetan thinketh it profane and paganish, and therefore ques- tioned the epistle, but unworthily : we find the same salutation sometimes used in holy writ, as to the virgin Mary, XaXpt (the same word that is used here), "Hail, thou that art highly favoured !" (Luke i. 28.) So "The apostles, and elders, and brethren send (xaipuv) greeting to the brethren which are of the Gentiles" (Acts xv. 23). Usually it is "Grace, mercy, and peace," but sometimes " Greeting."

The Observations out of this verse are these : —

I. From that, [James, a servant of God,~] He was Christ's near kins- man according to the flesh, and therefore, by a Hebraism, called " the brother of the Lord " (Gal. i. 19) ; not properly and strictly, as Joseph's son by a former marriage (which yet was the opinion of some of the ancients*), but his cousin. Well then, James, the Lord's' kinsman, calleth himself the Lord's servant. The note is, that inward privileges are the best and most honourable, and spiritual kin is to be preferred before carnal. Mary was happier gestando Christum corde quam utero, in having Christ in her heart rather than her womb ; and James in being Christ's servant