Throughout his whole letter, James has been instructing his readers to live out their faith—and he’s been especially concerned with how they do that in suffering. Look back to the very first verse of this book. James writes to Jewish believers scattered around the world (“the twelve tribes in the Dispersion”). They’re dealing with persecution and long to one day experience the restoration God promised. But in the meantime, first century life has been hard, especially as followers of Christ.

They’re also navigating divisions within the Church, divisions between Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, honored and lowly. In the middle of all of this, James calls them to a life that reflects the kingdom and the character of God. We’ve seen the practical exhortations he’s given like avoiding partiality, watching their speech, submitting desires to God, and not putting their trust in plans or possessions. Then, we reach the end of his letter, which offers a fitting conclusion to all he’s instructed God’s people to do thus far: 1) pray and 2) help one another live out the truth.

When I started this series, it didn’t occur to me that I’d be writing about fights, quarrels, taming the tongue, and similar subjects during such a tense, chaotic year. I spent time studying the book of James earlier in the year, and I wanted to dive deeper into it. It’s practical, convicting, and essential for the Church. But I did not realize from the outset how relevant and how personally convicting this short book would be. Honestly, if I knew how much I’d have to wrestle with James’ words in my own life and the responsibility of sharing them on my blog, I’m not sure I would have undertaken this project.

Thankfully, God knew I needed this, and it’s sure been a humbling process. I found that to be especially true as I studied this section.

This is a meaty passage of Scripture, one that’s given Christians some trouble. Doesn’t James contradict what Paul says? Paul says we’re justified by grace alone through faith (Ephesians 2:8), but yet here James seems to say the exact opposite (James 2:24). So what’s going on?

We’re going to look at three aspects of James’ argument—first, his example of how we treat the poor, second, his argument about demons, and third, what he means by “justified.” As we look at each of these components of his argument, I think we’ll see clearly that James doesn’t disagree with Paul. Both agree that an inactive faith is really no faith at all.

True faith does something.

“Blessed.” It’s a word our culture has overused and misunderstood. It’s a word that has become a joke on social media. New car! #blessed. Big house! #blessed. And maybe that’s not entirely wrong. “‘Blessedness’ has to do with well-being in life that flows from the favorable position in which one is rightly related to God”[1].

We’ve gotten part of our understanding correct. We receive good gifts and recognize that we have some well-being in life. But what we often miss is that those gifts aren’t necessarily because of our right relationship with God. That’s why the psalmists and the prophets over and over again lament that the wicked prosper (see Psalm 73). Often it looks to human eyes like the wicked are ones who are #blessed.

I’m starting something new on the blog this week. Typically, I post stand-alone blog posts, stories, or recipes, but sometimes there are topics I want to look at more thoroughly, but they can’t be covered in one post. So, I’m excited to be launching a blog post series on the book of James.

Back in January, I started studying James, and now eight months later I’m still in it. It’s only five chapters long, but it’s such a beautiful, practical book. Tim Mackie called it, “a beautifully crafted punch in the gut.” I think that’s pretty accurate.

For many of us, saying grace can easily become trite and meaningless. But prayer before our meals is not just “something we do” as Christians. Instead, it’s a way to acknowledge our need and God’s provision—provision for our daily bread and provision as the Bread of Life.