GETTING READY: To whom was the Epistle of James written?

This was posted earlier in the year during the run-up to the season, but we'll be posting this "Getting Ready" series for James again to refresh your memory.

To whom was the epistle to the James written?

Like Romans, James is quite up-front about who he is writing to:

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
James 1:1

Of course, "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion" is not exactly a phrase you hear every-day in 21st Century America.  So, let's take each piece by itself.

First, the "twelve tribes".  This is a common way for Jews of Jesus's time to talk about the descendants of Jacob.  Jacob had twelve sons whose descendants became 12 tribes who eventually conquered the whole land of Israel.  Genesis 49 does a good job of listing the 12 sons (although for complicated reasons, the 12 sons and 12 tribes don't always exactly match up).  The "twelve tribes" is shorthand for "all of the Jewish people."

Second, "the Dispersion".  In other translations, it says "the Diaspora" which you may have heard in history class.  Both words mean "the scattering".  Originally, all of the Jews on Earth were located in Israel.  Then came God's judgement in the form of Assyrian, Babylonian, and eventually Roman Empires.  Babylon, especially, had a policy of splitting up conquered peoples to different places to keep them from organizing into resistance.  So, by the time of Rome, the Jewish people were scattered - or dispersed - throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.

So, "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion" roughly means "all of the Jewish people in all of the world."  And, from the context of the letter, we know he was talking to Jewish Christians, in the hope that one day all Jews would embrace Christ.

GETTING READY: To whom was James written?

The second book we'll be studying for the 2013-2014 season will be the epistle of James.  The next few weeks of the "Getting Ready" series, we will be considering the high-level questions about this book.  If you have additional questions, don't be shy about e-mailing the coaches!

To whom was the epistle to the James written?

Like Romans, James is quite up-front about who he is writing to:

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
James 1:1

Of course, "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion" is not exactly a phrase you hear every-day in 21st Century America.  So, let's take each piece by itself.

First, the "twelve tribes".  This is a common way for Jews of Jesus's time to talk about the descendants of Jacob.  Jacob had twelve sons whose descendants became 12 tribes who eventually conquered the whole land of Israel.  Genesis 49 does a good job of listing the 12 sons (although for complicated reasons, the 12 sons and 12 tribes don't always exactly match up).  The "twelve tribes" is shorthand for "all of the Jewish people."

Second, "the Dispersion".  In other translations, it says "the Diaspora" which you may have heard in history class.  Both words mean "the scattering".  Originally, all of the Jews on Earth were located in Israel.  Then came God's judgement in the form of Assyrian, Babylonian, and eventually Roman Empires.  Babylon, especially, had a policy of splitting up conquered peoples to different places to keep them from organizing into resistance.  So, by the time of Rome, the Jewish people were scattered - or dispersed - throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.

So, "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion" roughly means "all of the Jewish people in all of the world."  And, from the context of the letter, we know he was talking to Jewish Christians, in the hope that one day all Jews would embrace Christ.

GETTING READY: To whom was Romans written?

The first book we'll be studying for the 2013-2014 season will be the epistle to the Romans.  The next few weeks of the "Getting Ready" series, we will be considering the high-level questions about this book.  If you have additional questions, don't be shy about e-mailing the coaches!

To whom was the epistle to the Romans written?

This again may seem like an obvious answer, given the title of the book, and the introduction from Paul in Romans 1:7:

To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:7

But what do we really know about the Roman church?  The book's content tells us a lot about them.

First, we know that Rome was a church that had started and thrived without having been planted by an apostle.  Paul, after his arrest in Acts 21, will eventually be sent to Rome as a prisoner and will bring the gospel to many people in the capital city.  But up until this time, they have had to make due with second-level teachers and leaders.  This explains why Romans sometimes reads like "Intro to Christianity", laying out the basics of the faith.  The Romans had never heard real doctrine before!

Second, we know that the Roman church contained both Jews and Gentiles (Gentiles - for those who may have forgotten - means "any non-Jew").  This created a good deal of tension in the church, because Jews observed the whole Mosaic law in addition to Christianity while Gentiles just wanted to follow the teachings of Jesus.  This pattern will be played out again and again in the early church, as Jewish Christians want to make Gentiles more Jewish, while Gentile Christians want to make Jews act more like Gentiles.  But this explains why Paul will spend a good deal of this book laying out the differences and similarities between Jew and Gentile.

Third, we know that Paul had high hopes for Rome.  If the capital of the Roman Empire were to become Christian, it greatly increased the possibility the gospel would eventually reach the whole Roman world.  At this time in history, the Empire reached from Spain in the East to India in the West, from Britain in the North to Africa in the South.  It was the greatest empire that had ever existed, and offered a chance to communicate the gospel in a common language to the whole known world.