James is directed to trials and hardships in general, but

especially, the trials and hardships of poverty.  However,

James goes further than the Old Testament wisdom

literature, such as the Book of Proverbs, which is largely

limited to the impact of one's lifestyle and works on the

quality of one's own life.  James extends the question of

works to save the life of another as well as yourself.  In

particular, the Epistle of James is overwhelmingly directed to

the question of poverty, and the trials and hardships that

poverty brings, a circumstance that calls for wisdom by the

impoverished, and charitable works by those who have

financial or material resources.

Poverty Amplifies Trials

Most trials and hardships that are so insignificant, that,

to the average person, they are virtually invisible.  But trials

and hardships have a way of multiplying and amplifying

themselves if they are not ameliorated.  And each of us has,

at some time in our life, lacked a simple resource, and as a

consequence, watched a minor annoyance become amplified

into a significant hardship.  A miscalculation of one's check

book, and a few unanticipated expenses over a month leave

a smaller balance in one's check book than anticipated.  And

spending one dollar too many leaves one overdrawn.  Lack

of one dollar may result in a twenty dollar overdraft fee on

our checking account, and another twenty dollar late fee on

our credit card.  One missing dollar is amplified into a forty

dollar debt in one day, usually when we could least afford it.

Such are the nature of trials.  They amplify themselves, and

all too often, the only way to stop the flow of trials is with

money, or the material goods and services it represents.

I once read of a holocaust survivor who survived simply

because he had a good pair of shoes.  As he and his fellow

prisoners were subjected to forced labor, those without

adequate foot gear suffered injury.  Sometimes the injuries

were very minor, perhaps a heal bruised by stepping on a

small pebble.  In normal circumstances, such a minor injury

would hardly be life threatening.  But in an austere

environment of a Nazi labor camp, there was no stopping to

heal, no right to walk along a more sensible path.

The first step on a pebble was followed by a second and a

third.  Little by little, injury to the feet mounted and

multiplied.  Perhaps they had to walk over broken rocks or

bricks with sharp edges.  Perhaps at the end of the path, the

workers were expected to man shovels, and to use their bare

feet to dig through hard clay preparing mass graves, under

the threat of being shot if they didn't step heartily onto their

shovels.  Each day, the injury to their feet was compounded.

Eventually, it affects every area of the body.  Perhaps one

day, as they stooped to tend their injured feet at the end of a

hard day's labor, they were late to the mess hall, and missed

dinner that evening, leaving them weaker the next day in an

already severe environment of a Nazi labor camp.  Through

any number of causes, little and insignificant injuries rapidly

grew exponentially in a matter of weeks, or even days.  In

reality, the first injury, however insignificant, was the first

step in a downward spiral that would end in death.

For most of us,  a minor cut or scrape is met with soap, water,

anti-bacterial ointment, and an adhesive bandage.  It is so

insignificant that it hardly receives a second thought.  But to

the person living on the streets in poverty and filth, and

without the most modest resources, the same tiny cut or

injury can become infected.  In the life of one without

resources, such tiny trials don't' simply go away.  Rather,

they are amplified, begetting other trials, and mounting at an

exponential rate.  If left unchecked, they become a torrent of

rushing water whose currents and eddies inexorably suck

their victims down into the murky, swirling depths of death and despair.

Such is the nature of trials, particularly the trial of poverty.

And those who have been unemployed and with little savings

probably know of the anxiety that comes from the constant

reminder that dangers are literally everywhere.  And the

poorer one is, the more circumstances there are which can

begin the serious downward spiral to death or hopeless

poverty from which there is no way out.

James understood the nature of trials, and their way of

multiplying in a downward spiral.  He particularly

understood the profound hardships and trials faced by the

poor, and was deeply concerned about their plight.  His

epistle focuses on two distinct aspects of this problem:

First, James told the poor that they had a responsibility

to seek God's wisdom to navigate through these great trials

and hardships (James 1:5-7), and reminded them that without

wise choices, they would seal their own fates (James 1:25,

3:13-18, 4:1-17; 5:7-20).  One who is unemployed and living

on the streets has little room for error.

