e of
authority and without any self-advertisement. He briefly uses for
illustration certain natural phenomena which would be familiar to the
people of Palestine, such as allusions to "the early and latter rain"
(v. 7), the effect on vegetation of the burning wind (i. 11), the
existence of salt or bitter springs (iii. 11), the cultivation {226} of
figs and olives (iii. 12), and the neighbourhood of the sea (i. 6; iii.
4). From such a cursory view of the character of this Epistle, it
would seem reasonable to admit that it was written by a Palestinian
Jewish Christian for the edification of Christians of the same race and
locality.

We get the same impression when we study what is said by the writer
about the readers. He speaks as though they had been under a law of
bondage, but are now under a law of liberty (i. 25; ii. 12). They are
in touch with men who are unbelievers, who blaspheme Christ and
persecute Christians (ii. 6, 7). The believers are mostly poor (ii.
5); the few rich who are Christians are in danger of falling away
through covetousness and pride (iv. 3-6, 13-16). The rich appear as
oppressors, who luxuriously "nourish their hearts in a day of
slaughter," and had even "killed the righteous" (v. 5, 6). The Church
is ruled by "elders" (v. 14) like the Jewish synagogues, and the
Christian "synagogue" is occasionally frequented by rich strangers (ii.
2). All this is well suited to the conditions of Christian life in
Palestine. And it is difficult to find any locality equally
appropriate. Even as late as the first part of the 2nd century rich
Gentiles were reluctant to persecute Christians, and to describe them
as blaspheming the name of Christ at any time within or near the
apostolic age would be almost impossible. They regarded Christianity
with good-natured contempt, not with blasphemous hostility. We have
only to read Acts to see that among the Gentiles it was the poor and
ignorant rather than the rich who began the persecution of the
Christians. On the other hand, if we turn to the Jews, we find that
the rich were the leaders of persecution. It was the wealthy Sadducee
party in union with the influential Pharisees which harried the Church.
The Gospels and Acts give repeated evidence on this point, and the
evidence of the Jewish historian Josephus supplies the keystone of that
evidence.

Against the Palestinian origin of the Epistle it is urged that {227}
the Greek is too correct and rhetorical