God's Letter To Scattered Believers Through James

By Roger Henri Trepanier

God’s Letter To Scattered Believers Through James, is the fifth book in “The Word of God Library” series. While this book is expository in nature (that is, explained in some detail), it is still intended to be devotional, heartwarming, and as practical as possible, to help believers live out their faith in these last days of the present age.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Henri Trepanier
• Release date: Nov 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370476428

Roger Henri Trepanier

Roger Henri Trepanier is an evangelist, author, and counselor, who has been serving God on his field of service since 1999. One hundred and seven books have been published so far in five different series, all available in print format and as an eBook for any type of eBook reader. He is a widower with three adopted children, all now married.The author's two websites have been closed. To access the author's books, please type, "Roger Henri Trepanier, books" in any search engine. All the author's books are available in print and ebook formats for all devices.

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The Word Of God Library

God’s Letter To Scattered Believers Through James

Copyright 2017 by Roger Henri Trepanier

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2017 © Roger Henri Trepanier

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author. An exception is granted to a reviewer who wishes to quote a brief passage or two as part of a public review of this book.

Scripture taken from

THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

This book is dedicated to all the believers yet on earth scattered among the nations!

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter One : James 1:1-27

Chapter Two : James 2:1-26

Chapter Three : James 3:1-18

Chapter Four : James 4:1-17

Chapter Five : James 5:1-20

Addendum A : The four ages of time

Addendum B : The two comings from Heaven to earth of God’s precious Son, Jesus Christ

Addendum C : For those who may not as yet know God

The Next Book

End Page

INTRODUCTION

This is the fifth book in the series titled, The Word of God Library. God is leading His servant to have a few commentaries published which are the result of almost 38 years of study combined with practical experience. And while these commentaries are expository in nature (that is, explained in some detail), they are still intended to be devotional, heartwarming, and as practical as possible, to help believers live out their faith in these last days of the present age. There are also three sections to the Addendum dealing with the four ages of time; the two separate comings from Heaven to earth in time of God’s Son, The Lord Jesus Christ; and also how one may have a personal relationship with God, if there are any readers who do not already have this vital relationship. It is highly recommended that one start with the Addendum before one sets out to read the book.

What should also be mentioned before closing this Introduction is that after completing 21 years of formal education and then spending almost 28 years working in Project Engineering and Management in the Corporate offices of a large utility, God called His servant as a non-denominational evangelist in early 1999, and then sent him out a few thousand miles, away from family and friends, to the place of service God assigned, which is where His servant has been and is still serving Him as evangelist, counselor, author, editor, and publisher. The author is a widower with three adopted children, all now married with a family of their own.

Please note the two websites listed below, which have been established for the purpose of interacting with readers and for gospel ministry:

http://www.pilgrimpathwaypublications.com

http://servantofmosthigh.com

And now my prayer is that God will richly bless you as you read this book, and greatly minister to your every need in your life as only God can! To Him be all praise, honor, and glory, with thanksgiving, forevermore! Amen.

CHAPTER ONE

James 1:1-27

Brief introduction

As we begin, we note that God identifies the person He gave this letter through and the persons for whom this letter was intended, which is evident from what we read at James 1:1, "James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. And as we see here, the writer that God chose to give this letter through is a man named James and those the letter was intended for are the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad. However, one has probably noticed that there are a number of James mentioned in God’s word, the Bible. So the first question which faces us is: Which James does God have in view here? Then the second question we will look at is: What does God mean by the twelve tribes scattered abroad, who are to be the recipients of this letter? And thirdly, we will answer the question of: What does God mean when He refers to one as a bond-servant of His?"

Which James is here in view?

But who was this James here in view, since there are a five separate ‘James’ mentioned in God’s word? The first James encountered in God’s word is James, the son of Zebedee, who was the older brother of John, who was also one of the Twelve apostles chosen by God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we see mentioned for instance at Matthew 4:21,22. The second James mentioned in God’s word is James, son of Alphaeus, who was also one of the Twelve apostles, whom we see mentioned at Matthew 10:2-4.

The third James we encounter in God’s word is James, The Lord Jesus Christ’s half-brother – meaning that Mary gave birth to both, with the important distinction being that The Lord Jesus Christ was born first while Mary was still a virgin, which further means that The Lord Jesus Christ’s Father is God; while James, who was born later, had a man named ‘Joseph as his human father. Let us recall what God tells us in this regard at Matthew 1:18,24,25 in part, [18] Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together (that is, before they were intimate sexually) she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit… [24] And Joseph… took Mary as his wife, [25] but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus." Since all human beings have a sinful nature from the time of Adam and Eve, which is transmitted through the seed of the male through the female to the offsprings, and since God’s Son was sinless, then He HAD to be born into this world through a virgin so as not to incur that sinful nature that all humans have.

That Joseph and Mary later had other children by natural means, after The Lord Jesus Christ had been born supernaturally of God through Mary while she was a virgin is clear from what God tells us at Matthew 13:54-56, [54] He (Jesus) came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? [55] Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, JAMES and Joseph and Simon and Judas? [56] And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

The fourth James God mentions in His word has a brother named Joseph and his mother is called Mary, being both mentioned at Matthew 27:55,56, where we read, [55] Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. [56] Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Some readers may have noticed from Matthew 13:55 above that the woman God chose to give birth to His eternally existing Son into this world was also called Mary and also had sons called James and Joseph, among others. However, the Mary of this fourth James needs to be seen as a different Mary, whenever she is mentioned, since the two sons mentioned were her only sons. If she had more, God would have mentioned them here. Also note Mark 15:40; 16:1; and Luke 24:10, where she is also mentioned.

