The Commentary of James B. Adamson

This first article in the series will introduce Dr. Adamson and explain his unique approach to James.

At the time of publication, James B. Adamson, M.A., Ph.D. was a Presbyterian minister in Santa Rosa, CA.

The Sayings of Jesus, the Tradition of Elijah and Moses, and the Style of the Psalms and the Prophets

James B. Adamson was convinced that James was a master writer whose knowledge and choice of Greek bestow on his epistle a sustained unity of style and content that bears a close affinity with the Synoptic Gospels and the sayings of Jesus. The substance and authoritative tone of this epistle follow in the tradition of Elijah and Moses, and the style and diction resemble some of the outstanding qualities of the Psalms and the prophets. (W. Ward Gasque, Eastern College)

Adamson’s view of James was unique among scholars at the time he was writing this commentary. However there is general agreement that James was committed to Jewish Christianity. His epistle has been called ‘the Amos of the new Covenant’.

Adamson Wanted to Address an Error Made by Luther and Subsequent Commentaries

Adamson wrote in his preface that one of his most important aims was to combat what he considered a fatal error made by Luther and included in subsequent commentaries. These sources argue that James’s epistle lacks cohesion of thought or design. Adamson disagrees and uses the structure of the epistle to identify its date and authorship. For example, he argues that James 5: 1-8 has a strong Old Testament and Jewish element, especially in the verb ‘howl,’ in 5:1.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl over your coming miseries.
Your wealth has rotted, your clothes are moth-eaten:
Your gold and silver is corroded, and the corrosion shall be for evidence against you, and shall devour your flesh like fire; you have laid up treasure in days that are coming to an end.
See, the wages of the workers that have mowed your fields, which you have withheld from them, cry aloud; and the outcry of the reapers has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
You have lived on the earth in luxury and wantonness; you have fattened your hearts for the slaughtering day. 
You have condemned and murdered the just man; he does not resist you.
Hold out then, brothers, in patience till the coming of the Lord. See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, with persevering patience over it, until it shall have had the winter and spring rains;
You, too, must persevere with patience, and fortify your hearts; for the coming of the Lord is near. (James 5: 1-8)

The verb ‘howl‘ occurs here alone in the New Testament, and in a passage of prophetic character, Isaiah 34:1.

James thus takes us back to the techniques of the Old Testament and the synagogue, comforting the afflicted in the Hebrew manner with a prediction of the fall of their enemies and oppressors, in the same way as, for example, the comprehensive curse of Isa. 34 upon the evil is immediately followed by the next chapter’s sublime comfort for their victims (Adamson, p. 12).