Jesus's Family

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Christbearer03

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I was reading from some of the Mass readings for today (Feast of Saints Peter and Paul), and I came across the line of “only James the brother of the Lord”. This is from the Letter to the Galatians I believe.

I looked it up on Wikipedia, but I was wondering what are your thoughts on this? I think I did hear about this once a long time ago, but I was still surprised to read this.

Thank you!
 
It’s very simple. The James mentioned here is Jesus’ cousin, not another son of Mary. The Israelites consider themselves all one family from 12 tribes. James, therefore, was a cousin, probably of the Davidic line of the tribe of Judah, IOW, of the same tribe as Jesus.
 
Christbearer03 said:
I was reading from some of the Mass readings for today (Feast of Saints Peter and Paul), and I came across the line of “only James the brother of the Lord”. This is from the Letter to the Galatians I believe.

I looked it up on Wikipedia, but I was wondering what are your thoughts on this? I think I did hear about this once a long time ago, but I was still surprised to read this.

Thank you!
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There was a three-way debate on this subject in the 380’s, under the pontificate of Damasus I (366-384). The three theologians were Jerome, Epiphanius of Salamis, and a third man named as Helvidius (sometimes “Helvetius”), apparently known only from Jerome.

Jerome was then living in Rome as Damasus I’s secretary; Epiphanius and Helvidius were also present there in 382, on the occasion of the Council of Rome.

***Helvidius: ***James, Jude and the other “brethren” named in Matt 13.55 and Mark 6.3 were all the children of Joseph and Mary, i.e. Jesus’s younger half-brothers and half-sisters. Objection: doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity.

***Epiphanius: ***James, Jude, and the others were the children of Joseph’s earlier marriage. Objection: Jesus would rank as a younger son of Joseph and therefore not eligible for the Davidic succession (John 7.40-42).

***Jerome: ***Joseph and Mary had no children together. James was either Jesus’s half-brother by Joseph’s earlier marriage (the Epiphanian view) or his cousin (the Hieronymian view). Objection to the latter: in the NT, the Greek noun *adelphos *can mean full brother, half-brother or stepbrother, but never “cousin”.

“Richard Bauckham, the latest scholar to investigate the matter [in *Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church, 2004], declines to decide between the Epiphanian and Helvidian views, inclining slightly to the Epiphanian.”―Douglas Moo, The Letter of James, p. 22

The Catholic Church long ago opted to identify this James, the author of the epistle and the head of the Christian community in Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 15, known as James the Just, with James the Less, one of the Twelve.
 
The Greek hardly matters in this case. The fact is that the Hebrews themselves recognized and called one another brother even if they were only distantly related. Mary had no other children and Joseph is never said to have had any children before marrying Mary, hence, James was a cousin.
 
McCartney said:
When Mary appears in apparitions she always refers to herself as the Blessed VIRGIN Mary. If she is not then that would make her a liar.
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Interesting point, but you can’t use private revelation (i.e., Marian apparitions) to prove public revelation (i.e., Scripture). The measuring stick for private revelations is how well they fit to Scripture and doctrine/dogma, not the other way around. 😉
 
Della said:
It’s very simple. The James mentioned here is Jesus’ cousin, not another son of Mary.
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Possibly, or he may have been a son of Joseph from a previous marriage, which is the traditional belief of Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, reflected in icons of the Flight into Egypt.
 
Della said:
Mary had no other children and Joseph is never said to have had any children before marrying Mary, hence, James was a cousin.
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It is not correct that Joseph is never said to have had any children before marrying Mary. It is the traditional belief of Eastern Christians (Catholic and Orthodox) that Joseph had children from a previous marriage and that “James, the brother of the Lord” was among those children. This is reflected some icons of the Flight into Egypt.
 
The only thing I can say,is may be Joseph had a brother before ,but The family off Jesus is, Joseph, Mary and Jesus,and always will be in my mine as such.
 
RyanBlack said:
It is not correct that Joseph is never said to have had any children before marrying Mary. It is the traditional belief of Eastern Christians (Catholic and Orthodox) that Joseph had children from a previous marriage and that “James, the brother of the Lord” was among those children. This is reflected some icons of the Flight into Egypt.
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I know that that tradition exists. So, if people want to believe it, I have no problem with it. It’s just that Joseph’s behavior and the sufferings he went through wouldn’t be the same if he had an existing family. In any case, Scripture is completely silent about it. I’m not up on what the Early Church Fathers had to say. Maybe someone who knows will chime in. 🙂
 
McCartney said:
When Mary appears in apparitions she always refers to herself as the Blessed VIRGIN Mary. If she is not then that would make her a liar.
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I’m sure about Mary being a virgin, not that sure about Joseph.
 
