The Poverty - Piety connection

1. The Poverty - Piety connection HBU General Epistles James 4

2. 1. The Place of Money in the Old Testament • 1.1. The piety-prosperity cycle • 1.2. The danger of prosperity HBU General Epistles James 4

3. 1.3. Control of money in the Old Testament • 1.3.1. The tithe • 1.3.2. The firstfruits • 1.3.3. The gleanings • 1.3.4. The tax on the firstborn • 1.3.5. The Sabbath year • 1.3.6. The freewill sharing HBU General Epistles James 4

4. 1.3.7. Principles • 1.3.7.1. God did not need what the people gave • 1.3.7.2. The people needed to break the power of mammon • 1.3.7.3. The people needed to acknowledge God as the giver • 1.3.7.4. The people needed to share with one another HBU General Epistles James 4

5. 2. Intertestamental period: piety of the poor • 2.1. The intertestamental period and wealth • 2.1.1. The wisdom tradition • 2.1.1.1. Piety-prosperity equation • 2.1.1.2. Giving is stresses • 2.1.1.3. Danger of wealth • 2.1.1.4. Poverty associated with piety • 2.1.2. The Psalms of Solomon • 2.1.3. Apocalyptic literature HBU General Epistles James 4

6. 2.2. Intertestamental period and giving • 2.2.1. Giving was a mark of national identity • 2.2.2. Giving was a mark of religious devotion • 2.2.3. Giving was marked by legalism • 2.2.4. The same is true of much of Christian literature today HBU General Epistles James 4

7. 3. Money in the New Testament: Mammon • Note: Jesus’ teaching set in a context of good news • 3.1. In the New Testament we hear about Mammon not Baal • 3.1.1. What is mammon? "Money, property and anything of value" • F. Hauck, mamonas, TDNT 4.388. HBU General Epistles James 4

8. 3.1.2. What is the problem with mammon? • 3.1.2.1. You can gain it unrighteously – • the Jews distinguished between neutral and unrighteous mammon. • 3.1.2.2. You can end up serving it • 3.1.2.3. You cannot avoid the temptation. HBU General Epistles James 4

9. 3.1.3. How does one serve mammon? • 3.1.3.1. By loving it • 3.1.3.2. By trusting it • 3.1.3.3. By fearing it HBU General Epistles James 4

10. 3.1.4. What is the power of mammon? • 3.1.4.1. Fear • 3.1.4.2. Spiritual oppression HBU General Epistles James 4

11. 3.2. Control of money in the New Testament • 3.2.1. Free from the law • 3.2.2. Freed by the Spirit • 3.2.2.1. Freed from the need to find security in money • 3.2.2.2. Freed to trust God • 3.2.3. Fixed on Jesus • 3.2.4. All one family (Acts 2 and 4) • 3.2.5. The law of love HBU General Epistles James 4

12. 4. The poverty - piety connection in James • 4.1. The danger of wealth in James • 4.1.1. The rich as the persecutor • 4.1.2. The rich as the unbeliever • 4.1.3. The church as the rich • 4.1.4. The church as the co-opted HBU General Epistles James 4

13. 4.2. Faith and works in James and Paul • 4.2.1. Works • 4.2.2. Faith • 4.2.3. Righteousness • 4.2.4. James as a corrector of the abuse of Paul HBU General Epistles James 4

14. 4.3. Resisting the devil • 4.3.1. The devil as the world • 4.3.2. The call to suffering • 4.3.3. The call to endurance HBU General Epistles James 4