The General Epistles, Part 1

I decided to change the format today. Actually, we were scheduled to have Bible study next week. Since that's Father's Day, or preceding Father's Day, I thought it would be more appropriate to address that topic next week than this week. And so, I thought, well, we might as well go ahead and have the Bible study this week. I was sitting over there looking through my case and pulled my announcement folder out. Then I looked for my sermon folder, and I thought, oh, I've left it on my desk. And I was sitting there looking and searching. Then it occurred to me that when I first came in, I stopped at the entrance and pulled my folders out and got some information out. So I hustled back there, and sure enough, my sermon folder was back on top of the tapes. So at least I've got something to go from.

I'd like to begin a series today going through what are called the General Epistles. And you might remember the last Bible study we had was general in nature, and prior to that, we had finished the book of Colossians. So the General Epistles are seven books. James, 1 Peter, 1 John, and the book of Jude. Some of them will not take us very long to go through. But others will take a little longer. So what I'd like to do is to give you a little background to start with in the first portion here on these epistles and give you a general background on all of them.

And then as we come to each one, we'll be able to have a little more time to go through and more thoroughly explain them. These are all called General Epistles, and that's because they were written to a general audience.

That's except 1 and 3 John, which specifies a particular individual. They were also early on called Catholic Epistles, meaning general or universal epistles, because they were universal in nature. Most of Paul's epistles, if you remember, were written to a person like Timothy or Titus, or were written to a church or a specific region. They are composed of seven letters, and when you begin to look at it, you find that they have a much broader application as far as to whom they were written.

Some say that they are called General Epistles because these epistles are of general instructions, meaning that the name applies to the message, and so therefore they were called General Epistles. There are also some who believe that they are called General Epistles because different apostles were engaged in writing them. They are not the epistles of Paul, they were written by Peter and John Jude. Basically, it just seems to be a convenient way to group the books.

What you find is that these particular books are general in nature, which is true, but they are written by different authors, so where do you put them? They are not the Gospels, they are not the history of the church, they are not Paul's epistles, so therefore they lump them all together and call them General Epistles because they are of a general nature. Now, originally, these epistles, when the canon was first put together, were originally placed before Paul's epistles.

So, you had the Gospels, you had the Book of Acts, you had the General Epistles, and you had Paul's Epistles, and then you had the Book of Revelation.

Now, one reason why they may have been put there originally was because they are a little easier to understand, and they may have been a good background, laid a good foundation for understanding Paul's writings. But then there are some who say that Paul later on came before those because Paul was more important. Now, I don't believe that's true. I just think that there are those who like to claim that Paul did away with the law, so therefore, since James and others speak about the law, they try to put Paul's writings first.

There may have been some who did that, but that's not the biblical reason and explanation for it. So, who are the authors of these books? Well, two of them were written by Christ's brothers, by James and Jude. Also, you find a leading apostle, the apostle Peter, who was a close friend of Jesus Christ, wrote two books, and then also Christ's closest or best friend, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. So, you find that the authors of these books are all men who were very close to Jesus Christ.

And I think as we go through these particular books, you will find that there are some of the more meaty books. They're what I would call practical books. They give very practical information, and they're not arguing theological arguments, they're just saying, this is how to be a Christian. This is how you ought to live your life. There are three general themes in these books. First of all is faith.

James addresses the subject of faith, as we know in the book of James. He also addresses obedience, and he addresses the law. Peter, books of Peter, can be summarized by the word hope. And then you find John's books by the word love, or charity. John also stresses fellowship, he stresses the truth, and he's the one who also mentions the antichrist. And so you find that apparently John was the last one to write in the New Testament. Not only the book of Revelation, but his three general epistles. And as such, he was able to look back, he was able to see what the church was faced with, and consequently he addressed topics that he felt were extremely important.

Now in the New Testament there are 21 epistles, total. 14 of them written by Paul, and 7 of them that are general epistles. You'll find that some of the general epistles had difficulty making into the New Testament canon, and James is one of them. There was a lot of resistance to James being put into the New Testament canon, and that's because James discusses obedience, keeping the law, faith and works being together.

What you find, let's go back to the book of James, is that there are several themes that run through the book of James.

