The Catholic Epistle of St James (Book of James)

The Epistle of St James, in the Vulgate Epistola Catholica Iacobi, comes first among the seven Catholic Epistles, the letters that stand between St Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse. Challoner's preface to the Douay Bible explains the name: these letters are called "Catholic or Universal" because "they were not written to any peculiar people or particular person, but to the faithful in general." In five short chapters St James speaks like the wise men of the Old Testament: count trials as joy, bridle the tongue, honour the poor, show your faith by your works, and pray, for "the continual prayer of a just man availeth much."

Who wrote the Book of James?

St James the Apostle, called the Less, "the brother of the Lord" and first Bishop of Jerusalem. The letter opens with his name: "James the servant of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting" (James 1). Challoner states the Church's tradition plainly: "It was written by the apostle St. James, called the Less, who was also called the brother of our Lord, being his kinsman (for cousins german with the Hebrews were called brothers). He was the first Bishop of Jerusalem." The Council of Trent speaks the same way, naming the author of chapter 5 "James the Apostle, and brother of the Lord" (Session XIV, ch. 1).

Which James wrote the Book of James?

Several men in the New Testament bear the name. It cannot be St James the Greater, son of Zebedee and brother of St John: Herod Agrippa "killed James, the brother of John, with the sword" in about AD 44 (Acts 12), too early for the letter.

The author is the James who led the Church of Jerusalem: to him Peter sends word after his escape from prison (Acts 12:17); he gives the decisive sentence at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15); St Paul names him with "Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars" (Galatians 2), and on his first visit to Jerusalem saw none other of the apostles, "saving James the brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:19). St Jude, in turn, calls himself "the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" (Jude).

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) judges that the internal evidence "points unmistakably to James, the Lord's brother, the Bishop of Jerusalem, as the author," and that his identification with James, son of Alpheus, one of the Twelve, "is by far the most probable." Its article on St James the Less adds that this identity "is at least most highly probable, and by far the greater number of Catholic interpreters" hold it as certain, the chief argument being Galatians 1:19, where St Paul counts the Lord's brother among the apostles.

James the Just: his life and martyrdom

Hegesippus, in the second century, quoted by Eusebius (Church History II, 23), says James was called "the Just" by all, "holy from his mother's womb," and that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple and beaten to death with a fuller's club. Josephus records his stoning under the high priest Ananus (Antiquities XX, 9, 1), about the year 62. His end is told beside that of the Twelve in our article on how the Apostles died.

Many modern critics hold the letter to be the work of a later writer using James's name. St Jerome already knew that some said so, and noted that it "gradually, as time went on," gained authority. The Church received it as the Apostle's.

When was the Book of James written?

Before St James's martyrdom about AD 62, at Jerusalem. Two traditional datings are given. Challoner holds that "it was written a short time before his martyrdom, about twenty-eight years after our Lord's Ascension," that is, about AD 61. The Catholic Encyclopedia prefers an earlier date, "probably written about A.D. 47": the persecution it describes is present and recent, like that of Herod Agrippa in 44; the hungry poor of 2:15 recall the famine of about 45 foretold by Agabus (Acts 11:28); and the letter says nothing of the Council of Jerusalem (AD 51), at which James presided. On that view it is one of the earliest writings of the New Testament.

Who was the Book of James written to?

"To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad" (1:1): Jewish Christians of the Dispersion, living outside Palestine. They knew the Old Testament well, met in their "assembly" (in Greek, synagogue, 2:2), and were mostly poor. They were oppressed by wealthy unbelievers, denied their wages (5:4) and dragged "before the judgment seats" (2:6), and their first fervour had cooled: the rich were flattered, the poor slighted, tongues ran loose. James writes as their pastor to strengthen them in trial and to make their conduct agree with their faith.

What is the Book of James about? A summary

Like Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), the Epistle has no strict plan, as the Catholic Encyclopedia observes: it passes from one counsel to another and returns to its themes.

