James, son of Alphaeus

Identity

Possible identity as James the Less

James, son of Alphaeus, is often identified as James the Less, who is only mentioned four times in the Bible, each time in connection with his mother. refers to "Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses", while and Matthew 27:56 refer to "Mary the mother of James".

Since there was already another 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").

Jerome identifies James, son of Alpheus, with James the Less, writing in his work called The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary the following:

It has sometimes been thought that Papias of Hierapolis, who lived circa 70–163 AD, in the surviving fragments of his work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord relates that Mary, wife of Alphaeus, is the mother of James the Less:

However, this is likely a misattribution. Rather, this quote should be attributed to the eleventh-century lexicographer Papias, not the second-century Papias of Hierapolis, and indeed this passage has been found directly in the lexicographer's writings.

Modern Biblical scholars are divided on whether the identification of James of Alphaeus with James the Less 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 identification as James, the brother of Jesus

Jerome, voicing the general opinion of Early Church, maintains the doctrine of perpetual virginity of Mary. He proposed that James, son of Alphaeus, was the one referred to as "James, the brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:19) but that the term "brother" was to be understood as "cousin." The view of Jerome, the "Hieronymian view," became widely accepted in the Roman Catholic Church, though certain Protestants do not subscribe to this view. Geike (1884) states that Hausrath, Delitzsch, and Schenkel think James, the brother of Jesus, was the son of Clophas-Alphaeus.

In two small but potentially important works ascribed by some to Hippolytus, On the Twelve Apostles of Christ and On the Seventy Apostles of Christ, he relates the following:

James, the brother of Jesus is attributed the same death; he was stoned to death by the Jews, too. This testimony of "Hippolytus", if authentic, would increase the plausibility that James the son of Alphaeus is the same person as James the brother of Jesus.

These two works of "Hippolytus" are often neglected because the manuscripts were lost during most of the Christian era and then discovered in Greece in the 19th century. As most scholars consider them spurious, they are often ascribed to "Pseudo-Hippolytus". The two are included in an appendix to the works of Hippolytus in the voluminous collection of Early Church Fathers.

According to the surviving fragments of the work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord by Papias of Hierapolis, Cleophas and Alphaeus are the same person, Mary, wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, would be the mother of James, the brother of Jesus, and of Simon and Judas (Thaddeus), and of one Joseph.

Thus, James, the brother of the Lord, would be the son of Alphaeus, who is the husband of Mary of Cleophas, or Mary, the wife of Alphaeus. However, the Anglican theologian J.B. Lightfoot maintains that the fragment in question is spurious.

As reported by the Golden Legend, which is a collection of hagiographies compiled by Jacobus de Voragine in the thirteenth century:

Possible brother of Matthew

Alphaeus is also the name of the father of the tax-collector Levi mentioned in . The publican appears as Matthew in , which has led some to conclude that James and Matthew might have been brothers. The four times that James son of Alphaeus is mentioned directly in the Bible (each time in the list of the Apostles), the only family relationship stated is that his father is Alphaeus. In two lists of the Apostles, the other James and John are listed as brothers, and their father is Zebedee.

Gospel sources

Gospel of Mark

Calling of James, son of Alphaeus

Mark the Evangelist is the earliest known source in the Bible to mention "James, son of Alphaeus" as one of the twelve Apostles. Mark the Evangelist mentions a "James, son of Alphaeus" only once, and this is in his list of the 12 Apostles (Mark 3, ()). At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he first calls Peter and his brother Andrew and asks them to follow him (). In the next verses, it tells the story of how James the Greater and his brother John the Apostle came to follow Jesus (). After some healing by Jesus, he meets Levi, son of Alphaeus, who was a tax collector, and he then asks Levi (better known as Matthew) to follow him ( and ). Peter, Andrew, James the Greater, and John the Apostle are listed as Apostles (). Levi, son of Alphaeus, is listed as an Apostle under the name of Matthew, and James alone is listed as the son of Alphaeus ().

Ambiguous Jameses

Overall, Mark the Evangelist lists three different Jameses: "James, son of Alphaeus", James the Greater, and James the brother of Jesus (). On three separate occasions, he writes about a James without clarifying which James he is referring to. There is a James at the transfiguration, (Mark 9, ), at the Mount of Olives, (Mark 13, ), and the Garden of Gethsemane, Mark 14, ). Although this James is listed alongside John the Apostle, a clear distinction is not made about which Apostle James is being referred to, even when both Apostles are meant to be in a similar location. All twelve Apostles attend the Last Supper (), which immediately precedes the Garden of Gethsemane. There is a reference to Mary mother of James the Younger and Joseph (Mark 15, ); however, Mark the Evangelist has already said that James the brother of Jesus has a brother called Joseph (Mark 6, ).

Gospel of Matthew

Calling of James, son of Alphaeus

Peter, Andrew, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John were all called to follow Jesus (Matthew 4, ). In a story that parallels the calling of Levi, son of Alphaeus, Matthew is called to follow Jesus (Matthew 9, ). Matthew is never referred directly to as being the Son of Alphaeus in the Gospel of Matthew or any other book in the Bible, but as Levi, Son of Alphaeus (Mark 2, ). In Mark, he is regarded as a tax collector (). In the Gospel of Matthew, the tax collector (Matthew) called to follow Jesus is listed as one of the twelve Apostles. James, son of Alphaeus, is also listed as one of the 12 Apostles (Matthew 10, ).

