Edwards, Reviving the Faith

Edwards, “Reviving the Faith”

Holds that 12 tribes is a reference to the eschatological restoration of the People of God, but he holds that the “dispersion” is a metaphor for Christians who have “drifted away from God.”

Edwards also holds that the “sick” of vv. 13-15 are “spiritually” sick or weak, and not physically sick. He assets that the challenge to restore the apostate given in vv. 19-20 fit the context given this metaphorical reading.

Cf. N. T. Wright, People of God, 268 ff. for the hypothesis that Israel counted herself as still in exile during the life of Jesus.

“It may be that the author of James saw his audience in much the same way that the audience of Jesus is pictured: as exiles needing to be restored to a healthy relationship with God. This exile perspective helps to explain the eschatological emphasis found in the Synoptic Gospels’ description of the ministry of Jesus and also the presence of the same evidencee this study has found behind the letter of James. Drawing near to God in light of the coming of the Lord is a theme found in the NT’s presentation of the teachings of Jesus and in James” {Edwards, 151}

“The last part of James includes the explicit mention of the forgiveness of sins (5:15–16, 20). As the audience is urged to repent and exercise faith, they are assured the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is a critical part of the restoration of those who have wandered. The return from the diaspora will mean that sins have been forgiven.” {Citing Lam 4:22, Edwards, 159}

“A final similarity to be noted between Jas 1:1-12 and 5:13-20 is the weather imagery. Jas 1:11 describes the impact the scorching sun makes upon the unprotected grass and flower. The rain, mentioned in 5:17-18; is part of an illustration and a particular instance in his life involving prayer. Although the sun and rain do not |begin page 84 here| necessarily call to mind an eschatological context, they are each used in their respective settings to illustrate judgment from God. The rays of the sun beat down upon the grass and flower, which represent the prideful rich. The drought, announced in 1 Kgs 17:1, seems to be an act of judgment in response to the wicked reign of King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel, who allowed idolatry to flourish. The rain was restored after Elijah was used by God to humiliate the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and then have them killed. The visitation by God, symbolized by the sun and evidenced through a drought, indicate judgment of the wicked. Judgment of the wicked by God is part of the eschatological teaching in James (cf. 4:12; 5:9). Jas 1:11 alludes to the OT in order to illustrate the justice of God whereas 5:17-18 use the OT to illustrate the power of prayer using an example of the justice of God.” {Edwards, 84–85}

“…the prayer regarding drought and the return of rain was more connected to the faith of the Israelites. The drought appeared to have been due to idolatry under the influence of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. The rain returned after Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal and the repentance of the people (1 Kings 18). The weather (drought and rain) symbolized the spiritual condition of the people at the time of Elijah. Similarly, Jas 1:11 uses weather imagery to illustrate the judgment of God on the arrogant rich. The Israelites’ shift away from idolatry, accompanied by expressions of repentance, is consistent with the message of Jas 4:4-10. It may be that the illustration of Elijah’s prayer regarding the weather is meant, in part, to serve as an allusion to the spiritual condition of the people: drought indicates spiritual distance from God, and fruitful land depicts spiritual restoration. The main point, however is that prayer can bring about transformation.”{Edwards, 142–143}

James and Eschatology: Edwards 45–92.

Beginning and ending of James “together serve to emphasize that eschatology is the overarching theme of the letter.” {Edwards 45}

Agouridēs, Savvas. “Origin of the Epistle of St. James: Suggestions for a Fresh Approach.” Greek Orthodox Theological Review9.1 (1963): 67–78. {Page 69 contra Dibelius’ view that James “has no theology” Agouridēs states thatJames is «goverened from one end to the other by vivid expectation of the imminent return of Christ (‘Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord,’ 5:7; ‘the coming of the Lord draweth nigh’ 5:8).»}

Mussner, Jakobusbrief, 210 identifies eschatology as the unifying theme of the letter. «Die These Dibelius’, der Jak-Brief habe ‘keine Theologie’, bedarf der Revision. Wenn man unter ‘Theologie’ nur ‘Christologie’ versteht, dann hat allerdings unser Brief kaum Theologie. Ist aber Theologie wesentlich auch ‘Eschatologie’, so gehört der Jak-Brief unter ihre ausgezeichneten Vertreter im NT.» “Dibelius’ thesis, that James has ‘no theology,’ needs revision. If one understands only ‘Christology’ as‘theology,’ then, to be sure, our letter hardly has any theology. Theology is however substantially also ‘eschatology,’ of which James is an excellent representative in the NT.” (Dibelius states that James has no theology on p. 21 in commentary.)

