The Letter of James - James: Faith That Has to Show Up

The Letter of James - James: Faith That Has to Show Up

What if the most spiritual thing you could do today isn't a ritual, a reading plan, or a theological position — but something as ordinary as how you treat the person standing in front of you? That's the provocation that opens the letter of James, and it's what we're starting today. Who Was James? The letter opens simply: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." No title, no credentials — just a name and a posture. Most conservative scholars identify him as Jesus' brother: the same James who didn't believe in Jesus during his earthly ministry, who appears in the Gospels with his brothers trying to pull Jesus away from the crowds, and who Paul tells us was visited personally by the risen Christ (1 Corinthians 15:7). That encounter changed everything. James became the leading figure of the Jerusalem church, known in early tradition as "James the Just" — a man whose knees were calloused from prayer. Who Was He Writing To? James addresses "the twelve tribes in the dispersion" — Jewish Christians scattered across the Greco-Roman world, most of them forced out of Jerusalem by the persecution that followed the stoning of Stephen. These were not comfortable, settled believers. They were poor, pressured, displaced, and uncertain. That context explains everything about why this letter sounds the way it does. Why James Sounds the Way It Does James has edges. It uses language that sometimes feels confrontational. That's not accident — it reflects the Jewish wisdom tradition James was steeped in, and the fact that he had watched what happened when faith stayed in people's heads and never reached their hands or their wallets. He had seen wealth distort the church. He had watched speech tear communities apart. He loved these people too much to leave them comfortable. The Major Themes James covers ground that will feel immediately relevant: how to endure trials without losing faith, how to ask God for wisdom without being double-minded, the danger of showing favoritism toward the wealthy, the destructive power of uncontrolled speech, and the relationship between faith and works. Each theme connects to real life — not theology for its own sake, but formation that shows up in actual behavior. Faith and Works: The Most Debated Passage Paul says we're saved by faith, not works. James says faith without works is dead. These aren't contradictions — they're two sides of the same truth. Paul is fighting the idea that people can earn salvation through religious performance. James is fighting the idea that someone can claim faith while showing zero evidence of transformation. Real faith produces movement. This letter is a mirror. It's most useful when you stand in front of it long enough to see what it's actually showing you — and what James is asking you to do about it. TIMESTAMPS * 0:00 Introduction * 1:49 Who was James? Background and conversion * 4:43 The twelve tribes — who he was writing to * 5:55 Why James sounds so urgent and direct * 10:15 The major themes of the letter * 17:13 Faith and works — the most debated passage * 23:13 Closing thoughts Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual reflections, devotional thoughts, or suggestions offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, faith community, or professional mental health provider. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.

