James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( from , and , , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was, according to the New Testament, a brother of Jesus. James was personally known to Paul the Apostle (Gal 1:19). He was the first leader of the Church of Jerusalem. James was martyred, though the year and manner were disputed; Josephus records his death in 62 AD by being stoned to death on the order of High Priest Ananus ben Ananus, while Hegesippus places his death in 69 AD by being thrown off the pinnacle of the Temple by scribes and Pharisees and then clubbed to death. James, Joses, Simon, and Judas are mentioned as the brothers of Jesus as well as two or more unnamed sisters. (See Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3.)
Catholics, Orthodox and some Protestants teach that James and others named in the New Testament as brothers of Jesus were not the biological children of Mary, mother of Jesus, but were cousins of Jesus, or step-brothers from a previous marriage of Joseph (as related in the non-canonical Gospel of James).Origen of Alexandria. "The Brethren of Jesus". Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.17 in Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume IX. Retrieved 2008-09-18. "But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel according to Peter, as it is entitled, or 'The Book of James', that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honour of Mary in virginity to the end..." Others consider James to be the son of Mary and Joseph.
The Catholic tradition holds that this James is to be identified with James, son of Alphaeus, and James the Less. It is agreed by most that he should not be confused with James, son of Zebedee also known as James the Great.
Epithet Eusebius records that Clement of Alexandria related, "This James, whom the people of old called the Just because of his outstanding virtue, was the first, as the record tells us, to be elected to the episcopal throne of the Jerusalem church."The brother of Jesus: James the Just and his mission p.33 Bruce Chilton, Jacob Neusner – 2001 p. 34: "It is unlikely that he restricts his reference to him because he is soon to quote from Hegesippus' account ... Another tradition transmitted by Clement made James the Just, Cephas, and John the recipients of secret knowledge."Haase, Wolfgang. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: (ANRW) : Geschichte 21 -26 p801, 1992, "In the latter, which according to Eusebius, Hegesippus knew (HE IV.22.8), no explanation is given for the title; it merely says that the risen Jesus gave bread to "James the Just and said to him, My brother ..."Painter, John. Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition p. 115, 2005 "Eusebius' language in the earlier summary (2.1.2) suggests that Clement was not the first to do so because the people of old had named James "the Just." He later quotes Hegesippus' account of the martyrdom of James..." Other epithets are "James the brother of the Lord, surnamed the Just", and "James the Righteous".
He is sometimes referred to in Eastern Christianity as "James Adelphotheos" (), meaning "James the Brother of God". The oldest surviving Christian liturgy, the Liturgy of St James, uses this epithet.Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, chapter 4, § 27. James the Brother of the Lord: "And in the Liturgy of St. James, the brother of Jesus is raised to the dignity of "the brother of the very God".
Leader of the Jerusalem Church Jerusalem Church
The Jerusalem Church was an early Christian community located in Jerusalem, of which James and Peter were leaders. The predominant place and residence of James in the city are implied by Galatians 1:19. Clement of Alexandria, as recorded by Eusebius, says: "Peter and James and John, after the Saviour's ascension, though pre-eminently honored by the Lord, did not contend for glory, but made James the Just bishop of Jerusalem."Clement of Alexandria, Hypotyposes, 6, quoted in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 2.1.3 (ANF 2:579; cf. NPNF2 1:104)
According to Eusebius, the Jerusalem church escaped to Pella during the siege of Jerusalem by the future Emperor Titus in 70 AD and afterwards returned, having a further series of Jewish bishops until the Bar Kokhba revolt in 130 AD. Following the second destruction of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the city as Aelia Capitolina, subsequent bishops were Greeks."Jerusalem in Early Christian Thought" p75 Explorations in a Christian theology of pilgrimage ed Craig G. Bartholomew, Fred Hughes
Leader
James the Just was "from an early date, with Peter, a leader of the Church at Jerusalem and from the time when Peter left Jerusalem after Herod Agrippa's attempt to kill him, James appears as the principal authority who presided at the Council of Jerusalem."
The Pauline epistles and the later chapters of the Acts of the Apostles portray James as an important figure in the Jewish Christian community of Jerusalem. When Paul arrives in Jerusalem to deliver the money he raised for the faithful there, it is to James that he speaks, and it is James who insists that Paul ritually cleanse himself at Herod's Temple to prove his faith and deny rumors of teaching rebellion against the Torah (Acts 21:18). This was a charge of antinomianism. In Paul's account of his visit to Jerusalem in Galatians 1:18-19, he states that he stayed with Cephas (better known as Peter) and James, the brother of the Lord, was the only other apostle he met.
