When Paul came to Jerusalem for the first time he saw no apostle but James the Lord's brother ( Galatians 1:19). James, Joses, Jude and Simon, although initially not believing, later belonged to those believing in the Lord Jesus after his resurrection ( Matthew 13:55 John 7:3-5 Acts 1:14 1 Corinthians 15:7). Of the four different James in the NT most researchers consider the brother of our Lord Jesus to have been the author of the epistle (compare Mark 6:3). James mentioned in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13 and father or brother of Jude is not known otherwise. But James son of Alphaeus is mentioned for the last time in Acts 1:13. Some even thought of James son of Alphaeus. Others again want to see James the apostle, brother of John and son of Zebedee who was killed as a martyr by the sword ( Acts 12:2).
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Others have thought James to be an allegoric hint to Jacob the progenitor of Israel who wrote to his twelve sons, that is to the twelve tribes. Some have thought of James being a pseudonym of an author who lived later on. In the course of time many a suggestion has been made regarding the author of the Epistle of James. For they only addressed those Jews who had accepted the Lord Jesus in believing and who now belong to the believing "remnant according to the election of grace" ( Romans 11:5) in the present age. He therefore goes further than the author of Hebrews and Peter in his first epistle. James also sees the people of God as God sees them. Finally Paul calls Israel "our twelve tribes" before the king Agrippa ( Acts 26:7). Ezra offered twelve he goats for a sin offering for all Israel according to the number of the tribes of Israel ( Ezra 6:17). Daniel prayed for all Israel and not for Judah only ( Daniel 9:7). Elijah the prophet built an altar with twelve stones "according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob" ( 1 Kings 18:31). But the thought of the unity of the twelve tribes of the people of Israel always remained alive among the God-fearing Israelites even after the division under Rehoboam. A large part of the people of Israel did not return to Palestine from the Babylonian captivity with Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, but were dispersed across the whole earth. The writer sees all Israelites, be they believers or non-believers, when addressing the "twelve tribes which are scattered abroad". Is he speaking of "sinners" (chapter 4:8) and of "rich" (chapter 2:5.6 5:1) he means unbelieving Jews. 1:2 2:1 3:1 4:11 5:7) he thinks of the believers amongst them who own the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory. The Epistle of James is addressed to this mixed party of Jewish Christians and Jews. They also gathered in the synagogues and continued to keep the Law ( Acts 15:1 Acts 15:5 Acts 21:20). Obviously the Jewish Christians did not separate at once from their unbelieving compatriots.
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The first chapters of Acts describe the early time of the church which to start with consisted of Jews only (Acts 2 Acts 3 Acts 4 Acts 5 Acts 6 Acts 7 Acts 8 Acts 11:19). Also Abraham is called "our father" (chapter 2:21). Chapter 2:2 mentions the synagogue as place of gathering (New Translation) and the Law is mentioned several times (chapter 2:9 4:11). On the one hand a pure Jewish-Israelite document would have no room in the NT on the other hand the relations to Judaism in this epistle are so strong that it cannot be an epistle seeking to address the Christians as a whole as most of them, by the end of the apostolic time already, came out of heathenism. Some think James speaks of the whole people of Israel whereas others think of the whole Christianity as spiritual Israel. The salutation of James reads: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." There has been a lot of speculation over the expression "twelve tribes". The Epistle of James specifically mentions addressees, and so does the First Epistle of Peter as well as Second and Third of John. This expression however is partially correct only. This expression is to express that these epistles are not addressed to a certain assembly, nor to certain Christians neither to individuals but to the Christians in general ( catholic meaning general). The epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude have been called Catholic Epistles since the time of the church father Origines (around 185 to 254 AC).