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A.A.’s Roots in the Bible, Part 2
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The Book of James
by Dick B.
(The Parts Dr. Bob Considered “Absolutely
Essential”)
Dr. Bob said quite often that the parts of the
Bible that early A.A. oldtimers considered essential to their recovery were the
Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13. Many other parts
of the Bible contributed to A.A. ideas, but Dr. Bob highlighted these three.
Therefore, our first article discussed the specific ideas that the A.A. pioneers
too from Jesus’s sermon which is found at Matthew Chapters Five, Six, and Seven.
This article will pinpoint the great
contribution of the Book of James.
The Book of James
Of probably even greater
importance (than the Sermon) in the day-by-day thinking of early A.A. was the
Book of James. It was much studied by A.A.'s co-founders. Quotes and ideas from
the Apostle James can be found throughout the Big Book and in A.A. literature.
The Book of James was considered so important that many favored calling the A.A.
fellowship the “James Club” (DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, p. 71;
Pass It On, p. 147). And even the most fundamental phrases in A.A., such as
“It Works” and Bill Wilson's own “Works Publishing Company” (which published the
First Edition of the Big Book), probably have their origin in the “Faith without
works is dead” phrases in James (See Nell Wing, Grateful to Have Been There,
pp. 70-71).
Let’s therefore
review the Book of James, chapter by chapter. As we do so, we will point to
traces of that book which we believe can be found in, or probably influenced the
text of, the Big Book. At the outset, please note that, as our research into the
Biblical roots of A.A. has progressed, so has our understanding of some root
sources that previously went unnoticed.
For example,
some time back, Dr. Bob's son, Bob Smith, told the author by phone that his
father had placed great stake in The Runner's Bible. We had encountered
difficulty locating a copy. Moreover, we were still looking for some commentary
on the Book of James similar to the many on the Sermon on the Mount (by Oswald
Chambers, Glenn Clark, Emmet Fox, and E. Stanley Jones) and on 1 Corinthians 13
(by Henry Drummond, for example) which Dr. Bob had studied. We believed such
commentaries probably impacted upon the thinking of Dr. Bob, Anne, Henrietta,
and the early AAs as have the actual Bible verses in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and 1
Corinthians 13.
We could find no
similar commentary on the Book of James despite A.A.'s emphasis on James.
Finally, as we studied the spiritual literature early AAs read, we noticed in
The Runner's Bible the frequency with which all Dr. Bob's “essential” books
and chapters of the Bible (Matthew 5, 6, 7; 1 Corinthians 13; and James) were
there mentioned. And we particularly noticed the frequency with which The
Runner's Bible mentioned and discussed verses from the Book of James that
had found their way into A.A..
Hence our reader will find many references to The Runner's Bible
in footnotes in our title The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the
Bible; for we believe that this little devotional book may have provided Dr.
Bob, Anne Smith, and perhaps even Bill Wilson, with much of the fodder that
caused them to focus on James and conclude that James was their “favorite” book
of the Bible.
In a phone conversation with the author in 1995, from his home in
Texas, Dr. Bob's son stated he felt it would be almost impossible to confirm
that The Runner's Bible was the source of either A.A.'s or its founders'
emphasis on James and other Biblical sources. But he pointed out that this
little Biblical devotional book was used by those who wanted a quick and easy
source for Biblical ideas in which they were interested. Perhaps, then, that
book became a reference source for Dr. Bob, Anne, and even Bill Wilson when they
were studying the pertinent Biblical ideas they extracted from 1 Corinthians 13,
the Sermon on the Mount, and particularly James. Whatever the facts are
concerning the reading of The Runner’s Bible, we know for sure that it
was used a great deal by the pioneers, that it quotes and discusses many verses
from James that AAs used, and that the oldtimers very definitely studied James
itself.
James Chapter 1
1. Patience. Chapter One is not the only chapter in the Book of
James which mentions patience. Nor is it the only portion of the Bible that
stresses patience. But we’ve noted that James was a favored Biblical source in
early A.A., and James 1:3-4 does state:
Knowing this, that
the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Patience certainly wound up as one of the most frequently mentioned spiritual
principles in the Big Book (pp. 67, 70, 83, 111, 118, 163).
2. Asking
wisdom of God with unwavering believing. James 1:5-8 states:
If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the
wind and tossed.
For let not that man
think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double minded man is
unstable in all his ways.