Penner, Eschatology, 121–213 highlights the eschatological framework of the book of James. He notes that Robert Wall confuses the terms “apocalypse” and “apocalyptic.” {Penner, Eschatology, 130 n. 1}

Penner notes Mussner’s concept of “Interimsethik” as that which underlies the whole epistle. He states that Wall has developed Mussner’s theory more systematically {Penner 129–130}

Wall, “Apocalyptic Paraenesis,” 21 states that apocalyptic should be seen “as a theological tradition and not as a literary genre.” Penner notes, however, that Wall confuses “apocalyptic” which is a world view with “apocalypse” which is a genre. {Penner 130, n. 1}

Penner’s view of “eschatological” in James is: «In this book, the term ‘eschatological’ refers to the larger end-time scheme attested in the New Testament and early Judaism. It is used to represent the whole complex of themes and motifs which are present in the literature of the Second Temple period, and which in general relate to eschatological hopes and expectations and the wider implications of these as they relate not only to the future, but also the past and present as well: life as viewed under the shadow of a future, imminent divine judgment on the wicked and reward for the righteous. Thus the understanding of New Testament eschatology reflected in this book places phenomenon very close to the interpretive framework of the apocalyptic writings and their eschatology.» {Penner 111} It brings it close but it does NOT equate the theology and thought patterns of eschatology/apocalypticism with apocalyptic. James is not an apocalypse.

Penner, on the confusion between eschatology and apocalyptic «In using ‘eschatological’ instead of ‘apocalyptic’ it is intended that the meaning will be less ambiguous, and more in line with what is viewed, in this book, as the fundamental nature of apocalyptic. Part of the problem in the usage of terminology is created by modern scholarship. For instance, while scholars have always been quick to see imminent expectation of the end as a manifestation of eschatologcial hope, otherworldly journeys, ethical instruction, and revelation of divine mysteries have not always been as closely connected in modern dicussion to an eschatological framework as they should be.» {Penner 113}

See Wesley Hyram Wachob’s “The Apocalyptic Intertexture of the Epistle of James,” in The Intertexture of Apocalyptic Discourse in the New Testament (ed. Duane F. Watson; SBL Symposium Series 14; Atlanta: SBL, 2002), 183, where he states “The Epistle of James is not an apocalypse; indeed one searches in vain to find within it numerous elements that are frequently found in many so-called apocalypses. For example, there are no visions, no seers, no angels, no apocalyptic scenarios, and no otherworldly journeys. However, as we have seen there are several topics within James that are typically associated with apocalyptic literature.”

“The general worldview of James and the conceptual language within which it is disclosed suggest that life in this world receives its significance from the eschatological future, but the eschatological future of those who hold Jesus’ faith is determined by their present behavior.” {Wachob, “Apocalyptic Intertexture,” 185}

“James uses so-called apocalyptic topics to support his argument that the beloved community, a countercultural community, should live (in this world) the same faith-obedience to God that jesus lived. Apocalyptic topics, just like wisdom and prophetic topics, are configured by James for this argumentative purpose. The eschatological horizon informs James’s rhetoric.” {Wachob, “Apocalyptic Intertexture” 185}

Mussner, Jakobusbrief, 210; Agouridēs; Wall; Penner; Edwards all see “eschatology as the unifying theme in James.”

