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Chunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 90: ConclusionWe've reached the end of our study of James, and in this episode, we review some of the main ideas of the letter. Thank you for listening!
2023-11-0305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 89: The church policeJames 5:19-20 suggests that our concern for one another should include correcting those who stray from God's way. But does that mean that people should act like church police? This episode explores how such an idea would actually be a contradiction of what James teaches throughout the letter.
2023-11-0305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 88: CoveredThe idea of "covering over a multitude of sins" is part of the very last line of James (and is found in 1 Peter 4:8) as well. We may have tried to "cover up" our sins, but this is not, of course, what James means. In this episode, we explore the connections of this teaching to the Old Testament.
2023-11-0306 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 87: Wandering from the pathWe all get lost sometimes. Spiritually, from the standpoint of the Psalms, we might say that we also stray from God's path. How might we understand James 5:19-20 accordingly?
2023-11-0305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 86: Yours trulyBack in the days of letter writing, we were taught to end letters with words like "Sincerely" or "Yours truly." As we approach the end of the letter of James, we see that he doesn't end the letter the way Paul might. But James 5:19-20 highlights the importance of "truth"--making me wish he had actually signed off with "Yours truly."
2023-11-0305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 85: The power of prayerJames 5:16 teaches that "the prayer of the righteous is powerful." We've already looked at the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel; James uses that story as an example of the power of prayer. But is he talking about "prayer warriors" with a special gift for prayer? What does he mean when he says that Elijah was "just like us"?
2023-10-2704 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 84: A community of prayerJames 5:16 teaches that Christians should confess their sins to one another. But we can easily imagine how badly that could go wrong. This episode explores the cultural context of James' words, and how we might understand them for the life of the church today.
2023-10-2706 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 83: Use your wordsSo much of the teaching of James is about how we use words. James 5:13-16 suggests that one of the most important use of words is--surprise!--prayer. In this episode, we explore James' teaching on prayer for the life of the church.
2023-10-2706 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 82: Say what you meanIs it okay to take oaths? James 5:12 teaches that we should not, merely saying yes or no instead. But here again he echoes Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. This episode explores what James means, so we can apply it to our own attitude and behavior.
2023-10-2706 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 81: Blessed and depressed?James uses not only Job, but also the Old Testament prophets as examples of endurance that his readers would have known. In this episode, we use the example of Elijah to illustrate the point, and also connect James' teaching once more back to the words of Jesus.
2023-10-2706 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 80: The ”patience” of Job?Throughout his letter, James has written about patient endurance in the face of suffering. In James 5:10-11, he uses the example of Job. But just how "patient" was Job?
2023-10-2006 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 79: Groaning and moaningIn Romans 8, the apostle Paul gives us the picture of all creation groaning like a woman in labor, waiting for birth of new life. James 5:9 uses the same language to describe the poor who are suffering oppression. But there also seems to be a social dimension to the groaning: even if the complaints of the poor are justified, are the complaints dividing the church?
2023-10-2006 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 78: Are we there yet?Anyone who's ever done a road trip with kids knows the question. We look forward to arriving at our destination, a little impatiently. James 5:8 tells us to strengthen our hearts as we anticipate the return of Jesus. But can we understand this in a way that helps us be more patient with the journey itself?
2023-10-2006 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 77: Harvest timeIn teaching patience, James 5:7-8 uses the metaphor of a farmer waiting for rain and for a good crop. Can we apply this metaphor to our own need to endure suffering?
2023-10-2005 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 76: Be patientI sometimes struggle with patience, and I imagine you do too. James 5:7-8 counsels that we should be patient as we wait for Jesus to return. But does he mean the same thing by "patience" as we do?
2023-10-2005 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 75: Where your heart isJames 5:2-3 uses colorful language to describe how all the trappings of wealth that the rich take for granted have rotted and rusted. In this episode, we explore how James' teaching echoes the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6 and Luke 12.
2023-10-1306 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 74: The final chapterOne hopes that the final chapter of any story will bring the tale to a satisfying conclusion. So it is with God's story. And part of what James wants the rich to understand in James 5:3 is that the final chapter of God's story has already begun, and judgment is coming...