154 - Did God’s Plan Fail? Walking Through the Covenants of Scripture

If you’ve ever read through the Bible from beginning to end, you’ve probably noticed it: the arrangements keep changing. A garden. A flood. A promise to a wandering man. A law given at a mountain. A shepherd made king. And then a prophet speaking about something entirely new, written not on stone but on the heart. It can look, from the outside, like God is improvising — or worse, like one plan failed and another had to be invented. Today we’re going to walk through the major covenants of Scripture and show why that reading misses everything. What a Covenant Is — and Why They’re Not All Doing the Same Thing Some covenants are unconditional promises from God regardless of human response. Others are designed to expose what’s already in the human heart. Some are given to a nation, others to all humanity. If we assume they’re all trying to accomplish the same thing in the same way, we tie ourselves in knots. When we ask what each one is revealing, the whole story opens up. The Garden and the Flood: The Problem Established The Edenic arrangement shows us what the human condition actually is — not a flaw in God’s design, but a flaw in ours. The prohibition wasn’t arbitrary; it was an invitation to trust. And we chose otherwise. We chose, and still choose, “I know better.” The Noahic covenant follows a flood not with requirements for a reformed humanity, but with an unconditional promise. God says “never again” to a world He knows is still bent the wrong way. God’s faithfulness does not depend on human consistency — and that becomes one of the great recurring themes of the entire Bible. Abraham: The Method Revealed In Genesis 15, God seals a covenant with Abraham using an ancient Near Eastern ritual — animals split in two, parties walking between them. But Abram falls asleep. God alone passes through. The covenant doesn’t rest on Abraham’s performance; it rests entirely on God’s. And Genesis 15:6 gives us one of the most important sentences in all of Scripture: Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Paul returns to this in Romans and Galatians to argue that the method of salvation has never changed. It was always this: trust in God’s promise, received as a gift. Moses: The Law as Diagnostic Tool The law at Sinai wasn’t a replacement for the promise — it serves the promise. Paul explains exactly what it was designed to do: expose the depth of our problem. The law is like a perfectly straight edge held against a crooked wall. It shows you exactly where things are off. But it doesn’t fix the wall. Israel’s repeated failures aren’t evidence that God’s plan went wrong — they’re evidence the law was working as designed. Romans 3:20 says it plainly: through the law comes the knowledge of sin, not relief from it. You can’t seek a cure unless you know you’re sick. David and the New Covenant: The Promise Narrows, Then Arrives The Davidic covenant pointed toward a king unlike any human king — one who would bear the sin the law exposed and establish a kingdom no human ambition could build or destroy. When the kings fail, as they all do, it’s not a collapse. It’s a confirmation that the hope was never in them. Then Jeremiah 31 arrives: a new covenant, not written on stone tablets, but on hearts. Not requiring human compliance to function — requiring a transformation of the person from the inside. Everything the other covenants revealed as broken, the New Covenant promises to restore. Jesus, on the night before His crucifixion, took the cup and said: this is the new covenant in my blood. He knew exactly what He was saying. The Word That Holds It All Together: Hesed There is a Hebrew word that appears over 200 times in the Old Testament, running through the covenant story like a thread: hesed — often translated as steadfast love or covenant faithfulness. It’s not affection. It’s a committed, loyal bond that does not release its hold even when the other party has failed. Jeremiah writes about it in the middle of the rubble of a destroyed Jerusalem: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” Not from a comfortable place. From the ash. Did God’s plan fail? No. The covenants are not a series of escalating attempts with an uncertain outcome. They are the careful, patient unfolding of a story God already knew the ending of — a story that ends not in judgment, but with a man on a cross saying, It is finished. Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual reflections, devotional thoughts, or suggestions offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, faith community, or professional mental health provider. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.

153 - MIRRORS - Samuel: The Man Who Spoke and Wasn’t Heard

Have you ever said the right thing and watched it go nowhere? Warned someone, told the truth, gave the best counsel you had — and the person nodded and did exactly what they were going to do anyway? That feeling has a name in Scripture, and it belongs to one of the most faithfully obedient people in the entire Old Testament. This episode is about Samuel. The Moment He Lived In Samuel’s life spanned two eras: the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. He served during one of the most turbulent transitions in Israel’s history, as a loosely confederated tribal society insisted on becoming a monarchy like its neighbors. He was a kingmaker who never became king himself, who heard God speak from childhood and carried that voice forward his entire life. Who He Was: Identity Built on Listening Samuel’s identity was formed in the dark of the tabernacle, hearing his name called three times and finally learning to respond: “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” His whole vocation — prophet, judge, anointer of kings — rested on that posture. He was not a strategist or a politician. He was simply someone who heard God and said what God told him to say. What He Got Right: Costly Faithfulness When Israel demanded a king, God told Samuel to warn them what a king would cost. Samuel warned them clearly, completely, and faithfully. They ignored him anyway. And Samuel kept serving. He anointed Saul — a king he disagreed with — and continued his work. He then anointed David, weeping over Saul’s failure, and stepped off the stage when his part was done. Faithfulness when no one is listening. Obedience when the crowd has already made up its mind. This is what costly faithfulness looks like. What He Got Wrong: Grief That Almost Became Paralysis Samuel’s sons were corrupt, taking bribes and perverting justice. The man who listened so carefully to God throughout a nation’s history somehow couldn’t translate that faithfulness into his closest relationships. And when Saul failed, Samuel’s grief tipped toward something God had to interrupt: “How long will you grieve? Get up. There is more work to do.” The Mirror: What Samuel’s Life Says to Us Samuel never saw the fruit of what he planted. He anointed two kings, both failures in different ways, and died before David’s kingdom came together. God never called that a failure. Faithfulness is not measured by outcome. If you have said true things, done right things, and watched them go nowhere — Samuel’s life is permission to grieve that, and then to get up. Your work is not done. Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual reflections, devotional thoughts, or suggestions offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, faith community, or professional mental health provider. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.

