James, a servant of God
That is, of God the Father; not by creation only, as every man
is; nor merely by calling grace, as is every regenerate person;
but by office, as a preacher of the Gospel, being one that served
God in the Gospel of his Son, and was an apostle of Christ; nor
is this any sufficient objection to his being one, since others
of the apostles so style themselves:
and of the Lord Jesus Christ;
the Ethiopic version reads this in connection with the former
clause, without the copulative "and", "James, the servant of God,
our Lord Jesus Christ": and so some consider the copulative as
explanative of who is meant by God, even the Lord Jesus Christ:
but it seems best to understand them as distinct; and that this
apostle was not only the servant of God the Father, but of his
Son Jesus Christ, and that in the same sense, referring to his
office as an apostle of Christ, and minister of the word:
to the twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad;
by whom are meant believing Jews, who were of the several tribes
of Israel, and which were in number "twelve", according to the
number and names of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Jacob; and
these were not the Christian Jews, who were scattered abroad upon
the persecution raised at the death of Stephen, ( Acts 8:1 Acts 8:4 ) ( 11:19 ) but they were
the posterity of those who had been dispersed in former
captivities, by the Assyrians and others, and who remained in the
several countries whither they were carried, and never returned.
The Jews say F6, that the ten tribes will never
return, and that they will have no part nor portion in the world
to come; but these the Gospel met with in their dispersion, and
by it they were effectually called and converted, and are the
same that Peter writes to, ( 1 Peter 1:1 1 Peter 1:2 ) (
2 Peter 1:1 )
( 3:1 ) .
And thus we read of an hundred and forty and four thousand sealed
of all the tribes of Israel, ( Revelation
7:4 ) and to these the apostle here sends greeting; that is,
his Christian salutation, wishing them all happiness and
prosperity, in soul and body, for time and eternity; and it
includes all that grace, mercy, and peace, mentioned in the usual
forms of salutation by the other apostles. The same form is used
in ( Acts
15:23 ) and since it was James that gave the advice there,
which the rest of the apostles and elders came into, it is highly
probable that the epistles sent to the Gentiles were dictated by
him; and the likeness of the form of salutation may confirm his
being the writer of this epistle.
F6 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 110. 2.