Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to probe the social and cultural implications of the language in James 2.1–13 in order to determine the social function of the rhetoric in the unit. In particular, I want to determine the socio-rhetorical function of the allusion to a saying of Jesus in James 2.5.

Recalling the discussion of James as rhetorical discourse in chapter 1, I wish to reiterate several presuppositions that are integral to the purpose at hand. First and fundamental is the fact that rhetoric is social discourse that intends to evoke a social response in the thinking and/or behavior of the audience it addresses. Put differently, and with respect to the discourse of the letter of James, the epistle emerged within its culture as a social product and it functioned as a social tool. As rhetorical discourse the letter was inevitably concerned with interpersonal relations, and it intended to influence them. The Epistle of James was designed to have a social function.

Thus I emphasize again a conventional but fundamental rhetorical perspective; namely, that rhetorical discourse is always situational and always functional. It is situational because it is a response to the particular rhetorical situation that elicits and determines it; it is functional because it exists to alter the rhetorical situation it addresses “through the mediation of thought and action” (Bitzer, 1968, p. 4; see pp. 3–6). Consequently, rhetorical discourse is always pragmatic discourse. It does not exist for itself, nor is it an instrument of reflection.