The 3 Jameses
Gospel of Thomas
(12) The disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?”
Jesus said to them, “Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.”
Jesus nominates James as a teacher as he understood the most about the teachings of Christ.
The NT mentions five who bore the name of James.
Tradition attributes the authorship of the letter to James the brother of the Lord, who was probably favored with a special appearance of the risen Christ (1 Cor. 15:7) and who from a very early date occupied a leading position in the church at Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; Gal 1:19). Paul names him first among the three “pillars” (Gal 2:9). In Acts 15 he is described as the leader and chief spokesman of the Apostolic Council.
All that is known of him shows that he was highly esteemed not only by Christians but also by unbelieving Jews. According to Josephus, he was put to death by the high priest in the interregnum between the death of Festus and the arrival of his successor Albinus in A.D. 62.
Both Matthew (13:55) and Mark (6:3) connect him with Jesus alongside a list of his other siblings, including: Joseph, Simon, and Judas (Jude). In Galatians (1:19; 2:9, 12) Paul writes that this James is an apostle and leader of the church in Jerusalem. Paul also tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:7 that this James was a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, in Acts (15:13-21) we find James leading the church in response to how the Gentiles ought to live according to the gospel, as well as another encounter with Paul where he listens to reports of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles (Acts 21:18, 19). We also learn from other places in Scripture, like John 7:3-5, that Jesus’ brothers, James included, were not believers during the time of his earthly ministry.
- He grew up with Jesus
- Doubted his brother’s claim to be the Messiah but still followed him
- Witnessed the resurrection
- Became an apostle and leader of the church in Jerusalem
- Authored the epistle that bears his name
James' Followers
Ebionites (Greek: Ἐβιωναῖοι, Ebionaioi, derived from Hebrew אביונים ebyonim, ebionim, meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect who were vegetarians, viewed poverty as holy, believed in ritual ablutions, and rejected animal sacrifices.
Matthew 1:16
16and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
Luke 3:23
23Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli,
James the Just
Why is James called the just?
He was the chief spokesman for the Jerusalem church at the Council of Jerusalem regarding Paul's mission to the Gentiles (Acts 15:13) and final visit to Jerusalem (Acts 21:18). Later tradition records that James was called “the Just” and was noted for his fulfillment of Jewish law.
The English name "James" comes from the same root as the name "Jacob": the Hebrew name "Ya'akov" (יעקב). Ya'akov was first translated into Greek as "Ιakobos" (Iάκωβος), then Latinized as "Jacobus," which became Jacomus, and later James.
In describing James' ascetic lifestyle, Saint Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, quotes Hegesippus' account of James from the fifth book of Hegesippus' lost Commentaries:
"After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was holy from his mother's womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no flesh, never shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed. He alone had the privilege of entering the Holy of Holies, since indeed he did not use woolen vestments but linen and went alone into the temple and prayed in behalf of the people, insomuch that his knees were reputed to have acquired the hardness of camels' knees."[5]
Since it was unlawful for any but the high priest of the temple to enter the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kippur, Jerome's quotation from Hegesippus indicates that James was considered a high priest. The Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions suggest this.[6]
Some apocryphal gospels testify to the reverence Jewish followers of Jesus (like the Ebionites) had for James. The Gospel of the Hebrews fragment 21 relates the risen Jesus' appearance to James. The Gospel of Thomas (one of the works included in the Nag Hammadi library), saying 12, relates that the disciples asked Jesus, "We are aware that you will depart from us. Who will be our leader?" Jesus said to him, "No matter where you come [from] it is to James the Just that you shall go, for whose sake heaven and earth have come to exist."
Modern historians of the early Christian church tend to place James in the tradition of Jewish Christianity; where Paul emphasized faith over observance of Mosaic Law, which he considered a burden, James is thought to have espoused the opposite position which is derogatively called Judaizing. One corpus commonly cited as proof of this are the Recognitions and Homilies of Clement (also known as the Clementine literature), versions of a novel that has been dated to as early as the 2nd century, where James appears as a saintly figure who is assaulted by an unnamed enemy some modern critics think may be Paul.
James the Lesser
In the New Testament, the name "James" identifies multiple men. James the Less is named only in connection with his mother "Mary", who is also the mother of Joseph, who is called Joses by Mark (Joseph and Joses are variants of the same name). There are four mentions:
"Mary, the mother of James and Joseph" (Matthew 27:56);
"Mary, the mother of James the younger and of Joses" (Mark 15:40) ("James the younger" here has also been translated "James the less");
"Mary, the mother of James" (Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:10).
