Jesus' Half-Brothers Speak: James & Jude
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TABLE OF CONTENTS A Word from the Author: How Can This Commentary Help You?....................................... i A Guide to Good Bible Reading: A Personal Search for Verifiable Truth .................................iii Commentary: Introduction to James ..................................................................... 1 James 1................................................................................ 5 James 2............................................................................... 34 James 3............................................................................... 51 James 4............................................................................... 62 James 5............................................................................... 73 Introduction to Jude ..................................................................... 92 Jude.................................................................................. 96 Appendix One: Wisdom Literature ............................................................ 123 Appendix Two: Brief Definitions of Greek Grammatical Terms ...................................... 126 Appendix Three: Textual Criticism ............................................................ 133 Appendix Four: Glossary.................................................................... 136 Appendix Five: Doctrinal Statement ........................................................... 143 SPECIAL TOPICS FOR JAMES AND JUDE The Number Twelve, James 1:1................................................................. 7 Faith, James 1:3............................................................................. 9 Greek Terms for “Testing” and Their Connotations, James 1:3........................................ 10 Perseverance, James 1:3...................................................................... 10 Christian Growth, James 1:4 .................................................................. 12 Effective Prayer, James 1:7 ................................................................... 13 Boasting (kauchaomai), James 1:9.............................................................. 15 Wealth, James 1:10 ......................................................................... 16 The Age and Formation of the Earth, James 1:15 .................................................. 20 Truth in Paul’s Writings, James 1:18............................................................ 23 Righteousness, James 1:20.................................................................... 25 Eastern Literature, James 1:21................................................................. 29 Human Speech, James 1:26 ................................................................... 31 The Heart, 1:26 ............................................................................ 31 Father, 1:27 ............................................................................... 32 Paul’s Use of Kosmos (“world”), James 1:27...................................................... 32 Glory, James 2:1............................................................................ 35 Racism, James 2:1 .......................................................................... 36 Women in the Bible, James 2:1 ................................................................ 38 Believers’ Inheritance, James 2:5............................................................... 40 The Kingdom of God, James 2:5............................................................... 41 Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the OT, James 2:14 ........................................ 44 The Demonic, James 2:19 .................................................................... 47 Covenant, James 2:22........................................................................ 49 Degrees of Rewards and Punishments, James 3:1 .................................................. 53 Fire, James 3:6............................................................................. 55 Where Are the Dead?, James 3:6............................................................... 56 Vices and Virtues in the New Testament, James 3:13-18 Contextual Insights, 3:13-18 ..................... 59 Prayer, Unlimited Yet Limited, James 4:3........................................................ 65 Submission, James 4:7....................................................................... 67 Personal Evil, James 4:7...................................................................... 67 Should Christians Judge One Another?, James 4:12 ................................................ 70 The Will (thel‘ma) of God, James 4:15.......................................................... 71 This Age and the Age to Come, James 5:2-3...................................................... 74 Anthropomorphic Language Used for God, James 5:4 .............................................. 75 Names for Deity, James 5:4................................................................... 77 Is Healing God’s Plan for Every Age?, James 5:13-18 .............................................. 83 Anointing, James 5:14 ....................................................................... 84 The Name of the Lord, James 5:14 ............................................................. 85 Confession, James 5:16 ...................................................................... 86 Intercessory Prayer, James 5:16................................................................ 87 James, the Half-brother of Jesus, Jude v. 1 ....................................................... 97 Inspiration, Jude v. 3 ....................................................................... 100 Saints, Jude v. 3........................................................................... 100 Gnosticism, Jude v. 4....................................................................... 102 The Angel of the Lord, Jude v. 5.............................................................. 103 Destruction, Jude v. 5....................................................................... 104 “the sons of God” in Genesis 6, Jude v. 6 ....................................................... 104 Beginning (Arch‘), Jude v. 6 ................................................................. 106 Homosexuality, Jude v. 7 .................................................................... 107 Apostasy (aphist‘mi), Jude v. 12.............................................................. 110 The Kergyma, Jude v. 17.................................................................... 114 The Trinity, Jude vv. 20,21 .................................................................. 115 Greek Verb Tenses Used for Salvation, Jude v. 21 ................................................ 117 Christian Assurance, Jude v. 24............................................................... 119 Blameless, Innocent, Guiltless, Without Reproach, Jude v. 24 ....................................... 120 A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR: HOW CAN THIS COMMENTARY HELP YOU? Biblical interpretation is a rational and spiritual process that attempts to understand an ancient inspired writer in such a way that the message from God may be understood and applied in our day. The spiritual process is crucial but difficult to define. It does involve a yieldedness and openness to God. There must be a hunger (1) for Him, (2) to know Him, and (3) to serve Him. This process involves prayer, confession and the willingness for lifestyle change. The Spirit is crucial in the interpretive process, but why sincere, godly Christians understand the Bible differently, is a mystery. The rational process is easier to describe. We must be consistent and fair to the text and not be influenced by our personal or denominational biases. We are all historically conditioned. None of us are objective, neutral interpreters. This commentary offers a careful rational process containing three interpretive principles structured to help us overcome our biases. First Principle The first principle is to note the historical setting in which a biblical book was written and the particular historical occasion for its authorship. The original author had a purpose, a message to communicate. The text cannot mean something to us that it never meant to the original, ancient, inspired author. His intent—not our historical, emotional, cultural, personal or denominational need—is the key. Application is an integral partner to interpretation, but proper interpretation must always precede application. It must be reiterated that every biblical text has one and only one meaning. This meaning is what the original biblical author intended through the Spirit's leadership to communicate to his day. This one meaning may have many possible applications to different cultures and situations. These applications must be linked to the central truth of the original author. For this reason, this study guide commentary is designed to provide an introduction to each book of the Bible. Second Principle The second principle is to identify the literary units. Every biblical book is a unified document. Interpreters have no right to isolate one aspect of truth by excluding others. Therefore, we must strive to understand the purpose of the whole biblical book before we interpret the individual literary units. The individual parts—chapters, paragraphs, or verses—cannot mean what the whole unit does not mean. Interpretation must move from a deductive approach of the whole to an inductive approach to the parts. Therefore, this study