45 Context of Thought and Theology does display similarities to wisdom in subject matter and style. A larger role for wisdom in the letter can only be discovered by arguments from parallel language: what James says is similar to what some OT or Jewish texts say about wisdom; therefore, James must be thinking of wisdom. But rarely are these parallels so distinctive to wisdom contexts to justify such a conclusion.123
G. Poverty and Wealth “There is hardly a single element of the OT/late Jewish tradition about poverty and piety that is not also encountered in the letter of James.”124 This being so, we can best appreciate James’s teaching on this matter if we first have a sense of the OT Jewish tradition. The subject is broad and somewhat controversial, but three elements of the tradition especially relevant to James may be noted.125 First, God has a particular concern for the poor, the downtrodden, the outcasts. God is “a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows” (Ps 68:5); “he defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing” (Deut 10:18). So also James claims that “God [has] chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith” (2:5). Second, God’s people must imitate God by showing a similar concern for the poor and disadvantaged. The Deuteronomy passage quoted above continues, “And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt” (10:19). The prophets regularly denounce Israel for failing to obey this aspect of God’s law (see, e.g., Amos 2:6–7). James likewise makes the care of orphans and widows one of the key elements of pure and faultless religion (1:27). A third strand in the OT tradition, particularly visible in the Psalms, is the association of the “poor” (‘ānî) with the righteous (see, for instance, Pss 10; 37:8–17; 72:2, 4; Isa 29:19). The poor person, helpless and afflicted by the 123. See Johnson, 33–34. 124. Mußner, 80 (my translation). 125. A concern to bring NT teaching to bear on the horrendous contemporary problem of poverty has sparked significant discussion of James’s teaching on this issue. See, e.g., Tamez, Scandalous Message of James; D. H. Edgar, Has God Not Chosen the Poor? The Social Setting of the Epistle of James, JSNTSup 206 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001); N. R. Morales, Poor and Rich in James: A Relevance Theory Approach to James’s Use of the Old Testament, BBRSup 20 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2018). For a broader biblical perspective on the issue, see esp. C. L. Blomberg, Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Material Possessions, NSBT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999).
