James is talking about what it means to hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And James says three things about Jesus:
First, he is Lord. We saw this in 1:1 – "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." Lord is the way that the LXX translated Yahweh – so James is saying that Jesus is Yahweh.
Second, Jesus is Christ – he is the Messiah. Jesus is the anointed Son of David – he is the promised King who restores the throne of David forever.
And third, Jesus is the Lord of glory. There is a way in which "Lord of glory" sums up who Jesus is both as God and as man.
John Calvin says this well: "It was also imperative that he who was to become our Redeemer be true God and true man. It was his task to swallow up death. Who but Life could do this? It was his task to conquer sin. Who but very Righteousness could do this? It was his task to rout the powers of world and air. Who but a power higher than world and air could do this? Now where does life or righteousness, or lordship and authority of heaven lie but with God alone? Therefore our most merciful God, when he willed that we be redeemed, made himself our Redeemer in the person of his only-begotten Son.... Since neither as God alone could he feel death, nor as man alone could he overcome it, he coupled human nature with the divine that to atone for sin he might submit the weakness of the one to death; and that, wrestling with death by the power of his other nature, he might win victory for us." (John Calvin, Institutes II.xii.2-3)
But what does it mean to believe in this Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory?
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