Trials, wisdom and doing the word (chapter 1)

"My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations; knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience" (James 1). Whoever lacks wisdom must ask God "in faith, nothing wavering." God tempts no one: "every man is tempted by his own concupiscence," while "every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." So we must be "swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger," and "doers of the word, and not hearers only," for pure religion is to visit the fatherless and widows and keep "unspotted from this world."

The poor, the royal law, and faith with works (chapter 2)

James 2 condemns "respect of persons": giving the gold-ringed man the good seat and the poor man the footstool. "Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith?" To keep "the royal law," "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Leviticus 19), means keeping the whole Law, for he who offends in one point "is become guilty of all." Then the great argument: a faith that does not clothe the naked and feed the hungry "is dead in itself." Abraham was justified by works when he offered Isaac (Genesis 22), and Rahab when she hid the spies (Josue 2).

The tongue and the two wisdoms (chapter 3)

"Be ye not many masters," for teachers face the greater judgment. The tongue is a bit in the horse's mouth, a small helm that turns a great ship, a spark that sets a wood alight: "the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3). Earthly wisdom breeds envy and contention; "the wisdom, that is from above, first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, easy to be persuaded."

Friendship with the world, pride and presumption (chapter 4)

Wars and quarrels come from "your concupiscences, which war in your members"; "the friendship of this world is the enemy of God" (James 4). "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble," an echo of Proverbs 3. "Be subject therefore to God, but resist the devil, and he will fly from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." Do not plan tomorrow without God: "For what is your life? It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while."

The rich, patience, the anointing of the sick and prayer (chapter 5)

James 5 opens with a prophet's woe on the rich who keep back the labourers' hire, whose cry "hath entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." The faithful are to wait like the husbandman for "the early and latter rain," with "the patience of Job," and to swear not, "but let your speech be, yea, yea: no, no," as Our Lord taught in Matthew 5. Then the sacrament: "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church." The letter ends with prayer, the example of Elias, who prayed and "it rained not for three years and six months" (3 Kings 17), and the reward of converting a sinner: he "shall cover a multitude of sins."

Themes and the Catholic reading of James

Faith and works. "Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?" (2:24). There is no conflict with St Paul. When Paul says a man is justified "without the works of the law" (Romans 3), he means the works of the Mosaic Law done before faith; James means the works that flow from faith and charity. The Council of Trent cites James 2:24 when it teaches that the justified, "faith co-operating with good works, increase in that justice which they have received through the grace of Christ, and are still further justified" (Session VI, ch. 10). Our article Faith Without Works Is Dead gives the full reading of chapter 2 and of its agreement with St Paul.

Extreme Unction. Trent teaches that the sacred anointing of the sick was "instituted by Christ our Lord, as truly and properly a sacrament of the new law, insinuated indeed in Mark, but recommended and promulgated to the faithful by James the Apostle" (Session XIV, ch. 1), and anathematizes whoever denies that it was "promulgated by the blessed apostle James" (canon 1). Challoner's note on 5:14 calls it "a plain warrant of scripture for the sacrament of extreme unction." Its matter, form and effects are set out in our article on Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction).

Confession. "Confess therefore your sins one to another" (5:16). Challoner explains: "That is, to the priests of the church, whom (ver. 14) he had ordered to be called for," since "to confess to persons who had no power to forgive sins, would be useless." The same verse is weighed in our article Why Do Catholics Confess to a Priest?

Mercy and the poor. No book of the New Testament speaks more sharply for the poor. Visiting the fatherless and widows, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry: James makes the corporal and spiritual works of mercy the test of a living faith, and warns that "judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy."

Famous verses and chapters from James

James 1:5. "But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1), the promise behind our prayer for wisdom. The same chapter gives 1:12, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation," 1:22, "be ye doers of the word," and 1:27 on "religion clean and undefiled."

James 2:17-26. "So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself"; "the devils also believe and tremble" (James 2).

James 3:6. "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity" (James 3).

James 4:7-8 and 4:15. "Resist the devil, and he will fly from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you"; "It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while" (James 4).

James 5:14-16. "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church... And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man" (James 5).