Edwards and the opening of the letter:

Edwards {50} notes the interaction of Jackson-McCabe with Pines, where Pines asserts that James’ use of “twelve tribes”as an eschatological designation for his readers is not plausible because “these addressees are clearly supposed to be the contemporaries of the author of the Epistle.” {Pines S. Pines, “Notes on the Twelve Tribes in Qumran, Early Christianity and Jewish Traditon,” in Messiah and Christos (TSAJ 32; ed. I. Gruenwald; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992), 151-154.

Edwards, p. 51 ff. notes the combination of messianic ideas in the OT and early Judaism along with reunification of the 12 tribes – this helps to the address of James’ letter as a highly eschatological text.

Edwards, p. 56 starts associating a kind of psychological exile with the literal geographic exile. “Though the scattering or exile is almost always geographic, as is clearly the case in Ezekiel, what is most significant is the relationship of the community to God. . . Even when the term ῄ διασπορά (or a cognate) is used (e.g., Deut 30:3–4; Pss. Sol. 9:1–2), the physical condition of the people as exiles mirrors their spiritual condition as a nation estranged from God.”

He then goes on to say, “James also uses the physical situation to mirror a spiritual condition. The use of the term ῄ διασπορά in James, while describing a physical reality, also depicts a spiritual state.”{Edwards 56–57} He asserts that “Jas 5:13–20 relates primarily to the spiritual condition of those in question, though the language is evocative of a physical malady. There too the language of physical circumstances mirrors a spiritual reality.” {Edwards 57 n. 35}

He holds that the “twelve tribes” that are still “in the dispersion” has a twofold sense of both physical dispersion and spiritual estrangement. {57} He points to the use of diaspora 1 Peter 1:1 in a figurative sense – where Christians are strangers in this world as evidence of a metaphorical use (see 1 Peter 1:17; 2:11), though he does note that the literal view has been supported by scholars as well. {58}

«. . . .when taken in conjunction with the expression “the twelve tribes,” διασπορά seems likely to have an eschatological meaning where the literal sense (as in John 7:35) and a metaphorical sense overlap. The community addressed by James may be geographically displaced, but James is not so concerned about geography as about the community’s relationship with God. This eschatological sense of διασπορά is not used in James primarily to describe the relationship of the community to the rest of the world or its relationship to a particular geographic region, but to characterize the relationship of the people of God.» {59}

Edwards is supported in his view by Timothy Cargal, Restoring the Diaspora: Discursive Structure and Purpose in the Epistle of James (SBL Dissertation Series 144. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993), 49. Cargal states «James may perceive in the address “to the twelve tribes of the Diaspora” (the base meaning of “Diaspora” being “to scatter” or “to be led away”) a reference to his desire “to restore those who have wandered away from the truth.”»

Craig A. Evans, “Aspects of Exile and Restoration in the Proclamation of Jesus and the Gospels,” in Exile: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Conceptions (ed. James M. Scott; JSJSup 56; Leiden: Brill), 299–328; “Jesus and the Continuing Exile of Israel,” in Jesus and the Restoration of Israel: A Critical Assessment of N. T. Wright’s Jesus and the Victory of God (ed. Carey C. Newman; Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999), 77–100.

Evans (“Aspects,” 316; “Jesus,” 91) states that “Jesus’ appointment of twelve apostles” symbolized a reunited Israel. It is “the single most important datum that attests to the presence of exile theology in Jesus’ thinking.” {Aspects 37; Jesus 91}

Note the following places where either “ὁδώδεκα” or a combination of δώδεκα with either μαθητής or ἀπόστολος occurs: Matt 10:1-2, 5; 11:1; 19:28; 20:17; 26:14, 20, 47; Mark 3:14, 16; 4:10; 6:7; 9:35; 10:32; 11:11; 14:10, 17, 20, 43; Luke 6:13; 8:1; 9:1, 12; 18:31; 22:3, 30, 47; John 6:67, 70-71; 20:24; Acts 6:2 (BibleWorks search string: [(.δωδεκα μαθητης)/(δωδεκα αποστολος)/('ο δωδεκα)], excluding Acts 7:8).