Asking for God's direction and strength and receiving “Guidance” from Him, are
major themes in both the Old and New Testaments. They were important Oxford
Group ideas as well. We therefore discussed them at length in our titles, The
Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous and Anne Smith's Journal.
And the Big Book, including the Eleventh Step itself, is filled with such
Guidance concepts (pp.13, 46, 49, 62-63, 69-70, 76, 79-80, 83, 84-88, 100, 117,
120, 124, 158, 164).
3. Resisting temptation. It should surprise no one that AAs of
yesteryear and of today are interested in resisting temptation, and having the
power to do that–the power of God. James 1:12-16 states:
Blessed is the man
that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of
life, which the Lord hath promised to those that love him. Let no man say when
he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own
lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.
4.
Every good and perfect gift comes from God, the Father of lights. James 1:17
states:
Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Bill
seemed to be referring to this verse when he wrote on page 14 of the Big Book:
I must turn in all things
to the Father of Light [sic] who presides over us all.
Bill
made the same reference to God, the Father of lights who presides over us all,
in Appendix One of the Big Book.
5. Let every man be slow to speak, slow to wrath. James 1:19-20
states:
Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the
wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
The
verse is quoted in The Runner's Bible and seems quite relevant to the Big
Book's injunction, “If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. . . . God
save me from being angry.”
6. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. James 1:21-22
states:
Wherefore lay apart all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be ye doers of the
word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Reverend Sam Shoemaker devoted an entire chapter in one of his titles to this
verse, stating:
I think St. James'
meaning is made much clearer in Dr. Moffatt's translation, “Act on the Word,
instead of merely listening to it.” Try it out in experiment, and prove it by
its resultsotherwise you only fool yourself into believing that you have the
heart of religion when you haven't (Shoemaker, The Gospel According to You,
pp. 44-55).
In
the same chapter, Shoemaker also pointed out that prayer is often more a
struggle to find God than the enjoyment of Him and cooperation with His will. He
added that “God is and is a Rewarder of them that seek Him.”(See The Gospel
According to You, p. 47; Hebrews 11:6).
We cannot find a specific reference to James 1:21-22 in the Big Book;
but A.A. stresses over and over that A.A. is a program of action, that
probably no human power can relieve a person of alcoholism, and “That God could
and would if He were sought” (p. 60). A.A.'s program emphasizes action in
the experiment of faith it adopted from John 7:17seeking God by
following the path that leads to a relationship with God. James 1:22
stresses doing God's will as expressed in His Wordnot merely listening
to it. James was an Akron favorite. Shoemaker was a Wilson favorite. “Faith
without works” was a Big Book favorite; and it therefore seems possible that
A.A.'s stress on action might have derived from in part from James
1:21-22.
7. Pure religion and undefiled before God . . . to visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction. James 1:27 states:
Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
At
the very least, this verse bespeaks unselfishness and helpfulness to others
which were cardinal A.A. principles.
James Chapter 2
Chapter Two of the Book of James may have made two direct and major
contributions to the language of the Big Book and also to A.A.'s philosophy.
Those two contributions were “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and “Faith without
works is dead.”
1. Love thy neighbor
as thyself. James 2:8 states:
If ye fulfill the royal
law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do
well.
This
commandment to “Love thy neighbor,” exists in other parts of both the Old and
New Testaments. Thus, when the Big Book uses this phrase, there is no assurance
that the quote is from James or from one of the other Bible verses to the same
effect. But the Big Book certainly does state:
Then you will know what
it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. You
will learn the full meaning of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (p. 153).
The
Book of James is very probably the specific source of this Biblical quote since
Dr. Bob, early AAs, and Bill Wilson himself spoke with such favor concerning the
importance of “love” as the code of A.A. and the Book of James as the
favorite book.
2. Faith without works is dead. Said to be the favorite verse
of Anne Smith and perhaps the origin of many expressions in A.A. concerning
“works,” this expression, or variations of it, appears several times in Chapter
Two of the Book of James. For example, James 2:20 states:
But wilt thou know, O
vain man, that faith without works is dead?
“Faith without works” as a phrase and as an A.A. “action” concept are quoted or
referred to many times in the Big Book (pp. 14-15, 76, 88, 93, 97). A.A.’s
original Oxford Group connection also put emphasis on these James verses, using
them in connection with the importance of witnessing.
