www.youtube.com/.../watch?v=cYF09WlzG4Y

Shalom, everyone.

This is Vera Garcia from B'derech.

I want to extend an invitation to you.

I am doing a Bible study

on the book of James.

and I would like to share it with you

and invite you to join me on this journey

It is a verse by verse study

and its focus is to look at

the Jewish roots of this letter

We will see how James

based all his teachings

on the Tanach,

which we call the Old Testament

I hope you will be blessed

through the study of this book

this letter

as I also am.

Here you have Lesson One.

Shalom.

Lord, praised and magnified be your name

You are a God of covenant

You made yourself known

as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

You have a covenant

with the house of Israel.

You have chosen them to be a light

to the nations.

You are a God of covenant

and You have kept Your promise to them

and we praise you for that

We praise you Lord

because they have preserved your words

the Bible, the Torah

throughout all these years

despite all the

persecution they suffered

including at the hands of the Christians

and we are grateful to them.

We are grateful to them

because from them came our Messiah

and through our Messiah

we are grafted

into the Olive Tree of Israel

and we are part of the family

of Israel

and we thank you for that

So, Father, with all this expectation

I too am

in expectation

for our hearts

to be enlightened by your Word

may we be convicted by it

that every time we meet

and talk about your word

that it may become more alive within us

that we may have a deeper understanding

of who you are and who we are

So that our identity may become

increasingly sharpened

and that there may be an alignment

between our hearts and your heart

May the Lord teach us how you do things

as your word says

Thank you!

May the Lord anoint us with an anointing

that breaks chains

and may our hearts be open to one another

in our doubts,

in the things we disagree on

in the things we will discover together

May this be, LORD,

a journey of growth,

in the name of Yeshua.

Thank you, Lord.

Let's get started with James' letter

I'll talk in a little while

because we chose this letter.

My friend Jaci

suggested we should read the letters

if possible, in chronological order

There is no consensus

about the dates the NT's

letters were written.

The scholars say that

that the letter of James

is one of the oldest.

His name in Hebrew is Ya'akov

which is Jacob.

That's why I put this photo here

because they gathered

in the synagoges

I did some research

to find out how

the New Testament was dated.

I found it really cool

this summary

I can send you the PowerPoint

(you can request it);

you don't have to write it all down.

So, to date the New Testament,

they took the language and the style

of a specific era.

For example,

I haven't lived in Brazil for thirty years.

There are some idiomatic expressions

that people look at at me

and know that it's been a long time

since I have lived in Brazil.

So, the language and style

the theological concepts

of the time;

the book that was written later on

was better developed theologically;

there are the historical references,

such as,

if the temple had already been destroyed

as it was in the year 70

after Christ;

and the external evidences.

so the fathers of the early church

cited texts.

Origen cited James,

Tertullian quoted James.

They check who mentioned someone

and when

The evidence

of the manuscripts

that were the basis for the translations

and the historical context.

They are also

make these literary relationship,

with the sources.

The allusions, the reliability

where things come together

And then the academic community

reaches consensus after a debate.

And here I speak only for the record

when it was the Gospels

were written (more or less)

John's is the oldest.

Then, it comes the letters

Maybe the first was to the Galatians

1st and 2nd Thessalonians

Anyway it's in the PowerPoint

There are latters written later

because Paul was in prison

like Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, etc.

The "pastoral" letters,

They say Titus and Timothy were possibly

written by some Paul's followers.

Nobody knows.

James', again, is the oldest.

40 or 50 years after Christ

Hebrews is also highly debated;

no one even knows if it was

Paul or another writer

1st and 2nd Peter

They think it was in the 60's AD

And there you go

It is the same thing with Revelation

and some think that

the Pastoral Letters

as I said before, and 2nd Peter

may have been written by people before

I am sorry, after the Apostles

but they wrote in their name

So it's very hard to know...

Then I put it here - you will have

This information

There's a Catholic site that I saw

the dates are different

Then Wikipedia gives another one

and pastor Antônio Gilberto

By the way, Jaci,

this is one you sent me.

What will be the starting point

of our study?

This is super important.

In reality, it shouldn't exist

The Old Testament and the New Testament

I often use The Bible Complete Jewish,

which was translated from the

He was an American Jew;

he translated

The New Testament

From the Greek to English.

The part that we call the Old Testament

is another translation

not done by him

Later, they translated it

into Portuguese

from English to Portuguese

I like to use this Bible

because it uses the Hebrew names

I think it's super cool

Why is this important?

Because it should have been only one thing

There shouldn't be this division:

The Old Testament

The New Testament

So much so that in this Bible

there is no division

The page numbers are continuous

When Malachi ends,

it goes straight to Mathew

So there's nothing between these books.

Actually, it does not end with Malichi.

Sorry, it ends with 2 Chronicles

because the Hebrew Bible

has a different Book Division.