One of them is faith. James 1, verse 3, says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. So you'll find that faith is a major theme in this book. You'll find that truth is also a theme, and you'll find that that's mentioned several times throughout the book. Being pure is also mentioned, such as pure religion, undefiled before God. Religion is mentioned, and it talks about what is true religion as opposed to false religion or dead religion. You'll find that the word for religion, back here in James 1, verse 27, is used four times in the New Testament. And you'll find that it's used in Acts 26.5, Colossians 2.18, here in James 1.26-27. And it has to do with things that you do outwardly, such as we're here today meeting in a meeting. We sing. We have to come to services. The outward worship and ceremony that people go through. Now, this book was written somewhere around 62 A.D. There are some who say as early as 45, but it does seem that somewhere around the early 60s, probably 62 A.D. is a safe bet on when the book was written. It has 50 directives in it. When I say directives, I mean do this, do that, do something else. You are directed to do something. So there are over 50 of those described in the book. It also parallels the book of Romans, the book of Colossians, and especially the book of Matthew. There are 38 references in this book to the book of Matthew, or to things that are mentioned in the book of Matthew. So there's a close parallel between some of these books. Now, you find that James, even though he was a brother of Jesus Christ, does not try to capitalize on his relationship with Christ. I think James was probably a little ashamed of how he was, perhaps how he treated Christ, that he didn't believe Christ when he was here on the earth. He didn't really come to understand who Christ was until Christ finally died, was resurrected. So he didn't go around claiming, I want you to know I'm the brother of Christ. You try to draw attention to himself in that way. Later on, as we will see as we get into the book, James actually refers to himself as a slave of Christ. So when he refers to himself, he's not referring to himself from the perspective that he is the brother of Christ, but that he is a slave.

As I mentioned here, in this book there are also references to the Sermon on the Mount.

Berkeley mentions that this book is written with good Greek. Consequently, many say that James didn't write it, because how could James know good Greek? He was, after all, a dumb Jew in Galilee, so where would he know good Greek? Well, he could have had a scribe, and he could have given it to the scribe, and the scribe could have written it, and better Greek.

James is referred to by Josephus, so there are other historical records concerning James. He does speak a lot of works of action, of doing.

He was not converted during the life of Jesus Christ, so he was converted later on. You'll find that this book was written to Christians outside of Palestine. Notice James 1-1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. So this book is written to the twelve tribes. That could be in a spiritual sense, but I think also, obviously, he's writing to the twelve tribes, and those may be who were converted among them. It is very practical, as I said earlier, very practical writings, stressing practical instructions. There are fifty imperatives out of hundred and eight verses in the book of James, and fifty of them say, do something. If you want to just have a good study of the book of James, just go through and mark the verses where he tells you to do something. As an example, verse 2, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. That's a directive. Be happy. Be joyful when you're going through trials. He's also called the Amos of the New Testament. If you remember, Amos in the Old Testament criticized Israel for their sins and for their lack of taking care of the widows, just their lack of justice and righteousness. So you'll find that Amos stood for justice and righteousness, and you'll find that the same thing is true here in the book of James.

There are a number of other topics from Scriptures in James. He talks about wisdom in verse 5 and chapter 3 and verse 17. He talks about not being a respecter of persons. So he talks about not having prejudice against others. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 9. He says that we have to keep the commandments, all 10 of the commandments, in James 2, verse 10, James 1, verses 22 through 23. He explains what true faith really is, that faith without works is dead, so you've got to have obedience with your faith. He shows how powerful the tongue is, that you can use the tongue for good, or you can use the tongue as a hypocrite to hurt other people. He shows that we've got to resist the devil. We've got to draw nigh into God and obey Him. He explains that there's only one law giver, and you and I don't have the power to change the law. We have to obey the law. Then he talks about how we should treat one another. We should treat our servants well, our employees well, that we don't take advantage of them. He also says that if somebody is sick, they should be anointed, and that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man carries a lot of clout with God. And I think that's something that we tend to forget, brethren. That when you and I get down on our knees, it's just like you having young children, and they come to you, and they ask you for something. They want something, and they plead, or they make their case. And so it is with God that we carry a lot of clout with God. Now, in James 1, beginning in verse 19, through the end of the chapter, we find that it talks a great deal about the proper type of faith. That you and I are to have faith and works together. Now, brethren, there are six tests of faith, as we will see as we go through this book. Number one, that you have to respond to God's Word. If you have faith, you have to respond to God's Word. What we do shows that we have pure religion, helping the disadvantaged, serving others, and not just talking a good fight. There are those who talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. You and I have to live what we believe. So what we're talking about are the six tests to determine whether we truly do have faith. So we have to be responsive to what we study, what we read. Number two, we have to react to social problems or difficulties. You find that in James 2, verses 1-12. If we see people without food, and you say, well, go, be clothed, be warm, eat, be filled, you don't do anything, then how do we have the love of God? So we are not to be respecters of persons. We're to look at how somebody else looks to judge how to treat them. We're not to do that. And then we're not to treat the rich better than the poor. So we have to react when we see a situation. Thirdly, we need to be doing good works.

