Introduction: Who’s the Boss? James 1:1

Introduction: Who’s the Boss?

James 1:1

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, greetings."

The first step in allowing God to build your faith and mold your life into a mature and complete Christian is found in your attitude.  When you became a Christian you asked God to save you from your sins.  You had to admit you were a sinner and recognized you were unable to make it into heaven on your own merit or good deeds.  You needed God to provide a way because you came to the understanding there was no possible way to take away or pardon your sins.  Through God’s Word you found that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, was sent to this earth to die on a cross in your place.  Jesus took your place on the cross and paid the price of your sin so you could enter into a relationship with God and spend eternity in heaven with him.

If you made this confession, this admission, to God then you are a Christian, a believer, a person who has been what we call "born again".  As the scriptures say, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ (became a Christian), he is a new creation ( a new person); the old (person) has gone, the new (person) has come.  All this is from God, who reconciled (restored a broken relationship with) us to himself through (by the work of) Christ and gave us the ministry (new job of ) reconciliation (restoring others to God) (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).”

Before you were saved you basically ran your own life and made your own decisions, but now that you are saved you have given up that life, attitude, and perception of yourself.  As a Christian you have given your life to God and have become his servant.  There can only be one master in a person’s life so ask yourself the hard question: Who’s the boss? 

James calls himself a "servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ".  Are you a servant of God like James?  What kind of a servant is he?  How far does this servant thing need to go?  Let’s see if we can answer some of these questions.  When studying the Bible we need to look at the original word used and the time/date it was written.  When thinking of a servant we will have the tendency to think of the word in relationship to our own culture and our own time.  This word for servant is not like a butler or maid who is employed by some rich family like in the movies.  The New Testament was written in the Greek language and the word “servant” used by James here is the Greek word “doulos”.  This word means “bond-servant” or “slave” and was used in the time James lived to describe a person who belonged (as in the property of) to an owner. 

There were many types, or levels, of slaves living in the time James lived in the Roman Empire.  Some slaves were managers of businesses, others cared for their owners stables and horses, some would have been in charge of teaching their master’s children, others would be cooks, or attendants to the master’s wife.  The slave world contained people who were skilled and unskilled, people with great responsibilities or the simplest of tasks.  At the bottom of this Roman era slave order was the bond-servant, and even in the slave world, no one, even other slaves, didn’t want the position of the doulos bond-servant.

The doulos bond-servant was a slave known as the foot-washer.  When a guest arrived at the master’s home this slave would hurry to the door with a bowl of water, a sponge, and towels.  He or she would then untie the sandals of the guests and wash their feet.  Think about how this would make you feel.  Day after day, month after month, and year after year, you would take off peoples shoes and scrub the dirt off their feet.  You would be on your knees as they looked down upon you, washing and drying their feet, wondering if the guests see you at all.  There would be no conversations with the doulos foot-washer, no "Good morning" or "How are you?"  This slave was not viewed as a fellow human being, instead they were considered something lower, something on the level of an animal.

William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible series on the book of James, writes this about the term “doulos”:  

“There are at least four implications in this title: 

1. It implies absolute obedience.  The slave knows no law but his master’s word; he has no rights of his own; he is the absolute possession of his master; and he is bound to give his master unquestioning obedience. 

2. It implies absolute humility.  It is the word of a man who thinks not of his privileges but of his duties, not of his rights but of his obligations.  It is the word of the man who has lost his self in the service of God. 

3. It implies absolute loyalty.  It is the word of the man who has no interests of his own, because what he does, he does for God.  His own profit and his own preferences do not enter into his calculations; his loyalty is to him. 

4. Yet, at the back of it, this word implies a certain pride.  So far from being a title of dishonor it was the title by which the greatest ones of the Old Testament were known.  By taking the title doulos James sets himself in the great succession of those who found their freedom and their peace and their glory in perfect submission to the will of God.  The only greatness to which the Christian can ever aspire is that of being the slave of God.”

One of the greatest privileges we have as Christians is to model the lifestyle of Jesus Christ.  I believe James had this in mind when calling himself the slave of God.  In Mark 10:45 Jesus said this about himself, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  The apostle Paul was moved by God to write these words about Christ in Philippians 2:5-8: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (while on the earth), but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant (this is the word “doulos” slave), being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death ...even death on a cross.”

When Jesus was with his disciples eating the Passover meal (aka the last supper) he demonstrated the doulos lifestyle even further.  John 13:1-5 tells us what happened that night, “It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power, and he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

This is unbelievable!  Jesus… God in the flesh, humbles himself before his very own creation and demonstrates the attitude of a doulos slave!  If you continue reading the scripture text you learn Peter struggled with his beloved Master acting in this way, refusing to let Jesus wash his feet.  Also, did you catch that little tidbit in verse 1 where Jesus said, “… he now showed them the full extent of his love”?    The full extent, or full measure, of Jesus’ love begins with a demonstration of a servant who lives a humble life as a servant and ends by sacrificing himself on a cross to rescue us from the sin curse. 

 Let us continue reading as we pick up in John 13:12-15  “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place (at the meal).  Do you understand what I have done for you? He asked them.  You call me Teacher and Lord and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet (demonstrated the attitude of a doulos servant), you also should wash one another’s feet (demonstrate the attitude of a doulos servant).  I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you.”  Jesus has called us to live our lives as humble servants.  This is why James uses the title of “doulos” to describe himself in the opening statement of his letter.  He is being used by God to remind us to model Jesus' life.  Therefore, to be a slave of God is a demonstration of the “full extent” of our love for God, and it is the first step in the process of becoming a mature and complete Christian.  I created the blog title "Doulosman Bible Studies" to remind myself and readers to remain humble and serve others.

...to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.  Greetings.

In this part of the passage James reveals the recipients and the purpose of writing this letter.  James is has grown into the position of pastor in the Church in Jerusalem, a church made up of Jewish converts, and therefore, he uses the familiar and common phrase, “to the twelve tribes” to address them.

The word “scattered” used by James here is the Greek word “diaspora” (dee-as-por-ah).  It is defined as a dispersion or scattering, and was used to describe all Jews who lived in areas outside of Israel.  Some writers have implied James was simply addressing all Jews in general, but this interpretation does not fit the context of the book.  I believe James addressed his letter to a specific group of Jewish believers who had been scattered (diaspora) into the outlying areas outside Israel because of persecution.  Please refer to the Context and Background page (ref: Setting) for more information about the persecution of the church in Jerusalem.

References:

Studylight.org. (n.d.). James 1 Commentary - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible. Retrieved from https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/james-1.html