January 3 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 3: James 1:1

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

Devotional:

Little children dread going to the doctor to get shots. But adults sometimes volunteer to be pierced by needles, for example, to donate blood. Why? Because they better understand the proportion of the pain, that it’s brief; and they better understand the purpose of the pain, that it’s beneficial.

James writes "to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion." On first blush, this seems to mean physical descendants of Abraham, Jews who aren’t living in the Promised Land but are scattered among the nations. But James writes as “a servant…of the Lord Jesus Christ.” As you read the whole letter, it’s clear that it’s addressed to Christians. This is worth considering. First, it identifies who we are in Christ—"the twelve tribes." In the final analysis, Jesus alone inherits the promises to Abraham; Jesus alone is the true Israel; all God’s promises are "Yes" and "Amen" in Christ alone. Whoever is united to Christ therefore inherits God’s promises in Christ, and is a co-heir with Jesus. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29). Even though he unfolds it in stages, God has one plan of salvation for one people. Accordingly, James addresses New Testament Christians in Old Testament terms, much as Peter does in 1 Peter 2:9-10.
⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Second, he identifies where we are in Christ—“in the Dispersion.” We do have "a home in glory-land"—all that the Promised Land symbolized—but we’re not there yet. No sooner did Peter address Christians in Old Testament terms, than he identified them as "sojourners and exiles" (1 Pet. 2:11). James does the same thing. We are “in the Dispersion;” we are pilgrims and strangers, looking for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

This sets the tone for the entire letter of James. The letter tells us how to respond in a godly way to trials. The Holy Spirit speaking through James wants us to be aware of the proportion of our trials, that they are brief; and of their purpose, that they are for our benefit. And so he reminds us who we are in Christ—God’s chosen people and heirs. And he reminds us where we are in Christ—marching to Zion on a pilgrimage to glory.

Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.