​What Was James's Reason for Writing? (James 1:1)

​What Was James's Reason for Writing?

Every letter in the New Testament has its own main idea, goal, and audience. Paul wrote the book of Romans to get the Christians in Rome ready for his planned visit. The church in Corinth was given the book of 1 Corinthians to help resolve some issues. Galatians was written to a group of churches to warn them not to be legalistic or believe false teachings.

The letter of James shows that these Jewish Christians were having some problems in their personal lives and in their church. For one thing, they were going through rigorous tests. They were also facing temptations to engage in immoral behavior. While some believers served the rich, others fell prey to their exploitation. People in the church were fighting for jobs, especially teaching jobs.

One of the primary problems in the church was that many people didn't live up to what they said they believed. Additionally, the misuse of the tongue was a significant issue that even led to wars and divisions within the assembly. Another problem was being worldly. Some members were sick and left the church because they weren't following God's Word.

Does this list of problems look very different from the problems that most local churches have today? Isn't it true that there are people in our churches who are going through challenging times? Isn't it true that some of our members talk one way and act another? Isn't being worldly a big deal? Don't some Christians have trouble controlling their tongues? James seemed to be dealing with very current issues!

But James wasn't talking about a bunch of random problems. All these problems shared a common cause: spiritual immaturity. These Christians were not maturing. This insight gives us a clue about the main idea of this letter: what it means to be mature in the Christian life. James used the word "perfect" a lot. It means "mature" or "complete" (see James 1:4, 17, 25; 2:22; 3:2). James 3:2 says "a perfect man," but he didn't mean someone who never sins. He meant someone who is mature, balanced, and grown-up.

One of the most important things that churches need today is spiritual maturity. Instead of being places for adults to work, too many churches are like playpens for babies. The members are not grown up enough to eat the solid spiritual food they need, so they have to drink milk (Heb. 5:11–14). You can see that all of the problems James had are typical of little kids if you look at them:
1:1–4: Impatience when things become difficult
2:14 ff: Speaking but not living the truth
3:1 ff: Not controlling your tongue
4:1 ff: Fighting and wanting
5:1 ff: Gathering material things

The five chapters of this letter talk about the five signs of a mature Christian (see outline).

This is just one way to look at this letter; there are other ways to study it. We will focus on spiritual maturity and how to achieve it as we read the chapters.

The letter to the Hebrews comes before the letter to James because one of the main ideas in Hebrews is spiritual perfection. The term "perfect" appears in Hebrews at least fourteen times. The most important verse is Hebrews 6:1, which says, "Let us go on unto perfection," which means "spiritual maturity." The author of Hebrews elucidated the flawless salvation attainable in Christ. James told his readers to build on this perfect salvation and become more mature. There could be no perfecting of the believers without the perfect work of Christ.