Good day sir,<\/p>\n
I was wondering, if the church replaced Israel, then who was James writing to in James 1:1 when he said the twelve tribes scattered abroad?<\/p>\n\t
“James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings<\/em>” (James 1:1).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The book of James is written for Jewish Christians who were scattered by persecution (Acts 8:1-4). This is one indication that James is one of the first books written. It would have been written prior to the large conversion of Gentiles that started in Acts 13. It is that persecution of the early church that sets up the theme for the first part of the book.<\/p>\n
For those who see James as being written later, they state that the church replaced Israel as God’s people (Romans 2:28-29), so the “twelve tribes” is just a figurative way of referring to the church. Thus, the scattering could refer to any number of persecutions by either the Jews or the Romans.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Good day sir, I was wondering, if the church replaced Israel, then who was James writing to in James 1:1 when he said the twelve tribes scattered abroad? Answer: “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings” (James 1:1). The book of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[335],"class_list":["post-54401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-james"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7514,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-twelve-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":54401,"position":0},"title":"Why twelve apostles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why were there only 12 apostles? Answer: Certain numbers appear frequently through the text of the Bible, much more frequently than you would expect from mere chance. Twelve is one such number and its repeated use indicates foreshadowing in the Bible and it is a reflection of the fact\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15039,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-james-written-before-acts\/","url_meta":{"origin":54401,"position":1},"title":"Was James written before Acts?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was James written before Acts? Answer: In order to date any book, we must consider what we know about the author and the clues that might date the book. Author The author of the book of James is debated as there are several James in the Bible. The name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/james-first-peter-and-second-peter\/","url_meta":{"origin":54401,"position":2},"title":"James, First Peter, and Second Peter","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer While there were many men named James in the first century, this is most likely the brother of Jesus who became a very strong leader in the early church (James the apostle was put to death about AD 44, Acts 12). We find James becoming prominent in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9565,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-144000\/","url_meta":{"origin":54401,"position":3},"title":"Who are the 144,000?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Revelation it talks about 144,000 in a couple of places, I was talking to my friend about it. It's been six months since I have read Revelation straight through and I have never done a real \"study\" on it. But what are the requirements for the 144,000 people?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3354,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-commonwealth-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":54401,"position":4},"title":"What is the Commonwealth of Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the Commonwealth of Israel? Answer: I assume you are referring to the small religious group that calls itself \"Twelve Tribes: The Commonwealth of Israel.\" It was started in the 1970s by Gene Spriggs in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It contains an odd blend of beliefs arising from its attempt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-you-list-the-ten-tribes\/","url_meta":{"origin":54401,"position":5},"title":"Why didn’t you list the ten tribes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Questions: You fail to answer your own question, \"Who are the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom?\" I was looking to see if Levi was among them but no list is given. If Judah and Benjamin remained in the south then that would mean Levi was in the north. 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