James and Jude: A Pentecostal Commentary

JAMES

AND JUDE

A Pentecostal Commentary

DR. MATTHEW N. O. SADIKU

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Copyright 2013 Dr. Matthew N. O. Sadiku.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Unless otherwise stated, scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, used by permission of Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Bible.

Copyediting by Regina Peters

This book is composed in Garamond

ISBN: 978-1-4669-8397-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-8398-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-8408-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904286

Trafford rev. 04/10/2013

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To

Moses and Victoria Sadiku

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Part 1: James

Introduction To James

1    Salutation

2    Trials And Temptations Part 1

3    Trials And Temptations Part 2

4    Listening And Doing

5    The Evil Of Favoritism

6    Living With Faith And Works

7    Taming The Tongue

8    Two Types Of Wisdom

9    Living With Humility

10    Boasting About Tomorrow

11    Warning To The Rich

12    The Power Of Patience

13    The Power Of Prayer

Part 2: Jude

Introduction To Jude

14    Greeting

15    Contending For The Faith

16    God’s Judgment

17    Warnings Of Judgment

18    Duty Of Believers In Times Of Apostasy

Selected Bibliography

PREFACE

Earnest Christians are hungry for information that makes their Bible come alive. The Christian life can be described as getting to know God better every day. Every Christian should regularly—daily—read the Word of God. We should find time for quiet time or personal devotions. The reason we have so many bad days is that we do not spend time with God. We must spend time with God if we want His blessings on our lives and we want to hear from Him.

For over 20 years I have been using commentaries in my devotions. The blessings derived from the commentaries are overwhelming. I am writing this commentary to share some of those blessings and lessons I have learned over the years.

This commentary provides verse-by-verse exposition and application on James and Jude. It is different from others in two respects. First, it is brief while some commentaries are wordy and verbose. This commentary does not delve into critical and exegetical details. Therefore, the limits of this commentary forbid that we consider all the views concerning any issue, but an attempt is made to provide a brief, sound, yet scholarly view. Second, it is Pentecostal in outlook. This implies that we generally adhere to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and adopt a literalist approach to the interpretation of the Bible. Pentecostal doctrines include speaking in tongues, gifts of the Holy Spirit, signs and wonders, divine inspiration, divine healing, Christian prophets, and apostles today, to mention but a few. The early church was basically Pentecostal in nature, i.e. it exercised considerable freedom of the Spirit in its life and worship.

In order to provide a readable text, this commentary is based on the New International Version (NIV) translation. The commentary is for laymen, pastors, teachers, and students of the Word. It is designed to enrich your quiet time or personal study by making the commentary clear and simple. It is my prayer that this commentary brings you both delight and insight in understanding the Word of God.

The major aim of this commentary is to expose readers to James and Jude, two New Testament letters by the half brothers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I owe a great deal to all who have written on James and Jude before me. Sir Isaac Newton once said, If I have seen further than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulder of giants. I am most grateful to many authors whose works I have drawn from, as evident from the footnotes and Selected Bibliography. They are the giants on whose shoulders I stood while working on this project.

It is my pleasure and honor to thank Dr. Victor Ozumba, Dr. Stan Okoro, and Dr. Sunday Oladipupo for reading the entire manuscript and pointing out errors. I want to thank Regina Peters for a thorough copyediting. Special thanks are due to my wife Kike for her support in various ways.

ABBREVIATIONS

PART 1: JAMES

INTRODUCTION TO JAMES

The book of James is loved and popular among Christians. It provides concrete advice on an array of issues that confront believers every day—temptation, trials, suffering, sin, poverty, riches, folly, wisdom, favoritism, prejudice, religion, social justice, the tongue, boasting, worldliness, prayer, sickness, and more. John MacArthur wrote: The book of James has been compared with the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, particularly the book of Proverbs, because of its direct, pungent statements on wise living. And James’s strong condemnation of social injustice has prompted some to call him ‘the Amos of the New Testament.’¹

Before we start on our journey through this remarkable letter, we should first consider some preliminary matters—authorship, the recipients, and message—concerning this letter.

Authorship

The opening salutation of the book states that it was written by James. James is the English version of the Greek name Iakobos (= Jacob). The following four different men bear the name in the NT:

•   James the son of Zebedee, the brother of apostle John. He is mentioned several times in the gospels and Acts as one of the Twelve. This James, with Peter and John, belonged to the inner circle of disciples. He was the first apostle to be martyred; he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I in AD 44 (Acts 12:2), too early for him to have written this book

•   James the son of Alphaeus was another one of the Twelve. He was also known as James the younger (Mark 15:40). He cannot be considered as the author because we do not know much about him besides the brief mention as being among Jesus’ apostles.

•   James the father of Judas, who is another member of the Twelve (Luke 6:16). This Judas is not Iscariot, but the James is mentioned as the father of the one of the Twelve. Since we do not know anyhing further about this James, we can eliminate him as the possible author of the epistle of James.

•   James the half brother of Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. Perhaps James was the oldest of the brothers of Jesus since his name comes first in the two lists of their names (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Jesus’ brothers (including James and Jude) did not understand His ministry and were hostile toward Him. However, a remarkable change took place in the life of James in the Book of Acts. James spent most of his time in Jerusalem giving guidance and leadership to the mother church. It was his speech that negated the demand of Judaizers that Gentile believers be required to be circumcised. His life of piety gained for him the title James the Just. He spent so much time praying in the Temple that his knees became as hard as a camel’s.

The process of elimination leads us to conclude that James, the half brother of Jesus, is the most likely author of this epistle. He must have written this letter from Jerusalem, the birthplace of the church, where he lived. Some claim that James became an apostle when he met the risen Lord (1 Corinthians 15:8).

As Bruce Barton et al. said, The book of James was written after the death of Stephen (A.D. 35), the persecution that caused many of the Jerusalem believers to flee for their lives, the conversion of Paul (A.D. 35), and the death of James the apostle (A.D. 44).² James was probably written in AD 49, just before the Jerusalem council of AD 50. If so, James was the first NT book to be written.

Recipients

The text identifies the readers as the twelve tribes in the dispersion. James is addressed to Jews, following the Babylonian captivity, who had been scattered throughout the world. (See the map.) So James is a catholic or general letter written to the church at large rather than to a single, specific congregation. (Other six catholic letters are 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude). However, the content of the letter apparently suggests a Jewish-Christian audience.

Message

The book of James is a practical manual for daily Christian living. Paul Cedar has called it a how-to-do-it manual: how to profit from trials, how to obtain wisdom, how to overcome temptation, and how to communicate, how to live more effectively for the Lord.³ The list of how-to topics goes on and on.

In this letter, James calls believers to harmonize their faith and action. It is not enough to be a Christian; the fact must evident in one’s behavior. The faith that we claim must be demonstrated in all aspects of life. We profess faith in Christ, but trust in materialism. We claim to love our wives as Christ loved the church, but the number of divorces among Christians is on the rise. James is a practical book which reduces the inconsistencies of the religious to size.

It is alleged that James sort of contradicts Paul’s teaching with regard to justification by faith. This seeming contradiction has troubled many including Martin Luther. While Paul declared that men are justified by faith, James taught that men are justified by works. Paul refuted the need for good works as a requirement for justification, while James insisted that good works must be demonstrated by the justified as proof of the living faith. James always ministered to the Jews, while Paul was the