New Testament Books in the Order They Were Written

New Testament Books in the order they were written starting with James

Handout

Excerpt from New Testament Books in the Order They Were Written

Remember that we are beginning a study of the New Testament books in the order that they are written.  I have that sheet up here if you missed that last week.  Those listening online, if you need a copy of this, you can send an email through our website.  The Book of James.  Interesting.  Its the first one.  And it really is how you look at it.  It can be hard to read.  Some have called it the cosmic dentist because you know you have to go but you are going to get hurt.  I would put it a different way.  Now that Jesus has come, the rules are different.  And some definitions are different. The definitions, I think, you will enjoy some of that.  We are not going to go through these in the same way we did the Gospels.  We are going to try to do a few of these each time.

So I am going to ask you anticipate and read ahead.  To address the authorship, it was generally assumed in the early centuries of the church that this was Jesus’s physical brother James.  That was attacked quite a bit by the Roman Catholic Church as the centuries moved on and they developed their doctrine with Mary as a perpetual virgin.  That did not happen over night.  It took a long time.  In fact it was around the year 1000 before that became official Catholic doctrine.  So by that time they had to move James from brother to cousin. They would the same word means both, but it really doesn’t.  Now a lot of scholars say he is the brother of Christ in the same way we are.  I think its James brother of Christ.  James, a servant of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ and the 12 tribes scattered among the nations.