Then the fifth and last James mentioned in God’s word had a son named Judas (not Iscariot), who was also one of the Twelve apostles of The Lord Jesus Christ, noting what God tells us at Luke 6:16, adding verse 13 for context, [13] And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: …[16] Judas the son of JAMES, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. Therefore, the question now before us is: Which of these five James is the man that God gave this letter through, which became part of God’s eternally existing word?

Could it be James, the son of Zebedee, the brother of John? This would be a logical choice based on the fact that he was one of the Twelve, plus was part of The Lord Jesus Christ’s inner circle with Peter and John. And God did give several New Testament letters through both Peter and John, who were also part of that inner circle. However, what should be noticed is that this James was martyred at Acts 12:1,2, as being the second believer of the present third age to be so martyred (the first being Stephen, noting Acts 7:59,60). As we will see in a moment, this James was not the believer through whom God gave this letter.

And what we can also say for sure is that the James who wrote down this letter from God was not James, the son of Alphaeus; nor the James whose mother was Mary, with a brother named Joseph; nor the James whose son John was one of the Twelve apostles. And why not? Simply because none of these men were prominent among the believers, since there is a definite pattern established by God that those He gave the letters of the New Testament through were well known among the believers. For when this was the case, then this made it easier for the believers to accept the authenticity of the letters given, and therefore their message as really being from God!

This then leaves only one James, which was The Lord Jesus Christ’s half-brother. It is my conviction, for a number of reasons given here, that he is the believer through whom God gave human beings this letter. Even though this James was not one of the Twelve and likely did not even believe in The Lord Jesus Christ until after His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead (noting John 7:5 with Acts 1:14), he nevertheless was later raised of God to be an elder in the local church at Jerusalem, becoming not only very well known among the believers, but also the only elder of that local church who is often referred to by name in God’s word, noting Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Galatians 1:19; and 2:9,12.

Also, if we look closely at the content of this letter, we note that there are no personal references to The Lord Jesus Christ, or of His teaching. If James, the son of Zebedee, had been its writer, there would likely have been some of The Lord Jesus’ teaching included, as we see for instance in the letters God gave through Peter and John. Additionally, if this letter was primarily intended to encourage the believers of the local church at Jerusalem, who had been scattered due to the persecution against it (as we will see in the next section below), then who better to write to them than one of its elders! As already noted, this letter is practical in nature, which is in line with a shepherd’s ministry to the flock, as one who had been raised of God as an elder to lead them. James, the son of Zebedee, never was an elder of a local church, having died before the eldership of the local churches had even been established. Therefore, we conclude that the believer God chose to give us this letter through was James, The Lord Jesus Christ’s half-brother!

What does God means by the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad

We have already noted at James 1:1 that God there tells us that this letter was intended for the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad. The mention of the twelve tribes would identify these as being primarily believers of the nation of Israel, which we know from God’s word consisted of twelve tribes (for instance at Genesis 49:28 and also at Matthew 19:28). The word dispersed is Diaspora in the original Greek in which the New Testament came from God to mankind, including this letter, which word can also be rendered as ‘scattered.’ We are further to see that these believers ended up being scattered among the Gentile (non-Jewish) nations due to the persecution that arose against the local church at Jerusalem at Acts 8:1, after the martyrdom of Stephen at Acts 7. James, The Lord Jesus Christ’s half-brother, who was now a believer and an elder in the local church at Jerusalem, is used of God to write this letter to his scattered flock among the nations after that persecution.

What would be beneficial here before going further is to make a brief note of how far afield from Jerusalem these believers were scattered as those affected by the persecution that arose at Jerusalem. From a practical standpoint, we could say that these likely went far enough to be safe from the Jews in unbelief at Jerusalem, who were persecuting them; yet not too far so as to lose contact with those left behind in Jerusalem, especially the apostles and elders of the local church there. At Acts 8:1, we read that they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria… Then at Acts 11:19, we are further told that …those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch… What this also means then is that since these things are true, this would also make sense for God to send a letter through James, the best known elder of that local church at Jerusalem, as the first to be established, to these scattered believers, which would then also mean that the letter God gave through James would certainly have been one of the first letters written, if not the first.

However, what is critical to grasp here is that while the primary recipients of this letter from God at first were indeed these scattered believers from Jerusalem, who were of the nation of Israel; nevertheless, the content of it, being the word of God, which is eternal in nature, is to be seen as being for believers of all ages of time. In other words, the letter God gave through James is to be seen as being applicable to every believer reading it subsequent to these believers of the first century AD. This means that this letter applies to us today, who are believers alive on earth and reading this.

What God means when He calls one of His own a bond-servant

We also note from James 1:1 that God identifies James as a bond-servant of God and of The Lord Jesus Christ. This is how every believer yet on earth should be identified by God, for a bond-servant is one who is in willing service to God, out of love for Him! This meaning of the term bond-servant can be grasped from what God tells us at Deuteronomy 15:12,16,17, [12] If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free… [16] It shall come about if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; [17] then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. And so, a bond-servant is one who is in willing service to God out of love for Him!

We further note from James 1;1 that both God The Father and The Lord Jesus Christ are mentioned to focus us on the truth that God is our Father by virtue of our spiritual birth into His family, which is wholly a work of God’s grace (noting Ephesians 2:8-10); and also to focus us on the truth that The Lord Jesus Christ is Lord of every believer by virtue of His death, burial, resurrection, and subsequent ascension and glorification on our behalf, noting what God tells us at Romans 14:9, For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Before time ends, this will be apparent to every creature ever created by God, noting for instance what we are told at Philippians 2:8-11, [8] Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God addresses the believer’s need to