Everything about James The Less totally explained
James, son of Alphaeus was one of the
Twelve Apostles of
Jesus of
Nazareth. He is generally identified with
James the Less, and is more commonly known by that name in church tradition.
St James, the son of Alphaeus is rarely mentioned in the New Testament, but he's sometimes identified with
James the Just, an important leader in the New Testament church. He is clearly distinguished from
James, son of Zebedee, another one of the Twelve Apostles.
Identity
Possible identity of James son of Alphaeus and James the Less
James, son of Alphaeus, only appears four times in the
New Testament, each time in a list of the twelve apostles.
St James the Less is only mentioned three times, each time in connection with his mother. refers to "
Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses", while and refer to "
Mary the mother of James".
Since there was already a more prominent James (
James, son of Zebedee) among the twelve apostles, equating James son of Alphaeus with James the Less made sense. (James son of Zebedee was sometimes called "James the Greater"). However, it also made it imperative to identify
Clopas, the husband of Mary, with Alphaeus, the father of the Apostle James. (For the argument on this, see
Alphaeus.) This identification was accepted by early church leaders and, therefore, tradition knows him more commonly as
Saint James the Less.
Modern Biblical scholars are divided on whether this identification is correct.
John Paul Meier finds it unlikely. Amongst evangelicals, the
New Bible Dictionary supports the traditional identification, while
Don Carson and
Darrell Bock both regard the identification as possible, but not certain.
Possible identity with James the Just
James the Just (a brother of Jesus) served for thirty years as head of the Church at Jerusalem and was killed in 62 AD. The identification of James son of Alphaeus with the brother of Jesus was supported by
Jerome and therefore widely accepted in the
Roman Catholic Church, while
Eastern Orthodox and
Protestant churches tend to distinguish between "James son of Alphaeus" and "James the brother of the Lord".
Possible brother of Matthew
Alphaeus is also the name of the father of
Matthew the Evangelist (also known as Levi) in . So it's possible that James and Matthew were brothers. But there's no Biblical account of the two being called brothers, even in the same context where John and James or Peter and Andrew are described as being brothers.
Tradition
A tradition holds that St James, though strongly clinging to Jewish law, was sentenced to death for having violated the
Torah. This however, is highly unlikely as the Jewish authorities didn't practice crucifixion, and unless a possible rebellion was at hand, the Roman authority wouldn't involve themselves in Jewish religious affairs. He is reported to have been martyred by
crucifixion at
Ostrakine in
Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel. A carpenter's saw is the symbol associated with him in
Christian art because it's also noted that his body was later sawed to pieces
Further Information
Get more info on 'James The Less'.
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