Failure to understand Jesus’, Paul’s and James’ teachings within context can lead to pitting one against another. A context-sensitive interpretation reveals a harmonious message.
Two contextual questions are critical. Who was the speaker or author addressing? What was the speaker’s or author’s goal?
In a nutshell, Jesus, Paul and James all addressed God’s people. Jesus’ ministry focused upon the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Paul’s letters were written to God’s holy people in various locations (Romans 1:7). James likewise wrote to Christians, probably Jewish Christians whom he termed "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion" (James 1:1).
Since their audiences were God’s people, we should not expect Jesus, Paul and James to have informed them how to become God’s people as though they were lost! Their listeners already were God’s people! Yet, all three of them do use salvation language such as inheriting eternal life, justification, etc. (Luke 10:25-28; 18:18-22; Ephesians 2:8-9; James 2:14,24).
Since Jesus, Paul and James directed their messages at God’s people, why touch on ideas involving salvation and when doing so endorse such diverse principles such as: obeying commands, loving God and neighbor, saved by faith or justified by works? It is easy to understand why many today view their teachings as being at odds with one another.
However, they were not in conflict. Their messages were compatible. To perceive the harmony, we must answer the second question: What was each speaker or author seeking to achieve by addressing God’s people?
Next week we will explore answers to this latter question. For the moment, we should be able to agree that Jesus, Paul and James were not instructing the world on how to become God’s people. Rather, all of their messages were directed to God’s people.
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