But anyway,

The most important thing is:

It should have been one thing

a continuity

That came much later

I think this is very beautiful

To have this continuity

with nothing in between

So, the New Testament

He is the Jewish book

It was written for the Jews

and for the most part

it's about the Jews

and intended for Jews

Gentiles - I am going to use this word

in our study,

are the believers of the nations

It doesn't mean pagans

There are some verses in the New Testament

that have a distinction.

Ya'akov is the Hebrew name of the author

I put it in quotation marks

I'll explain why afterwads

So it's like this

This is the progression:

in Latin it was "Iacobus".

Later, in more modern Latin

it became "Iacomus"

Then, in French it's "Gemmes",

I'm not sure the right ponunciation,

and became James in English

and the translation of James

into Portuguese is Tiago.

So, it ended up being Tiago.

Much of what I'm going to talk about here

come from this book

James, The Righteous

Ya'akov Tzadik,

the book's Hebrew name

Rabbi David Friedman and his son

He was my Rabbi during three, four years

from my synagogue of Jerusalem.

We met virtually

And, unfortunately

He passed away during COVID

May his memory blessed!

An amazing person;

he taught me a lot.

And his book is wonderful

I'm going to be sharing some things

with you about his book.

So, according to the rabbi

David Friedman, Ya'acov's letter

is what they call a "Yalkut"

which is a compillation,

A collection of Jewish writings

It is as if we are taking notes

of what we are being taught

and then we gather everything

that, let's say, Jaci taught about X

So, a student or several students

get together and make this compendium.

He proposes that the letter of

Jacob, of James

was written like this.

It's veray interesting.

There are the others, not historians,

but teachers,

who also believe that this is the case

it's not just Rabbi David.

The book (James) was written in Greek

but if it really was written,

Based on the teachings of Ya'akov

He gave these teachings in Hebrew

because it was his native language

maybe in Aramaic, because it was,

many times, both were spoken back then.

So it was very common at that time

to pay for a scribe to write

things in the "lingua franca",

which was Greek.

So much so that

the first verse of this letter

says, "To Jews who are scattered...

"To the Twelve Tribes in the Diaspora"

These were the Jews

who lived in other places

and probably Greek was

their mother tongue.

I put this here in the wrong place

But that's okay

What the Rabbi David says

is that in reality, the book of James

is a commentary

From a portion of the "parasha",

which is a portion of the Torah, the Bible

in Leviticus.

And here are some connections.

Some proof of this theory.

But later we'll talk more about it

OK for the time being?

Is it making sense?

Give me a feedback...

For me it's OK.

OK.

Yes and no.

You can ask questions.

The questions keep coming...

Keep coming...

Write them down,

so you don't forget.

Okay, write it down because

Today we will probably only talk

of one or two verses

Today is just an overview

and for us to be able to talk a little, OK

So I'm not going to keep going

I won't go on too long

I will stop shortly.

Ya'akov's Letter is very interesting...

If we believe it was

a compendium of his students or not;

if he really wrote it;

if he dictated to a scribe,

it doesn't matter.

The style of his letter,

in Jewish terms,

is of a "halacha ma'asit"

I'll explain what this is.

"Halacha" - this verb is "to walk"

"Halacha" is something that

The rabbis did and still do today

that is: How are we going to put

what God has taught us into practice?

How, if times change?

Now there are computers

before there weren't

Now there is IVF

Back then there was none

So the rabbis study the Torah

when God was

teaching the people of Israel

to be a nation...

Remember, they were slaves

for four hundred years in Egypt

So they had to leave

God was - I always say this:

God was brilliant!

He gave these laws, these teachings,

These statutes, to teach them

how to live in a civil society

So much so, that there are

instructions about agriculture,

instructions about people's health,

about relationships.

Several things that God

was teaching his people.

But that happened 3,000 years ago

And the world evolves.

So, the rabbis meet from time to time

to make "halacha":

"What are we going to do about this

new thing that happened in our midst.

These are the practical application

of the teachings of Tanach,

which is what the Old Testament

is called in Hebrew.

It is the Torah,

the prophets and the writings.

This is how the Jewish people

separate the Old Testament,

or what we call the Old Testament

The Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings.

According to the Jews,

when they read Ya'akov's letter, James,

That's how they interpret it:

How are we going to practice the Torah?

And why was this necessary?

because Yeshua came

because Jesus came!

Some things changed

but other things didn't.

And we'll see that in this letter.

So, this letter, as I said,

is a guide, an instruction

on how to put into practice

teachings found in Leviticus 19:1

That's something I'd like you

to write down

because I wish we read

this week

And then we'll talk about it next week.

At least to have it in our mind

as we read the book of James.

In fact, I would like you to read it -

and I'll do it too -I haven't done it yet

Leviticus 19:1 to 20:27

And then, read James,

to see what you guys think about it.

I'm going to open a quick parenthesis here

The Jews read the Torah,

which are the first five books

of the Bible, throughout the year

So, the Torah is divided into Parashiot,

which are portions.