3. Helping Others. It hardly requires citation or
documentation to state that A.A.’s cardinal objective is to help others. And
this service concept is underlined in Chapter 2 of James, beginning with verses
1 to 7. James 2:15-16 states the principle very well:
If a brother or sister be
naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in
peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things
which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath
not works, is dead, being alone.
And
every alcoholic who has helped one of his miserable, suffering, destitute
brothers in need will instantly relate to those verses and hence to the
importance of James to the early AAs.
4. The Ten Commandments. Again! James 2:10-11 states:
For whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he
that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no
adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
James Chapter 3
1. Taming the tongue. In his Farewell Address to A.A., Dr. Bob
said:
Let us also remember to
guard that erring member the tongue, and if we must use it, let's use it with
kindness and consideration and tolerance (DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers,
p. 338).
A
major portion of James, Chapter Three, is devoted to the trouble that can be
caused by an untamed tongue. Following are a few verses emphasizing the point:
Even so the tongue is a
little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little
fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the
tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire
the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. . . . But the tongue
can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
. . . Out of the same
mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to
be.
These verses are not quoted in the Big Book. But Anne Smith referred to them
frequently in her journal, as did other A.A. roots sources (Dick B., Anne
Smith’s Journal, pp. 28, 44, 76, 77; Holm, The Runner’s Bible, p.
68). In paraphrasing the verses, Dr. Bob seemed to be speaking of tolerance,
courtesy, consideration, and kindness. James makes clear that good
conversation should be a focusconversation, we believe, laced with
consideration, kindness, and tolerance (See James 3:13). And these latter
principles are very much stressed in the Big Book (pp. 67, 69-70, 83-84,
97, 118, 125, 135).
2. Avoidance of envy, strife, and lying. James 3:14-16 stresses
clear that a heart filled with envy, strife, and lies has not received such
“wisdom” from God, but rather from devilish sources. The verses state:
But if ye have bitter
envying and strife in your hearts; glory not, and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom descendeth
not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
“Envy”is not as much decried in the Big Book as jealousy; but a more modern
translation of these King James verses equates “envy” with “jealousy”
(The Revised English Bible, New Testament, p, 208). And the Big Book most
assuredly condemns jealously (pp. 37, 69, 82, 100, 119, 145, 16 1). In fact, the
Big Book states as to jealousy and envy:
Keep it always in sight
that we are dealing with that most terrible human emotionjealousy (p. 82).
The greatest enemies of
us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear (p. 145).
And
as to strife, the Big Book states:
After
all, our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a symbol. Besides,
we have stopped fighting anybody or anything. We have to (p. 103)!
James 3:17-18 talks much
about making peace and the fruit of righteousness being sown in peace of them
that make peace.
As seen in the
James 3:14 quote, lying and dishonesty are considered devilish; and one should
consider the Big Book’s frequent emphasis on grasping and developing a manner of
living which “demands rigorous honesty” (p. 58). As to all the verses in James
3:14-16, however, there is little certainty that these particular verses were an
exclusive or even major source for the traits of envy, jealousy, strife, and
dishonesty because all these traits are decried also in many other parts of the
Bible.
James Chapter 4
1. Asking amiss for selfish ends.
There is much to say about unselfishness and overcoming self-centeredness as far
as A.A. principles are concerned. But the following in James 4:3 particularly
emphasizes selfishness in prayer:
Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Christian A.A. sources that were favorites of Dr. Bob's discuss this verse at
length. And the Big Book authors may therefore have borrowed from James 4:3 for
the following:
We ask especially for
freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only.
We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful
never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time
doing that and it doesn't work (Big Book, p. 87).
2.
Humility. The Book of James has no corner on the Biblical injunction to be
humble. But the importance of James, and the remarks of Reverend Sam Shoemaker
(quoted under Item 3 immediately below) suggest that the following verses from
James may have been a source of the Big Book’s frequent mention of humility.
James 4:7, 10 state:
Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
The
Big Book is filled with discussions of humility, of humbling one's own self
before God, and of humbly asking for His help. Examples include:
There I humbly offered
myself to God, as I understood Him, to do with me as He would (p. 13).
He humbly offered himself
to his Makerthen he knew (p. 57).
Just to the extent that
we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to
match calamity with serenity (p. 68).
We constantly remind
ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many
times each day “Thy will be done” (pp. 87-88).
3.
Trusting God and cleaning house. James 4:8 states:
Draw nigh to God, and he
will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts,
ye double minded.