2023-10-1304 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 73: Wake up!At the beginning of chapter 5, James again uses strong language to wake up the rich--the "have-yachts"--to the evil they have done against the poor. James 5:1-6 sounds like it could have come from one of the Old Testament prophets! And in this passage, he accuses the rich of murder...
2023-10-1306 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 72: The haves, the have-nots, and the have-yachtsThe world isn't just divided up into the haves and the have-nots; there are also those who are very rich, which one wit has called the "have-yachts." The distinction is helpful in understanding some of the social problems in the church which James targeted with his teaching.
2023-10-1305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 71: Snake oilWhy is it evil to speak of our plans in boastful ways? James teaches that it's arrogant. Here, it's important to recognize what he means by "boasting," for the word suggests the grand claims associated with the charlatans who peddle "snake oil."
2023-10-1306 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 70: ”If the Lord wills...”We often tell others about our plans, about what we're going to do today, tomorrow, or the next. But James 4:13-16 suggests that we sometimes do this to boast, and that such boasting is "evil."
2023-10-0606 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 69: Judgment, wise and unwiseIs judgment always a bad thing? In this episode, we make a distinction between the wise use of judgment, and the unwise stance of being judgmental of others.
2023-10-0605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 68: Above the lawThere are people in the world who think they're "above the law," that normal rules don't apply to them. We may not think that of ourselves, but James 4:12 suggests that when we pass judgment on others, we are putting ourselves above God's law.
2023-10-0605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 67: ”Lawful” speechAgain, in James 4:11, the apostle accuses people of saying "evil things about each other," and standing in judgment of the law. As we'll see in this episode, he may be referring to the Mosaic Law as a whole, or to the "royal law" of loving your neighbor as yourself. But we need to take our critical and angry words seriously...
2023-10-0605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 66: Speak no evilJames has used the word "adultery" to describe the behavior of the Christians to whom he writes. Shortly, he will also accuse them of "murder." But here in James 4:11, he levels the charge of slander, suggesting that the people are not only breaking the law, but standing in judgment over it. What does he mean?
2023-10-0605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 65: The way up is down (part 2)In this episode, we review the teaching on humility in James 4:8-10, and connect it back to the teaching of Jesus. What the world counts as happiness is fleeting; Jesus teaches blessedness instead. But what does it mean to be blessed?
2023-09-2905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 64: The way up is down (part 1)So much of American culture assumes that upward striving is the norm. But how does that fit with what James has taught about humility, to people who seem to be hurting one another in their quest to climb the social ladder? James 4:10 suggests that instead of exalting ourselves, we should be humble, and let God do the exalting.
2023-09-2906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 63: Holy heartbreakIn James 4:8-9, the apostle takes the teaching on humility even further. In this episode, we'll see how James uses severe language to prompt us to grieve our sin and its effects. As others have said, our hearts should be broken by the things that break the heart of God.
2023-09-2905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 62: Resist the devil!Having said that God gives grace to the humble, James then adds that believers should therefore submit themselves to God (James 4:7-8). But this also entails resisting the devil. What is James teaching us?
2023-09-2905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 61: Grace, pride, and humilityJames 4:6 teaches that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." But what does it mean to be humble? And is there anything good about pride?
2023-09-2906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 60: What does God want?James has already spoken of how our desires clash within us and cause us to clash with each other. James 5:4 suggests that God, too, desires something. But the verse is notoriously difficult to translate, as even a quick glance at different translations reveals. This episode explores what James probably means--and what that means for us.
2023-09-2306 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 59: UnfaithfulJames pulls no punches. He's already suggested that believers were guilty of murder. In James 4:4, he calls them "adulterers." Why?
2023-09-2305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 58: Pretty please?Most of us were taught to say "please" when we wanted something; without the magic word, we might not get it. James 4:2-3 seems to suggest that this might be true of prayer as well--it's possible to ask "wrongly." Do we need to say things in a particular way for God to answer our prayers?
2023-09-2306 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 57: Frustrated desireMore strong language. James 4:2 says that conflict comes from frustrated desire. But his words seem to suggest that Christians were actually willing to commit murder to get what they want. Is that what he really means?
2023-09-2305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 56: Craving and conflictTry to imagine what you really want when you're in the midst of an argument... James 4:1 says that the root of our external conflicts is an internal conflict: we have desires that pull us in different directions.
