[Cassidy]

"All you have really proved is that at one point in James life he was confused, and that at the time he wrote his epistle he was now burdened for others that were confused. You have not provided any evidence that the epistle itself is a mixture.

Should I disparage the epistles of Peter because he denied the Lord? Should I shun the epistles of Paul because he persecuted the church? People get burdens because they themselves were in the very same situation. Paul said that once we overcome we can comfort others with the very same comfort that we received."

Before, I say what I am about to say I feel a need to reiterate something. There are many attributes and qualities about James that are not only admirable but truly stellar. In the RCV footnotes in the book of James, Witness Lee writes a very glowing description of this precious brother and apostle.

ZNP,

You argument about considering Peter's mistakes in the gospels, and then not rejecting his epistle's because of those mistakes is a reasonable. No, we should not reject Peter's epistle's because he denied the Lord in the gospels.

Same for Saul who persecuted the church. We should not reject Paul's epistles written after his conversion just because he persecuted the church at one point before his conversion. I agree with you 100%.

As I indicated in my opening to this note, I also do not totally disregard the book of James and neither did Witness Lee.

However, in applying your reasonable argument to James we encounter an issue. And it is not insignificant. The epistle of James was written before Acts 21 which says that thousands among the Jews believed and they were "all are zealous for the law". So rather than, as in the case of Peter and Paul, a progression away from early errors we find James is not only the elder in a city where all are zealous for the law but James then proposes that Paul sponsors some new converts to observe a law ritual. The purpose of sponsoring the ritual is so that everyone will know that Paul was not teaching "apostasy from Moses", (such as not needing to circumcise their children). Since these events occurred after his epistle was written we cannot apply the same logic as we did for Peter and Paul.

The confusion James held about the Jewish believers needing to observe the OT law was being held and promoted by him even after his epistle was written.