Someone Must Teach the Scattered Flock

“James…to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” (James 1:1)

James had no particular local church in mind when he wrote this epistle. This was not an “Ephesian,” “Colossian” or “Thessalonian” letter. It was a letter to Jewish Christians who had been scattered abroad without a local church to nourish, train, guide and correct them.

There were Jews living in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. There were other Jews who had come to Jerusalem for Pentecost, a celebration fifty days after Passover. It would also be fifty days after Christ’s crucifixion. Many of the Jewish residents plus the visitors who had come for the feast, believed the message of the Gospel spoken in their own tongues by the hundred and twenty Christian disciples and were filled with the Holy Spirit.

As a result of their new faith some of the Jewish residents were forced from Jerusalem. The visitors, with only a smattering of understanding of the Gospel message and not knowing what to do next, went on their way back home. Many of them were persecuted for their faith. They were scattered abroad.

It is to all the Jewish believers, the twelve tribes scattered abroad, that James is writing. If you are a Christian the message in the epistle of James is for you as well as them. Perhaps for some reason you cannot get to an assembly of God’s people where the Bible is clearly preached and taught. Reading and studying this epistle will help you.