principles, and works were the immediate concerns of the first decades of the church As to the question of the place of writing James, it is very probable that James was living in Palestine when he wrote the epistle D OCCASION AND PURPOSES Persecution of the Christians, unchristian conduct (e.g., in speech) by many believers, and erroneous views on such doctrines as faith and sin were some of the circumstances that called for this epistle Most of the epistle was written to correct evils and to teach right Christian behavior There is also encouragement and exhortation in things such as the coming of the Lord (e.g., 5:7) The epistle has been called “A Practical Guide to Christian Life and Conduct.” More of James’s purposes will be observed as you survey the epistle E CONTENT James emphasizes conduct more than creed For this reason James has been called the apostle of good works, an identi cation linking him with the trio of John, apostle of love; Paul, apostle of faith; and Peter, apostle of hope There is very little of systematically-presented theology in the book Speci c references to Jesus and the gospel are few, though this does not take away from the Christian spirit that pervades the book.9 Of this, D A Hayes writes, “James says less about the Master than any other writer in the New Testament, but his speech is more like that of the Master than the speech of any of them.”10 F COMPARISON WITH OTHER BOOKS Some interesting comparisons between James and other parts of Scripture are suggested below You may want to inquire more into this subject a later time Proverbs of the Old Testament James and Proverbs are both concerned primarily with conduct Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount There are many extraordinary likenesses between the book of James and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount Paul’s writings (especially Galatians and Romans) The most obvious observation to be made here is a di erence of emphasis: P a u l emphasizes the place of faith, and James, the place of works There is no contradiction here, however, though some theologians have concluded so.11 The di erence between the two books is accounted for by the two di erent vantage points Paul deals with “Justi cation Before God;” James, “Demonstration Before Men.” “Paul saw Christ in the heavens, establishing our righteousness James saw Him on the earth, telling us to be perfect….”12 Refer to Chart 62, page 244, for comparisons of the various New Testament books Note especially how James and Galatians are compared: GALATIANS: Liberation by the gospel JAMES: Compulsion of the gospel A study of this chart is one good way to survey the main content of the New Testament Other general Epistles James and Peter — predominantly ... with the trio of John, apostle of love; Paul, apostle of faith; and Peter, apostle of hope There is very little of systematically-presented theology in the book Speci c references to Jesus and the. .. compared: GALATIANS: Liberation by the gospel JAMES: Compulsion of the gospel A study of this chart is one good way to survey the main content of the New Testament Other general Epistles James and... from the Christian spirit that pervades the book.9 Of this, D A Hayes writes, “James says less about the Master than any other writer in the New Testament, but his speech is more like that of the