2023-09-2305 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 55: Being wise, making peaceJames has already spoken about true and false wisdom. In James 3:17-18, he says more about the nature of godly wisdom, and what he says is reminiscent of Paul's teaching about the fruit of the Spirit. The truly wise desire to make peace, to foster shalom.
2023-09-1605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 54: Chaos theory--church editionJames has already suggested that out-of-control tongues are "set on fire by hell." The strong language continues in James 3:15-16: compared to true wisdom, the counterfeit earthly version is "demonic."
2023-09-1605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 53: What’s wrong with ambition?It's probably not hard to imagine how people's ambitions can threaten the health of relationships. James 3:14 suggests that believers were doing things for their own gain, creating chaos in the church.
2023-09-1606 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 52: Who’s really wise?In today's world, just about anyone can have a platform to share their supposed wisdom. But who's really wise? James 3:13 suggests that true wisdom is shown in an appropriately humble lifestyle.
2023-09-1605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 51: Bearing fruitOlives don't grow on fig trees; figs don't grow on grapevines. What James 3:11-12 teaches is once more reminiscent of the words of Jesus: "You will know them by their fruit." If the gospel is planted in us, as James suggests, does it bear fruit in the way we speak?
2023-09-1605 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 50: Changing the way we seeJames has written colorfully about the evils of the tongue and its wild, untamable nature. How do we learn to control it better? James 3:9 suggests one place to start: learning to see others as created in the image of God.
2023-09-0805 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 49: Taming the untamableIn James 3:7-8, the apostle suggests that human beings know how to tame any kind of animal, but ironically, we can't tame our tongues...
2023-09-0804 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 48: Words from hellWhat James teaches about the way we speak reaches a crescendo in 3:5-6: our errant tongues can set our whole lives on fire, and are set on fire by hell itself.
2023-09-0805 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 47: Please don’t pass it onIs anyone listening to this old enough to remember the praise song Pass it On? The song lyrics taught that "It only takes a spark to get a fire going"; the song was talking about spreading the warmth of God's love. But James 3:5-6 uses the same metaphor in a very different way: our words can set relationships on fire.
2023-09-0805 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 46: Little words, big consequencesWe've seen how James says we all make mistakes. That's his way of introducing the fact that we all make mistakes in how we speak to one another. In James 3:2-5, he uses different metaphors to suggest just how much of an impact our little words can have.
2023-09-0805 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 45: Nobody’s perfect...yetWhen we've made a mistake, we sometimes say that "Nobody's perfect." And indeed, James 3:2 suggests that we "all make mistakes often." But what James says is informed by a biblical understanding of what it means to be perfect. Are we "growing up" spiritually?
2023-09-0104 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 44: Not everyone should teachWe've all had good teachers and bad teachers. And apparently, a number of people in the early church wanted the status of being a teacher. But James 3:1 warns that people should instead think seriously about the responsibility that comes with the role...
2023-09-0104 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 43: Scandalous faithJames uses not only Abraham as an example of faith, but Rahab, the prostitute who hid Joshua's spies in Jericho. This episode explores the implications of holding up a Canaanite prostitute as an example of faith.
2023-09-0106 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 42: Abraham believed GodIn this episode, we go back to Genesis 22 to explore the difficult story of God's test of Abraham, when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We need this story to understand the teaching of James 2:21-23.
2023-09-0107 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 41: Faith alone...or not?Some worry when they read James 2:22-24, which uses the example of Abraham to say that we are "justified by works." Is James contradicting Paul, or the teaching of the Protestant Reformers?
2023-09-0106 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 40: Don’t be such a fool!In James 2:20, the apostle calls some of his readers "senseless." But didn't Jesus teach in the Sermon on the Mount that it was wrong to call someone a fool?
2023-08-2505 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 39: Bully for you!James 2:19 uses a bit of rhetorical sarcasm to make a point. You can claim to be faithful in a way that might be true of any self-respecting Jew. But if it doesn't show in your conduct and character, are you doing any better than the demons?
2023-08-2505 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 38: Wait...say what now?Our visual perception works in a way that we see what we expect to see, and don't see what we don't expect to see. If you read James 2:18 closely, you might be surprised to see something you didn't expect to see...
