Chunks: The Letter of James
Chunks Bible Mini-Podcasts are designed to help you have a richer and more personal understanding of the teaching of Scripture. Each podcast focuses on a particular book or text, and each episode is only 5 to 10 minutes long, so you can listen whenever you have a few minutes to dig in. This podcast focuses on the New Testament letter of James, and is entitled ”Working Faith.” James insists that anyone who has truly received the gospel should show it in their conduct and character. He forcefully challenges his readers to reconsider the thoughtless, hurtful behaviors they take for granted, even down to the way they speak to one another. These are lessons we need in every age, including today. New episodes will drop Fridays until the book of James is finished. About your host: my name is Cameron Lee. I am a Professor of Family Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, where I’ve taught since 1986; I am also a Certified Family Life Educator and a licensed minister and teaching pastor. Writing is my passion: I’ve written or co-authored nine books and several articles, and have been blogging thrice weekly since 2011 at Squinting Through Fog (the-fog-blog.com).
Listen on:
Episodes
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Some worry when they read James 2:22-24, which uses the example of Abraham to say that we are "justified by works." Is James contradicting Paul, or the teaching of the Protestant Reformers?
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
In this episode, we go back to Genesis 22 to explore the difficult story of God's test of Abraham, when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We need this story to understand the teaching of James 2:21-23.
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
James uses not only Abraham as an example of faith, but Rahab, the prostitute who hid Joshua's spies in Jericho. This episode explores the implications of holding up a Canaanite prostitute as an example of faith.
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
We've all had good teachers and bad teachers. And apparently, a number of people in the early church wanted the status of being a teacher. But James 3:1 warns that people should instead think seriously about the responsibility that comes with the role...
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
When we've made a mistake, we sometimes say that "Nobody's perfect." And indeed, James 3:2 suggests that we "all make mistakes often." But what James says is informed by a biblical understanding of what it means to be perfect. Are we "growing up" spiritually?
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
We've seen how James says we all make mistakes. That's his way of introducing the fact that we all make mistakes in how we speak to one another. In James 3:2-5, he uses different metaphors to suggest just how much of an impact our little words can have.
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Is anyone listening to this old enough to remember the praise song Pass it On? The song lyrics taught that "It only takes a spark to get a fire going"; the song was talking about spreading the warmth of God's love. But James 3:5-6 uses the same metaphor in a very different way: our words can set relationships on fire.
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
What James teaches about the way we speak reaches a crescendo in 3:5-6: our errant tongues can set our whole lives on fire, and are set on fire by hell itself.
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
In James 3:7-8, the apostle suggests that human beings know how to tame any kind of animal, but ironically, we can't tame our tongues...
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
James has written colorfully about the evils of the tongue and its wild, untamable nature. How do we learn to control it better? James 3:9 suggests one place to start: learning to see others as created in the image of God.
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