Wisdom for Dissidents: The Epistle of James Through New Eyes

It is worth stating up front that I know the author personally. But far from making this a biased review, it should add weight. For I can testify that not only has Jeff penned an excellent commentary on James, he has been the sort of pastor who has faithfully led his congregation for the sixteen years under which I have received his pastoral care. Wisdom is justified by all her children.There are several noteworthy themes in this book. The first is the timing of the epistle itself. Jeff (and Josh Anderson, in an appendix) makes a good case of an early dating of the letter, including the likelihood that it was penned by James, the son of Zebedee, and not the brother of Jesus. Because of its early date, the epistle is placed in the context of the persecutions of the church described in Acts 8 and 11, which adds a helpful thread to the entire epistle (which is sometimes misinterpreted as a loose connection of wisdom sayings like the book of Proverbs).At the time posited for authorship, likely only the gospel of Matthew served as written record of the life of Jesus, and few, if any, of Paul's epistles had been circulated. Meyers connects James' epistle to the gospel of Matthew--especially the words of Jesus--throughout, making another connector to the themes in the letter.Finally, Meyers suggests that the entire letter is written primarily as a warning to / rebuke against those early Christians who sought to "fight fire with fire" during the persecutions, even to the point of assassinating their oppressors, trading the way of the cross for the way of the sword. This insight alone gives a unifying theme to many of the conundrums otherwise found in the letter, and offers a literal interpretation for James 2:11 and 4:2.In all this, the author draws comparisons between the church in the time of James' epistle and the American church in the 21st century, suggesting that the context may have lessons we ourselves will soon have to heed in more than a general way.His arguments regarding the context of the book shed new light, especially, on James 4:13-5:6--an interpretation that makes sense of this passage unlike any I have encountered previously.Pastor Meyers' fifteen years of meditation on the epistle of James have resulted in a very helpful book for all Christians, but especially those who are pondering how they might respond to persecution. I will say, though, if you're reading this, Jeff, I'm not sure it really answered my question in Sunday School. ;-)

I just finished an interesting commentary on the Biblical Book of James, called "Wisdom for Dissidents." Its new angle is that it thinks the author may have been James the brother of John (the Sons of Thunder) and thus one of the earliest books of the New Testament, rather than the usual guess that it was written by James the brother of Jesus much later. The earlier timing makes it very relevant to the early persecution of Jesus' first disciples, shortly after they were chased out of Jerusalem following the murder of Stephen. This author suggests that, in turn, makes it very relevant to our own current situation in which traditional Christian views are very much under attack from our own current culture. He recommends its advice as useful to us in how to respond to our own current culture wars, in particular, advising us to wait patiently for God to defend His Church, rather than trying to solve our issues in ways He has not asked. [Spoiler alert: Their problem was solved 40 years later with the utter destruction of the Jewish authorities pursuing them, as Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70AD.]

This book is timely. What drew me to get this book is the person of Jeffrey J. Meyers himself. I listen to the Theopolis podcast from time-to-time, and Jeff's comments are full of wisdom and his tongue is tempered. (From the lips of another, right?) But, he always seems to say the right thing in the right way. I bought the book because he earned my trust and I wanted to learn more about how he thinks.Anyway, the book didn't disappoint. If you like this commentary, check out the podcast.As Christians we are called to fight battles not as the world fights battles, but to be patient trusting in the provision of a loving God. A God that will vindicate us if we allow suffering to have its' full effect. I appreciated this commentary on James. James is reminding the church of what maturity and meekness mean. Jeff's commentary does the same. It is timely. Ordinary acts of service carry the seeds for a harvest of righteousness. It isn't political power, wealth or military strength that gets us there.I definitely am edified and helped by this commentary. Thank you.

I’ve long thought of James as a wisdom book, and it is, but not like a book of proverbial sayings or disjointed “truths.” Even the best commentaries I have on James tend to treat it that way. But here, Meyers looks at the meaning to the original audience in the reality of their world in great depth, not only showing the unifying argument, but also taking a serious look at the actual language James used. From the meaning for *them* we can start to get the meaning for *us.* Meyers never starts with *us* in his exposition, but he always gets there reflectively after exploring the situation of the exiled disciples of Jesus in the apostolic age.This meaning for them and us is timely. They had temptations to violence and political insurgency. Being a Christian dissident today comes with an allure to revolutionary zealotry to bring what might feel like justice to our oppressors. And yet James writes many admonitions and Meyers shows particularly how those admonitions instruct us not to respond to anti-Christian oppressors.While this commentary is carefully researched and displays solid scholarship, it is thankfully written not for the Academy, but for the Church. It is for the sheep of His pasture and stays out of James’ way, instead ushering forward this timely story (and it is a story!) to dissidents who walk a sometimes tricky balance between waiting for the vindication of the Lord and resisting the rising tide of rival, secular religions.