Photograph: A painting of the martyrdom of James, half-brother of Jesus, remembered as the first bishop of Jerusalem. The Jewish historian Josephus was the earliest to record this incident in Antiquities chapter 20. James, the half-brother of Jesus, and a leader of the church in Jerusalem as depicted in Acts 15, was known as a very prayerful man. He was stoned to death in either 62 or 69 AD by Pharisees on the order of the high priest at the time, Ananus ben Ananus. Photo credit: Unknown | Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Below are messages, small group leader notes, and exegetical notes on the Letter of James.

James 1:1 - 4 Rejoice in Trials
James 1:5 - 12 God Sustains Us Through Suffering
James 1:13 - 17 God is Only Good
James 1:18 - 27 Where is Your Home?
James 2:1 - 13 Caring for the Poor: No Favoritism
James 2:14 - 26 Faith in Jesus That Truly Saves
James 3:1 - 12 Speech, Integrity, and Wholeness
James 3:13 - 4:5 Speech, Conflict, and Reconciliation
James 4:6 - 12 The Law and the Judge
James 4:13 - 5:11 Where is Your Home?
James 5:12 - 20 The Power of Your Voice
James 1:1 - 27 God Sustains Us Through Suffering
James 2:1 - 26 Caring for the Poor
James 3:1 - 4:12 The Danger of the Tongue
James 4:13 - 5:11 Where is Your Home?
James 5:12 - 20 The Power of Your Voice
Overview of James as Addressing Conflict Between Rich and Poor
Richard Bauckham, James: Wisdom of James, Disciple of Jesus the Sage. Routledge Press | Amazon page, 1999. Bauckham gives helpful insights into James' use of Leviticus 19 and the Jewish wisdom literature; creatively engages Soren Kierkegaard's writings on James
David Hutchinson Edgar, Has God Not Chosen the Poor?: The Social Setting of the Epistle of James. Sheffield Academic Press | Amazon page, Mar 2001.