Nobody wants to be excluded.  The Gentiles felt like they were “Less than” --and the Jews agreed with them.  Jews wanted nothing to do with the Gentiles.  They were “unclean” under Jewish law.

Now, as some of the Gentiles and Jews came to believe in Christ and his resurrection, they were part of a new religion: Christianity.  Members of the same groups that met in homes.  Seated side by side. 

For the Jews, it would be like one of us who live on main street America opening our doors to people we don’t know and don’t understand and don’t particularly care to know.  There was a “catch up” going on among the Jews--and a tendency to continue to exclude Gentiles.  Groups formed among Christian Jews and other groups formed among Christian Gentiles.

Denominations form along lines of devision.  James was writing to dispersed Jews trying to assure them that their religion of “good works,” that is--Judaism, wasn’t going to be completely trashed.  That good works would now be the result of faith in Jesus.  His message was that instead of doing good works to be saved, that your salvation would produce good works.  That Jesus--not religion or churches--was the only way to God.    He was, and is, the way to God. He was the new High Priest.  Then the book of Hebrews went  to explain that faith and faith alone--not the Jewish religion was what had saved Abraham, Moses, David, Isaac, Jacob...