Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
Evangelical
In post 180 you made several claims that you have not backed up:
1. James was the oldest book of the New Testament. James was not up to date with the latest revelation from God about salvation by grace alone…James teaches [salvation is by] faith+works…
2. James as Jesus's half-brother was basically a second-class apostle who was not an authority in the church…
3. James was really written to the Jews who had been dispersed amidst the Roman Empire during a time of intense persecution. Instructions for Gentiles were different (Acts 21)
I welcome your input because it demonstrates what many believers think. What I want to know is if you have any valid basis to make these claims or is this just hot air?
James reference to justification was clearly, according to the context, not about eternal salvation but rather justification in the eyes of people. So your “proof” to support point 1 is not valid.
James is the writer of a book in the Bible. The apostle Paul, a recognized authority in the church, testified that James had a vision of Jesus Christ in the book of Corinthians. So as far as I am concerned his book carries the weight of “the fellowship of the apostles”. Please explain why that is not true. Paul wasn’t one of the original 12 disciples, he describes himself as “less than the least”, so how does any of that discredit James? I really do not understand what you mean when you say James “was not an authority in the church”. I also do not understand what a “second class apostle” is?
I am completely mystified by this comment that “instructions for Gentiles were different”? What does this have to do with the book of James? Are you saying that “gentile believers” can ignore this book, even though you have already stated that in the church there is no such thing as a Jew or Gentile.
|
ZNPaaneah,
I have given scripture and bible commentaries in my previous posts to back up what I say. The one in Galatians about Judaizing Christians coming from James is notable. It is notable that Peter was afraid of them. Whether James sent them himself or they came of their own accord, it shows that James was complicit with Law-keeping Christians. In other words, James was not quick to deal with the problem of Judaizers, and may have been one himself.
The early church was going through a period of confusion where it was not known what to do with gentile believers. There were Jewish believers who kept the law, and gentiles who didn't. Some Jews demanded that gentiles must keep the law as well. Paul was strongly against this, James was perhaps complicit.
Acts 15 clearly shows a disagreement between Jewish believers and gentile believers that had to be resolved.
The Judaizers could have been disciples of James. If not, it seems they used James as an example of a law-keeping Jewish Christian (Acts 15:13). Paul on the other hand forsook his Jewish religion and took the way of the gentiles. Peter was somewhat on the fence, until Paul had to take him aside and point out his hypocrisy.
You can read more about it here:
https://readingacts.com/2009/09/18/a...the-judaizers/
In 1865 J. B. Lightfoot argued against Bauer and the Tübingen school. The Judaizers were not authorized at all by Peter or the Jerusalem church, although the Jerusalem church were slow in stopping them. The Jerusalem Church wanted to find a way to compromise between the radical teaching of Paul and the traditional teaching of the Judaizers. J. F. A. Hort suggested that these Jewish opponents of Paul were lead by James, although mistakenly so. James himself did not authorize the teaching in direct opposition to Paul, but his followers took James’ example of a Law-keeping Jewish Christian to the logical extreme and forced Gentiles to keep the law.