The name Jacob does appear in the English translations of the New Testament.
But when it does, it refers only to Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of
Abraham, the patriarch of the nation of Israel. All other Jacobs are translated
into James in our English Bibles.
What self respecting Hebrew mother would name her son Judas? In New
Testament times, Judas was a perfectly respectable name. It was simply
the Greek & Aramaic form of the Old Testament name Judah. It was just
one bad person who had that name that ruined it for everyone else.
It is clear from this passage that the home town folk in Nazareth did
not believe Jesus was the Messiah. They were quite critical of him. "After
all, we’ve known him since he was a little tike. He certainly has gotten
big for his britches, hasn’t he?"
If the towns folk did not believe in him, how about his own family?
Did these brothers and sisters of Jesus recognize who He was? For the answer
to that question, flip over to the next book of the Bible...
MARK 3
20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that
he and his disciples were not even able to eat.
21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of
him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
Well, what would you think if your big brother was out running around
saying such things as, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes
to the Father but by me"? or "Unless you believe in Me, you will all die
in your sins"? The brothers of our Lord were no different.
JOHN 7
1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away
from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.
2 But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near,
3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to
Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.
4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since
you are doing these things, show yourself to the world."
5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet
come; for you any time is right.
7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that
what it does is evil."
Now jump ahead to the scene at the cross, where Jesus was crucified,
suspended half way between heaven and hell...
JOHN 19
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother... [and the other women].
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved
standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on,
this disciple took her into his home.
Jesus as the oldest son in the family was charged with the responsibility
to care for his widowed mother. Since her husband Joseph disappears half
way through the Gospels, we assume that he died. So why does Jesus as a
friend, a disciple, who is not a relative care for his mother? Where are
James, or Joseph Jr, or Simon, or Judas? Why doesn’t he ask one of them?
We don’t even know if any of them were even in Jerusalem at the time
of the crucifixion. Even if they were, standing before the cross of the
elder brother would be the last place they would want to be. If Jesus was
an embarrassment to them before, how much worse was the embarrassment now.
The picture that the gospels paint of these four boys is not a pretty
one. They are cynical, critical, and sceptical. Yet the story of their
lives is not a story their individual particular virtues. It is a story
of the grace of God - just as is your story, and mine.
ACTS 1
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount
of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city.
13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they
were staying. Those present were [the 11 Disciples] Peter, John, James
and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus
and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. [Right after this they had
an election by lot to select the 12th Disciple to replace Judas Iscariot.]
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with
the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
What? Are those four cynical, unbelieving brothers of Jesus now
suddenly believers? Why the change?
The Apostle Paul gives us a pretty strong hint...
1 CORINTHIANS 15
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to
you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I
preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according
to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers
at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen
asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, [James who? ... yes, little
brother James]
then to all the apostles,
8 and last of all he appeared to me also...
No wonder James, and Joseph Jr, and Simon, and Judas, sons of Joseph
the Carpenter, became believers in Jesus as Lord and Messiah.
Now to be honest, if I had been Jesus, after the resurrection I would
have made an appearance to Pontius Pilate, and to Caiaphas and Annas, the
conspiring high priests... and maybe to every single member of the Jewish
court who had ordered my execution, and maybe even to the soldiers who
put had nailed my wrists to the cross beam, and maybe to every member of
the mob who had shouted "crucify him!" and then had mocked me while I was
suspended on the cross.
But in all cases except two, our Lord appeared only to those who loved
Him. And the two notable excepts were: (1) Saul of Tarsus, a.k.a., the
Apostle Paul, and (2) the four sons of Mary and Joseph. And in their cases,
His appearance was not to scare them and teach them a lesson. Rather, He
appeared to them to offer each of them His love, His forgiveness, and to
call each of them into His service, and to entrust to each of them the
message of forgiveness for all. And they responded in faith. Hence we see
them in the upper room, with the other disciples, worshipping as Lord and
Savior, the one whom they had mocked and criticized. As I said, this is
not a story of their virtue, but a story of God’s grace.
And God did use them in a powerful way. As we read on through the New
Testament, we see that in very short order, the one who was recognized
as the senior pastor, the bishop if you will, of the Christian church of
Jerusalem was not Peter, not John, not John’s brother James, but James
the brother of our Lord.
When we did our study of Barnabas, we read how Barnabas welcomed Paul,
before anyone else would trust him, and how Barnabas introduced Paul to
the fellowship of Christians in Jerusalem, and eventually to Peter himself.
When Paul himself described that meeting, he provides us with some added
interesting information, that Luke omits:
GALATIANS 1
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how
intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and
was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his
grace, was pleased
16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the
Gentiles, I did not consult any man,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before
I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted
with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.
19 I saw none of the other apostles--only James, the Lord's brother.
Now back to Luke’s account in Acts. Paul’s conversion is reported
in Acts chapter 9. Three chapters later, in Acts 12, we read...
