pite the fact that the religious leaders and the political rulers un der whom the Israelites had served tried to obliterate the race from the face of the earth. Cod has al ways intervened to protect, as He has promised, His chosen people. An old saint sagely observed: “There are two sides to the Gos pel: the believing side, and the behaving side!" While other books of the Bible deal with the believ ing side James' primary message is to consistent Christian behaviour. James was faithful despite severest persecution. Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that the high priest Annas had him stoned some time after A.D. 62 or 63. He was a great man of prayer and faith. He sets a tremendous example for us today. There is a constant need to translate heavenly truths into earth ly principles. We must always be on the guard against becoming so heavenly minded that we are abso lutely no earthly good. Too many are already like that. Alexander White makes a good point in saying, “James, the broth er of Jesus, although he was not a disciple of the Lord until after His resurrection, presents a book which is unique in the New Testament. Its conception is almost entirely based on practical matters of every day Christian living. His theme is conduct rather than creed. The dominating concern is that every body living within the Christian church should live up to their high calling in Christ Jesus. Two aspects are stressed particularly. They are the personal character and behav iour of the individual believer, and relationships within the Christian community." You see, the whole Bible is timely and relevant to ev ery generation of believers.
After Christ's resurrection He suddenly appeared to James. No details of that momentous inter view are given. We have just the bare fact that "He was seen of James," according to I Corinthians 15:7. The problem is that a pas sion for success and high achieve ment often causes a believer to forget his true spiritual role in life. No matter what status of life one may attain, he is still a “slave" of Jesus Christ. This position is not reserved only for a minister, evan gelist, or missionary. It is to be the goal of everyone who has been born again. We must never be kept from total surrender and servitude to our Lord and Master. Trials often overtake us but they are all designed to produce the same virtue of patience God de sires to see. There is certainly no room for pride. A slave in James' day was despised. The Apostle, however, gladly accepted the priv ilege of having this relationship to the Saviour. James is writing to the twelve tribes which were scattered abroad because of the dispersion. The word “dispersion" is mentioned three times in the New Testament. On each occasion it refers to the Jewish people (John 7:35; James 1:1; and I Peter 1:1). Since Cod's people had been taken captive they were distributed by the hands of Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Romans. Regardless of where they went they were generally loy al to their ancient customs. They maintained their national identity and laws. It is true that the nation of Israel consisted of twelve tribes, corresponding to the sons of Ja cob. Long before James was in spired to write this letter, the ten northern tribes of Israel had al- Page 43
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