James I: 1 indicates that the letter was intended for circulation amongst a number of churches. The original Greek may be translated as follows: 'to the twelve tribes in the dispersion'. The Good News Bible translates this as 'to all God's people scattered over the whole world', and the Revised Standard Version keeps to an exact translation of the Greek

The reference to the twelve tribes has been taken to mean that James was writing to Jewish Christians although there is nothing in the letter that would not be understood by Gentile Christians who were used to the Old Testament Scriptures in the Greek translation. Only in Palestine would there be congregations in which most of the members were Jewish Christians. The idea of the Church as the New Israel, the new People of God, was important in the early Church, as we have seen in the letters of Paul (e.g. Galatians 6: 16). It is not possible to come to a definite conclusion about which churches the letter was intended to reach. It could have been intended first for the churches of Palestine, if it originated in the Jerusalem church, but then could have been circulated to churches beyond. We take it to be a letter for general circulation wherever its contents, based on the sermons of James, the brother of the Lord, would be appreciated. Its content originated in teaching to Jewish Christians.

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