Ambiguous Jameses

Matthew does not mention any James in his Gospel who is not identified without association with his family. There are three James that are mentioned by Matthew; James, Brother of Jesus, Joseph, Simon and Judas (Matthew 13, ), James son of Zebedee and brother of John (Matthew 10, ) and James, son of Alphaeus. At the Transfiguration it is specified that the James is brother of John (Matthew 17, ) and at the Garden of Gethsemane it is specified that it is the son of Zebedee (Matthew 26, ). It is not specified by Matthew that there was a James at the Mount of Olives; he mentions only disciples (Matthew 24, ). Matthew also mentions a Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, who was at the crucifixion. This James is not given the epithet the younger (Matthew 27, ).

Death

One James was arrested along with some other Christians and was executed by King Herod Agrippa in his persecution of the church (Acts 12, ). However, the James in has a brother called John. James, son of Zebedee, has a brother called John (Matthew 4, ) and we are never explicitly told that James son of Alphaeus has a brother. Robert Eisenman and Achille Camerlynck both suggest that the death of James in Acts 12:1–2 is James, son of Zebedee, and not James son of Alphaeus.

In Christian art, James the Less is depicted holding a fuller's club. One tradition maintains that he was crucified at Ostrakine in Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel.

In Eastern Orthodox Church his feast is 9 October and 30 June (Synaxis of the Apostles).

References

References

1. [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj10.htm Catholic Forum Patron Saints Index: James the Lesser] {{webarchive. link. (June 25, 2007)
2. (September 9, 2020). "Bible reverse engineering".
3. "Saint-James. Apostle, son of Alphaeus". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc..
4. {{Bibleref. Matthew. 10:3, {{Bibleref. Mark. 3:18, {{Bibleref. Luke. 6:12–16 and {{Bibleref. Acts. 1:13.
5. "The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary Fragment 15". newadvent.org.
6. "Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord. Fragment X". earlychristianwritings.com.
7. Stephen C. Carlson, ''Papias of Hierapolis Exposition of Dominical Oracles: The Fragments, Testimonia, and Reception of a Second-Century Commentator'', p. 98. "...this fragment securely belongs to the medieval Papias, as scholars of the lexicographer have long been well aware."
8. John Paul Meier, ''A Marginal Jew volume 3'', p. 201. "There are no grounds for identifying James of Alphaeus – as church tradition has done – with James the Less."
9. New Bible Dictionary, 2nd Edition (IVP 1982), "James" entry (by P.H.Davids)
10. "The Expositor's Bible Commentary CDROM, commentary on Matthew (by Don Carson), commentary on Matthew 10:2–4
11. ''Luke'', by Darrell Bock (Baker 1994), commentary on Luke 6:15
12. (2005). "The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church". Oxford University Press.
13. John Saward – ''Cradle of redeeming love: the theology of the Christmas mystery'' p18 2002 "St Jerome concludes that St James, son of Alphaeus, and St James, brother of the Lord, are one and the same person.169 But why is James, son of Alphaeus, called our Lord's 'brother'? St Jerome's answer is as follows. In Matthew 13:55, we hear of four 'brothers' of our Lord: James and Joseph, Simon and Jude. Later, in the Passion narrative, St Matthew mentions a Mary who is the mother of James and Joseph (cf Mt 27:56) "
14. ''The brother of Jesus: James the Just and his mission'' p17 Bruce Chilton, Jacob Neusner – 2001 "Given that James has been identified as the son of Alphaeus, Jerome indicates he cannot explain the connection of Mary the ... Chrysostom (347–407) was first to suggest that James the brother of the Lord is the son of Clopas though ..."
15. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. James the Less".
16. [[John Cunningham Geikie]] ''The life and words of Christ'' Volume 1 1884 "Alphaeus, or Alpheus __, and Clopas are different ways of pronouncing in Greek the Hebrew name ___ (Chal'phai) ... [[Adolf Hausrath. Hausrath]], [[Franz Delitzsch. Delitzsch]], and [[Daniel Schenkel. Schenkel]], think James the Just was the son of Clophas-Alphaeus."
17. ""On the Twelve Apostles" and "On the Seventy Disciples"". newadvent.org.
18. Ante-Nicean Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleaveland Coxe, vol. 5 (Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 254–6
19. "The Brethren of the Lord by J.B. Lightfoot".
20. "Papias of Hierapolis.".
21. "Golden Legend: Life of Saint James the Less".
22. John MacArthur, Jr., ''Daily Readings from The Life of Christ'', page 50 ([[Moody Publishers]], 2009).
23. Warren W. Wiersbe, ''The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete New Testament'', page 848 ([[David C. Cook]], 2007). {{ISBN. 978-0-7814-4539-9
24. {{Bibleref. Matthew. 10:2–3, {{Bibleref. Mark. 3:16–19, {{Bibleref. Luke. 6:11–16 and {{Bibleref. Acts. 1:13.
25. {{Bibleref. Matthew. 10:2–3, {{Bibleref. Mark. 3:16–19
26. The Good News Bible Revised Edition 1994 indicate that Mark 2:13–17 and Matthew 9:9–13 are the same story
27. The Good News Bible Revised Edition 1994
28. "James brother of Jesus" Robert Eisenman
29. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. James the Greater".
30. Hilarie Cornwell, James Cornwell, ''Saints, Signs, and Symbols'', page 49 (Morehouse Publishing, 2009). {{ISBN. 978-0-8192-2345-6
31. Philip Schaff, ''History of the Apostolic Church: with a General Introduction to Church History'', page 389 (New York: Charles Scribner, 1853). Citing [[Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos. Nikephoros]], ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' II:40.
32. "ИАКОВ АЛФЕЕВ - Древо".