James and the Q Sayings of Jesus (Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series)

The Epistle of James lies on a wisdom trajectory that extends from the Old Testament through to the New. It is among the earliest of the New Testament writings, providing valuable insight into the process of transmission of the sayings of Jesus. By examining textual similarities between James and the early Jesus traditions, such as Q, QMt and QLk, Hartin argues that the Epistle of James is an independent witness to the existence of the Q source, as well as to the way in which this source developed within the Matthaean community which produced QMt. Cover 1 Front Matter 2 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Abbreviations 10 Part I. James and Wisdom 12 Chapter 1. Light on the Epistle of James 13 1. The Scope of the Investigation 13 2. Divergent Approaches on the Literary Character of the Epistle of James 15 2.1 A much-neglected writing 15 2.2 A pre-Christian document 16 2.3 Greek influence on James 18 2.3.1 J. H. Ropes 18 2.3.2 M. Dibelius 20 2.4 A Jewish-Christian document 22 3. The Composition of the Epistle of James 24 3.1 The epistolary composition of James 25 3.1.1 The opening formula (Jas 1.1) 26 3.1.2 Introductory formulae expressing themes of the epistle (Jas 1.2-27) 27 3.1.3 The body of the epistle 30 3.1.4 The conclusion to the Epistle 33 3.2 The importance of wisdom in this structure 35 4. The Wisdom Context of James 36 4.1 Some important aspects of Hebrew wisdom thought 36 4.1.1 Wisdom and ethics 36 4.1.2 The personification of wisdom 39 4.2 The legacy of wisdom 41 4.2.1 Wisdom legacy within the faith of Israel 41 4.2.2 Wisdom legacy inherited by the New Testament traditions 42 Chapter 2. The Role of Wisdom in James and Q: Paraeneitcal Advice 45 1. The Approach Adopted to Q 46 2. The Wisdom Genre of Q 53 3. The Wisdom Character of James and Q: Practical Advice and Form of Expression 60 3.1 Wisdom sayings and admonitions 61 3.1.1 In the Q source 61 3.1.2 Epistle of James 63 3.2 Beatitudes 66 3.2.1 In the Q source 67 3.2.2 In the Epistle of James 68 3.3 Woes 70 3.3.1 In the Q source 70 3.3.2 The Epistle of James 72 3.4 Wisdom forms of comparison 74 3.4.1 In the Q source 74 3.4.2 The Epistle of James 75 3.5 Practical wisdom advice with a deuteronomistic perspective 77 3.5.1 In the Q source 77 3.5.2 In the Epistle of James 78 3.6 Conclusion 79 Chapter 3. The Nature of Wisdom in James 82 1. Faith, Steadfastness and Wisdom: Pericopae B and C (1.2-8) 82 1.1 Pericope B: The testing of faith produces steadfastness (1.2-4) 83 1.1.1 Joy amids trials (vv. 2 and 3). 83 1.1.2 The testing of faith leads to endurance (vv. 2 and 3) 84 1.1.3 ENdurance leads to perfection (v. 4) 86 1.2 Pericope C: Asking for wisdom in faith (1.5-8) 87 1.2.1 Wisdom as a gift from God (v. 5) 87 1.2.2 Requests made in faith (vv. 6-8) 88 1.3 Wisdom as the horizon for attaining perfection in the eschatoogical age 89 2. Belief in Jesus, the Lord of Glory and the Wisdom of God: Periocope G (2.1-13) 90 2.1 An example illustrating the command to avoid partiality: discrimination in the church between rich and poor (2.2-4) 91 2.2 Four arguments which corroborate the command and the example (2.5-13) 91 2.3 Faith in Jesus, the Lord of glory (2.1) 95 3. The Wisdom from Above: Pericope J (3.13-18) 98 3.1 A wise man leads a good life (3.13) 100 3.2 A negative lifestyle without wisdom (3.14-16) 102 3.3 The true wisdom from above (3.17) 107 4. Significance of This Investigation 114 Chapter 4. THe Personification of Wisdom in Q 117 1. Wisdom's Role of Doom (Lk. 11.49-51; Mt. 23.34-36) 117 2. Wisdom's Children and Wisdom in the Market Place (Lk. 7.31-35; Mt. 11.16-19) 123 2.1 The Q form 123 2.2 The Matthean formulation 125 2.3 The Lucan formulation 126 3. Jerusalem Killing the Prophets (Lk. 13.34-35; Mt. 23.37-39) 127 4. Thanksgiving and Revelation (Lk. 10.21-22; Mt. 11.25-27) 129 5. Greater than the Wisdom of Solomon (Lk. 11.31; Mt. 12.42) 132 6. The Development of the Personification of Wisdom in the Jesus Traditions 133 7. James and Q: Reflection on the Nature of Wisdom 135 Part II. Textual Relations between James and the Jesus Tradition 140 Chapter 5. James and the Sermon on the Mount/Plain: A Comparative Examination 141 1. Chart of Correspondences between James and the Synoptic Tradition 142 2. James and the Q