Paul describes James as being one of the persons to whom the risen Christ showed himself, (1 Corinthians 15:3–8). In Galatians 2:9, Paul mentions James with Cephas (Peter) and John the Apostle as the three Pillars of the Church. Paul describes these pillars as the ones who will minister to the "circumcised" (in general Jews and Jewish Proselytes) in Jerusalem, while Paul and his fellows will minister to the "uncircumcised" (in general Gentiles) (Galatians 2:12), after a debate in response to concerns of the Christians of Antioch. The Antioch community was concerned over whether Gentile Christians need be circumcised to be saved, and sent Paul and Barnabas to confer with the Jerusalem church. James played a prominent role in the formulation of the council's decision. James was the last named figure to speak, after Peter, Paul, and Barnabas; he delivered what he called his "decision" (Acts 15:13-21). The original sense is closer to "opinion".Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993); See also Strong's G2919 James supported them all in being against the requirement (Peter had cited his earlier revelation from God regarding Gentiles) and suggested prohibitions about eating blood as well as meat sacrificed to idols and fornication. This became the ruling of the council, agreed upon by all the apostles and elders and sent to the other churches by letter.
Modern interpretation The Encyclopædia Britannica relates that "James the Lord's brother was a Christian apostle, according to St. Paul, although not one of the original Twelve Apostles." According to Protestant theologian Philip Schaff, James seems to have taken the place of James the son of Zebedee, after his martyrdom, around 44 AD.
Modern historians of the early Christian churches tend to place James in the tradition of Jewish Christianity; whereas Paul emphasized faith over observance of Mosaic Law, James is thought to have espoused the opposite position.
According to Schaff, James was the local head of the oldest church and the leader of the most conservative portion of Jewish Christianity. Scholar James D. G. Dunn has proposed that Peter was the "bridge-man" between the two other "prominent leading figures", Paul and James the Just.The Canon Debate, McDonald & Sanders editors, 2002, chapter 32, page 577, by James D. G. Dunn: "For Peter was probably in fact and effect the bridge-man (pontifex maximus!) who did more than any other to hold together the diversity of first-century Christianity. James the brother of Jesus, and Paul, the two other most prominent leading figures in first-century Christianity, were too much identified with their respective "brands" of Christianity, at least in the eyes of Christians at the opposite ends of this particular spectrum. But Peter, as shown particularly by the Antioch episode in Galatians 2, had both a care to hold firm to his Jewish heritage, which Paul lacked, and an openness to the demands of developing Christianity, which James lacked [...] Others could link the developing new religion more firmly to its founding events and to Jesus himself. But none of them, including the rest of the twelve, seem to have played any role of continuing significance for the whole sweep of Christianity—though James the brother of John might have proved an exception had he been spared." [Italics original]
Sources Apart from a handful of references in the synoptic Gospels, the main sources for the life of James the Just are the Pauline epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, Josephus, Eusebius and Jerome, the last two of which also quote the early Christian chronicler Hegesippus, and Epiphanius.Wilhelm Schneemelcher, Neutestamentarische Apokryphen. In deutscher Übersetzung: 2 Bde., Mohr Siebeck; 1999, Vol. 1, p. 363 There is no mention of James in the Gospel of John or the early portions of the Acts of the Apostles. The Synoptics mention his name, but provide no further information.
In the extant lists of Pseudo-Hippolytus of Rome, Dorotheus of Tyre, the Chronicon Paschale, and Dimitry of Rostov, he is the first of the Seventy Apostles though some sources, such as the Catholic Encyclopedia, state that "these lists are unfortunately worthless".
Josephus
According to Josephus, in his work Antiquities of the Jews (Book 20, Chapter 9, 1), refers to the stoning of "James the brother of Jesus" by order of Ananus ben Ananus, a Herodian-era High Priest.
The James referred to in this passage is most likely the James to whom the Epistle of James has been attributed. The translations of Josephus' writing into other languages have at times included passages that are not found in the Greek texts, raising the possibility of interpolation, but this passage on James is found in all manuscripts, including the Greek texts.
The context of the passage is the period following the death of Porcius Festus, and the journey to Alexandria by Lucceius Albinus, the new Roman Procurator of Judea, who held that position from 62 AD to 64 AD. Because Albinus' journey to Alexandria had to have concluded no later than the summer of 62 AD, the date of James' death can be assigned with some certainty to around that year. The 2nd century chronicler Hegesippus also left an account of the death of James, and while the details he provides diverge from those of Josephus, the two accounts share similar elements.
Modern scholarship has almost universally acknowledged the authenticity of the reference to "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James" (τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ λεγομένου Χριστοῦ, Ἰάκωβος ὄνομα αὐτῷ) and has rejected it being the result of later Christian interpolation.Richard Bauckham states that although a few scholars have questioned this passage, "the vast majority have considered it to be authentic" . Moreover, in comparison with Hegesippus' account of James' death, most scholars consider Josephus' to be the more historically reliable. Some scholars have noted Josephus is more sympathetic to James than to his brother.Bermejo-Rubio, Fernando. "Was the Hypothetical 'Vorlage' of the 'Testimonium Flavianum' a 'Neutral' Text? Challenging the Common Wisdom on 'Antiquitates Judaicae' 18.63-64." Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period, vol. 45, no. 3, Brill, 2014, pp. 326–65. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
New Testament