The Book of James

1 James, 

a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: 

Greetings. (NASB)

There are two prominent people named James in the New Testament. 

The first was an apostle named James who was a brother of the apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John and book of Revelation. 

Both James and John were fishermen who worked with the apostle Peter before Jesus called them. Mark 1:19 

Peter, James, and John were Jesus' closet friends while He lived on earth, and He poured His life into these three men.  

They were the first to be called by Jesus to follow Him.  They proceeded the other nine.  

James was the first apostle to die for Jesus in Acts 12:2.  

After James was put to death, another James became prominent in the Church which was James the Lord's brother (Mark 6:3, Acts 15).  

Most people attribute to Jesus' brother James the authorship of the book of James; however, I disagree for the following reasons.  

1. I think that the book of James was one of the earliest books written in the New Testament. 

a. There is no mention of none Jewish believers in the book of James.

  

b. If you study, the book of Romans in contrast.  

Paul spends part of his time talking to Jewish believers and none Jewish believers separately about what it means for them to follow Jesus. 

2. The dispersion mentioned in James 1:1 was in reference to the Jewish Christians fleeing for their lives after the Stoning of the Christian Martyr Stephen while the apostle James was still alive. 

In Acts 11:19, it says that they were witnessing to Jews alone. I believe that this was the time period that the Book of James was written. 

3. I don't think that Jesus would have poured three years of His life into the apostle James without some historical document that the book of James provides. 

4. Since Jesus was a carpenter, I assume that both he and Jesus was raised by a carpenter father.  

The only illustrations used in the book of James are not carpenter illustrations, but fisherman illustrations by a fisherman like James the Apostle.  

Review the following...

a. Being on a boat in rough waters. James 5:6. 

b. Bait Fishing.  James 1:14.

c. Steering a boat. James 3:4.    

For these reasons, I believe that the book of James was one of the earliest books written in the New Testament by the Apostle James the brother of the Apostle John.