Verse 1
James 1:1 . The greeting is in one of the ordinary forms with which public or private letters open ( cf. Acts 15:23). Like his brother Judas ( Jude 1:1), James calls himself “ servant of . . . Jesus Christ” : he would no longer claim a brother’ s relation, except what all shared ( Mark 3:35). On our theory we might easily conjecture that James wrote simply “ servant of God,” the additional words being a very early adaptation to overtly Christian use. “ The Twelve Tribes settled in foreign lands” retain their ideal completeness ( Acts 26:7, Matthew 19:28, Revelation 7:4 ff; Revelation 21:12), though but few ( cf. Luke 2:36) could trace their descent to the “ Lost Ten.” God was “ able of the stones to raise up children” to Israel.
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