James 1:1: James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. ​

James does not identify himself as a leader of the church or brother of Christ, but rather as a servant of God and Jesus Christ. He is writing with a true Christian perspective of leadership. (See 20:26). His reference to the twelve tribes appears to be a symbolic description of the scattered people of the New Covenant as opposed to the twelve tribes of Israel of the first covenant.
 

At the very beginning of his letter James describes himself by the title wherein lies his only honor and his only glory, the slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ . With the exception of Jude he is the only New Testament writer to describe himself by that term (,i>doulos) without any qualification. Paul describes himself as the slave of Jesus Christ and his apostle (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1). But James will go no further than to call himself the slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.