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See also: 17, Jesus himself gave to the two See also:brothers . But its most natural See also:interpretation is to be found in the impetuous disposition which would have called down See also:fire from See also:heaven on the offending Samaritan villagers (Luke ix . 54), and afterwards found expression, though in a different way, in the ambitious See also:request to occupy the places of See also:honour in Christ's See also:kingdom (Mark x . 35 seq.) . James is included among those who after the See also:ascension waited at See also:Jerusalem (Acts i . 13) for the descent of the See also:Holy See also:Ghost on the See also:day of See also:Pentecost . And though on this occasion only his name is mentioned, he must have been a zealous and prominent member of the See also:Christian community, to See also:judge from the fact that when a victim had to be chosen from among the apostles, who should be sacrificed to the animosity of the See also:Jews, it was on James that the See also:blow See also:fell first . The brief See also:notice is given in Acts xii . 1, 2 . See also:Eusebius (Hist . Eccl. ii . 9) has preserved for us from See also:Clement of See also:Alexandria the additional See also:information that the accuser of the apostle " beholding his See also:confession and moved thereby, confessed that he too was a Christian . So they were both led away to See also:execution together; and on the road the accuser asked James for forgiveness . Gazing on him for a little while, he said, ` See also:Peace be with thee,' and kissed him . And then both were beheaded together." The later, and wholly untrustworthy, legends which tell of the apostle's See also:preaching in See also:Spain, and of the See also:translation of his See also:body to See also:Santiago de Compostela, are to be found in the Acta Sanctorum (See also:July 25), vi . 1—124; see also Mrs See also:Jameson's Sacred and Legendary See also:Art, i . 230-241 . 2 . JAMES, the son of Alphaeus . He also was one of the apostles, and is mentioned in all the four lists (Matt. x . 3; Mark iii . 18; Luke vi . 15; Acts i . 13) by this name . We know nothing further regarding him, unless we believe him to be the same as James " the little." 3 . JAMES, the little . He is described as the son of a See also:Mary (Matt. See also:xxvii . 56; Mark xv . 40), who was in all See also:probability the wife of Clopas (John xix . 25) . And on the ground that Clopas is another See also:form of the name Alphaeus, this James has been ,thought by some to be the same as 2 . But the See also:evidence of the See also:Syriac versions, which render Alphaeus by Chalphai, while Clopas is simply transliterated Kleopha, makes it extremely improbable that the two names are to be identified . And as we have no better ground for finding in Clopas the Cleopas of Luke See also:xxiv . 18, we must be content to admit that James the little is again an almost wholly unknown See also:personality, and has no connexion with any of the other Jameses mentioned in the New Testament . 4 . JAMES, the See also:father of Judas . There can be no doubt that in the mention of " Judas of James " in Luke vi . 16 the ellipsis should be supplied by " the son " and not as in the A.V. by " the brother " (cf . Luke iii . 1, vi . 14; Acts xii . 2, where the word 1s&X06s is inserted) . This Judas, known as Thaddaeus by See also:Matthew and Mark, afterwards became one of the apostles, and is expressly distinguished by St John from the traitor as " not Iscariot " (John xiv . 22) . 5 . JAMES, the See also:Lord's brother . In Matt. xiii . 55 and Mark Vi .
3 we read of a certain James as, along with Joses and Judas and See also:Simon, a " brother " of the Lord
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The exact nature of the relationship there implied has been the subject of much discussion
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See also:Jerome's view (de vir. See also:ill
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2), that the " brothers " were in reality See also:cousins, " sons of Mary the See also:sister of the Lord's See also:mother," rests on too many unproved assumptions to be entitled to much See also:weight, and may be said to have been finally disposed of by See also:Bishop See also:Lightfoot in his See also:essay on " The Brothers of the Lord " (See also:Galatians, pp
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252 sqq., See also:Dissertations on the Apostolic See also:Age, pp. r sqq.)
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Even however if we understand the word " brethren " in its natural sense, it may be applied either to the sons of See also:Joseph by a former wife, in which See also:case they would be the step-brothers of Jesus, or to sons See also:born to Joseph and Mary after the See also:birth of Jesus
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The former of these views, generally known as the Epiphanian view from its most zealous See also:advocate in the 4th See also:century, can claim for its support the preponderating See also:voice of tradition (see the catena of references given by Lightfoot, loc. cit., who himself inclines to this view)
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On the other See also:hand the Helvidian theory as propounded by Helvidius, and apparently accepted by See also:Tertullian (cf. adv
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Marc. iv
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29), which makes James a brother of the Lord, as truly as Mary was his mother, undoubtedly seems more in keeping with the See also:direct statements of the Gospels, and also with the after See also:history of the brothers in the See also: In any case, whatever the exact nature of James's antecedents, there can be no question as to the important place which he occupied in the See also:early Church . Converted to a full belief in the living Lord, perhaps through the See also:special See also:revelation that was granted to him (r See also:Cor. xv . 7), he became the recognized See also:head of the Church at Jerusalem (Acts xii . 17, xv . 13, xxi . 18), and is called by St See also:Paul (Gal. ii . 9), along with Peter and John, a "See also:pillar" of the Christian community . He was traditionally the author of the See also:epistle in the New Testament which bears his name (see JAMES, EPISTLE OF) . From the New Testament we learn no more of the history of James the Lord's brother, but Eusebius (Hist . Eccl. ii . 23) has preserved for us from See also:Hegesippus the earliest ecclesiastical traditions concerning him . By that authority he is described as having been a See also:Nazarite, and on See also:account of his eminent righteousness called " Just " and " Oblias." So See also:great was his See also:influence with the See also:people that he was appealed to by the See also:scribes and See also:Pharisees for a true and (as they hoped) unfavourable See also:judgment about the Messiahship of Christ . Placed, to give the greater publicity to his words, on a See also:pinnacle of the See also:temple, he, when solemnly appealed to, made confession of his faith, and was at once thrown down and murdered . This happened immediately before the See also:siege . See also:Josephus (Antiq. xx . 9, 1) tells that it was by See also:order of Ananus the high See also:priest, in the See also:interval between the See also:death of See also:Festus and the arrival of his successor See also:Albinus, that James was put to death; and his narrative gives the See also:idea of some sort of judicial examination, for he says that along with some others James was brought before an See also:assembly of See also:judges, by whom they were condemned and deliyered to be stoned . Josephus is also cited by Eusebius (Hist . Eccl. ii . 23) to the effect that the miseries of the siege were due to divine vengeance for the See also:murder of James . Later writers describe James as an, hriaimros (Clem . Al. apud Eus . Hist . Ecc. ii . I) and even as an E7r Lo Ko ro E7rLQK07rwV (Clem . Hem., ad init.) . According to Eusebius (Hist . Feel. vii . 19) his episcopal See also:chair was still shown at Jerusalem at the See also:time when Eusebius wrote . |
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