ABSTRACT
The Church can only prosper in the
realm of peace. Unfortunately churches are torn apart by conflict. It is observed
that underlying factors responsible for this is selfish ambition which
manifests itself in bitter jealousy, covetousness, prejudice, unfaithfulness,
impatience, pride and arrogance, hatred, exploitation and oppression of the
poor, and many other wicked and unrighteous deeds. Conflict as observed in the
church today can be resolved with Divine wisdom which has a lot of implication
for conflict resolution. Using a historical critical method which is
descriptive, exegetical and redactional in approach to explore the Letter of
James, it was discovered that heavenly wisdom implies faith and hope in God,
lowliness, self-denial, servanthood, steadfastness, joy in trial or suffering,
submission to the will of God, self-control, obedience to the word of God, love
for God and his righteousness, showing of mercy; consideration and generousity
to the poor and less privileged, impartiality and or justice, self-conviction
and not self-glorification, an understanding that wealth and riches are
temporal, patience, longsuffering, or forbearance, leaving vengeance for God,
truthfulness or sincerity, love for one another and forgiveness to one another,
and seeking the straying believers. It has been shown that these virtues
translate to wisdom because divine or heavenly wisdom is a reverential
application of the knowledge of God and the understanding of His principles for
human life and the course of life to ones life, to judgments and in taking
actions even as it involves interpersonal relationships. So, when all these moral
virtues are utilized in the Church by everyone conflict will be effectively
resolved and a peaceful assembly is maintained.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study:
The
word, ‘Church’ is the English translation of the Greek word, εkkλhsιa (ekklÄ“sia) which takes its root from two Greek words, εξ and
κaλεω which are respectively a
preposition and a verb. Εξ denotes out while κaλεω denotes call. Thus, as a
compound word, εkkλhsιa connotes, “the called out”. Therefore, one can see εkkλhsιa as an assembly, a congregation, meeting or gathering of a chosen
people. It was on this note that Wayne Grudem defines the Church as
a “community of all true believers for all time.”1 That is, the
totality of all people in all ages who believe in Christ and are redeemed by
Christ Who died on the cross for the salvation of man. The people include those
from different biological families, Genders, cultures, levels of education and
exposure, age groups, and so on. As they gather, there is no gainsaying that
conflict is inevitable. Hence, Jesus Christ in His first advent could not leave
without offering a prayer for unity in His Church. He prayed saying;
I do not pray for these only, but
also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one;
even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:20-21 RSV).
Obviously,
the prayer was granted. In acts 2:43-47, it is said that the disciples were
always together and had all things in common. Their oneness became so glaring
that many more people believed in Christ and were saved. Besides, the oneness
invoked the abiding active divine presence which caused many signs and wonders
to be performed through them.
However, as they multiplied, conflict emanated from them (Acts 6:1)
because of man’s sinful nature. This is confirmed by Iheanyi Hycenth Iruoma in
his statement, “In the ecclesiastical arena, sometimes conflicts spring up
because it is constituted by human beings with
human nature.”2 The peace they enjoyed as a result of the divine
unity granted to them was shaken due to injustice. It, therefore, means that
for divine unity and peace to thrive in the Church, there is a duty for the
Church to carry out. This duty includes resistance to injustice which is
cross-cultural. Hence, E. Ilogu, an African scholar, was right to posit that
“Peace results from that harmony built into human society by its divine founder
and actualized by men as they thirst after ever-greater justice.”3
Indeed, justice as one of the content of wisdom sustains peace and unity and
forestalls conflict. There were other indications of conflict in the early
Church. They include; the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians
4:2-3); Paul and Barnabas over John Mark (Acts 15:36-40); Paul and the
Galatians over Paul’s authority (Galatians 1); Paul and Peter over Jewish ceremonial
laws (Galatians 2:11-12); and so on.
Moreover,
the distance between the apostles in Jerusalem and the Churches in diaspora
exacerbated the conflict situation of the Churches. The apostles were not close
by to harmonize issues. Persecution, hardship, envy, selfishness, coldness of
love, discrimination, pride, arrogance, profession without practice,
bitterness, and many other ungodly attitudes including quest for positions of
authority in the Church wanted to tear the Church apart. And so, when the reports
reached the apostles, it was not incongruous for James being the presiding
apostle then, to write in order to address those conflict escalating issues.
Worthy
of note is the fact that James is concerned with the practical aspect of faith
as rightly highlighted in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary thus;
The one common trait, which gives
the letter its distinctive quality, is a concern that the faith of the
recipients be not merely theoretical or abstract, but implemented in action, in
every aspect of their lives.4
This faith cannot be actualized without God-given wisdom. In other words,
this faith pursues wisdom from God which helps to calm harsh situations. The
lack of this divine wisdom was the problem with those who claimed to be wise
and understanding. There was no reflection of their knowledge to their daily
lives. They were causing confusion with their unparalleled lifestyle alongside
with their disciples.
Indeed,
it is worthy to observe here that conflict is one of the inevitable age-long
societal menace. Ezeibe Christian Chukwuebuka refers to it as an inimical and
antisocial growth. To this end, he defines conflict as “a condition of
uneasiness, turmoil and or riot which disrupts social calmness and peace.”5
This implies that social harmony and progress are frustrated in a conflict
situation. Unfortunately, this era is an era of increasing conflict. Malachy
Ikechukwu Okwueze who agrees with H. Kraemer states that this age is “an age of
perpetual conflict and turmoil.”6 The Church is not without her own
share in this issue. Many Church denominations, especially the classically
established ones, are seriously involved in conflict. All the issues addressed
by James in the early Church are present in the contemporary Church, especially
the issue of selfish ambition which manifest when postings and transfers,
discipline, truth, promotion, personal rights and privileges, and so on, are
being handled.
Consequent
upon that, many Church denominations are torn apart. There is an increased level
of enmity and unhealthy proliferation of Churches and inefficiency in
administration. Some people have backslided while some have apostatized because
of Church conflict. It also contributes to the heightened level of indiscipline
in the Church even to the extent that some Christians are being lured into
sorcery and the employment of magical means into the scene. And so, the name of
Christ is reproached among unbelievers leading to the loss of Christians’
testimony, honour and real progress; spiritually and physically. Besides,
conflict dwindles ones.....
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Item Type: Postgraduate Material | Attribute: 108 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Price: N3,000 | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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