ACTS 12:
1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged
to the church, intending to persecute them.
2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
[This was the James, of the great "Peter, James, and John" trio prominent
throughout the Gospels.]
When Herod saw this was a hit with the Jewish leaders, he had Peter
arrested with the intent of executing him. But God sent an angel to release
him from prison. When he realized he was free, Peter went to the home where
the Disciples were gathered for prayer on his behalf. Luke tells us that
the house that just happened to belong to John Mark’s mother.
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and
saw him, they were astonished.
17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described
how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers
about this," he said, and then he left for another place.
The most significant episode in the book of acts involving James
was an event known in church history as "The Jerusalem Council."
ACTS 15
1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren,
"Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot
be saved."
2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and
dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others
of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this
question.
3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through
Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they
caused great joy to all the brethren.
4 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the
church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that
God had done with them.
5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying,
"It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law
of Moses."
6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to
them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among
us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and
believe.
8 "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them
the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,
9 "and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their
hearts by faith.
10 "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the
neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
we shall be saved in the same manner as they."
12 Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and
Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them
among the Gentiles.
13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men
and brethren, listen to me:
14 "Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles
to take out of them a people for His name.
15 "And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is
written:... [James quotes a couple verses from Amos 9, which speaks
of Gentiles coming to faith]
19 "Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among
the Gentiles who are turning to God,
20 "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by
idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
21 "For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach
him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
22 Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church,
to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas,
namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among
the brethren.
23 They wrote this letter by them...
James gave his verdict, and that settled the problem of how the
Christian Church ought accommodate non-Jews. This was the church hashing
out that great eternal issue: Law and Gospel, and trying to realize, as
difficult as it was to believe, that it is purely by God’s grace and forgiveness
that we are saved, and it is only by faith, not by works, that His grace
is appropriated in our lives.
While Paul continued his ministry among Gentiles in other lands, Jamse
continued to minister as the senior pastor of the predominantly Jewish
Christian Church of Jerusalem.
The last reference made to James in the book of Acts occurs when Paul
comes to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary Journey.
ACTS 21
15 And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem.
16 Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought
with them a certain Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were
to lodge.
17 And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
18 On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the
elders were present.
19 When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which
God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said
to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have
believed, and they are all zealous for the law;
21 "but they have been informed about you that you teach all the
Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought
not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.
22 "What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear
that you have come.
23 "Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken
a vow.
24 "Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses
so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things
of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself
also walk orderly and keep the law.
25 "But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and
decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should
keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled,
and from sexual immorality."
26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified
with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of
purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of
them.
So you see, that while Paul was sensitive to winning the Gentiles
to Christ, James the brother of our Lord, remained sensitive to winning
the his fellow Jews to Christ, and both Paul and James sought to remove
all stumbling blocks to anyone receiving the Gospel, without ever compromising
the heart of the Gospel.
Of course we can learn more about the heart of James, the brother of
our Lord, in the letter that he wrote to the Jewish Christians where were
scattered by the persecution which Paul himself helped to start in his
pre-Christian days:
JAMES 1:
1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect
and complete, lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Notice how James does not regard himself as our Lord’s biological
brother, but merely his "bond servant." James does not presume on his common
kinship for either his salvation or for his position of leadership. To
do so would bring him under the same condemnation Jesus issued to those
who presumed to be children of God merely because they were biological
descendants of Abraham. James, of all people, understood what a sinner
he was. He could not forget how he had mocked, ridiculed, and rejected
Jesus for claiming to be the Messiah. So James understood that he could
only come to God through faith in Jesus as his Savior, no differently than
we.
James concluded his letter with these words:
JAMES 5
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone
turns him back,
20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his
way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
And what about the other brothers of Jesus. Obviously James received
most recognition. But what about Joseph Jr, Simon, and Judas? We know very
little about them after Pentecost. Yet that name of one those three other
brothers does appear in a significant way Scripture. He is the author of
another book of the Bible, one which we in our English Bible refer to as
the book of Jude.
Please note that the name of the author of this letter is not Jude.
In the original Greek text, the name written here is Judas. However, early
English translators of the Bible felt obliged to help ill-informed readers
from mistakenly associating this letter with Judas Iscariot, the one who
betrayed Jesus.
JUDE 1
1 Jude [or Judas], a servant of Jesus Christ [which is exactly how
James began his letter] and a brother of James, To those who have been
called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
Judas, the youngest son of Mary and Joseph, also understood the
precious Gospel of God’s grace. He, too, who had once openly rejected Jesus
as the Messiah, experienced Jesus’ love and forgiveness in a very personal
way. Notice how he also refers to his elder brother in his closing words:
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;
23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating
even the garment defiled by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present
you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion
and power, Both now and forever. Amen.