For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
- Interesting facts about James
- James appears immediately after Acts in many early NTs.
- Some scholars think James was the first NT document to be written (sometime in the 40s). (Many conservative scholars believe Galatians is the oldest, penned in 48.) Note: James the brother of the Lord was executed in 62.
- James has 108 verses—about the same length as Philippians, 1 Timothy, 1 Peter, and 1 John. (The Sermon on the Mount, by way of comparison, is 111 verses in length.)
- The first-century Jewish writer and statesman Josephus devotes more of his history to James than to Jesus.
- James eventually overtook Peter as the most influential leader in the Jerusalem church community (evident in Acts 15).
- The recording features the translation of British N.T. scholar Ralph P. Martin, as found in The Word Biblical Commentary 48: James (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1988), 3-217. (That's why I call this version "RPM.")
Next in 40 Days in James: "The Chair and the Floor"