I firmly believe that James has been and continues to be one of the most misunderstood Letters in the Bible. There are many reasons for this. It is one of the earliest letters written in the New Testament. Its exact audience remains a mystery to honest scholarship. And it is filled with passages we often find to be “problem passages” (think justified by works and not faith only in chapter two, and the healing of the sick in chapter five).
The core compounding reason this Letter is difficult, I believe, is because it was largely untouched by the Reformation. Luther struggled immensely with it. Calvin was less insightful on this Letter than he was other Books of the Bible. I could go on.
Of course, we wouldn’t want to presume we would have handled it any better if we were in their shoes. Yet, shouldn’t we be ready to re-examine how we think of this “Epistle of straw,” as Luther once put it? Shouldn’t we seek to secure a faithful, accurate, Reformed understanding of James, if we’ve had a subpar view of it to this point? I think so.
Towards this effort I have been working on studies in James that are more palatable than what I am recommending in this post. Hopefully, Lord willing, I will have time and ability to accomplish what is in my heart to do. For now, I want to recommend a sermon series by Andy Gemmill. His work has been invaluable to me (and to others) in understanding the Letter of James. James has helped me disciple better, understand myself more, and see God more clearly as the One who is never ceasing in goodness. I think you would benefit from these talks too.
I have put a few hours into transcribing and lightly editing these sermons. Below you can find a link to that document, as well as links to the original talks. I cannot encourage you to read or listen to this enough.
They are, however, a bit heady. Andy Gemmill delivered these talks to pastors in order for them to better be able to preach this Letter in their own congregations. However, I think that if you stick it out, it will be of benefit to you.
Sermon 1: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/s6gldk1tdlsqqat/130611_sow_s1_andy_gemmill.mp3?dl=0
Sermon 2: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/9cga9hspkjkravp/130612_sow_s2_andy_gemmill.mp3?dl=0
Sermon 3: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/om17epufh9np1rv/130613_sow_s1_andy_gemmill.mp3?dl=0
All three sermons in one video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKAypI0Uamg
Gemmill’s church also did a normal service preaching series of James. It may be more palatable for some, and it contains much of the same (and more) content as in the three talks transcribed and linked above. You can find that complete series in one video via this link: https://youtu.be/7uQY_5covV4?si=BkIVaBo4Qgwb6Mnq
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Standing Before God, This We Are and No More 