ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

James 1.1

Book: James · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. 660, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting.

  1. Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; 3. Knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. (James 1:1-3, ASV)
WEB

1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.

  1. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, 3. knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (James 1:1-3, WEB)
KJV

1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

  1. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; temptations: or, trials 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. (James 1:1-3, KJV)
YLT

1. James, of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ a servant, to the Twelve Tribes who are in the dispersion: Hail!

  1. All joy count [it], my brethren, when ye may fall into temptations manifold; 3. knowing that the proof of your faith doth work endurance, (James 1:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: James (Iakōbos), identified by the great majority of interpreters as the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19; Mark 6:3), leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13; Acts 21:18). He introduces himself simply as "a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1), never as a relative.
  • Audience: Jewish believers outside Palestine, addressed as "the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad" (James 1:1). The congregations meet in a synagōgē (James 2:2) and include both poor members and wealthy visitors.
  • Location: Jerusalem, from which James led the mother church.
  • Time period: Date disputed. An early date (c. AD 44-49) would make this the earliest surviving Christian writing; a later one places it before James's death, which Josephus dates to AD 62 (Antiquities 20.200). The letter shows no awareness of the Gentile-circumcision controversy settled in Acts 15, which many take as evidence for the early date.

Theological reading

"James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings."

The self-description. Doulos, bond-servant (G1401 - doulos). If the author is the brother of Jesus, as most hold, the omission is striking: he claims no family relationship, no apostolic office, and no position in the Jerusalem church, all three of which he could have claimed. Jude does the same at Jude 1, calling himself the brother of James rather than of Jesus.

"Of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." One preposition governs both, and James places his brother alongside God as the one he serves. Coming from someone who grew up in the same household, and who John 7:5 says did not believe in Him during His ministry, the phrase is a small but significant piece of evidence about what the resurrection appearance to James (1 Corinthians 15:7) changed.

"The twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad." En tē diaspora. The address identifies the readers as Jewish believers outside Palestine, and the twelve-tribe language treats the church as the continuation of Israel rather than a separate entity.

"Greetings." Chairein, the ordinary Hellenistic salutation, used in the New Testament only here, in the letter of the Jerusalem council which James presided over (Acts 15:23), and in Lysias's letter at Acts 23:26. The coincidence with Acts 15 is a small but frequently noted argument for authenticity.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

People:

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.