Diving into the Book of James at OOB Beach Bible Study

by Hugo Bravo

“When you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” – James 1:6

Majors Jodi and Phillip Lloyd, pastors at The Salvation Army in Western Pennsylvania, hosted this year’s Beach Bible Study.

“The Lord led me to James for this week,” said Major Phil to the attendees. “James wasn’t one of those books that I had originally really studied in the Bible. But something interesting is that James was one of the earliest written books of the New Testament, maybe around 45-50 AD. His style of writing is like Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. Yet his book was one of the last to be added to the New Testament.”

The passage from James focused on the trials and tribulations we all face in our lives. Perseverance and wisdom from the Lord will come to those who are humble enough to seek Him.“Humility has a huge part to play in facing our trial and tribulations,” said Major Phil. “The three people that get me in trouble with sin are ‘me, myself, and I.’ When I’m too proud or arrogant, that’s when sin comes.”

The book of James also says that desire gives birth to sin, and in turn, full-grown sin gives birth to death. (James 1:18)

“Sin leads to death physically and spiritually, and James uses very graphic imagery to describe this. To give birth to death, it’s almost like a stillborn death,” said Major Phil.

“There were a several people called ‘James’ in the Bible, but most scholars believe that the James here was the brother of Jesus, and son of Joseph,” explained Major Phil. “We’re not sure if he was a follower of Jesus during His life, but he certainly was after His death.”