ANCIENT INDIVIDUALS
The New Testament mentions the name of James more than 40 times (and if one includes the Hebraic form “Jacob,” it is more than 60 times). Most commentators accept the fact that one of those named James is a sibling of Jesus. Several factors suggest that Jesus’ brothers and sisters (Matt. 13:35) were older than Him. First, Joseph does not appear in any account of Jesus’ adult life, which implies that he had already died. Joseph, as an older man, would have already had a family when he married Mary. Thus, the brothers would be stepbrothers, further supported by the fact that Jesus is called the son of Mary but not the other brothers (v. 35). Second, Jesus’ brothers had come to urge him to attend the Feast of Tabernacles with them (John 7:3-5). Ina society that ascribed authority to age and family position, it would again seem that they must be older than him. Finally, before His death, Jesus gives the care of Mary to John (John 19:25-27). If the brothers had been biological children of Mary, they would have been responsible in ancient society for her support.
Before Jesus’ resurrection, his brothers did not believe in His messiahship (John 7:5; cf. Mark. 3:21, 31–35). James’ conversion might have taken place when Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:7). Scripture indicates that James and his other siblings were with the disciples in the Upper Room before the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14).
Soon afterward, however, he seemed to have become the organizational leader of the Jerusalem church. Such leadership possibly transferred to him when Peter had to leave to escape persecution from the religious authorities (Acts 12:17). Paul noted his visit with James (whom he refers to as “the Lord’s brother” in Gal. 1:19). There are clear implications that the early believers regarded James as one of the apostles. Galatians 2:9 lists him with Peter and John as a “pillar” of the church, and along with the other two apostolic pillars, he was a champion of the poor.
At the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, James served as the presider (Acts 15:13–21). He resolved the circumcision debate based on the testimony of Scripture and that given at the Council. At the end ofPaul’s third missionary journey, Paul visited with James and other elders and accepted their urgings to perform the Jewish customs of purification to reassure those who had doubts about his faithfulness to the law.
Avigorous debate surrounds the authorship of the epistle bearing James’s name. Many scholars believe that the internal and external evidence points to James, the brother of Jesus, even though the document does not identify him as such.
Within a couple of generations, the influence of James seemed to have disappeared in orthodox Christianity though a few traditions remained strong, one of which holds that he was the first bishop and leader of the church. The fourth-century historian Eusebius reported that Peter, James, and John appointed him as the first bishop after the martyrdom of Stephen. Besides, the Nag Hammadi tractates name him as the successor of Jesus and the leader of the Jerusalem church.
James’s martyrdom in 62 A.D., at the command of the high priest (or Sanhedrin), places him in the select company of early Christian martyrs such as Jesus Stephen and James, the son of Zebedee. The tradition of the martyrdom of James comes to us from as early as the historical records of his contemporary historian, Josephus. Eusebius also reported various traditions presented by Clement of Alexandria and Hegesippus. They taught that either James was thrown from the parapet of the temple and stoned (Josephus and Hegesippus), or beaten to death with a club (Clement). Other early church traditions suggest that the death of James removed the protecting presence of God over the Jewish nation and led to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
As a towering figure in the early apostolic church, James gained recognition for his “excessive righteousness” (Hegesippus). Thus, he acquired the title “James the Just (or, Righteous).” When the Jerusalem church became a Gentile church in c. 135 AD, the image and influence of James began to fade.
In 2002 an ossuary came to light with the inscription, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Some saw it as the earliest archeological evidence regarding James. However, most scholars have deemed the inscription as a forgery.