15 Author God, is specifically mentioned (2:19). On the other hand, the epistle shows little evidence of a developed or self-consciously Christian theology. James alludes to only rather basic Christian conceptions: Jesus as Lord (1:1; 2:1) and coming judge (5:7, 9); the tension between the “already” of salvation accomplished (1:18) and “not yet” culminated (1:21; 2:14; 5:20); and “elders” functioning as spiritual leaders in the local church (5:14). All this suggests an author who was writing at an early date, in a Jewish context, and who sought to maintain good relationships with Judaism. The way in which the teaching of Jesus thoroughly permeates the letter, without being directly cited, would also be entirely natural for someone with James’s background. And, finally, James’s position as the leader of the “mother” church of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem would eminently qualify him to address an authoritative admonition to “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.”
B. The Challenge to the Traditional View For seventeen centuries, Christians, with only a few exceptions, accepted that the Letter of James was written by the Lord’s brother of that name, known from the pages of the NT. But in the last two centuries, a growing number of scholars have challenged this tradition. Before we investigate this challenge, it is worth asking why we should bother to debate the point. It is certainly not worth spending a lot of time to validate or overthrow the tradition as such. The point might be of interest to church historians but would have little import for those of us interested in reading and understanding the letter. But more than tradition is involved. The letter makes a claim about authorship: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to . . .” Identifying the James who wrote the letter may enable us to set the letter more accurately into its historical and canonical context. And by doing so, our interpretation of the letter and its contribution to the teaching of Scripture generally will be enhanced. An obvious case in point with respect to James is the teaching of ch. 2 on justification. But the matter of authorship is important for another reason. Precisely because the letter makes a claim about the author, the truthfulness of the letter as a whole is ultimately at stake. Of course, the letter makes no claim about which James wrote the letter; and so no question about the truthfulness of the letter is raised if we decide, with Calvin for instance, that James the son of Alphaeus wrote the letter. But if, as many contemporary scholars maintain, the person who wrote the letter was not a person named James but someone writing in the name of the famous brother of the Lord, then new