Second, James focuses on the responsibility of the church

at large--those with homes, jobs, and other resources. To

James, these believers had a duty to recognize that they too

can fall into poverty at any moment (James 1:10), a duty to

go out and witness first hand the true nature of the ravages of

poverty (James 1:27), the duty to control their tongue from;

unkind, judgmental, hurtful and ignorant remarks about the

poor, which destroy and abase the last shred of dignity that

they may still have had (James 2:1-13), a duty to stop

exploiting the poor (James 5:1- 6), and finally, the duty to

charitably give of their resources to save their impoverished

brethren from the misery and suffering that they faced (James

2:14-26).

In formulating the backdrop of James from which to

interpret the famous "salvation by works" passage, consider

the following points:

1.      Even apart from the Epistle of James, James is

recognized throughout Scripture as a man who saw his

ministry among Jewish believers from Jerusalem, and who

was deeply concerned about the plight of the poor.  In Galatians, Chapter 2, we read:

vs. 9.            And when James, Cephas, and John, who

seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was

given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right

hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the

Gentiles, and they unto the circumcised.

vs. 10.        They desired only that we should remember

the poor; the very things which I was also eager to do.

2.            The Epistle of James specifically references the "poor" more frequently than any book in the Bible except the Book of Proverbs.

Use of the word "poor":

(KJV)

Proverbs:        Once out of every 421 words

James:             Once out of every 606 words

Amos:             Once out of every 625 words

Job:                 Once out of every 1203 words

Psalms:           Once out of every 1228 words.

Zechariah:       Once out of every 2227 words

Isaiah:             Once out of every 2747 words

Reference to the "poor" in the book of Job, for example, is only half as frequent as James.  Other authors are even less focused on this subject poor.

3.            In addition to specific reference to the "poor,"

James alludes generally to the poor in other passages as

well:

l  widows and orphans (James 1:27);

l  partiality, arrogance and insensitivity by which

          the dignity of the poor is abased (James 2:1-9);

l  those destitute of food and clothing (James 2:14-16); and

l  the oppression of laborers by the rich

(James 5:1-6).

As a percent of the total words devoted to the topic of poverty, James speaks about the poor even more than the Book of Proverbs, or any other book in the Bible.

4.            After the "Great Persecution" of Acts 8:1, Jewish

believers living in Jerusalem were scattered throughout the

surrounding regions.  Anyone who has ever lost his job and

been forced to abandon their home or apartment can perhaps

begin to appreciate the danger and hardships these believers

faced.  And if you have never been homeless and facing the

prospect of becoming a street person, you have missed an

opportunity to gain wisdom and understanding that cannot

be learned from a book.  You awakened in the morning with

your hands and forearms numb because of the anxiety that

weighed on your soul as you slept.  Your sense of

unempowerment grows on you daily.  With each defeat, your

dignity is further abased, and you grow weaker.  Eventually,

and you realize that you have within you a limited number of

times that you will be able to drag yourself up off the mat,

resurrect hope, and explain to one more employer why you

are currently unemployed.  You look in horror at those

who have given up hope, and wonder when you will finally

give up and become as they.  This was the life that faced those who fled Jerusalem in the "Great Persecution."

5.            This plight to the poor of Jerusalem is, in fact, the

very theme addressed in Chapter 1, Verse 1 of the Epistle of

James, wherein James addresses his epistle "to the twelve

tribes which are scattered abroad."  This phrase is generally

accepted by Bible scholars, whether Catholic or Protestant,

liberal or conservative, as a reference to the Jewish believers

of Jerusalem who had been scattered as a result of the Great

Persecution.

In view of this mountain of evidence, it is frankly

incomprehensible that anyone should go to James as a

blueprint on eternal salvation.  James is not concerned with

salvation from hell, he is concerned with salvation from

trials, especially, though not exclusively the trial of poverty.