2023-08-2506 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 37: What good is your faith?In James 2:14-17, the apostle offers what is meant to be a ludicrous example of the failure of Christian compassion. He does this to make a point: if you say you have faith, shouldn't it make a difference to how you treat others?
2023-08-2505 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 36: Mercy versus judgmentThis episode completes our examination of James 2:8-13. There's a difference between an appropriate use of "judgment" and being judgmental or relating to people through our prejudice (pre-judgments). This distinction helps us understand what James means when he says that "mercy triumphs over judgment."
2023-08-1806 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 35: The whole enchiladaWhen James teaches about the "royal law" of loving one's neighbor, he echoes the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus challenges his hearers' understanding of what it means to be righteous. That teaching may sound strenuously difficult! But understood rightly, it can actually be liberating...
2023-08-1806 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 34: Blessed are the mercifulJames 2:13 speaks of both judgment and mercy. This episode uses both the Lord's Prayer and Jesus' parable of the Unmerciful Servant as background to James' teaching.
2023-08-1807 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 33: The law of love"Love your neighbor," Jesus taught. But who is my neighbor? In this episode, we explore the relevance of Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan for our understanding of James.
2023-08-1806 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 32: The threat of punishmentWhat kind of father is our heavenly Father? To some of us, James 2:8-13 may sound a little threatening, with its emphasis on law and judgment. We'll need a few episodes to explore this passage, beginning with this one. Throughout, we will connect what James says back to the teaching of Jesus.
2023-08-1805 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 31: Seen, safe, soothedWe've seen how believers were giving preferential treatment to the rich and dishonoring the poor. This episode briefly explores what attachment theory and the example of Father Greg Boyle might teach us about the quality of Christian community that James might encourage.
2023-08-1806 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 30: Changing the way we seeIn previous episodes, we've explored the unjust favoritism believers were showing toward the rich. James 2:5-7 unmasks the hypocrisy of this behavior, pushing believers to learn to see people as God sees them, instead of through the lenses of what our culture teaches about social status.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 29: Inglorious gloryAs we saw in the previous episode, Christians were showing favoritism toward the rich. In James 2:1, the apostle suggests that if people are doing that, they don't truly believe in "our glorious Lord Jesus Christ." But what does it mean to speak of a battered and crucified Savior as "glorious"?
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 28: The things we do for statusChapter 2 introduces one of the major concerns of the letter: in their pursuit of higher social status, Christians were mistreating each other. James 2:1-4 illustrates one particularly pernicious example of this: people fawned over the rich who visited the church but treated the poor with disrespect.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 27: Speaking the truth in love, not angerWe've already spent some time with James' teaching about being quick to listen and slow to speak. But the problem isn't just that we don't listen enough or speak too soon. The problem is that we don't control our tongues, and say things we shouldn't. As we'll see in this episode, James 1:26-27 teaches bluntly that people who think they're admirably religious but don't control what they say are just kidding themselves.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 26: Freedom isn’t freeIn the previous episode, we discussed how the distinction between "freedom from" and "freedom to" might help us understand what James is teaching. In this episode, we link this back to what the apostle Paul teaches in the book of Romans, remembering that our freedom from sin came at a price.
2023-08-0907 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 25: Law and freedomDepending on our cultural values, we may find it awkward to hold the words "law" and "freedom" together. But in James 1:25, the apostle speaks of "the law of freedom" and links it to blessing. What does he mean? We'll explore this in this episode and the next.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 24: Gazing in a mirrorJames 1:22-24 teaches that we must not only hear the gospel, but do what it says. He uses the metaphor of a mirror: don't we look in a mirror to see what we look like? What would be the point if we didn't do anything about what we see?
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 23: Finding fruitIn the gospels, we see Jesus using horticultural metaphors (sowing seed, pruning grapevines) to speak of the Christian life. James does something similar in James 1:21, portraying the gospel as something planted deep within us. And as we'll see in this and future episodes, this becomes an important piece of James' teaching overall. If we have the gospel planted in us, shouldn't it bear appropriate fruit?
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 22: Real righteousnessAs we've seen, James 1:19-20 teaches that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. This episode examines the rest of what James says in these verses: that anger doesn't produce God's righteousness. We'll look at what James means by this, again linking his thought back to the teaching of Jesus.
