The Catholic Letters

There are seven New Testament Letters that have this in common: they are in the form of letters, but no one has ever thought of attributing them to Paul. These are: The Letter of James, The First Letter of Peter, The Second Letter of Peter, The First Letter of John, The Second Letter of John, The Third Letter of John, and The Letter of Jude.

Most of these Letters are not addressed to specific communities but deal with general questions that are relevant to a very wide circle of readers. For this reason, they certainly deserved to be grouped together, as they have been since the fourth century, under the title of “Catholic Letters,” i.e., General or Universal Letters, Letters intended for the Church as a whole. The particular destination of the brief Second and Third Letters of John could be a problem in this regard. However, it is very likely that their brevity caused them to be annexed to the First Letter of John as simple appendices that had little effect on the overall title.

These seven Letters gradually acquired authority throughout the Church, all the more so since they carried the signatures of important men: James, Peter, John, and Jude. However, critics disagree widely both as to these attributions and as to the dates of the Letters.

The Catholic Letters do not form a homogeneous group, but they do possess some common traits. We are no longer involved in the great struggles of Paul to affirm—against Jewish claims and pagan illusions—that salvation has been given in Christ Jesus and him alone. We find in these documents a Christianity that is no longer in the early years after its formation; the communities are already more firmly established and have acquired their habitual ways.

The problem the Letters deal with is perhaps that of keeping communities from yielding to wear and tear and becoming lax, of keeping them from losing their taste for essentials and returning to alien ideas.

We have the impression of entering a world that is less familiar to us and of hearing questions that are somewhat alien to us, if not downright bizarre.

These Letters deal with problems that occupied Christianity, or at least parts of it, at the time they were written: e.g., certain false doctrines—a form of Gnosis in Asia Minor (1 John); Gnostic-Antinomian tendencies (2 Peter; Jude); the non-occurrence of the Second Coming (2 Peter); severe sufferings and persecutions of the Christian communities (1 Peter).

At the same time, these Letters do not have a uniform literary form. James, Peter, and Jude have written real pastoral Letters, destined for an entire region of the Christian world. With the circle of addressees increasing, their message turns easily into an impersonal treatise and into the general considerations of a homily or of an episcopal mandate. On the other hand, the Third Letter of John is a private missive, addressed to a benefactor of Christian missionaries.

The first two Letters of John lend themselves to discussion: the First because of its lack of all epistolary structure, and the Second because of the ambiguous way in which it designates its addressees. However, scholars view them as real Letters addressed to a community or communities that the author knows intimately and precisely and that are within the radius of his customary apostolic solicitude. The First Letter of John thus fits the genre of the Letters of James, Peter, and Jude, while the Second is a more intimate communication.

The theology of these Letters is a faithful reproduction of the preaching of Jesus. The sacred authors repeat the teachings of their Master with complete fidelity. Hence, Christian love holds the greatest importance in them, especially in James and above all in John.

The Letters also endow their authors with well-defined personalities. James is a Christian well versed in the sapiential and prophetic schools who masterfully dispenses austere moral teaching. Peter is a pastor of souls who harmoniously unites doctrinal and moral teaching, exhortation and warning. John is the disciple of love who takes on a polemical ardor in the face of attempted deviations from Christianity. Jude is a disciple rooted in a rich apocalyptic foundation who writes as the implacable foe of error.

Comparing the contents of these Letters with the other writings of the New Testament, we find that they contain some doctrinal points that are exclusive to them: the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick (James), Christ’s descent to the netherworld (1 Peter), and the final conflagration (2 Peter).

At the same time, these Letters are filled with incisive passages on authentic Christianity. They are replete with reminders to let the Gospel be the life-giving activity that it should be rather than something tasteless due to boastful theories.

The Letter of James

Faith Active in Works

Without the first verse, this writing would have no resemblance at all to a letter. In it we find moral exhortations, striking aphorisms, and finely etched portraits succeeding one another in no discernible order. We also find themes such as courage in trials, concern for true wisdom, and critique of social conditions, which make us think of the great sapiential writings of the Old Testament with their didactic bent. This type of thinking was thus still active in the first Christian generations.

