Sunday: James, the Brother of Jesus
The author of this letter must have been well known in the church because there is no more specific information in this letter as to who he is other than what we find in James 1:1: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Thus, we can narrow down the options of his identity pretty quickly. Four people in the New Testament are named James: there are two of the twelve disciples (Mark 3:17-18); there is the father of Judas (another of the twelve but not Judas Iscariot, Luke 6:16, NKJV) and one of Jesus’ brothers (Mark 6:3). Of these four, only the brother of Jesus lived long enough and was prominent enough in the church to have penned such a letter. Thus, we believe that it was James, the brother of Jesus, who authored this New Testament book.
As a carpenter’s son (Matt. 13:55), James would have had more educational opportunities than would a common peasant. His letter is among the best examples of literary Greek in the New Testament. Its rich vocabulary, rhetorical flair, and command of the Old Testament are surpassed only by Hebrews. Because his name appears first in the list of Jesus’ brothers, James was probably the oldest son. However, the fact that Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to John, the beloved disciple (John 19:26-27), suggests that His brothers were not Mary’s own children but the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage.
In the context of Jesus’ ministry read this verse: When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, He is out of his mind (Mark 3:21, NIV; see also John 7:2-5). What do these texts tell us about how Jesus had been perceived by His own family? What lessons can we draw from them for ourselves, if indeed at times we find ourselves misunderstood by those whom we love?
It was a false conception of the Messiah’s work, and a lack of faith in the divine character of Jesus, that had led His brothers to urge Him to present Himself publicly to the people at the Feast of Tabernacles.-Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 485, 486.
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Though His brothers had lack of faith and misconception of His Messiahship, Christ was still not deterred from living a holy life. He went on with His mission and though they misunderstood Him, He was bold enough to live a life they could later emulate.
That brings us to a question. How do we feel when we have been misunderstood by our loved ones? The best answer is at Jesus feet to learn the lesson of humility.
"the fact that Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to John, the beloved disciple (John 19:26-27), suggests that His brothers were not Mary’s own children but the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage."
I appreciate this insight from today's lesson. I've always wondered why Ellen White wrote that the brothers of Jesus were older. Here's the statement from Desire of Ages.
Larry, it seems to me from this comment that Joseph was a widower and thus much older than Mary. The older brothers would have been Joseph's from a previous marriage.
From the fact that God picked Joseph as Christ's foster father, so to speak, Joseph must have been a very godly man.
Where in the Scriptures can I get evidence that James was half brother of Jesus? How do we know that Joseph had biological children from another woman?
Makongoro, the line of evidence for James being a half brother of Jesus is traced in paragraph 2 of the lesson segment above.
As for Joseph having biological children from another woman - you won't find that in the Bible, and you don't have to believe it. For me, it explains some things regarding the brothers of Jesus and also the fact that Joseph apparently died some time before the crucifixion (because he was much older). Mary had no one to take care of her. So in some of his last words, Jesus entrusted his mother to the care of His beloved disciple John. (John 19:25-27)
If you appreciate the writings of Ellen White, you will find it helpful to read the whole chapter called "Days of Conflict" in Desire of Ages, beginning p. 84.
The comments about Joseph being a widower, and having children by a previous marriage is pure conjecture. Therefore, it I think it is a fallacy to promote this regardless of what Ellen White wrote. The idea of Mary as a perpetual virgin is a Roman Catholic doctrine, and if we (SDA) continue this fallacy we fall into the category of teaching lies. Why can't we just accept WHAT the Bible states and stop looking for explanations?
Just because something isn't stated in the Bible doesn't mean it is a fallacy.
This has no doctrinal weight. All it is is a reasonable conclusion based on the facts of the Bible:
1. Jesus is said to have brothers and sisters in the gospels.
2. Jesus was Mary's firstborn.
3. There was no one left to look after Mary and Jesus appointed John.
From this we can conclude that these brothers and sisters did not come from Mary's womb.
Furthermore, this would make them half brothers and half sisters in reality.
This is reasonable to conclude, but as Sis Anderson says, you don't have to believe it if you don't want to.