This "Mary" may have been Mary of Clopas, mentioned only in John 19:25. It is unlikely to be Mary the mother of Jesus since she is not identified as Jesus' mother but only called the mother of James the Less and Joseph/Joses. In Matthew 27:56 she is clearly distinguished from the mother of James, son of Zebedee.
James the Greater (St. James)
James, son of Zebedee
Order of Santiago
Magical Stone Boat
Saint James the Less, as depicted in the Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD)
According to Jerome, James the Less is identified with James the brother of Jesus and with James, the son of Alphaeus.
Jerome first tells that James the Less must be identified with James, the son of Alphaeus.
No one doubts that there were two apostles called by the name James, James the son of Zebedee, and James the son of Alphaeus... The only conclusion is that the Mary who is described as the mother of James the Less was the wife of Alphaeus and sister of Mary the Lord's mother, the one who is called by John the Evangelist Mary of Clopas, whether after her father, or kindred, or for some other reason.[1]
After that, James the Less being the same as James, the son of Alphaeus, Jerome describes in his work called De Viris Illustribus that James "the brother of the Lord" is the same as James, son of Alphaeus:
James, who is called the brother of the Lord, surnamed the Just, the son of Joseph by another wife, as some think, but, as appears to me, the son of Mary, sister of the mother of our Lord "Mary of Cleophas" of whom John makes mention in his book.(John 19:25)[2]
Thus, Jerome concludes that James the Less, James, son of Alphaeus and James the brother of Jesus are one and the same person.
According to the Golden Legend, which is a collection of hagiographies, compiled by Jacobus de Varagine in the thirteenth century:
James the Apostle is said the Less, how well that was the elder of age than was St. James the More. He was called also the brother of our Lord, because I have resembled much well our Lord in body, in visage, and of manner. He was called James the Just for his right great holiness. He was also called James the son of Alphaeus. He sang in Jerusalem the first mass that ever was there, and he was first bishop of Jerusalem.[3]
The same work adds "Simon Cananean and Judas Thaddeus were brethren of James the Less and sons of Mary Cleophas, which was married to Alpheus."[4][5]
Statue of Saint James the Minor, Apostle, at the church of the Palace of Mafra, Portugal
The title, "the Less", is used to differentiate James from other people named James. Since it means that he is either the younger or shorter of two, he seems to be compared to one other James. In the lists of the twelve apostles in the synoptic Gospels, there are two apostles called James, who are differentiated there by their fathers: James, son of Zebedee, and James, son of Alphaeus. Long-standing tradition identifies James, the son of Alphaeus, as James the Less. James, son of Zebedee, is then called "James the Great" (although that designation does not appear in the New Testament). Some propose that Alphaeus was the same man as Cleophas or at least the husband of Mary Clopas.
In this regard, Jerome identified James the Less with James, son of Alpheus writing in his work called The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary the following:
Do you intend the comparatively unknown James the Less, who is called in Scripture the son of Mary, not however of Mary the mother of our Lord, to be an apostle, or not? If he is an apostle, he must be the son of Alphæus and a believer in Jesus, ‘For neither did his brethren believe in him.’ The only conclusion is that the Mary who is described as the mother of James the Less was the wife of Alphæus and sister of Mary the Lord's mother, the one who is called by John the Evangelist 'Mary of Clopas'.[6]
Papias of Hierapolis, who lived circa 70–163 AD, in the surviving fragments of his work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord relates that Mary, wife of Alphaeus is mother of James the Less:
Mary, mother of James the Less and Joseph, wife of Alphaeus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord, whom John names of Cleophas.[7]
Therefore, James, son of Alphaeus would be the same as James the Less.
In Catholic tradition, James's mother is none other than Mary of Clopas who was among the women at the foot of the Cross of Jesus, weeping. For that reason, and given the fact that the Semitic word for brother is also used for other close relatives, James son of Alpheus is often held as a cousin to Jesus. He is also thought by some to be the brother of Matthew the Apostle, since the father of both was named Alphaeus (compare Mark 2:14 and 3:18).
Modern Biblical scholars are divided on whether this identification is correct. Catholic priest and biblical scholar John Paul Meier finds it unlikely.[8] Amongst evangelicals, the New Bible Dictionary supports the traditional identification,[9] while Don Carson[10] and Darrell L. Bock[11] both regard the identification as possible, but not certain.
