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CH. Jam 1:1. INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS
1. θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. καὶ is here disjunctive. James (or Jacob) is the δοῦλος of God and also of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grammatically it would be possible to regard θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου as a joint qualification of Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, but the usage of the N.T. is against this: comp. Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ πατρὸς κ.τ.λ. (Gal 1:1). See, however, St Joh 20:28 ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου, where both terms are applied to Christ.
κύριος, frequent in LXX. as the Hellenistic equivalent for Jehovah, as well as in lower senses, is applied in N.T. as a title of reverence to Christ, ‘the Master,’ and is so used almost as a proper name, ‘the Lord’; hence the absence of the article as here and frequently, especially when κύριος is governed by a preposition, or when it is in the genitive case, or when it precedes Ἰησ. Χριστός. Winer, III. xix. 1, p. 154. Here it is correlative to δοῦλος. Therefore, although the use of κύριος here may not distinctly prove the truth of the Godhead of Christ, yet the associations of the word certainly tend to connect the Lord Christ of the N.T. with the Lord God of the O.T.
δοῦλος: (a) in reference to a king, a subject, all subjects of an Oriental monarch being slaves: καὶ ἰδοὺ οἱ δοῦλοί μου μετὰ τῶν δούλων σου, 1Ki 5:6 : Ἰεροβοὰμ δοῦλος Σολομῶντος, 1Ki 11:26, and frequently. So in N.T. ὡμοιώθη ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ βασιλεῖ ὂς ἠθέλησεν συνᾶραι λόγον μετὰ τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ, St Mat 18:23; where the δοῦλοι are satraps, or provincial governors. In Demosthenes the subjects of Philip are δοῦλοι, in contrast to the free Athenians: κἂν αὐτὸς μὴ παρῇ τοὺς δούλους ἀγωνοθετήσοντας πέμπει, Php 2:22 : (b) in reference to a master, a slave; and in a special sense (c) a slave consecrated to a god, ἱερόδουλος, a term applied to the Nethinim, Joseph. Ant. XI. 5. 6: comp. εἴθʼ οὔτως ἀεὶ Φοίβῳ | λατρεύων μὴ παυσαίμην, ἢ | παυσαίμην ἀγαθᾷ μοίρᾳ Eur. Ion 151–153. All three are Christian thoughts: (a) connects δοῦλος with the conception of the βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, (b) with the thought of personal service to a Master, (c) who is divine.
St Peter calls himself δοῦλος καὶ ἀπόστολος Ἰησ. Χριστοῦ, 2Pe 1:1. So St Paul, δοῦλος Ἰησ. Χριστοῦ, κλητὸς ἀπόστολος, Rom 1:1; and in conjunction with Timothy, Παῦλος καὶ Τιμόθεος δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, Php 1:1.
The simplicity of this self-designation and the absence of any authoritative title tend to prove the authenticity of the Epistle.
ταῖς δώδεκα φυλαῖς. This conception of the solidarity of Israel is a point in the enthusiasm of the Maccabean revival. Our Lord recognises it in the number of the Apostles and in their destination as judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. See Introduction, p. xxxii.
ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ. Though the expression would include the vast area over which the Jews were scattered, when used without any qualifying words it had the special meaning of the Eastern dispersion in Syria, Mesopotamia, Media and Elam, and other districts in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates. See Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol. I. p. 6 ff., and Introduction, pp. xxix., xxx.
διασπορά, lit. a scattering of seed, is not classical but is frequent in LXX. in the sense of (a) scattering or dispersion, Deu 28:25; Jer 34:17 : (b) collectively, the Israelites dispersed in different parts of the world, ‘the Dispersion.’ τὰς διασπορὰς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπισυνάξει, Psa 146:2. τὴν διασπορὰν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπιστρέψαι, Isa 49:6. μὴ εἰς τὴν διασπορὰν τῶν Ἑλλήνων μέλλει πορεύεσθαι; Joh 7:35. See also 1Pe 1:1.
There is no single fixed term in Hebrew for ‘the dispersion.’ Therefore in using the recognised expression ἡ διασπορά for a variety of Hebrew words the LXX. translators defined and specialised the meaning of the prophetic passage.
χαίρειν. Infinitive for imperative, where possibly λέγει or some similar word is to be supplied. Κλαύδιος Λυσίας τῷ κρατίστῳ ἡγεμόνι Φήλικι χαίρειν, Act 23:26. Sometimes χαίρειν λέγει is to be supplied, Παῦλος πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις … τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Φιλίπποις, Php 1:1. Winer, III. 64:6, p. 735. Comp. also ὑμεῖς ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος ἐρητύειν ἐπέεσσι, Il. II. 75. Such uses however may be connected with the original use and derivation of the infinitive as a dative of purpose. See Monro, Hom. Gram. § 242.
The same simple salutation is used in the encyclical letter addressed to the Gentile brethren by St James and the Church in Jerusalem, Act 15:23. St Paul’s salutation is usually χάρις καὶ εἰρήνη, Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:3 and frequently.