James Intro

Some background information on the book of James before I dive in to the text:

Author:
The author of this letter is Jesus' half brother James. After Jesus' resurrection James went on to become a leading figure in the early Jerusalem church being mentioned several times in the account of the early church, the book of Acts.

Date:
James died in A.D. 62 so this letter was certainly written before then. It is likely that James would have mentioned the meeting of the apostolic council in Jerusalem in 48 A.D. had he written this letter after that. This puts the most likely date for this letter in the mid to early 40's A.D., certainly within a lifetime of Jesus.

Addressees:
In the opening of his letter James addresses it to "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion". These were Jewish Christians living outside of Jerusalem scattered about because of the persecution facing the early church as mentioned in Acts 11:19