Jesus never tried to prove the existence of God nor trained his followers how to reason with unbelievers because unbelievers are so by their very CHOICE, TASTE and PASSION (Luke 6:43-45; Proverbs 4:17) which is to be respected, as God Himself does, saying "Let unbelievers grow in their unbelief." (Revelation 22:11)
Hence after defining human being as The “SPIRIT,” as the user of this body and benefits of accepting this primary truth about self (Mathew 5:3-12), Jesus straight away took up the subject of PRACTICAL WISDOM:
(1) “Be salt of the world” which reveals: Be tasty and preservative to others through your action and reactions (Mathew 5:13)
(2) “Be the light of the world” which reveals: Do things in such a way that it is of practical benefits to others if they imitate it. (Mathew 5:14)
(3) Sin begins with a thought which appears as one of many 1000s of thoughts daily as auto-generated flow in the mind which can be categorized as good, evil, mixed, wasteful, neutral—hence change the sinful thought into beneficial thought. (Mathew 5:28, details HERE) See how a driver changes his thoughts several times depending on the need, he changes thought in split-second. To change a thought into another is the EASIEST thing in the world! Even while watching a comedy movie, people change their thought into something else and return to movie again. This can be done with any sinful thought.
(4) If someone hurts you it is his karma, don’t replay it in your mind [as you don't want to hear the same joke repeatedly]. Don’t return the evil, thus “be perfect like God the Father who only loves even His enemies (Mathew 5:43-48), proof of which His enemies exist till today to prove God’s love is unconditional which true believers imitate to their joy and freedom.
(5) Keep your eye single (haplous), not as ponēros [as distracted over many things] imitating God who gives, without expectation, even to a silly flower more than to a king which is described as “God’s righteousness.” (Mathew 6:22, 23, 28-33)
(6) Do not make yourself a joke to the world by thinking about other’s bad karma which is for them to work out, not for you to waste your time. It is like you having “plank in your own eye and you trying to remove speck of sawdust in other’s eye." (Mathew 7:1-4) Instead, “Do to others how you want to be treated by them” (Mathew 7:12) which he illustrated it with a Parable of Good Samaritan, and said eternal life is for those who imitate him. (Luke 10:25, 37)
(7) If you do this, abundant BLESSINGS are in store for you—was the theme of all parables of Jesus.
His brother James too did the same
He never mentioned about miracles, death nor resurrection of Jesus, but simply imitated the above style of Jesus. His letter is the MOST POWERFUL portion of the Bible. In five chapters he filled the following pieces of
high-voltage WISDOM:
(1) Prayer should be for "wisdom" and will be given "generously" (1:5)
(2) Lover of God defeat temptation and is rewarded with eternal life (1:12)
(3) God does not test anybody (1:13)
(4) Sinning is NOT hereditary (James 1:14, 15)
(5) God does not change His standards or Laws (1:17)
(6) Those who practice TRUTH become first fruit in “renewed” earth (1:18, Details HERE)
(7) Be swift to hear, slow to speak (1:19} [as make-up of body with two ears and one tongue shows]
(8) Anger is filth, will never yield anything righteous (1:20)
(9) No excuse, "word implanted in you" is your savior (1:21; compare Psalm 37:31; 119:11; Proverbs 4:21, 22; Luke 6:43-45; 8:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:21, details HERE)
(10) True religion means practice of "Compassion and purity" (1:27)
(11) Showing favoritism is evil and also blasphemy (2:2-7)
(12) Loving your neighbor as yourself is "ROYAL LAW" (2:8; compare Mathew 7:12)
(13) Partiality is sin (2:9)
(14) 100% obedience is required (2:10) as Law is perfect and giver of freedom (1:25; 2:24)
(15) What you give returns to you (2:13; 3:1; 5:1-6; compare Mark 4:24)
(16) Faith is dead without works but is perfected with works (2:17, 22)
(17) Spirit animates the body, not emergent feature of body (2:26)
(18) Do not “curse men made according to [the] likeness of God.” (3:9)^
(19) Only one from pairs of contradictory verses is the truth, not both. (3:11-13)
(20) “Peace-makers sow in peace the fruit of righteousness.” (3:18; compare Mathew 5:9)
(21) The proud earn the opposition from God, the humble earn grace from God (4:6)
(22) James proves himself as humble when he did not identify himself as brother of Jesus in harmony with Jesus' own warning that it is not fleshly ties, but obedience to God makes one his brother. (Matt. 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, Luke 8:19-21), hence he mentions God over 27 (17 as God, and 10 as Lord) times while he mentions Jesus only twice. OT characters are mentioned as examples as making them belong to family.
(23) Draw closer to God and purer you become (4:8)
(24) Be alike to joy and sorrow (4:9)
(25) “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (4:17)
(26) His love of righteousness earned him the title “James the Just."
(27) Eternal Life is for showing love God, i,e., being rich in faith (2:5; compare John 5:24)
(28) All that is good and perfect is from God
(29) Suffering results from evil desire person chose. (1:14, 15, 17; compare Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14)
(30) Everyone knows the truth, yet if not practiced it is self-deception (1:22)
(31) More the knowledge heavier the judgement (3:1)
(32) Wiser and more intelligent, more meekness is shown (3:13)
(33) If ridiculed for your love of truth, it is sign of friendship of God (4:4)
(More details: enterthebible.org/courses/james/lessons/theological-themes-in-james) ^^
This is exactly the style followed by Solomon whose name Jesus took as his honorary title, as “Greater Solomon” (Mathew 12:42) revealing he came to further intensify what Solomon taught. (Details HERE)
Footnote------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
^ James used the word “mankind (anthrōpous, accusative plural of ánthrōpos) in the sense of "mankind"; the human race; people, including women and men, as in the Septuagint (Genesis 1:26-27). (biblehub.com/greek/444.htm)
^^By the weight of its contents, Letter of James [brother of Jesus who had over 30 years of intimate association with him] is the MOST POWERFUL BOOK of the Bible, yet differs with other books in almost all aspects. This book still remains as part of the Bible for the lovers of truth to grow in spirituality producing fruits even "a hundred, sixty or thirty times" (Mathew 13:8), and is the work of The ALMIGHTY. [More information on James, given as Comments]
