does so. And his Epistles, far from assuming any superiority over his "fellow-elders" and over "the
clergy" (by which he means the Christian people), breathe the spirit of the sincerest humility and
contain a prophetic warning against the besetting sins of the papacy, filthy avarice and lordly
ambition (1 Pet. 5:1–3). Love of money and love of power are twin-sisters, and either of them is
"a root of all evil."
It is certainly very significant that the weaknesses even more than the virtues of the natural
Peter—his boldness and presumption, his dread of the cross, his love for secular glory, his carnal
zeal, his use of the sword, his sleepiness in Gethsemane—are faithfully reproduced in the history
of the papacy; while the addresses and epistles of the converted and inspired Peter contain the most
emphatic protest against the hierarchical pretensions and worldly vices of the papacy, and enjoin
truly evangelical principles—the general priesthood and royalty of believers, apostolic poverty
before the rich temple, obedience to God rather than man, yet with proper regard for the civil
authorities, honorable marriage, condemnation of mental reservation in Ananias and Sapphira, and
of simony in Simon Magus, liberal appreciation of heathen piety in Cornelius, opposition to the
yoke of legal bondage, salvation in no other name but that of Jesus Christ.§ 27. James the Brother of the Lord.
Ἡ πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν.—James 2:26
Sources.
I. Genuine sources: Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; 1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19; 2:9, 12. Comp. James "the
brother of the Lord," Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3; Gal. 1:19.
The Epistle of James.
II. Post-apostolic: Josephus: Ant. XX. 9, 1.—Hegesippus in Euseb. Hist. Ecc. II. ch. 23.—Jerome:
Catal. vir. ill. c. 2, under "Jacobus." Epiphanius, Haer. XXIX. 4; XXX. 16; LXXVIII. 13 sq.
III. Apocryphal: Protevangelium Jacobi, ed. in Greek by Tischendorf, in "Evangelia Apocrypha,"
pp. 1–49, comp. the Prolegg. pp. xii-xxv. James is honorably mentioned in several other
apocryphal Gospels.—Epiphanius, Haer. XXX. 16, alludes to an Ebionite and strongly
anti-Pauline book, the Ascents of James (Ἀναβαθμοὶ Ἰακώβου), descriptions of his ascension
to heaven, which are lost.—The Liturgy of James, ed. by W. Trollope, Edinb. 1848. Composed
in the third century, after the Council of Nicaea (as it contains the terms ὁμοούσιος ανδ
θεοτόκος), but resting on some older traditions. It was intended for the church of Jerusalem,
which is styled "the mother of all churches." It is still used once a year on the festival of St.
James, Oct. 23, in the Greek Church at Jerusalem. (See vol. II. 527 sqq.)
Exegetical and Doctrinal.
Commentaries on the Epistle of James by Herder (1775), Storr (1784), Gebser (1828),
Schneckenburger (1832), Theile (1833), Kern (1838), De Wette (1849, 3d ed. by Brückner,
1865), Cellerier (1850), Wiesinger (in Olshausen’s Com., 1854), Stier (1845), Huther and
Beyschlag (in Meyer’s Com., 1858, 4th ed. 1882), Lange and Van Oosterzee (in Lange’s
Bibelwerk, 1862, Engl. transl. enlarged by Mombert, 1867), Alford, Wordsworth, Bassett (1876,
ascribes the Ep. to James of Zebedee), Plumptre (in the Cambridge series, 1878), Punchard (in
Ellicott’s Com. 1878), Erdmann (1882), GLOAG (1883).
Woldemar G. Schmidt: Der Lehrgehalt des Jakobusbriefes. Leipzig, 1869.A.D. 1-100.