Also, neither the writer nor the SDA church has ever insisted that Mary remained or remains a perpetual virgin.
Firstly, we believe that Mary is in the grave, so questions of current virginity do not apply.
As for if she remained a virgin after Jesus' birth, we have no information to make a conclusion about that.
Matthew 1:25 seems to suggest that Joseph and Mary consummated their marriage after Jesus was born.
Matthew 1:24 Tells us that Josheph and Marry did not consummate their marriage until after Christ was born. As I understand from a few brief studies of the Hebrew traditions of the time it was an obligation of all young people to marry and bring up children. The marriage was not a result of romantic love as it is today and a woman who fell in love with her husband was considered to be fortunate. Consumating the marriage was not optional but an obligation and constituted the fundamental purpose of marrying. A man or couple who did not fulfill the obligations of marriage were outcasts and proof of fulfillment was required. An understanding of the culture is essential if we are to achieve the most accurate interpretations of scripture. Our ancestors 165 years ago did not have the educational advantages we do and we should not hesitate to correct error when we have studied sufficiently to be reasonably certain of the improvements. That is our obligation as scholars, as is our obligation to raise up Godly children by proscribed childrearing methods.
“As a carpenter’s son (Matt. 13:55), James would have had more educational opportunities than would a common peasant.” As an eldest son he probably would have had privileges that the rest of his brothers would not have had and that most likely would have included more education but just how much is a question. I think we need to remember that Joseph and Mary were not rich and lived in a very small little town. Even though their carpenter shop would have served many of the surrounding towns and villages they probably had no more means than the family of Peter who owned several fishing boats and Peter and his brothers are not presented in scripture as people with great educations.
Being educated under one of the theological greats as Paul was in Jerusalem took financial resources beyond what even the owner of a small business would have had. Not only did it require tuition but the student needed to be boarded and sustained away from home. Besides, that level of education was generally not required in the ancient world where the majority of employment involved working with their hands as craftsmen or farmers / ranchers. What James needed to know was how to maintain the family business and to that end he would have been given additional education probably mostly from his parents.
Therefore, to imply that James had a great education is to assume too much and as for the writing quality of his book has everyone forgot about scribes that were used abundantly by Bible writers? Many theologians and scholars who dig deeply into the ancient languages seem to forget that one point when they compare one text to another from a linguistic point of view.
At the time of writing which would have been some time after the Jerusalem council James was considered the presiding elder in the church just as the high priest in Judaism was or the Pope is in the Roman Catholic Church. A person in that kind of position would have had assistants and the availability of scribes in writing letters. Even Paul used scribes so should we rule that out in the case of James?
I agree with you. And some writers who had no formal education have left beautiful writings at times, like E.G.White and John Bunyan as far as I know.
"suggests that His brothers were not Mary’s own children but the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage"
I am not a Bible scholar, so this "previous" marriage comment is surprising.
Presumably His brothers lived in the same household with His mother
and father (if Joseph was still alive then), and their comments as
recorded John 7:5 were said in His presence, perhaps in their parents'
house; they were obviously nearby where Jesus was when they said what is in Mark 3:21. At this time, Jesus was in Galilee (where Nazareth is)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Ancient_Galilee.jpg
because the scribes came down from Jerusalem (Mark 3:22).
My question is this: where were these family members when Joseph
made the trek to Bethlehem? Where were they when Joseph, Mary, and
Jesus went down to Egypt?
How can we know?
They might have tagged along.
It is again not a point of doctrine. It is just a reasonable conclusion based on the facts of the entire story.
It looks to me like we don't have much to go on to determine the true identity of the writer of James. If there were four James we know about, how many more could there be that we don't know about. If it mattered much to God that we know, He would have made it clear.
We have to do the best we can with what we have. God will not be angry at us for this.
For a similar "problem" see this:
Was the "woman caught in adultery" Mary Magdalene? How do we know this?
Again, we do the best we can with what we have.
Inge, thank you for your prompt response to my question. Your answer has blessed me . I am somehow enlightened now. Stay blessed.
