How to Read the Letters of James, Peter, and Jude for Mission

When it comes to the New Testament, there are two characters who stand head and shoulders above the rest: Jesus and Paul. The stories about Jesus and the letters of Paul make up the bulk of the New Testament. But then we have letters from Peter, James, and Jude.

These are letters that provide some more nuance and color to the experiences of the very first communities of Christians. As Peter writes about Paul, “Some of his comments are hard to understand.” Amen, to that, Peter.

So where do these letters fit into the big story of God? How do we allow these letters to speak uniquely to us about who Jesus is and what God is up to in the world, both in the 1st century and today? And most importantly, how do we respond and participate?

The magic of a letter

It takes time to write a letter. You write a letter because you’re inspired by something or someone you care deeply about. Maybe a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. Or to the cute girl that’s your chem lab partner. Or you write a letter because your emotions are inspired. Maybe you got really bad service at a store. Whatever the reason, it takes time to write a letter. Pen to page, every word of a letter is written on purpose.

The New Testament is full of letters. Most of them written by Paul, but not all of them. Too often we forget these other letters, and yet they’ve been shaping the lives and souls of Christians for hundreds and hundreds of years.

James, Jude, Peter—these are letters from particular guys to particular communities of people. We’re reading somebody else’s mail. And yet they have timeless themes that cut straight to the heart how we live our day-to-day Christian lives. Suffering. Rich Christians versus poor Christians. Faith versus works. Wisdom. Watered down teaching. These were issues for the first Christians, and they’re some of our most pressing issues still today.

These letters inspire and encourage the Church, but they do more. As we dwell in these words, we allow the Holy Spirit to restore God’s image in us and our imaginations are shaped for God’s mission around us.

Siblings and best friends

Who knows you better than anybody else on the planet? Who has unique insight into your psyche quite like your siblings and your best friends?

These aren’t just any random guys writing these letters. James and Jude were brothers of Jesus, sons of Mary and Joseph. Peter was nearly Jesus’ best friend, the right hand man who was right there in the middle of the action throughout the stories in the gospels. If anyone knows how to live the life of Jesus, if anybody knows how Jesus thought and what mattered most to him, it’s these guys.

Who would know him better? As we read these letters, let’s listen for the voice of Jesus speaking to us. Because they took the time to put pen to paper. Every word is on purpose.

James: The wisdom of Jesus

James is a deeply practical letter. There’s no abstract theology here. Theology is here and now. Theology is taking care of the vulnerable in the community. Theology is faith in action. Theology is having self control in what you say. Theology isn’t just for your head. It’s for your mouth, your feet, and your hands. James is the New Testament version of the book of Proverbs.

Within these five brief chapters, there are no less than 11 allusions to the Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). These words in James continue the themes of Jesus’ teaching. The mission of God is something tangible, something flesh and blood, something rooted in this world, that sets us to action. James’ spirituality gets our hands dirty.

1 Peter: The suffering of Jesus

Imagine witnessing the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus. And then imagine witnessing later the persecution of the fledgling church. What do pain and suffering mean on this side of the Resurrection? That’s one of the key themes of 1 Peter. When we comes to wresting with this problem of bad-things-happening-to-God’s-people, we can look to the book of Job. We can look to the stories of the cross in the gospels. And we can look to 1 Peter. Curiously, it’s also the only instance in the New Testament that applies the language of “exiles” to the Church.

In addition, 1 Peter is a mashup of Old Testament quotes, allusions, references, and images. For the studious reader, it’s chockfull of Old Testament Easter eggs. The story of Israel, that is, God’s mission in the Old Testament, provides form and shape to not only the story of Jesus but also to that of the Church, to us.

2 Peter & Jude: The teaching of Jesus

There’s lots of curious overlap between Peter’s second letter and Jude, one of the shortest books in the Bible. A major theme in both of these is out-of-bounds teaching. Just because something comes to us wrapped in the language of “God” or “spirituality” or “Christian” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s consistent with God’s story.

I like baseball, and every baseball game needs a good umpire. But I don’t turn on a game to watch the umpire. If, as a casual fan, you know the name of an umpire, it’s not a good thing. It’s probably because they’ve developed a controversial reputation for being a bad umpire, calling balls strikes and strikes balls. Good umpires are anonymous, invisible. The same should be true of those in the Christian community who guard against out-of-bounds teaching. We need them, but we need them humbly reminding us of the story.

These letters of James, Peter, and Jude offer valuable insight to us for God’s mission. How did the Grand Canyon become the Grand Canyon? One drip of water at a time. May we put ourselves in such a place that these letters drip and carve in us places of beauty reflecting God and God’s presence with us in the world.

To dive deeper, check out:
The Early Christian Letters for Everyone by N.T. Wright
Letters and Homilies for Jewish Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Hebrews, James, and Jude by Ben Witherington
Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1-2 Peter by Ben Witherington