As verses 14-26 of James 2 shows, we have to be a doer, not just a hearer. We just don't talk it, we live it. And then fourthly, we have to have self-control. If we truly do have faith, and we're obeying God, and we're wanting to serve Him, we have to control the time. We have to be peacemakers. We have to be pure. We have to be gentle. We have to have the wisdom that comes from above. We have to have peace of mind, controlling what we say, what we think, controlling our emotions, how we pray, how we study. So self-control is one of the tests of faith. And then, number five, avoiding worldliness. James 4-4, whoever is a friend of this world is not the friend of God. We become an enemy of God. So, we should not, in other words, what he's saying is that we should not give up our Christianity, our standards, to be accepted by the world. You don't compromise, so you'd be well thought of by the world, but you do what God says. We have to realize that we will never be fully accepted in this world as a Christian anyway. They're going to think at odds that we don't always do what they do. And then another test of faith is praying in the time of need. The sixth point, praying in the time of need. We need to pray in good times as well as bad times. It's easy to pray when things aren't going well, or when you're having a trial or a test. We need to turn to God first whenever there's a problem. So these are the six tests of faith to evaluate, do we truly have the faith that we should have? Now another thing you find described in this book is the law of God. The law of God is talked about. It is called a royal law of God. It is referred to as the royal law.

A royal law is one that is given by a king.

And the words, who is the king, was God, he's creator, he's given us his law. It's also referred to as the law of liberty in the book of James. What I'm trying to do here is to give you an overview and a summary of the book. Actually, when we get through with this, we don't need to go through it. But at least you'll have a feel for the book. It's called a law of liberty. Liberty sets us free. Only by lawkeeping are we free. You disobey the law, you're not free because you are under the death penalty. You are cursed when you disobey because you break it, and there are penalties. Keeping the law doesn't save you. Keeping the law today doesn't wipe out your past. Keeping the law isn't going to make up for future disobedience. What we find is that by keeping God's law, it frees us. If you do wrong, if you commit sin, if you commit a crime, you're not free. Somebody commits a crime that's locked up in jail, is not free. As an example, Paris Hilton. I mean, just say it. How could I not mention her? She's back in jail. But when somebody breaks the law and they're arrested, they're put in jail, you can't say you're free. You're locked up. There's a penalty that has to be paid. When you keep God's law, then you're freed from the penalty that comes along.

Keeping the law keeps us in God's standing, keeps us near God, keeps us being blessed by God. So the royal law and the law of liberty are only used in James. These are terminology that he uses. Being a doer is a favorite word. It's used four times in James, out of the six in the whole Bible. In James 1, 22, 23, 25, and verses chapter 4 verse 11.

So James is very concrete in what he says, rather than abstract. He doesn't philosophize. He gets right down to, you need to be doing this. And he doesn't just give you a philosophy about it.

There is a distinctiveness in James when he comes to these psychological analysis of temptation in sin. He uses a formula, and we're going to come back to this formula. It's called LSD. We're all familiar with LSD. Lust, sin, and death. Now that's a little different than the LSD. You know, the people talk about it today, but LSD here is lust, sin, and death. Now, James uses many agricultural, rural, agrarian images. He uses the sea. Talks about grass. Our lives are like grass. Talks about bits in a horse's mouth. Talks about ships on the sea. Talks about beasts, fountains, fig trees. Reaping. Talks about husbandmen, farmers. Talks about rain in due season. Now, there are a lot of things that are admitted from the book of James that the Apostle Paul tackles in almost all of his books. Circumcision. He doesn't get into circumcision. Doesn't talk about the Sabbath. Doesn't talk about the temple. Doesn't talk about the feast. There are no mention of idols in his book. There are no condemnation to the audience. No interaction between him and the audience. It's more like a sermon. You get a video tape. Here it is. You listen to it. That's it. In other words, he's not writing to one specific church like the church in Colossae where he's talking to them, he knows them, he knows what their problems are, and he's addressing those problems. So, you find there are certain things that are admitted that, especially, Paul covered. Now, there are similar ideas, thoughts throughout his writing. There are 28 references that are similar to 1 Peter in the book of James. Eight references similar to Colossians. 38 references similar to the book of Matthew. 50 imperities, as I mentioned, out of 108 verses. There are 73 words that occur in James that do not occur anywhere else in the New Testament. So, there are some words that are used here that are just not used in other books. Faith, from the Greek word pistos, is used 15 times in James. And he teaches what it means to be justified by faith. Again, the author is James. Now, for a long time, there was doubt about who the author was. Even though it clearly says, James, there are those who will not take what James wrote on face value. They call this Deuterocanonical book. Why? Because it's a second explanation of the law. Remember, Deuteronomy was a recapitulation of the law. Chapter 5 of the book of Deuteronomy gives you the Ten Commandments. The book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament is a rehash of the travels of Israel and God's law as he gave it to Israel back in Exodus, Numbers, and so on. So, it's referred to here as Deuterocanonical because there is so much emphasis on the law. You might remember Martin Luther, somewhere around 150 A.D., did not like the book of James at all. He called the book of James, quote, an epistle full of straw because it contains nothing evangelical. Now, he called him the epistle of straw because he could not get away from the fact that James talked about faith and works together. And Luther was developing a doctrine of faith without works. And so, James just shot holes all through his reasoning. He claimed that James' view of faith differed from Paul's view. Now, if that's true, then we've got a problem. You know, the old saying, Houston, we've got a problem. Well, brethren, we've got a problem if that's true. And, of course, that's not true. So, therefore, his solution was James shouldn't be in the Bible. And so, you know, he just sort of sloughed James off.