Sermon on the Mount/Plain 145 2.1 The relationship between James and the beatitudes 149 2.1.1 The poor (Jas 2.5; Mt. 5.3; Lk. 6.20) 150 2.1.2 Those who mourn and weekp (Jas 4.9; Mt. 5.4; Lk. 6.25) 152 2.1.3 Those who are merciful (Jas 2.13; Mt. 5.7; Lk. 6.36) 153 2.1.4 Those who make peace (Jas 3.18; Mt. 5.9) 155 2.1.5 Those who are pure in heart (Jas 4.8; Mt. 5.8) 157 2.1.6 Those who hunger (Jas 2.15-16; Lk. 6.21=Mt. 5.6) 158 2.1.7 Those who are reviled (Jas 1.2; 5.10; Mt. 5.11-12; Lk. 6.22-23) 159 2.1.8 Conclusion 162 2.2 James and further aspects of the Q Sermon on the Mount 165 2.2.1 Love of one's enemies (Lk. 6.27-33; Mt. 5.40-47) 165 2.2.2 Be merciful and do not judge 168 2.2.3 The fruit of good works (Jas 3.12; Mt. 7.16-18; Lk. 6.43-44) 170 2.2.4 Doers of the word (Jas 1.22; Mt. 7:24-27; Lk. 6.47-49) 171 2.3 Conclusion 172 Chapter 6. James and the Jesus Tradition: A Comparative Examination of Some Further Specific Texts 174 1. James and Further Contact with Q. 174 1.1 Asking (Jas. 1.5-8; 4.3; Lk. 11.9-13; Mt. 7.7-11) 174 1.1.1 Jas 1.5 and 17; Lk. 11.9-13/Mt. 7.7-11 175 1.1.2 James 4.2-3 177 1.2 Treasure in heaven (Jas 5.2-3; Lk. 12.33-34; Mt. 6.19-21) 180 1.3 Conversion of the sinful brother (Jas 5.19-20; Lk. 17.3; Mt. 18.15) 182 1.4 Obligation to keep the whole law (Jas 2.10; Lk. 16.17; Mt. 5.18-19) 183 1.5 Serving two masters (Jas 4.4; Lk. 16.13; Mt. 6.24) 184 1.6. Humility and exaltation (Jas 4.10; Mt. 23.12; Lk. 14.11; 18.14) 186 1.7 Conclusion 187 2. James and Further Contact with the Matthean Community Traditions 188 2.1 The oath (Jas 5.12; Mt. 5.33-37) 189 2.2 Care of the needy (Jas 2.15-16; Mt. 25.34-35; Lk. 3.11) 192 2.3 Conclusion 193 3. James and Contact with the Gospel of Luke 193 4. More General Parallels between James and the Jesus Tradition 196 Chapter 7. The Wisdom Theme of Perfection in James and the Jesus Traditions 200 1. The Call to Perfection (Jas 1.4; Mt. 5.48) 200 1.1 The context of the call to perfection in Matthew 5.48 201 1.2 The Context of the call to perfection in Jas 1.4 205 1.3 The relationship between James and Qmt on the call to perfection through suffering 206 2. Perfection and the Law of Love 208 2.1 The development of Matthew 5.17-19 208 2.2 Pefection comes through the law of love 209 3. Perfection comes through the Gift of God's Wisdom 211 3.1 The wisdom from above (Mt. 1.25-27; Lk. 10.21-22; Jas 3.13-18) 211 3.2 The development of this saying within the Matthean community (Mt. 11.28-30) 212 3.2.1 The person of Jesus and wisdom 212 3.2.2 οτι πραυς ειμι (Mt. 11.29) 212 3.2.3 αρατε τον ζυγον μου εφ' υμας (Mt. 11.29) 213 3.2.4 και ευρησετε αναπουσιν ταις ψυχας υμων (Mt. 11.29) 214 3.2.5 Mt. 11.25-30 and Jas 3.13-18 betray evidence of coming from a common tradition 214 4. The Ethical Lifestyle of the One Seeking Perfection 215 5. Conclusion 216 Part III. Reconstruction 220 Chapter 8. A Vision of the Emergence of James within the Early Christian Community 221 1. The Q Community 221 2. The Matthean Community 228 2.1 Different groups of Jewish-Gentile Christianity 228 2.2 The church at Antioch 230 2.3 Traditions within the Antiochene church 232 2.3.1 The Gospel of Mark 232 2.3.2 The Q source 233 2.3.3 The M material 233 3. The Epistle of James in the Context of the Early Christian Communities 234 3.1 A probable Sitz im leben for the epistle 235 3.1.1 Community leadership 235 3.1.2 The Jewish-Christian connection 235 3.1.3 The social situation of the readers 236 3.2 The Epistle of James in the context of early Christianity 238 3.2.1 The Epistle of james and the Apostle Paul 239 3.2.2 The Epistle of James and the Apostolic Churches 240 4. The Results of this Study 241 4.1 The theme of wisdom 242 4.2 James's witness to the development in an understanding of Jesus' relationship to wisdom within early Christianity 242 4.3 Wisdom and the Holy Spirit 243 4.4 James as an independent witness to the existence of the Q source 243 4.5 The transmission of the sayings od jesus in the early community 244 4.6 James bears witness to being an early writing 244 4.7 The whole assessment of the Epistle of James needs to be changed 245 Appendix A: Summary of the Structure of the Epistle of James 246 Appendix B: The Compositional Relationship among the Pericopae 247 Back Matter 248 Bibliography 248 Indexes 257 Index of Ancient References 257 Index of Authors 266 1850752672