BartholomewB said:
***Epiphanius: ***James, Jude, and the others were the children of Joseph’s earlier marriage. Objection: Jesus would rank as a younger son of Joseph and therefore not eligible for the Davidic succession (John 7.40-42).
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God has a HISTORY of choosing younger brothers over older brothers, like Jacob over Esau, Ephraim over Manasseh, David over his brothers, Solomon over Adonijah, heck, I’d have to go over the whole BIBLE!
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
God has a HISTORY of choosing younger brothers over older brothers, like Jacob over Esau, Ephraim over Manasseh, David over his brothers, Solomon over Adonijah, heck, I’d have to go over the whole BIBLE!
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Thank you. I am a younger brother!!
 
RyanBlack said:
It is not correct that Joseph is never said to have had any children before marrying Mary. It is the traditional belief of Eastern Christians (Catholic and Orthodox) that Joseph had children from a previous marriage and that “James, the brother of the Lord” was among those children. This is reflected some icons of the Flight into Egypt.
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Would that not make one of them the true heir to the throne of David over our Lord Jesus Christ?
 
From Tim Staples:
Second, if we examine more closely the example of James, one of these four “brothers of the Lord” mentioned in Matthew 13:55, we discover him to be a cousin or some other relative of Jesus rather than a uterine brother. For example, Galatians 1:18-19 informs us: “Then after three years I [Paul] went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.”
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Notice, the “James” of whom Paul was speaking was both a “brother of the Lord” and an “apostle.” There are two apostles named James among the 12. The first James is revealed to be a “son of Zebedee.” He most likely would not be the “James” referred to because according to Acts 12:1-2 he was martyred very early on. Even if it was him, his father was named Zebedee, not Joseph.
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Paul more likely is referring to the second James who was an apostle, according to Luke 6:15-16. This James is revealed to have a father named Alphaeus, not Joseph. Thus, James the apostle and Jesus were not uterine brothers. Easy enough. Some will argue, however, that this “James” was not an apostle or that he was not one of the original 12. Though this is a possibility—others in the New Testament, such as Barnabas in Acts 14, are referred to as “apostles” in a looser sense—the argument from Scripture is weak. When Paul wrote about going “up to Jerusalem” to see Peter, he was writing about an event that occurred many years earlier, shortly after he had converted. He was basically going up to the apostles to receive approval lest he “should be running or had run in vain.” It would be more likely he would have here been speaking about “apostles” (proper), or “the twelve.”
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A couple of points.

1.) From John 7:
The Feast of Tabernacles. 1* After this, Jesus moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him.a 2But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.b 3So his brothers* said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4No one works in secret if he wants to be known publicly. If you do these things, manifest yourself to the world.
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I have seen several sources say for a younger brother to give an older brother advice was totally against Jewish custom. In the above passage, if these were blood brothers of Jesus, they would have to be older.

2.) From this website: frtommylane.com/bible/nt/brothers_and_sisters_of_jesus.pdf
When on the cross in John, Jesus gives his mother to John to be looked after (John 19:25-27). According to Jewish law, if Jesus had younger brothers and sisters it would be beyond strange and would be illegal if Jesus asked someone who was not a family member to look after his mother.
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In Mark 6:3 Jesus is described by the people of Nazareth as the son of Mary, not a son of Mary.
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JB_Brother_4446 said:
How are you so sure?
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It doesn’t make sense to me that if Jesus had brothers and sisters to take care of His mother that she would have even been in Jerusalem when He was crucified. What sons and daughters would have allowed that to happen. Women were subject to their grown sons. No good son, let alone a Jewish son, would have allowed his mother to be put into such danger. Jesus would have seen to it that she was safe with His brothers or sisters.

Second, if Mary had other children, why did Jesus appoint the Apostle John to take care of her and take her into his home?
 
HelenRose said:
It doesn’t make sense to me that if Jesus had brothers and sisters to take care of His mother that she would have even been in Jerusalem when He was crucified. What sons and daughters would have allowed that to happen. Women were subject to their grown sons. No good son, let alone a Jewish son, would have allowed his mother to be put into such danger. Jesus would have seen to it that she was safe with His brothers or sisters.

Second, if Mary had other children, why did Jesus appoint the Apostle John to take care of her and take her into his home?
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Exactly.
 
John the apostle was a nephew of Mary; his mother was Mary’s sister.
 
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