Logos and law in the letter of James: The law of nature, the law of Moses, and the law of freedom

The author of the Letter of James, in 1:21--25, correlates a law which is "perfect" and "of freedom" with ho emphytos logos "which is able to save souls." The thesis of this study is that this correlation was formulated in dependence on the Stoic theory that human reason comprises a divine "natural" law.;After an account of the history of the interpretation of the emphytos logos of Jas 1:21 (Chapter One), the Greek philosophical origin and theoretical background of this phrase is established through an analysis of the use of similar terminology in a number of other ancient works (Chapters Two and Three): Cicero's definition of natural law in terms of ratio insita in the first book of his On Laws; the emphytos physikos nomos of the Apostolic Constitutions; Justin's correlation of the emphytos spora tou logou with orthos logos or "natural law"; and Methodius' emphytos physikos nomos. It is argued that the recurrent use of the term emphytos ("implanted") or its Latin equivalents in these diverse works to describe either human reason or a natural law which reason comprises results from a common dependence upon the Stoic theory that human reason, as a divinely given law, develops out of an initial divine endowment of "implanted" (emphytoi) preconceptions of "good" and "bad.;The different ways in which this philosophical theory is adapted to accommodate Jewish or Christian traditions in works like 4 Maccabees, the writings of Philo of Alexandria and those mentioned above are examined (Chapter Three) and, finally, extended attention is given to the adaptation of this Stoic theory in the Letter of James itself (Chapter Four). It is argued that the author of James understands the Torah to be a written expression of the law conceived by the Stoics as comprised by human reason. It is suggested, finally, that this aspect of the Letter of James is to be understood in light of the early Christian debates regarding the importance of living in accord with Torah, and that the author of James writes particularly with an eye to countering Paul's formulation of the problem.