We also find here all the vigor of prophetic invective to denounce abuses and injustice. Jewish, Greek, and Christian ideas all seem to meld together. And though the name of Christ is cited only in an occasional manner, this pressing sermon is an application of the Beatitudes. It is preoccupied with the authenticity of the Christian faith.

In these recommendations that follow one another in rapid succession, we can discern a few prophetic and evangelical concerns.

The Letter of James will always be cited for its concern for the weak and the afflicted, its understanding of poverty and distrust of wealth, its lively attack on social injustice, and its warnings to businessmen.

Apparently, for many Christians of that time, faith seems to have been an occasion for fine discourses or gratuitous considerations apart from any life commitment. James retaliated against such a way of thinking. This has led some to suppose that the author was opposed to the great Pauline teaching concerning salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ (see Rom 3:28).

However, the reality is that Paul and James were speaking of the same thing from different viewpoints. For Paul, faith is an incontestable change and commitment of life; James knows people for whom faith is nothing more than discourses, discussions, and doctrinal debates, without any impact on their existence. For Paul, works are the observances prescribed by the Law on which one would like to make salvation depend by attributing it to people’s merits instead of God’s grace. But it is not in this sense that James speaks of works; for him, they express the commitment to faith, a Christianity in action. In order to understand Paul and James, we must pinpoint the concrete problems that each of them is addressing; they are not the same for each.

The problems of the liturgical assembly hold a large place in the Letter of James. There are references to listening to the word of God, songs of praise, the confession of sins followed by prayer, and the Anointing of the Sick. The author goes even farther. He criticizes the assemblies of worship that follow the style of social gatherings and provide the wealthy with the occasion to pursue their ambition and their success. For him, as well as for the Prophets and for Christ, authentic worship commits one to a fraternal life, and it is above all the sum total of the Christian life that is the true spiritual worship. Outside of this, every Liturgy is only so much ornamentation. True religion is the care of widows, orphans, the sick, and the disenfranchised.

This piece of writing circulated under the name of “James.” Christian tradition has identified this person with James, who, like Jude and Simon, was a “brother of the Lord” (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3). He was perhaps the son of Alphaeus who is named in all the lists of the Twelve. He had a very important place in the mother community of Jerusalem. Paul mentions him among the witnesses of the Resurrection (see 1 Cor 15:7). He is also found at the Upper Room with the first group of Christians (see Acts 1:12-14).

When Peter left prison, he was concerned to get news of his deliverance to James immediately (see Acts 12:17). After his conversion, Paul got in touch with him (see Gal 1:18-19). James played a decisive role in the Council of Jerusalem; though his mentality was Jewish, he showed himself conciliatory toward and receptive to converts coming from paganism (see Acts 15:13-29).

Beginning with the first scattering of the Apostles in A.D. 36/37, James seems to have taken responsibility for the mother Church; the elders gathered around him; he welcomed Paul when the latter brought the collection taken up in the Churches (see Acts 21:18-26), shortly before Paul’s arrest in the temple (Pentecost, A.D. 58). James died a martyr around A.D. 62. If the present Letter is from that James, it must be dated to around A.D. 60. But Hellenistic influences and an affinity with other Christian writings of a later date prevent too certain an attribution.

The Letter is addressed to “the twelve tribes of the Dispersion,” which is another way of saying that it is addressed to the Church scattered throughout the world, to the true Israel (see Rom 2:29; 9:6; Gal 6:16; Phil 3:3). The term “Dispersion” (in Greek diaspora) signified all the Jews living outside of Palestine (see Jud 5:19; Ps 147:2; Jer 15:7). Here the reference is to Christians of Jewish origin, who are scattered throughout the Greco-Roman world.

Whatever be the case with the author, the date, and the addressees, this document—recognized as inspired—is a strong warning against a purely verbal Christianity and is a call to a faith that has the courage to change lives.

The Letter to James may be divided as follows:

I: Salutation (1:1)

II: Exhortation To Practice Patience (1:2-18)

III: Exhortation To Practice Faith (1:19—2:26)

IV: Exhortation To Practice Christian Living (3:1—5:18)

V: Conclusion (5:19-20)