James in the canon and in the liturgy

Written for Jewish Christians, the Epistle was slow to be cited in the West, and the Catholic Encyclopedia counts it among the deuterocanonical books of the New Testament, "doubted by some" in the first centuries. Eusebius notes that it "is disputed" yet "read publicly in very many churches" (Church History II, 23). Origen, St Athanasius, St Ambrose, St Jerome and St Augustine received it as Scripture; the Councils of Rome (382), Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), and later Florence, listed it; and the Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) defined it canonical, naming "one of the apostle James" among the sacred books. Written in Greek, it reached the West in the Latin Vulgate, from which our Douay-Rheims Bible was made.

In the 1962 Roman Missal, St James gives the Epistle of the Fourth Sunday after Easter (1:17-21) and of the Fifth Sunday after Easter (1:22-27), and of the Rogation Mass of the Major and Minor Litanies (5:16-20), on Elias and the power of prayer. James 2:12-17 is the Epistle of St John Cantius on 20 October. In the Roman Breviary its lessons are read at Matins from the Fourth Sunday after Easter, before the First Epistle of St Peter begins on the Fifth. St James the Less is kept with St Philip on 11 May. Follow these days in our liturgical calendar and in the Breviary.

How to read the Book of James

Read it whole first: it takes a quarter of an hour. Then take one chapter a day for a week, and stop at each command: James writes in short sayings meant to be practised, not only understood. Read chapter 2 beside Romans 4 to see how both Apostles read Abraham, and chapter 5 beside Mark 6, where the Twelve "anointed with oil many that were sick."

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Book of James written by Jesus' brother?

It was written by the man the Gospels and St Paul call "the brother of the Lord," in the Hebrew sense of a close kinsman, not a son of Mary. St Jerome held that he was "the son of Mary sister of the mother of our Lord" (De viris illustribus 2), that is, His cousin, and Challoner's preface explains that "cousins german with the Hebrews were called brothers." Our article on the perpetual virginity of Mary and the brethren of the Lord sets out the Church's teaching.

What is the main message of the Book of James?

That faith must be lived. A true faith endures trials with patience, asks God for wisdom, bridles the tongue, honours the poor, shuns friendship with the world and shows itself in works of charity, for "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). Challoner sums it up as "many precepts appertaining to faith and morals; particularly, that faith without good works will not save a man and that true wisdom is given only from above."

How many chapters are in the Book of James?

The Book of James has 5 chapters and 108 verses, in the Douay-Rheims, the Latin Vulgate and Protestant Bibles alike. Every chapter can be read here, beginning with James 1, Latin and English side by side.

Where is the Book of James in the Bible?

In the New Testament, right after the Epistle to the Hebrews and before the First Epistle of St Peter. It is the first of the seven Catholic Epistles: James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude.

Is the Book of James in the Catholic Bible?

Yes. The Douay-Rheims titles it "The Catholic Epistle of St. James the Apostle," and it belongs to the canon of the Latin Vulgate, which the Council of Trent received whole as sacred and canonical in 1546. It stands, with the same five chapters, in Catholic and Protestant Bibles alike.

Did Martin Luther want to remove the Book of James?

Luther did not strike it out, but he called it "a letter of straw" and set it apart at the end of his German New Testament of 1522, with Hebrews, Jude and the Apocalypse. The Catholic Encyclopedia says he rejected it "solely for dogmatic reasons," because the Epistle "refutes his heretical doctrine that Faith alone is necessary for salvation." Our comparison Catholic vs Lutheran explains the dispute over justification.

Read the whole Epistle of St James verse by verse, Latin and English, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Catholic Epistle of St James, Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision, 1749-1752), with Challoner's preface and notes; Eusebius, Church History II, 23 (with Hegesippus); St Jerome, De viris illustribus 2; Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX, 9, 1; Council of Trent, Session IV, Decree on the Canonical Scriptures (1546), Session VI, Decree on Justification (1547), and Session XIV, Doctrine and Canons on Extreme Unction (1551); The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Epistle of Saint James" and "St. James the Less"; Missale Romanum (1962); Breviarium Romanum (1962).