The
Big Book says on page 98:
Burn the idea into the
consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only
condition is that he trust in God and clean house.
And,
in language closely paralleling that in James 4:8, the Big Book says further
that one can establish conscious companionship with God by simply, honestly, and
humbly seeking and drawing near to Him:
He has come to all who
have honestly sought Him. When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us
(page 57)!
In
Step Seven, the Big Book relates “cleaning house” of one’s character defects to
“humbly asking” God to remove them. The foregoing verses in James, which speak
of drawing near to God, cleansing our hearts, humbling ourselves in His sight,
and then being “lifted” up by God, appear to have been directly involved in
framing the Big Book's Seventh Step language. In fact, many years after the Big
Book was written, Sam Shoemaker wrote about his understanding of the Seventh
Step and said in A.A.'s Grapevine in 1964:
Sins get entangled deep
within us, as some roots of a tree, and do not easily come loose. We need help,
grace, the lift of a kind of divine derrick (Shoemaker, Those Twelve Steps
as I Understand Them; Volume II, Best of the Grapevine, p. 130).
4. Taking your own
inventory. James 4:11-12 states:
Speak not evil one of
another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his
brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the
law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is
able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
The
Fourth Step idea of taking your own inventory has been discussed in connection
with relevant verses in the Sermon on the Mount which were often quoted by
Oxford Group people and by Anne Smith (See Matthew 7:1-5). Yet the Big Book also
stresses looking “for our own mistakes,” asking “Where were we to blame,” and
coming to realize that, “The inventory was ours, not the other man's.”
Considering the importance to AAs of the Book of James and its insights, the
foregoing James verses probably also had an impact on the A.A. idea of avoiding
judgment of another in favor of examining one's own conduct for wrongdoing.
James Chapter 5
1. Patience. To reiterate, in our discussion of James, Chapter
One, we covered the verses on patience, which can be found in James 5:7, 8, 10,
11.
2. Grudges covered in a resentment inventory. James 5:9 reads:
Grudge not one against
another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold, the judge standeth before the
door.
A
major portion of the Big Book's Fourth Step discussion is devoted to resentment,
about which page 64 says:
Resentment is the “number
one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all
forms of spiritual disease.
The
Big Book then suggests putting resentments on papermaking a “grudge list”
(pp. 64-65). Oxford Group spokesman Ebenezer Macmillan wrote at length on the
importance of eliminating resentments, hatred, or the “grudge” that
“blocks God out effectively.” Rev. Sam Shoemaker specified “grudges” as one of
the “sins” to be examined in an inventory of self (Shoemaker, Twice-Born
Ministers, p. 182). Since the Big Book lists resentments or “grudges” as one
of the four major “character defects” which block us from God, we think
it quite possible that the “grudge” language in the Big Book was influenced by
James, and perhaps specifically in James 5:9.
3. Asking God's forgiveness for sins. We repeat James 5:15,
partially quoted above. The entire verse says:
And the prayer of faith
shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed
sins, they shall be forgiven him.
The Big Book says this,
concerning asking God's forgiveness when we fall short:
If we are sorry for what
we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we
believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson (p. 70).
When we retire at night,
we constructively review our day. . . . After making our review, we ask God's
forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken (p. 86).
The foregoing Big Book
quotes show that, even after their initial surrender, wrongdoers may still gain
forgiveness from God for the shortcomings in which they indulged after their
initial surrender. Here again, James has no corner on the statement that God
makes it possible, through forgiveness, for a believer to regain fellowship with
Him. 1 John 1:9 may also have been a source of these Big Book ideas:
If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
See
also our discussion of forgiveness in connection with the Sermon on the Mount.
The Books of James, 1 John, or Matthew could each or all have been the basis for
the Big Book forgiveness concept.
4. Confess your sins one to another. It has often been noted
that both the Oxford Group concept of sharing by confession and
Step Five in the Big Book were derived from James 5:16:
Confess your faults one
to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.
5.
Effectual, fervent prayer works. James 5:16 states:
The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
The
Big Book abounds with prayers. And it states:
Step Eleven suggests
prayer and meditation. We shouldn't be shy on this matter of prayer. Better men
than we are using it constantly. It works, if we have the proper attitude and
work at it.
James 5:16 could well have
been a major basis for the Big Book's emphasis on the effectiveness of prayer.
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