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 21: Quick to anger, slow to listen (part 3)In this episode, I draw upon some of my own work as a minister and marriage educator to give you some simple, practical guidelines for learning to listen better.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 20: Quick to anger, slow to listen (part 2)Why do we get angry quickly? Why is it so hard to listen? This episode brings in a bit of the brain science behind out angry outbursts, and ties it back to James' teaching on double-mindedness and his vision for the church.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 19: Quick to anger, slow to listen (part 1)That title represents what we often do in relationships: we get angry quickly, and don't listen to each other. But it's exactly opposite of what James teaches in James 1:19-20. This episode is the first of three parts on why we should do a better job of listening, and how we might do it.
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 18: The long viewYou knew that sooner or later I was going to have to use a theological word you may never have heard before: that word is eschatology. It refers to how we should understand the "last things" or the last days. This isn't the place to get into all the theological debates over tribulation, the Second Coming, and the like. Instead, in this episode, we use James 1:18 to show the importance of always taking the long view, of seeing our present in light of God's future.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 17: The devil made me do it?It's always tempting to blame our mistakes on others, sometimes even the devil. But as we learn in James 1:14-15, it is better to understand temptation as coming neither from God nor the devil, but from our own "cravings."
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 16: God is lightJames 1:16-17 portrays God as the generous giver of good gifts (so don't blame him for temptation!). He also tells us that God is the creator even of the stars we see at night. The world can be a dark place; don't we need to know that God is light?
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 15: Trials or temptations?James 1:13-15 teaches that we shouldn't blame temptation on God. But different translations of the letter give us different readings; the same word can be translated as either trial, or test, or temptation. Which is the right reading, and what is James trying to say? We'll explore these questions.
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 14: From double- to single-mindedIn a previous episode, we discussed doubt as being of two minds. Here, we connect how James thinks about this back to the teaching of his brother Jesus, and will continue to do so in future episodes.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 13: What’s your currency?Every culture has its "social currency," the things that show who's got more status (and who doesn't). One of the problems James sees in the church is that Christians seem to value and pursue all the same things that people do in the surrounding culture. We'll begin exploring that idea in this episode.
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 12: What matters is what lastsJames 1:9-11 can be a little puzzling: he says the poor have high status and the rich have low status. And he says this in the context of predicting just how quickly the wealthy will "waste away." What does he mean? In this episode, we explore how James is trying to shift the way his readers think.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 11: Like a rockWe've been looking at what James says about doubt, and wondering whether doubt disqualifies us from receiving anything from God. We used the story of the desperate father to argue otherwise. In this episode, we'll use the story of Peter walking on water to make a similar point.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 10: Of two mindsJames 1:5-8 contrasts faith with doubt, saying that a person who doubts is unstable and "double-minded." In this episode, I suggest that "doubt" is not the opposite of belief, but believing two or more conflicting things and vacillating between them.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 9: Help my unbelief!When James says that God gives the gift of wisdom, he also seems to say that we have to get the prayer right or we will get nothing from God. Is this what he means? This episode uses the story of the desperate father in Mark 9 to suggest a different way of understanding James' meaning.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 8: Got wisdom?James 1:5-8 speaks of wisdom as a gift from God, given freely. But what kind of wisdom does he mean?
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 7: Let faith do its workAgain, the main theme of James is the relationship between faith and works. In this episode, we look at both James 1:2-4 and 2:14-18 to see how Christians are like teabags...
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 6: Perfection and perfectionismBoth James and Jesus speak of Christians as becoming "perfect," which can be a little daunting--particularly if we already struggle with perfectionism. How should we understand this?
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 5: You call that ”joy”?James 1:2-4 speaks of trials as tests of our faith and occasions for joy. How can this be? And what does James mean by "joy"?
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 4: Church politics: it’s a thingThis episode explores what we know about James from the New Testament, and how that affects the way we read his letter.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 3: Brother from another fatherThe consensus among Bible scholars is that the author of the letter of James is the half-brother of Jesus. This episode explores what difference it might make to know this.
2023-08-0906 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 2: Which James is James?There are several people in the Bible named James...which one wrote the letter that bears his name?
2023-08-0905 minChunks: The Letter of JamesEpisode 1: Show meThis first episode introduces us to the main theme of James' letter: what is the right relationship between faith and works?
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