the text is framed as an epistle (i.e. a letter) from james to someone else whose name is obscured by the damage to the text. the author describes jesus expanding on various sayings and answering questions 550 days after the resurrection, but before the ascension. both james and peter are given secret instruction, but at the end only james appears to understand what has happened. (as with the gospel of john 1–20 and the gospel of mary, in this book peter has implicitly failed the christian movement).