Intimations of Eschatology and Resurrection in James
(avg. read time: 6–11 mins.)
As with other books we have examined this year, James presents a challenge for my planned book projects on resurrection in the NT. There is not a single explicit reference to resurrection, either Jesus’s or the general one, in all of James. None of the key terms used for resurrection appear here in resurrection contexts. The closest we come to such is 5:15, when James says that the Lord “will raise” (ἐγειρεῖ) one who is sick and prayed for. Though the verb is used many times in reference to resurrection in the NT, it is not so here. Healing and resurrection are related, as being bed-ridden with illness or some other affliction was considered further along the spectrum towards death than it often is today, and arising from a supine position applies to both, hence the use of this term in such healing contexts besides resurrection (also see Matt 8:15 // Mark 1:31; Matt 9:5–7 // Mark 2:9–12 // Luke 5:23–24; John 5:8; Acts 3:7). In any case, this is not a reference to resurrection in James.
I am not suggesting that James was under some obligation to mention resurrection. For some reason(s), he did not think it necessary in the context of the subjects he wrote about, and I am not in a position to say he was wrong to do so if he hoped for resurrection and had faith in the resurrected Jesus. For as often as Paul references resurrection, I cannot think of a case where he does so apropos of nothing (not even in Gal 1:1). Thus, I would say the problem posed by James is not so much why he does not mention resurrection at all, but whether this kind of analysis can be beneficial at all when it comes to reading James.
I think my angle of analysis is still helpful in the case of James, but we must rely on intimations of eschatology. James appears to be dealing with a high-context audience here, especially if he is assuming a high level of familiarity with Jesus’s teachings, and so his references to eschatological elements tend to stay at the level of hints and implications. By studying these hints, we can see how this analysis is relevant to James and James is relevant to this analysis.
The Beginning of James and the Hope for the End
James’s opening sentence is relevant to our analysis for two reasons. One, although James nowhere uses a gospel summary or evokes the three-stage gospel narrative, the fact that he refers to Jesus as “Lord” and “Christ” in 1:1, as well as 2:1 and 5:7–8, may well enough imply an established gospel narrative. It is not as if James is referring to a Jesus as Lord and Christ who was not killed then raised and exalted. Why would he call him “Lord” if he stayed dead? Indeed, if the letter is in fact by James the brother of Jesus, leader of the church in Jerusalem, and it was known early on that the risen Jesus appeared to him (1 Cor 15:7), there would be no reason to doubt that our author believed in the resurrection of Jesus. Overly imaginative readers, perhaps of the scholarly variety, might seek without justification to link James to this or that early Christian heresy that undermined or reinterpreted Jesus’s resurrection, but the burden is heavier on them to make that case (which would usually be pursued by saying the letter is not by James). That is, the reference to Jesus in this fashion in an early Christian text is prima facie more plausible on the assumption that he accepted Jesus’s resurrection than that he did not. And such an inference is all the more justified if this James is James the apostle, the brother of Jesus (that is, the James who was not the first of the apostles to be martyred).
Second, James addresses “the twelve tribes in the diaspora.” The word for “diaspora” could also be translated “exile,” particularly in Jewish contexts. The point is, James is addressing Jewish Christians (though some suggest he is addressing other Jews) outside of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. This seems to support the notion that we are dealing with the James who led the church in Jerusalem, as he would be regarded as one with authority to address such people across a large area. More importantly for our purposes, as I have noted elsewhere, this kind of identification derives its significance from the hope of Israel for return from exile, reunion of the scattered tribes, and the reign of God over his people in fulfillment of all of their hopes. This self-identification means that James and his audience are the heirs of the promises that give meaning to such labels. As I have also noted here, here, and here, resurrection was indeed associated with return from exile, especially in Ezek 37, but the logic extends elsewhere in canonical and non-canonical texts as well (in the NT, note John 11:51–52; Acts 26:6–8; and others that I mentioned in the entry on return from exile). This identity statement thus reiterates continuity with old covenant forebears, but it also takes on a new significance after the first installment of the eschatological resurrection in Jesus’s resurrection. The hope that has been the inheritance of the exiles now has a peculiarly Christocentric and Christomorphic shape to it. James does not expound this hope in any detail, but he assumes it and the familiarity of his audience with the same.
The Outcome of Perseverance and Resurrection
In the first and last chapters, James writes about the importance of perseverance in the face of trials. As I have observed throughout my series on the perseverance of the suffering faithful in the NT, this is an eschatologically oriented and Christologically shaped perspective, even though it is not explicitly stated as such here. Because of the gospel story, Christians already know where perseverance in suffering faithfulness in Christ leads, for by God’s will it had its outcome in his resurrection and exaltation. And so it shall be for Christians who follow that same path.