152 - How to Use Bible Commentaries Without Getting Lost

How to Use Bible Commentaries Without Losing Your Own Voice Every time I open Hebrews, there's a moment where the questions start stacking up. What did that mean to someone in Jerusalem in 60 AD? What is the "order of Melchizedek" anyway? Is that something I'm supposed to already know? Commentaries exist to help with exactly that — but there's a right way and a wrong way to use them. In this episode I want to walk through what a commentary actually is, how to choose one that's honest about its own perspective, and how to use it in a way that deepens your own thinking instead of replacing it. What Is a Commentary, Exactly? A commentary is the condensed work of a scholar, pastor, or theologian who spent years — sometimes a whole career — wrestling with one book or passage of Scripture. When you read Matthew Henry, you're stepping into the mind of someone with a warm devotional instinct and centuries of distance from our present moment. When you read John Gill, you're stepping into detailed linguistic and historical analysis. They're not neutral. No commentary is. But that's what makes them valuable, and it's also why you need to know who you're reading. Why You Need to Know the Tradition Behind the Voice A Reformed commentary will read Romans 9 very differently than an Armenian one. A Lutheran commentary will approach law and gospel in a way that a Baptist commentary won't. A Catholic commentary carries assumptions about church authority and sacraments that other traditions don't share. None of this makes any of these commentaries unusable — but it does mean you need to understand the tradition behind the voice so you can weigh what you're receiving. Before you invest in a commentary, Google the author. Find out where they sit. Free Resources Worth Knowing You don't need a seminary degree or an expensive library. Matthew Henry's full commentary is available free at Bible Gateway. John Gill's is free at Blue Letter Bible. Bob Guzik's commentary from Calvary Chapel (Santa Barbara) is free at enduringword.com and is one of the most readable verse-by-verse tools available. Blue Letter Bible also lets you click a single word and see what it meant in Greek or Hebrew, and how it's used throughout Scripture. These resources are genuinely excellent and cost nothing. A Healthier Rhythm: Start Alone, Then Invite the Commentary In Here's the pattern I've landed on: read the passage first. Read it again. Let it sit. Notice what you observe, what confuses you, what seems important. Then bring the commentary in — not to replace your thinking, but to meet it. The commentator can tell you things you never would have found on your own: the historical setting, the original language, what Augustine said about this verse, why scholars disagree here. But you're receiving that information actively, not passively. You come with your own questions. The Problem With Too Many Voices With hundreds of commentaries available — and software like Logos that can line them all up at once — there's a real danger of noise replacing clarity. Ten commentators, ten opinions, ten different maps to the restaurant. The solution is to find a few you trust, from traditions you understand, with solid scholarship and honest interpretation of the text itself. Consistency matters more than comprehensiveness. Depth of relationship with a good commentary will serve you better than a broad sampling of everything available. The Goal Is Formation, Not Information A good commentary is like a hiking guide who can point out things you would have missed: the bird over there, the bend in the river, the history of this trail. But if you're looking at the guidebook the whole time, you never actually see the trail. The Bible itself remains the plumb line. Let the commentary sharpen your thinking, not replace it. Let it lead you back to the text — because that's where the real transformation happens. Thanks for spending time with me today. Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal experiences, faith journey, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, theologian, or counselor. Any spiritual reflections, devotional thoughts, or suggestions offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, faith community, or professional mental health provider. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.