What does who James was, or whether Jesus had siblings from Joseph, have to do w/our salvation??
As far as "where were the
siblings when they went to Bethlehem & Egypt", I'm sure they were grown men by then.
Brief reply: then why bother discussing who James was (the first object of this quarter's lessons as outlined in the first Sabbath's reading).
Why bother asking whether this was the same James The Less as
mentioned in Mark 15:40?
If you want to present the Bible as absolute truth (and I have no doubt it is), then some things must be reconciled.
For example, points were made and evidence were presented to show these other children of Joseph were "older" than Jesus .. however, if they were Mary's children, then surely Mary wasn't a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. The very foundation becomes shaky.
The reconciliation was to say they were half siblings from a "previous" marriage. I have heard another explanation that they were cousins of Jesus. I don't really know (that's why I am very much interested in this quarter's lesson).
"Half siblings" .. this is fine, however, being half siblings brings up a question: why weren't they with him when he had to go to Bethlehem in
order to register for a census? Luke 2:1
Culturally, the father takes care of his family. Census registration
would require presence of the children, would it not?
Being cousins brings up yet another question, which I won't elaborate because that's not what the lesson says.
If Joseph was a widow when he married Mary (his bethroted)
do we say Joseph was a deadbeat dad/provider by leaving his other
children behind? Surely not.
Do we say Joseph divorced his first wife? (allowed by Moses Matthew 19:8).
What, then, is the explanation of why these other children were not
with him everywhere he went?
I believe it is acceptable to God for humans to search and seek.
Let us reason Isaiah 1:18 ... else show me where it is verboten
to validate Bible's truthfulness.
I believe they were Jesus' brothers (because Bible says they are his brothers) from Joseph's first wife not Mary, otherwise why would Jesus give Mary into John's care.
Why didn't they go to Bethlehem? Possibly because only adults were required to register. They could have been left with extended family or friends?
Jess, the simple explanation is that children grow up. Joseph could have been in his early 40's when he became betrothed to Mary. By that time, his children from a previous marriage could very well have established homes of their own.
It't not necessary to believe, by the way, that Mary remained a perpetual virgin. She may have had other children, but the Bible does not mention them. It is unlikely that younger brothers would have tried to influence Jesus to stop what he was doing. Younger children generally look up to the eldest in the family. But older brothers may very well have thought that they had the right to tell Jesus what to do.
Inge, thank you. In no way I meant to imply to Mary did not have other children. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. Thank you for taking the time to post.
Sibling relationships in ancient Israel were a bit more stringent than they are now. In that age there was a pecking order from the eldest son to the youngest and then to sisters and even their mother was considered under the dominion of the eldest son when he reached a certain age.
If its has no bibilical support then it must not be believed. We have started speculating about previous marriages of Joseph which strangely are not mentioned in the bible. This is the problem with some of our teachings. You hear people say only 10000 youths will enter heaven and they quote an obscure book. This is a problem and I think writers will do well by sticking to the bible alone. We had a difficult day because of the assumption that Joseph had married before without quoting a single scripture or any reference. Let us stick to the bible and the bible alone , if we are to bring in other books, they must be supported by the Bible.
It is important as we approach the end of the world that we need to remain vigilant. As in parable of the corn, the devil has infiltrated our church and is busy planting the tares. There is no biblical support for the statement that appeared in Sunday,s lesson indicating that Joseph had been married before Mary. Rather this thinking goes to support the belief system that continues to exalt Mary as a Virgin.
Be alert because the devil is fighting like a roaring lion seeking who to deceive.
Bupe, I think you would be correct if the question were on the order of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin” which to me is foolish speculation. Whether or not Jesus had older brothers or not has some importance in recognizing that, “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind (Mk 3:21 NIV). The importance of this is shown in the technical note of the NET Bible on this verse:
For the purposes of this discussion if the brothers of Jesus were not older then it would have been socially unacceptable in that culture for them to do what they intended to do and we probably would not have known the obstacles and stresses that Jesus faced from His own family and the fact that He had the same problems as we often have to deal with. As He said Himself, “a man's enemies will be those of his own household” (Mat 10:36 NKJV) and “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death” (Lk 21:16 NKJ) and again, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house” (Mat 13:57 NKJV).
