James the Just
The “brother of the Lord” who led the church in Jerusalem from the 40s until his death. In Acts he gives the deciding judgement at the council of Jerusalem. Josephus reports that he was stoned by order of the high priest Ananus, in AD 62.
Mark and Matthew name James first among the brothers of Jesus (Mark 6:3) (Matthew 13:55). Paul lists him among those to whom the risen Christ appeared, met him on his first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion, calls him “the Lord’s brother”, and names him with Cephas and John as those “reputed to be pillars” (1 Corinthians 15:7) (Galatians 1:19) (Galatians 2:9). In Acts he is the leading figure of the Jerusalem church from the time of Peter’s escape from prison: he gives the judgement at the Council of Jerusalem and receives Paul on his last visit (Acts 12:17) (Acts 15:13–21) (Acts 21:18). The New Testament letter of James opens in the name of “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”, without saying which James is meant (James 1:1).
Josephus says that the high priest Ananus had “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James” condemned and stoned, in the interval between two Roman governors (Josephus, Antiquities 20.200); on the year, AD 62, see the Death of James, the Brother of the Lord. Hegesippus, a Christian writer of the second century quoted by Eusebius, says that everyone called him “the Just” (Eusebius, Church History 2.23.4–7). Early Christians explained the word “brother” in three ways: Helvidius, as Jerome reports him, took the brothers of Jesus to be younger children of Mary and Joseph, and Jerome argued that they were cousins (Jerome, Against Helvidius 13–17); a second-century narrative makes Joseph an old man who already had children (Protoevangelium of James 9).
He is not James Son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve, whom Herod Agrippa put to death (Acts 12:2).
In the timeline
- about AD 49, estimated dateThe Council of Jerusalem
Acts tells how Paul and Barnabas go up from Antioch to Jerusalem to settle whether Gentile believers must be circumcised, and how the apostles and elders decide that they need not be. Whether the meeting Paul describes in Galatians is the same one is disputed.
- about AD 49, estimated datePaul Opposes Peter at Antioch
Paul tells the Galatians how Cephas, who had been eating with Gentile believers at Antioch, withdrew when people came from James, and how he rebuked him in front of everyone. Whether this came before or after the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 is disputed.
- AD 62, firm dateThe Death of James, the Brother of the Lord
While Judaea is between Roman governors, the high priest Ananus has James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, condemned and stoned. Josephus records it within a generation; Christian writers a century later tell a fuller story.
Primary sources
Scripture
Jewish Antiquities
- Josephus, Antiquities 20.200lexundria.com
Church History
- Eusebius, Church History 2.23.4–7newadvent.org