05_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 01/04/14 12:04 Pagina 101 101 JAMES 2,14-26 SUMMARY The main goal of this essay is to demonstrate that the author of the Letter of James knows how to reason according to the rules of arrangement then in place in the schools and elsewhere, rules that he uses with originality. His rhetoric is not Semitic: for him, Greek is not only a language or a style but also what structures the development of his thought. The choice of a chreia as the pattern of arrangement allowed him to repeat an opinion that had be- come common in some Christian communities and criticize it, showing that it was erroneous. By presenting this common opinion as a maxim (gnw,hh), he did not need to cite Paul and thereby avoided attributing to him what was only an erroneous recapitulation of his doctrine of justification.