Further, if we are to fully understand the miracle that happened when Mary became pregnant then we need to know that Mary at the time of conception was a virgin which means that she could not have had offspring older than Jesus. To me this is not foolish speculation but trying to understand the situation better, to make sense out of something that otherwise would make little or no sense. Besides, Ellen White who we hold as an inspired prophet backs up this idea of having older brothers, “Being older than Jesus, they felt that He should be under their dictation” (Desire of Ages, p. 97).
Does there not come a time that we should just use the common sense that God gave us....The Bible is the most logical book in the world...but...we do have to use a little/lot of help from the Holy Spirit and some common sense. The Bible clearly implies that the brothers were older...that Mary was a virgin...that Joseph was a godly man...If we can't put that together...then we might be lacking the most important...the indwelling of God's spirit.
Its possible also that when Jesus entrusted his mother to John he looked beyond physical care, of which Jesus looked on the spiritual part of his mother of which John would have helped by the help of God...
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
I have read all the comments regarding the question about the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Like many other people, we also had a long discussion on this topic. Some agreed that James was the older brother of Jesus and Joseph had children from previous wife, but most people strongly disagreed with this information because they wanted to see a biblical evidence about this.
I highly appreciate the writings of Ellen G. White and strongly believe that her writings are the inspired writings and hold the same authority as that of the canonical writers. I strongly believe in the Bible and if there is anything that I cannot comprehend from the scriptures I read the explanation of E.G.White with the help of the Holy Spirit and then things become more clear to me. Regarding this view about the brothers of Jesus I believe that the following statement of Ellen G. White is strong enough for me to believe that the brothers of Jesus were older than Jesus and the fact that they were older than Jesus makes it very clear that these brothers were not from Mary because Jesus was the first born of Mary. NOTE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT OF E.G.White also quoted by Larry and Tyler:
"All this displeased His brothers. Being older than Jesus, they felt that He should be under their dictation. They charged Him with thinking Himself superior to them, and reproved Him for setting Himself above their teachers and the priests and rulers of the people. Often they threatened and tried to intimidate Him; but He passed on, making the Scriptures His guide. {DA 87.2}"
This evidence is big enough for me to believe that the brothers of Jesus were older than him but I am going to make more deeper search on this subject with the help of Holy Spirit by studying the scriptures and the writings of E.G.White more comprehensively. God bless you!
thank you brethren its very true th
at Joseph was widowed when he married Mary
When I look at sibling rivalry in the scripture, you can see the brokenness of family. Cain and Able. Noah's sons, Ishmael and Isaac. The Sons of Jacob,with their hatred to Joseph.King Davids Sons killing one another.
And I and my own brothers.They think me out of my mind for choosing Christ.
Matt25: And he did not know her till she brought forth her first born Son .....Jesus. Scripture tells us they were poor.Swaddling clothes manger. Not enough money to get a room and no one to take them in.
After Jesus birth Joseph knew Mary. Does not say she was barren. We are told Jesus brothers and sisters. If Jesus was say 30 years when he started ministry
James could be 28/29 Joses 27/28 Simon 25/26 Judas 24/25 and sisters???
They had no birth control , and a large family was considered a blessing.
Remember Jesus is the Son of God and he was envied,reviled, there was jealousy and hatred even in his own family.How many children respect a parent less a self righteous OLDER BROTHER. People prefer Sin (a bit of fun so they think)
Mary was alone at Jesus crucifixion and Jesus told John To take her in.
Jesus family abandoned him as many disciples did at that event.
I have to reject any theory then that Jesus brothers were from a previous marriage. A full study of Gods complete word always gives us the answers that God wants to reveal to us. Scripture alone.
Hi John, I agree on Scripture alone. How does your understanding of Scripture support Mary having children after Jesus any more or less than Joseph having children from a previous marriage?