Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
How many times must we go around in circles?
Yes, everyone on this forum has stipulated that the account in Galatians depicts James, and those coming from him, as being "judaizers" which we accept was a negative, dare I say, cultic influence on the early church.
Everyone also agrees that the worst offender of all Judaizers was Saul of Tarsus. There is no debate on this, and even Paul confesses that "he is less than the least". Yet I don't see you using that as evidence that Paul's epistles don't have an up to date view of salvation? Why not? How is this any less relevant that James apparent failure?
Is it because in the book of Galatians, Paul's first epistle, written very close in time to the epistle of James, Paul rebukes Peter for showing partiality and having the faith of our Lord Jesus with respect of persons? If so, then why not give the same credit to James for saying the same thing?
You quote Galatians as proof that James did have this failure, but why don't you also quote Corinthians that James, last of all, did receive a vision of Jesus Christ. If the vision he received was "last of all" and not "first" as you insinuate with your order in which books of the Bible are written then why would Jesus give him a vision that is not up to date, even though it was "last of all" and not "first of all".
I am not asking for evidence that James was a Judaizer at one point in his life, I am asking for evidence that the book of James has this influence. Quoting commentaries on Galatians is completely irrelevant in responding to this question and this is now the 2nd or even the third time you have done this.
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It is only logical. Galatians was written around 55-60 AD. James was written around 50 AD. Galatians mentions Judaizers coming from James circa 55-60 AD. Therefore, James, written in 50 AD most likely contains a Judaistic influence.
Yes, James witnessed the resurrected Christ. But he did not receive the gospel that was given to Paul. Paul says in Galatians 1:11-12 that he did not receive the Gospel from man but from God, Paul received a new gospel. The others, including James, did not. Paul received a special commission and calling from God to take his gospel to the Gentiles. James did not.
That is why the book of James and Paul's writings have a distinctly different flavor. That's why almost half of the books of the NT are Paul's and not James's. This is testament to the fact that Paul's books were more widely read and accepted in the early church, than Jame's.
If we look into the history of the new testament Canon, we can find that James was one of the disputed books. That is, there were a number of believers who did not think it should be part of the Canon.