James resonates with these other NT texts on multiple fronts. One, he says to consider it joy when encompassed by various trials/pressures, knowing that the testing of faith produces perseverance (1:2–3). This is reminiscent of how Paul describes himself and other apostles in their cruciform ministry (2 Cor 6:1–10); it is how he describes the faithful Thessalonians receiving the gospel (1 Thess 1:6; 3:7); it is how the author of Hebrews describes his audience (10:32–39) and Jesus himself (12:2); and it is what Peter says of his audience as well (1 Pet 1:6–7). Two, James tells his audience to let perseverance have its complete work in them so that they may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing (1:4). This is a statement particularly reminiscent of Col 1:24, but it also resonates with similar statements in Acts 20:18–24; 2 Cor 12:9–10; and Heb 12:1–3 (in reference to Jesus). Three, James refers to the commonly articulated eschatological dynamic of the lowly being exalted and exalted being brought low in the final judgment to come (1:9–10; 4:6, 10). The hinge point in that eschatological dynamic involves resurrection for those who have died, as well as transformation and immortalization more generally, which have their precedents in the crucified and risen Lord. Four, James makes the link with the hope of vindication explicit in 1:12, wherein he says that the one who perseveres through trial is blessed, because that one, being proven by this testing of faith, will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. The actual phrase “crown of life” only appears again in Rev 2:10, where it is linked with the promise of everlasting life, including resurrection for those who have died (as opposed to experiencing the second death). This may be the closest we get to an explicit reference to resurrection in James. Moreover, the dynamic of vindication after death would be properly fulfilled by resurrection, as happened with Jesus. But since the dead are not mentioned here, it is kept at the more general level of the promise of everlasting life that is the inheritance of the dead (by resurrection) and those alive at the time of the return of Jesus.
Speaking of Jesus’s return, the other appearance of this theme is in proximity to the reference to the arrival of Jesus in 5:7–11. James instructs his brothers and sisters to be patient until the arrival (Parousia) of the Lord, which makes even clearer than the first chapter the eschatological dimension to perseverance, as the eschatological dimension provides the end goal of perseverance. The coming arrival of the Lord is to be an encouragement for believers to strengthen their hearts as they wait upon the Lord. They are to live with the eschatological awareness that “the Judge is standing at the door” (5:9). They must show perseverance and patience in suffering after the example of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, who have been vindicated already in the regard of the faithful, though their complete vindication is yet to come in the final judgment, which will happen after their resurrection. Likewise, they are to imitate the perseverance of Job, especially since, unlike Job, they have seen the goal/purpose of the Lord, and they know even more clearly than he did the Lord’s compassion and mercy because what Job spoke of vaguely in 19:25–27 has been actualized.
Heirs of the Kingdom
In a text reminiscent of Jesus’s teaching, James says, “Has God not chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him” (2:5)? Once again, resurrection is not mentioned in this context because James does not clearly have in view those who have died. But as we have seen many times elsewhere, resurrection is interwoven with kingdom expectations. After all, to inherit the kingdom is an embodied reality, and to receive the everlasting kingdom involves receiving everlasting life, which will mean resurrection for those who are dead (and it will mean conformity to the resurrection to everlasting life for those who are alive). Otherwise, the promise of the kingdom would be cut off from all of those who did not happen to be alive at the time of its arrival.
Final Judgment
James states at multiple points an expectation that he and his fellow believers will face judgment. This is not judgment in the sense of “condemnation,” as the judgment terminology can mean (including in this book), but in the more neutral sense of a proceeding of justice in which one might be declared in the right (to vindication/justification) or in the wrong (to condemnation). Thus, James reminds his audience that they are going to be judged by the law of liberty (2:12), that judgment will be merciless on whoever does not show mercy (2:13a), and that mercy triumphs over judgment (2:13b). He also warns his audience that not too many should seek to become teachers because, like James himself, they will be subject to greater/stricter judgment, and this is something he says they already know (3:1). The destination of the condemned is also invoked when James says that the tongue is ignited by hell/Gehenna (3:6). Such a prospect of judgment is also implied in James referring to the friend of the world as the enemy of God (4:4), which shows James’s apocalyptic framework in the need for a radical transformation of the world order, as well as the opposition between the present age and the age to come when God’s kingdom will be consummated. In James’s instruction not to slander and judge (this in the sense of “condemn”), he notes the problem this creates whereby one makes oneself a judge of the law, and he thus reminds them there is only one Lawgiver and Judge (4:11–12). God is not only referred to as “Judge” in eschatological contexts, of course, but the further description of him being “the one who is able to save and to destroy you” (4:12) is indicative of this context (cf. 5:19–20). In reference to the upcoming arrival of the Lord, James also notes that judgment will happen then, and he even describes the Judge as “standing at the door” (5:7–9). He also warns about falling under judgment if the integrity of one’s word is undermined with taking oaths (5:12).
With all of these references to the prospect of eschatological judgment, we once again see that James is relying with these condensed references on more extensive teaching about an eschatological picture that includes resurrection. As I have noted many times (most extensively here, but more generally see here), one of the most common aspects of eschatological expectation that was linked with resurrection was final judgment. Those who die before the final judgment must be resurrected for God’s justice to be executed one way or the other. It was as embodied creatures that humans have done what they have done, and it is as embodied creatures that they must be judged. This logic was common to the OT, the NT, and Second Temple Jewish texts, and it seems to be a safe inference that it is applicable here as well.
Further supporting this notion is that, as in the Gospels in particular, the Judge himself has been resurrected. This is not explicitly stated in James, but the reference to the arrival of the Lord assumes a narrative in which Jesus is coming back because he is alive despite his crucifixion. That is possible because he was resurrected and exalted after his death.