James 1:1 - James, A Slave

James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion, greeting. - James 1:1 (LITV)

• James begins his letter by identifying himself as a slave, to communicate his position to God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who was his brother.

  • The Greek word used here is doulos which literally means slave, one who belongs to another. In the Greco-Roman world, a doulos had no ownership of their own life; they were under the total authority of their master.

    • Other translations use the word servant or bondservant instead. A servant works for another and is a different greek word all together. A bondservant is rooted in Old Testament law, and is one who willingly chooses lifelong service to his master rooted in love. James uses the word slave as one whose entire life belongs to God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

• This letter is written to “the twelve tribes” who would be Jews and would speak to the heart of Jewish faith, which is the covenantal promise that the one true God, YHWH, would gather His people, the twelve tribes of Israel, in the promised land and dwell among them.

  • The twelve tribes were not living in that promised land at this time and were dispersed among foreign nations, and recognized as: the Dispersion (Greek: diaspora).

    • It described a lived reality — a covenant people exiled from their homeland, yet still bound together by their tribal identity and in God’s covenant.

    • Some translations use “scattered abroad” and the Dispersion is a historical event of exile, dislocation, and living as a minority people under foreign rule.

    • God’s journey with the Jews is recorded in what Christians call the Old Testament and Jews call the Torah, that captures story after story of this covenant.

• While today we read this and seek to relate and be inspired with our present suffering as believers, it’s important to contextually understand the distinction for us now.

  • The words of this study were for Jewish believers living in exile 2000 years ago. We now live as American Christians because of the lived obedience of Jesus, James and the others who lived as slaves to God.

  • The majority of those who believe in the God of The Bible have warm homes, stocked pantries, and the Bible app on an iPhones with the freedom to come together as God’s chosen people.

  • Those in the Dispersion, the ones this letter is written to, had lost their homeland, their temple, their center of worship, and were scattered among foreign nations. Their faith identity made them outsiders, their loyalty to Jesus made them targets, and their way of living was constantly under suspicion. It meant being cut off from family, surrounded by cultures that did not worship the God of The Bible. It was a life of pressure, displacement, and longing and often impoverished and persecuted.

  • Persecution at the time of this letter, in the first century, meant losing your home, your livelihood, and potentially your life. Persecution today in the West looks like losing a friend, social approval, being mocked, or feeling left out. Family and friends may not like you if you believe the God of the bible, and the majority of Western American culture supports the God of the bible.

• We need to be honest about this: James was not writing to us. He was not thinking of modern Christians who enjoy religious freedom and call minor inconveniences “trials.” He was speaking directly into those who were part of the covenant story of the twelve tribes of Israel in exile bound by God’s covenant promise.

  • The impact for us today is that we can apply the principles, and we need to first honor the context and those who lived lives of faithful obedience to get us to where we are today otherwise we strip this scripture of it’s power and potency.

    • For example, when James says “count it all joy when you fall into trials,” in the next verse, these trials are fundamentally different than the trials we face today. While still true, we want to first look to the faith of those who received this letter in light of what we are considering joy today as we live in the luxury of the fruits of their labor for considering their suffering joy.

    • Today with religious freedom we proclaim the gospel into a world that has audiences that will cheer us on or pay us money, and we can find more friends when we stand boldly for God and do no live in fear of being publicly executed for talking about Jesus. He was speaking to people who were scattered, displaced, and pressed on every side. Before we apply his words to our stress or social frustrations, we need to remember the weight of the audience he wrote to: a people who knew suffering, exile, and waiting for God’s promise and their entire life and livelihood was on the line for standing in the full confidence of this belief.

• This first verse ends with James saying, “greetings” (chairein), which literally means “rejoice.” Even in exile, even in dispersion, the very first word James speaks is joy. As a slave to God this reflects his sentiment and this is not a cold letter of instruction, and a family letter of encouragement — written to those who are far from home, yet still bound together as the covenant people of God, which is for all of us who who read James and believe on the God of The Bible.

THE SCRIPTURE

1. KJV: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

2. ESV: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

3. CSB: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings.

4. NLT: This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!

5. NASB: James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

6. LITV: James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion, greeting.

7. Interlinear: Iakōbos [James], of God and of [the] Lord Jesus Christ [a] servant, to the twelve tribes, those in the dispersion, greetings.

W – Word Study

• James — Ἰάκωβος (Iakōbos, G2385) Greek form of Jacob, “supplanter.”

• slave — δοῦλος (doulos, G1401) one owned by another, without rights of their own; wholly devoted.

• God — θεοῦ (theou, G2316) the one true God, supreme divinity.

• Lord — κυρίου (kyriou, G2962) master, supreme authority.

• Jesus — Ἰησοῦ (Iēsou, G2424) Yeshua, “YHWH saves.”

• Christ — Χριστοῦ (Christou, G5547) the Anointed One, Messiah.

• twelve — δώδεκα (dōdeka, G1427) twelve, the complete number of Israel’s tribes.

• tribes — φυλαῖς (phylais, G5443) tribes, clans, divisions of Israel.

• Dispersion — διασπορᾷ (diaspora, G1290) scattering of Jews among nations; exile identity.

• greeting — χαίρειν (chairein, G5463) rejoice; wish for joy.

H – Historical Context

• James = brother of Jesus, leader of the Jerusalem church, writing ~AD 45–50.

• Audience = Jewish Christians in the Dispersion (living in exile communities across the Roman Empire — Antioch, Alexandria, Asia Minor, Rome).

• These believers lived under foreign rule, often poor, marginalized, and pressured by both synagogue authorities and Roman suspicion whose lives and livelihood would be threatened because they chose to live as slaves to God.

• Dispersion = covenant identity; a people living in covenant relationship with the God woh promised their return to their promised land.

A – Application - Write a reflection on each question and repent of any dissonance.

• What comes alive in you when you consider introducing yourself in a letter to the a group of Jews and how would it be in comparison to being a slave of God?

• In comparison to the Jews in The Dispersion, in what ways can you see your “scattered” misunderstood or marginalized life different from them?

• With the faithfulness of James writing this letter, we can see ourselves as part of God’s covenant family, living faithfully and even still in exile, in what ways does this impact you when it comes to being encouraged and inspired in your faith?

T – The Truth

• Like James, our truest identity is to be slaves of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ modeled and what he calls us into. (Matthew 20 and Mark 10) We are to surrender every right of our own and live wholly under His will and repent we live in opposition to this. Even scattered, displaced, or pressed, we are still His slaves eternally greeted with joy, grafted into God’s family — whose ancestors have a long history of exile, yet all still bound together under His covenant promise.

  • Whoever would be great among you must be your servant (diakonos), and whoever would be first among you must be your slave (doulos). - Matthew 20:27

  • But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant (diakonos). And whoever would be first among you must be slave (doulos) of all. - Mark 10:43 - 44