The Epistle of St. James

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“No mention is made of the death or resurrection of Christ, or of the doctrines of the Incarnation and Atonement” (Page ii)

“The conclusion then, to which our discussion leads, is that James the Lord’s brother was son of Joseph and Mary, brought up with Jesus until his eighteenth year at any rate, not one of the Twelve, not even a disciple till the very end of our Saviour’s life, but convinced, as it would seem, by a special appearance to him of the risen Lord, and joining the company of the disciples before the day of Pentecost. After the martyrdom of Stephen, when the Apostles were scattered from Jerusalem, we find James holding a position of authority in the Church of Jerusalem (Gal. 1:18, 1:19, Acts 12:17), which, as we may probably conjecture, had been conceded to him as brother of the Lord, and retaining this position till the end of his life.” (Page xxxvi)

“If further proof were needed to show that the persecutors referred to by St. James were wealthy Jews and not Gentiles, it might be found in the absence of all allusion to Gentiles in our Epistle.” (Page cxviii)

“It is evident that this is not a special threat intended only for the rich, but a general truth applicable to all, though more likely to be kept out of sight by the rich than by others.” (Page 44)

“It is assumed that those addressed accept Jesus as the Messiah, that the new law of liberty has been written in their hearts by the indwelling Spirit: but they are still ‘zealous for the law,’ as St. James describes them in the Acts; they still seem to form one body with their unbelieving compatriots; still, as St. James says again, ‘hear Moses read to them every sabbath in the synagogues.’ In fact they exhibit an immature stage of Christianity, such as must have continually been found among those who had become believers on the day of Pentecost or through the preaching of some passing evangelist, but were without any regularly organised system of Christian teaching (James 3:1 foll.).” (Pages cxix–cxx)