Here’s a quick look at some context for the letter of James that I think will be helpful for framing its words and applying its teaching to our lives.
James is writing to dispersed people experiencing trials. The history of Jewish dispersion began in the middle of the eighth century BC with the Assyrians and later continued with Babylonians. In New Testament times we see it when the church at Jerusalem was scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). You can’t talk about Jewish history without talking about dispersion.
Here’s what that means to us: most of us know what it’s like to move somewhere new and start from the ground up. You don’t know anyone, no one knows you. For people of faith there is the task of trying to make new spiritual connections. You have to deal with a lot of new circumstances and situations with no established support network. In other words, dispersion brings with it its own challenges that can easily morph into trials.
Poverty was one of the trials the people James was writing to faced. Again, it you’re a new person in a new place without any connections, you have to start at the bottom. You don’t have the luxury of having an “in” with someone or going to work for family or someone who already knows you. Instead, you’re the person standing with others when the truck comes by and you hope you’ll be picked. Otherwise, it could be a long day.
There’s an additional element in play with the people James is talking to. They are being oppressed by certain wealthy people. In James 5:4 we find out they had withheld wages from their workers. In 2:6-7 we learn they were exploiting the poor, taking them to court, and “blaspheming the noble name of Him to whom you belong.” They were weighing down people who were already living uphill.
Failure to trust God is worse than any trial. That’s what he tells them! With these words he’s not minimizing their struggles or hardships—he’s providing them with the hope and help they need. He’s giving them something to hang on to. Faith in God meant they could be more than victims.
There’s a real need for this. We live in a culture where victimhood is embraced in unhealthy ways. It is used to get attention, make money, supposedly gain the higher moral ground, etc. There’s a right and a wrong way to respond to the bad happenings of life and James wants us to make sure that we choose the right way by meeting our trials with faith. Without that, we are “like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (v. 6). He goes on to say, “That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord? (v. 7).
Nothing has changed over the centuries—the way out is always up!
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 