Known for its declaration, "Faith without works is dead," (2:26), the letter of James is not addressed to a single church or community. Rather it is addressed to the “diaspora” or Jews who were scattered among the nations. James, however, is not merely writing to Jews, but Jewish Christians living outside Israel specifically scattered among the nations (also Hellenistic Jewish Christians). As to the location of his audience, there is no mention of it in the book, though the book mentions that these believers meet in a synagogue (2:2), and had somehow experienced persecutions, harassment and “trials of various kinds”, were forced out of their homeland, taken advantage of by their rich neighbors by dragging them to court(1;2; 2:6), and driven to poverty by abusive wealthy landowners (1:9-11; 5:4-6).

James concludes this section on intercessory prayer in 5:19-20 by giving his readers and listeners three (3) reminders about living as a church: 1) V.19: There are always those within the community who profess as Christians but fail to conduct themselves as Christians; 2) V.19-20a: Concern for others should always be present within the community of faith, especially those who fail to live the faith they profess; 3) V.20: The goal of the church is to restore the sinner.