Setting the Scene

An intriguing topic to explore is the cultural background of the New Testament. I love the Greco-Roman world of the 1st Century and have found myself in various seasons vacillating between that world and ours. New Testament background was a significant area of study during my seminary days, and I would often imagine what a visit to a Roman popina (restaurant) would be like or the feeling of a large, ornate triclinium (sofa) set within a domus estate.

Understanding New Testament background isn’t a vain pursuit. It helps the Scripture come alive as we appreciate the principles the authors were trying to convey. It’s valuable to slow down and research words or phrases that we don’t know, and we’ve got so many resources at our disposal today. The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary is never far from my side and the online resources are endless.

Our church has been studying the Letter of James, and the context is vital when compared against a 1st Century background. These were not easy times to be Jewish and they were certainly no easy time to be a Jewish Christian. For two centuries, Judea had conflicted with more dominant powers. The Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd Century B.C. (celebrated in the modern period through Hanukkah) had enough success to create a heightened sense of Jewish nationalism that carried the nation into the 1st Century world of Jesus. Conflict was never far removed as the vestiges of the Seleucid Empire (Greeks) gave way to the Roman World of Jesus. 

There were 3 major Jewish responses to the invasions of Judea leading up to the time of Jesus. The first response was that championed by the Sadducees. You’ve probably heard of these guys in the Gospels and Acts (Matthew 22:23-32; Acts 5:17). They were the priestly class, not because of their love for religion but because of the power it afforded. It’s sad but the Sadducees (dad joke aside) were in love with Hellenistic (Greek) culture and what we might label as secularism today. They didn’t believe in anything supernatural such as angels or life after death. They were the elite, and they cozied up with whatever dominant power would keep their lifestyle intact.

The second response was led by the Pharisees, and they are the heavy hitters of Jewish culture at the time of Jesus. The populist party, you might say. The Pharisees carried the flame of Jewish nationalism and believed that God would send His Messiah when the nation proved zealous enough for God. Following Torah wasn’t enough. They added addendum after addendum to up the ante on proving their commitment to God even if it required them to do ungodly things. This ongoing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees is always lurking in the Gospels because the Pharisees were promoting a heightened sense of Messianic fervor when Jesus arrives. But they hated Him because Jesus wasn’t what they expected or wanted. A kingdom advanced by sacrificial love was antagonistic to the hope of an earthly kingdom in which all other nations would be subservient.

Last, and kind of least, was the Essenes. They decided to throw their hands up and hole out in a cave while God made His decisions about the surrounding world. They moved out to Qumran in isolation, but they did leave us some of the most remarkable texts of the period we call the Dead-Sea Scrolls.

These various responses to outside pressure were the background of the Letter of James in the 40’s A.D. The pressure on these early Jewish Jesus followers came from a joint coalition of Sadducees and Pharisees known as the Sanhedrin. It was the Sanhedrin that judged Stephen guilty of blasphemy and sentenced him to death (Acts 6:12). Once that verdict was cast, it unleashed a wave of persecution against Jewish Christians in Jerusalem resulting in the diaspora we read about in James 1 (Acts 11:19, James 1:1).

The Letter of James is a challenging letter to read. Imagine how challenging it must have been for those refugees who had had everything striped away. James was likely writing to people with no privilege and earthly power to remind them that the way of Jesus goes against the grain of human wisdom and knowledge. Our power is found in radical and sacrificial love toward God and neighbor. The path of the Sadducee, Pharisee, and Essene has a way of pulling at our heart but neither leads us to the heart of God.

Our hearts are prone to wonder. We so easily revert to our own understanding which is an assertion of human power to get our way. Can you imagine the pressure of those original hearers of James’ Letter? To seek justice and righteousness apart from God is futile but don’t be deceived by this enormous temptation. I’m reminded of Amos 6:12 (NIV)- Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness—

Human knowledge in pursuit of justice and righteousness doesn’t work anymore as a horse running on a rocky crag or a plow in the sea and yet we so easily convince ourselves that this time it will.

We need wisdom from above.

The Letter of James is a challenging letter. Knowing the background against which he writes makes it even tougher. The standard holds. Not because God is against us but because He is for us. He gives us this wisdom from above even when life is the pits.

17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. 18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace. James 3:17-18