151 - The Letters to the Hebrews - For the Tired, Scared and Isolated

Before we dive into Hebrews chapter by chapter, there's a mystery to solve — and it's been unsolved for nearly two thousand years. We don't know who wrote this book. What we do know is why it was written, who it was written to, and why it still cuts so close to the bone. A Word of Exhortation Hebrews isn't a letter in the usual sense — it reads more like a carefully crafted sermon, written for a specific group of people in a specific kind of crisis. Jewish Christians, already paying a steep social price for their faith, were being pulled back toward the familiar. Back toward family. Back toward safety. The author's response isn't condemnation. It's one relentless argument: Jesus is better. The Authorship Question Paul? Apollos? Barnabas? Priscilla? Luke? The scholars have been at this for centuries, and Origen of Alexandria — one of the earliest and most careful — landed here: only God knows. The Greek is the most polished in all of the New Testament, more elevated than anything Paul wrote. Martin Luther made a compelling case for Apollos, and this episode walks through why that argument still holds up. Dating and Audience The book was almost certainly written before 70 AD — before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. The author writes about temple sacrifices in the present tense, as something still happening. The audience is likely house churches in or near Rome: second-generation believers who had already endured real hardship and were now tired, scared, and wondering if it was all worth it. The Law and the Gospel in Hebrews Hebrews is a masterclass in holding law and gospel together. The warnings are real — unbelief is serious, drifting is serious, don't do what the wilderness generation did. And underneath all of it, the gospel runs: we have a merciful and faithful high priest who tasted death and sat down because the work is finished. Both voices are present in every chapter. What We're About to Read The old covenant — the law, the priests, the sacrifices, the tabernacle — was never the destination. It was always a pointer. Everything was pointing toward Jesus. Hebrews pulls that thread all the way through, showing that the shadow has given way to the substance. That's what we're walking into, one chapter at a time. Download blank templates, schedules here: https://schmern2.notion.site/Downloads-Template-Word-and-Excel-Schedule-67439d14449d4c20bfe00efe069f78b8 [https://schmern2.notion.site/schmern2/The-Bible-in-Small-Steps-b99ab90118b3433bab73c488ef44d4d1] Logos RAMPS Workflow - RAMPS Bible Study - The Bible in Small Steps in Logos Workflows Jill’s Links https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/ [https://jillfromthenorthwoods.com/] https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod [https://www.youtube.com/@smallstepswithgod] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/smallstepspod] https://twitter.com/schmern [https://twitter.com/schmern] Email the podcast at [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] jill@startwithsmallsteps.com [jill@startwithsmallsteps.com] “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.” Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. “The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com [http://netbible.com/] copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”. Bible Maps and images used with permission from https://www.bible.ca/maps/ [https://www.bible.ca/maps/] or https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/ [https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/bj-ot-world/] Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software. Free for non-commercial use by individuals or organizations. May be presented before live audiences; may be posted on social media; may be re-distributed. May not be used commercially. May not be modified or included in published works without permission; contact permissions@faithlife.com [permissions@faithlife.com]. Attribute as: “Copyright 2014 Faithlife / Logos Bible Software ()”. By choosing to watch this video or listen to this podcast, you acknowledge that you are doing so of your own free will. The content shared here reflects personal study, faith perspective, and opinions and is intended for informational and inspirational purposes only. I am not a licensed pastor, seminary-trained theologian, or biblical scholar. Any scriptural interpretation, commentary, or reflections offered should not be considered a substitute for guidance from your own pastor, church body, or faith community. Theological understanding is a lifelong journey — I encourage you to study alongside your own tradition and trusted spiritual leaders. You are solely responsible for any decisions or actions you take based on this content.