We sometimes try to categorize Bible writers. We wonder what influenced them, where they got their ideas and biases. As I wrote in an earlier blog, James, who wrote the book of James in the New Testament, was a Jew, a prime leader in the Jewish wing of the Christian church. James also seems to have been a social justice advocate. Where did he get those ideas? The Old Testament law had many provisions for defending the poor, the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan. James 2:1-7 shows James as siding strongly with the poor. He says that poor people in “filthy clothes” should be welcomed into church as enthusiastically as rich people with gold rings and “fine clothes” (James 2:2-4). The passage is a straightforward command that church members (and churches) not show favoritism to the rich, which suggests that this kind of discrimination was happening. James also seems to say that the poor are more likely to have faith in God and that the rich are less moral than the poor—that it is the rich who more often exploit the poor, drag others into court, and thus prove to be hypocritical (James 2:5-7), which discredits the church and Christianity.

It should be remembered that Jesus also criticized the rich (Luke 6:24-26: “Woe to you who are rich…”) and blessed the poor (Luke 6:20-23: “Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God…”). Jesus also told a parable about a poor beggar named Lazarus who was rewarded in heaven and a rich man who was punished in hell (Luke 16:19-31). In dealing with the “rich young ruler,” Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:18-30). Jesus taught that when His followers have a dinner party, they should invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:12-14). Jesus also condemned the rich and powerful for loving “the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces” (Luke 11:43). Many more examples from Jesus’ teaching could be given. The point is that for people who think James’s letter is purely Jewish, it is interesting how much James’s teaching parallels Jesus’ teaching.

It is also worth noting that the apostle Paul, who sometimes pointedly disagreed with James, said some very similar things about these issues in his letters. He also suggested that the poor were often more godly than the rich: “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:26-27). In 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, Paul also criticized Christians who take each other to court.

Christians might not always agree on every issue, but on many things, the Bible and Christians speak with one voice.