There's no reference in this book to the Council in the book of Acts in 50 A.D. As I said, there's very good Greek in this book. So they say, how could James, poorly educated, from Galilee, write so well? And so it's been surmised that perhaps James had ascribed somebody who wrote it down, and then, you know, put it in words that would be a little better Greek.

Okay, that gives you a background of the book of James. Let's very quickly cover some of the other books. 1 Peter. Main theme in Peter is hope.

And he talks about hope through trials, and hope through suffering, and hope through fiery trials. It's written by the Apostle Peter somewhere between 63 and 67 A.D. in the reign of Nero, Emperor Nero. It has wide readership, Jews and Gentiles. If you go back to 1 Peter, you'll notice it says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion, in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So he wrote to quite a few people. It's similar in content to Romans, Ephesians and James. It's excellent Greek. Now, 2 Peter.

In 2 Peter, Peter recognizes and talks quite a bit about false ministers. And he talks about how you and I should stay strong.

He stirs up the brethren in remembrance, and he warns them against false ministers, and encourages them to stay strong. Chapter 2 in 2 Peter parallels the Book of Jude.

There are many parallels. Probably written somewhere around 68 A.D. just before Peter's death. Remember, Peter was, tradition says, crucified upside down. He refused to be crucified upright because that's the way Christ died. So tradition says he was crucified head down. We come to 1 John. 1 John stresses love and law and fellowship. It's written around 90 to 100 A.D. by the Apostle John, one of the original apostles. It's very similar to the Gospel of John. This letter was written to the churches in Asia in general, and also talks quite a bit about worldliness. He also, in 1 John, is battling Gnosticism, similar to what he addresses in the book of John. So Gnosticism is something that he addresses. You might remember in 1 John that he talks about those who come along and talk about Christ not coming in the flesh. Now, 2 John, the book of 2 John was written around 90 to 100 A.D. to the elect lady, which could have been a literal lady, or to the church.

It was written probably three to five years after 1 John. It has 303 words in it in the book of 2 John. The theme is, seek the truth. Seek the truth. Hold on to it.

The lady might have met one woman specifically, or the church, because it does refer to her children. You find that this particular book would have fit on a sheet of papyrus perfectly. It was the size of a letter in the Roman Empire, so it could have gotten it on one sheet of papyrus paper. Now, 3 John is the shortest book in the Bible. It's 299 words, four fewer than 2 John. It's a warning against apostate leaders in 3 John, 9 and 10, diathropies as mentioned. Now, this man could have been a local elder who got ticked off over false teachers and became so possessive of the church that he wouldn't even let John come in and speak.

He talks about hospitality, seeking the truth. It was written to Gaius somewhere between 90 and 100 A.D.

And he says, look, when I come, I will deal with him later, referring to diathropies. So, it must have been someone that he felt that he could deal with. Then you come to the book of Jude, I should say. Jude was the brother of James, the brother of Christ. He warns against false teachers and false doctrine. It's very similar to 2 Peter 2, written about 80 to 90 A.D. Some say maybe around 70 A.D. And you'll find that these books that were written toward the end of the first century, the latter books, here by Peter and by John, Jude, all of them deal with heresy and false teaching. They realize that there was going to be a passing of the baton, a passing of an era. The original apostles, most of them by this time were dead. Peter passes from the scene around 68 A.D. John is still alive around the end of the century. Not sure about Jude, but he may have died somewhere around 90, somewhere in this period of time. And so there is a passing of the baton, the original apostles, their work is finished. There's another generation of leadership rising up who's going to have to shepherd the church and the people. And so they see out on the horizon all of these heretical teachers, all of these false doctrines, and so therefore they're wanting to address these. And so here we have these books as a warning. And you will see much of what is said in those books comes right on down to our end time. It can be tied in with the very end time that we're living in. And they are a warning for us today, a warning for any generation, to be aware and to avoid what doesn't, let's say, comply with sound doctrine. Okay, with that as a background, when we come back after announcements, special music, we'll get into the book of James itself and cover chapter one.