Parasha is singular and parashiot the plural.

And this parasha is called "Kedushim"

That is "holy people".

You will see it - it's super interesting.

That's all I'm going to talk about this today

but I really would like you to read it,

and afterwards and we'll see

things that are similar

and the things that are not.

Again, this premise that

the book of Ya'akov, of James is based

(in Lev) is not only by the David Friedman.

Porfessors Walker Kiser,

who is very well known

and Luke Johnson, which I don't know,

among others,

but these are the most prominent

You can do further research on this.

So, who is Ya'akov?

Who is James?

He is the brother Yeshua, Jesus.

The verses are on the Powerpoint.

At first, obviously, he didn't believe,

but then there was a conversion

So much so, that he starts the book:

"James, the servant

of our Lord Jesus Christ".

I think this is so beautiful

He was the leader, the main leader,

The Chief Rabbi

of the Messianic Jewish community

in Jerusalem - the Chief Rabbi.

We see this very clearly back at the first

Council of Jerusalem

what they were going to do with

people who were not Jewish,

the gentiles.

Peter went to Cornelio's house;

they are baptized with the Holy Spirit

Oye! What are we going to do

with these people?

It was something they didn't expect.

Paulo and Barnabas also

went to Jerusalem.

They gathered together

Here is the verse that our friend mentioned

they had a heated argument

and then Tiago gets up and he says,

"It seemed good to us

and the Holy Spirit"...

He was the one who was presiding,

Like a Sanhedrin,

but, this was a Messianic Jewish one.

He was a very prominent person

Going back to the topic of "halacha",

for instance,

at the Council of Jerusalem

"The gentiles are also believing in

in Yeshua, in Jesus";

They were baptized with the Holy Spirit

What are we going to do with them?"

So, they gathered as

God had already ordained it back then

in the Torah, that they had

Judges over them, right?

So, they gathered

and, this structure is shown

there in Acts 15

When they gathered to discuss

What are we going to do?

What do the Scriptures say about this?

Then they had such a discussion,

And then they said, "OK,

the Gentiles who believe in Yeshua

don't need to be circumcized

They need not become Jews.

They just have to observe

those 4 laws that they talked about

To abstaining from food

sacrificed to idols, strangled meat,

of blood and immoral relationships.

This is an example

of what we are talking about.

And, according to the Jewish

historian Flavius Josephus,

James was killed

by an order of the High Priest,

Ananias II. He was a saducee.

They did not believe in the resurrection

The Messianic Jews believed in it,

and believe in it.

James' death is recorded as a stoning.

Of our dear Ya'akov.

I am going to...

Let me check...

I am going to talk about this one,

and then, I will stop.

James, Ya'akov,

servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the Twelve Tribes

that are found in the Diaspora (nations).

I did a lot of research

to share with you today.

There were many.

At least in 4 commentaries

about the book of James

And they say about the letters...

I was researching about these letters

they say that the letters

of James and Judas - the "general ones"

It's for everyone, "for all Christians"

These are the words they use

"for all Christians"

So, let's think about it.

It is written here

We want to see it in context.

Who wrote the letter,

The context in which he wrote the letter,

that was happening at that time.

And, it is written here,

To the Twelve Tribes

that are in the Dispersion

that is, in the diaspora.

He wrote this letter to the Jews

Jews who believed

that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Of course, they already existed.

And where did they live?

Remember Acts,

that they came from everywhere

because it was the time of Pentecost

and there they were baptized with...

the disciples were baptized

with the Holy Spirit, and Peter preached

and they began to speak

in the language of those men

What men were these?

They were all Jews

because only the Jews

were commanded by God

to go up to Jerusalem,

three times a year,

and one of these feasts

was the feast of Pentecost

In the beginning of Acts,

there were only Jews.

So, when it says James wrote this letter

to the 12 tribes that are in the diaspora,

It means he wrote it to the Jews -

Messianic Jews

So, they were the people he wrote to.

The gentiles are not part of it?

Of course we do.

But when a Gentile was converted

Where did he go?

He went to synagogue.

So much so, that in Acts it says

When they talk about these 4 laws,

in Acts 15, it says,

"because Moses is taught every Sabbath".

So, when someone was converted

He went to the synagogue.

And there he could have fellowship

with the brethren

because they were not contaminated with

the meats that were sacrificed to idols

and so on.

So they could have communion

with each other

It's important

to take this into consideration.

Again, and here is the second point,

this doesn't mean

that Yeshua's disciples

from the nations did not have access

to the content of the letter; they had it

But, it was only read

in the context of the synagogue.

David Stern, who translated

The New Testament,

the Complete Jewish Bible -

he has a theory

that these Jews to whom

James was writing,

Maybe they fled because

of Saul's persecution - the apostle Paul,

before he met Yeshua, of course,

and/or the persecution

that came from Herod

and many had to leave Jerusalem.

But we don't know.