Of particular interest is Matt 19:28 || Luke 22:28–30, where the Twelve are promised that they will “sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (καθήσεσθε . . . ὑμεῖς ἐπὶ δώδεκα θρόνους κρίνοντες τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ).

And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. / You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; 29 and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ὑμεῖς οἱ ἀκολουθήσαντές μοι ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ, ὅταν καθίσῃ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ,
καθήσεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπὶ δώδεκα θρόνους κρίνοντες τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. / ὑμεῖς δέ ἐστε οἱ διαμεμενηκότες μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς μου· 29 κἀγὼ διατίθεμαι ὑμῖν καθὼς διέθετό μοι ὁ πατήρ μου βασιλείαν, 30 ἵνα ἔσθητε καὶ πίνητε ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης μου ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ μου,
καὶ καθήσεσθε ἐπὶ θρόνων τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς κρίνοντες τοῦ Ἰσραήλ.

«Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”;» (1 Kgs 18:31; note also v. 33-34, where he had four pitchers of water poured on the altar three times). Ezek 47:13

Rev 7:5-8 (the 144,000 – in 14:4 called ἀπαρχὴ; cf. Jas 1:18); 12:1 (the woman clothed with the sun); 21:12-14, 16, 21 (Jerusalem); 22:2 (fruits of the tree of life)

E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 98 “‘twelve’ would necessarily mean ‘restoration’”

On twelve tribes see also Richard Bauckham, “The Restoration of Israel in Luke-Acts,” in Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives (ed. James M. Scott; JSJSup 72; Leiden: Brill, 2001), 435–488. See especially 467–477. (See also 439–448 on Elijah and Lukan theology of restoration.)

John P. Meier, “Jesus, the Twelve, and the Restoration of Israel,” in Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives (ed. James M. Scott; JSJSup 72; Leiden: Brill, 2001), 365–404.

On Qumran conceptions of “twelve” being a number symbolic of the eschatological restoration of Israel, see also 1QM 2.1–3 (twelve chief priests and chief Levites minister to God in “the eschatological sanctuary); 1QS 8.1–4 (the Community council consists of twelve men and three priests); 4Q164 [1QpIsad] 1.4b–7 (speaks of “twelve [chiefs of the priests]” and “the chiefs of the tribes of Israel in the l[ast days . . . ]).”

Here is more of a list: Baruch 4:36–37; Sir 36:10–13; 48:10; 2 Macc 1:27–29; 2:17–18; Pss. Sol. 11:2–3; 17:26–32, 44–45; 1QM 2:1–3, 7–8; 3:13–14; 5:1–2.

Baruch 4:25 My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God. Your enemy has overtaken you, but you will soon see their destruction and will tread upon their necks. τέκνα μακροθυμήσατε τὴν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπελθοῦσαν ὑμῖν ὀργήν κατεδίωξέν σε ὁ ἐχθρός σου καὶ ὄψει αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀπώλειαν ἐν τάχει καὶ ἐπὶ τραχήλους αὐτῶν ἐπιβήσῃ

Sir 36:10 (lxx) – Sirach’s prayer includes “Gather together all the tribes of Jacob, restore them to their heritage as at the beginning” (njb). Note 48:10, where Elijah is said (by the non-apocalyptically driven Sirach) to be destined to “restore the tribes of Jacob” (nrsv). A similar prayer to Sirach’s (ch. 36) is found in 2 Macc 1:27–29 (see also 2:17–18).

1QM 2.1–3 «They shall arrange the chiefs of the priests behind the High Priest and of his second (in rank), twelve chiefs to serve 2 in perpetuity before God. And the twenty-six chiefs of the divisions shall serve in their divisions and after them the chiefs of the levites to serve always, twelve, one 3 per tribe.»

See also 1QM 1.2–3, where the the exiled come out of the desert to camp about Jerusalem and wage war:«The sons of Levi, the sons of Judah and the sons of Benjamin, the exiled of the desert, will wage war against them. 3 […] against all their bands, when the exiled sons of light return from the desert of the nations to camp in the desert of Jerusalem.»