Destination/Addressees
DESTINATION/ADDRESSEES
James has been included among the so-called General Epistles because it does not address a specific church. Yet the letter was almost certainly intended for a specific audience. Several features of the letter make it clear that the addressees were Jewish Christians: 22 the unself-conscious way in which the Old Testament law is mentioned (Jas. 1:25; 2:8-13), the reference to their meeting place as a synagogue (2:2), and the widespread use of Old Testament and Jewish metaphors. Furthermore, passages such as 5:1-6 suggest that most of the readers were poor—although a good case can be made that 1:9-11, 2:1-4, and 4:13-17 presume the presence of some wealthier Christians among the readers.
The letter’s address gives more detailed information: "to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (Jas. 1:1). But this designation is so general as to be of little help in identifying the addressees. "Twelve tribes” need not even indicate a Jewish-Christian audience, since the phrase may have been one of many drawn from the Old Testament to designate the church as the new covenant people of God. 23 The word translated "scattered among the nations”—διασπορα (diaspora, "Diaspora”, G1402)—was used to denote Jews living outside of Palestine (see John 7:35) and, by extension, the place in which they lived. The word had a metaphoric meaning, characterizing Christians generally as those who live away from their true heavenly home (1 Peter 1:1). Nevertheless, the early date and Jewishness of James favors the more literal meaning.
The word perhaps has an even more specific force. Acts tells us of Christians from Jerusalem who were "scattered” (from the verb διασπείρω [diaspeiro, G1401], a word cognate to "Diaspora” in James 1:1) because of persecution and "traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews” (11:19). 25 Identifying James’s readers with these early Jewish Christians would fit the date of the letter and would furnish an explanation of the circumstances that called it forth: James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, must minister to his scattered flock by mail. While tentative, this suggestion is better than most in explaining the circumstances of the letter.