Re: Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials

As I was studying to prepare for today's post, I realized that I haven't mentioned something that would probably be helpful to you all.  You may already be aware of this for for those who aren't, I thought I'd better mention it.

When you are studying a book in the bible or even a topic, it's important to remember a couple of things.  First, it's not really a book.  James, as well as the other "Books" is a letter.  Now letters are written to specific people so in order to understand what's being said, it helps to know who the letter is being addressed to. In other words, who is James writing to? 

Is he writing mainly to Jewish unbelievers trying to convince them that Jesus is Lord? 

Is he writing mainly to Gentile unbelievers trying to convince them that Jesus is Lord? 

Is he writing to those who are already saved, mainly elders who are already spiritually mature? (Keep in mind that back then they would have never allowed someone to be a deacon, elder etc. that hadn't been saved for quite some time; those positions were only filled by people who were spiritually mature--people who both walked the walked and talked the talk; who could and did teach and disciple others etc.)

Is he writing to those who are saved in the congregations?  Remember that back then they didn't allow people to lie about what they were.  You were either saved or you weren't or you were pretending to be and were a false teacher.  They most certainly didn't teach or show "tolerance" for false beliefs, false teaching etc among their members.

The next thing you need to look for is what the main point of the letter is.  What is it the apostle is trying to get across to this group of people?  What is the theme?

Once you know who the letter is being written to, and what the theme of his letter is, it will help you determine what the writer means when he writes some things. 

In the book/letter of James that we're studying now, James is writing to people who are already saved.  His theme is spiritual growth and maturity  These folks are apparently still somewhere near the beginning stages of their Christian walk and he's attempting to show them how to become spiritually mature.  He's sharing with them what kinds of things will hold them back in their growth, what will help them move forward, what kind of things they can look for that are hallmarks of spiritual growth and what kind of things would show that they're going the wrong way-that instead of growing spiritually, that they are stagnating or back sliding. 

I guess you could almost look at this letter as though James was a teacher who had prepared his class for a test that was about to be given and he was now going over the material one last time and giving them a pep talk too to let them know he was sure they'd do just fine on the test tomorrow.

Because of that, James is a wonderful book for us to study, since we are all saved, and we are all looking to grow and become spiritually mature.  In many ways, you could even say that James is a "how to" letter to us!  He packs a lot of wisdom into a very short space!  So knowing this, we can continue on.

Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials