As the history of the New Testament canon shows, the seven so-called Catholic Letters (i.e., James, I and II Peter, I, II, and III John, and Jude) were among the last of the literature to be settled on before the agreement of East and West in 367. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, only I John and I Peter were universally recognized and, even after acceptance of all seven, their varying positions in Greek manuscripts and early versions revealed some conflict concerning their inclusion. The designation Catholic Letters was already known and used by the church historian Eusebius in the 4th century for a group of seven letters, among which he especially mentions James and Jude. The word catholic meant general—i.e., addressed to the whole, universal church as distinguished, for example, from Pauline letters addressed to particular communities or individuals. The earliest known occurrence of the adjective “catholic” referring to a letter is in the account of an anti-Montanist, Apollonius (c. 197) in his rebuke of a Montanist writer who “dared, in imitation of the Apostle [probably John] to compose a catholic epistle” for general instruction. In the time of Origen (c. 230), the term catholic was also applied to the Letter of Barnabas as well as to I John, I Peter, and Jude.

In the West, however, “catholic” took on the meaning in Christian usage as implying a value judgment as to orthodoxy or general acceptance. Thus, the West used it for all the New Testament letters that were in the canon along with the four gospels and Acts. All letters considered authoritative and of equal standing with those of Paul were therefore termed canonical in the West. Not until the Middle Ages did both East and West designate the seven as “catholic epistles” in the sense of being addressed to the whole Christian Church, in order to distinguish them from letters with more particular addresses. Had not the main tradition placed Hebrews in the Pauline corpus, it would perhaps rather have been counted among the Catholic Letters. Hebrews, however, looked “Pauline” rather than “Catholic” in that it presented an extensive theological argument to which the parenesis (advice or counsel) was applied at the end.

These seven letters are grouped together despite their disparate authorship and dates because of a number of characteristics common to all of them. Though the three Johannine letters, and especially I John, are distinctly Johannine in character, the four other Catholic Letters are of special interest precisely because they lack strong personal or peculiar traits both in their theological and in their ethical statements. This characteristic makes them a good source for understanding the piety and life-style of the majority of early Christians. These letters differ from the Pauline letters in that they seem to have been written for general circulation throughout the church, rather than for specific congregations. Though Paul wrote as a missionary responsible for his recent Gentile converts, these letters address established congregations in more general terms. It is interesting to note, for example, that in I Pet. 2:12 the word Gentiles refers to “non-Christians” without any awareness of its older and Pauline meaning of “non-Jews.”

The purpose of the Catholic Letters is to meet ordinary problems encountered by the whole church: refuting false doctrines, strengthening the ethical implications of the Gospel message, sharing in the common catechetical and moral materials, and giving encouragement in the face of the delay of the Parousia and strength in the face of possible martyrdom under Roman persecution. They guide the ordinary Christian in his day-to-day life in the church.

The Catholic Letters preserve a considerable common legacy of ethical themes and quotations. Such themes and quotations (from the Old Testament) were handed down traditionally, though the writers interpreted them independently for their situations. For example, Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 34, showing God’s scorn to scorners and favour to the humble, is used in James, chapter 4, verse 6, as a warning against involvement in the world and an exhortation to submission and humility, but in I Peter, chapter 5, verse 5, it exhorts Christians to humility and submission in relation to one another in the church and brotherhood. Because the Catholic Letters represent a common pool of Christian teaching, there are overlapping points, but these come from shared tradition rather than literary dependency. The virtues extolled in the early church are not particularly Christian but often coincide with those cultivated in Hellenistic culture, sometimes with a Jewish Hellenistic emphasis. An act of mercy and virtue valued in both Jewish and Hellenistic tradition is epitomized in hospitality (e.g., I Peter 4:9). Similarly, Hellenistic lists of virtues and vices occur as needed from the general body of early Gentile Hellenistic tradition applied to the Christian communities. In these epistles, theological and credal statements are woven in and used for immediate ethical application. Thus, they differ from the Pauline style of extensive theological sections coupled with ethical applications that follow at the end of the epistle.

In the Catholic Letters, to be a Christian was to be in opposition to the world, a member of a minority church and thus at any time liable to be called as witness to the faith and perhaps to suffer and die for it. Eschatological trials are coming (e.g., I Pet. 1:6f., 4:12–19; II Pet. 3:2–10; I John 2:18 ff., 4:1–4; Jude 17 ff.), and the Christian views false prophecy and heresy as well as hostile encounter with the world as part of the trials. The theme of joy in persecution, suffering, and the final trial or ultimate “testing” is based on Christ’s victory over these events and the sense of being a member of his community. Thus, the Christian should show submission, nonretaliation, humility and patience, good conduct, and obedience to authorities, because his witness must be blameless when his faith is tested in the world, in the courtroom, and in martyrdom.

The Letter of James

The Letter of James, though often criticized as having nothing specifically Christian in its content apart from its use of the phrase the “Lord Jesus Christ” and its salutation to a general audience depicted as the twelve tribes in the dispersion (the Diaspora), is actually a letter most representative of early Christian piety. It depicts the teachings of the early church not in a missionary vein but to a church living dispersed in the world knowing the essentials of the faith but needing instruction in everyday ethical and communal matters with traditional critiques on wealth and status. In matters of church discipline and the practice of healing, there is stress on prayer, anointing, and confession of sin in order that the healing of the sick may be effected. Steadfastness, even joy, in persecution is based on pure religion with strong ethical demands, as noted in chapter 1, verses 2–4 and 19–27.

A debate as to how James’ statement that “faith apart from works is dead” compares with Paul’s “justification by faith without works” in Romans has a long history. The debate, central to the history of Christianity, has usually overlooked the simple fact that Paul speaks about “works of the Law” and does so with reference to those “works” that divide Jews and Gentiles—e.g., circumcision and food laws. James, on the other hand, refers to works of mercy. Thus, the two statements are not only reconcilable but address themselves to quite distinct and different issues. Even Paul referred to mutual support of the brethren by the glorious phrase “the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2) and this is the same as James’ “royal law” (James 2:8). The Pauline language presumably was not in James’ mind. In James, chapter 2, the example of Abraham’s faith is used to show justification by works. It is to be noted that Paul also used Abraham as the paradigm of righteousness to demonstrate justification by faith in Romans, chapter 4, again showing the difference in purpose and setting of the two epistles.

In view of the post-apostolic situation depicted, James, the son of Zebedee, who died as a martyr before 44 ce, could not have been the author. From the content, neither could James, a brother of the Lord and the leader of the Jerusalem church; his martyrdom is reported as c. 62 ce. Thus, James is pseudepigraphical, with the purpose of gaining apostolic authority for its needed message. The date of writing is probably at the turn of the 1st century, and its addressees are the whole church.

Of James’ 108 verses, 54 contain imperatives—an obvious proof that advice is stressed. Such admonitions are expressed in the form of general ethical wisdom sayings, Hellenistic Jewish lists of virtues and vices, and Christian as well as pagan aphorisms sometimes related to popular preaching of the Stoic Cynic style.

In chapter 5 the community is enjoined to patience, steadfastness, and good behaviour. The Old Testament prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, are used as examples of suffering and endurance as they awaited the Judge. Thus, reference to the Parousia of Christ may have been conflated by the Christian writer to the coming of the Lord in judgment, an interpretation with “the day of the Lord” in mind. “Behold, the Judge is standing at the doors” is accompanied by the admonition, “You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand,” (chapter 5, verses 8 and 9).