He is understood to be meant by the modest self-designation 'James the servant of the Lord' (Ja 1'), and the author of the Ep. of Jude is con- tent to describe himself as the ' brother of James.' In view of the fact that he seems to have remained constantly at Jerusalem, it is at least uncertain whether he is included among the brethren of the Lord who ' led about' a wife (1 Co 9').
That the ' brethren of the Lord ' were the sons of Mary and Joseph is the natural, tliongh not in- evitable, inference from tlie language of Scri]iture (Mt 1-5, Lk •2', Mk 6^ etc.). Tfiuse wlio prefer to believe otherwise, hold either (1) tliat they were the sons of Joseph by a former marriage, or (2) the sons of Mary's sister. These tliree views are sometimes called, respectively, from their early defenders, the Helvidian, Ei)iplianian, and Hier- nnyniian. (For discussion see J. B. Mayor, The
JA]\IES, EPISTLE OF
JA^IES, EPISTLE OF
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Ep. of St. James^, pp. vi-xxxvi ; J. B. Lightfoot, Galatians^, 1876, pp. 252-291 ; and art. 'Brethren of the Lord' in HDB, DCG, and SDB.)
Turning to the extra-canonical references, we find in Josephus {Ant. xx. ix. 1) an account of the circumstances of the death of James. The high priest Ananus (a son of the Annas of the Gospels), a man of violent temper, seized the opportunity of the interval between the death of Festus (c. A.D. 62) and the arrival of his successor Albinus to bring to trial 'James the brother of Jesus who was called Christ and some others' as law-breakers, and deUvered them to be stoned. This account is inherently probable. It is sometimes rejected as an interpolation, on the ground that Josephus makes no other mention of Jesus or of Christian- ity ; but it may be noted that F. C. Burkitt has lately defended the genuineness of the famous reference to Jesus in Josephus, AjU. xviii. iii. 3 {ThT xhii. [1913] pp. 135-144). Harnack has signified agreement (Internationale Monatsschrift, vii. [1913] pp. 1037-1068). If this be accepted, the present passage presents little difficulty. Hegesippus (ap. Euseb. HE ii. 23) gives a much more highly coloured account of James's mar- tyi'dom, representing him as hurled from the pinnacle of the Temple because he refused to make a pronouncement against Jesus (which the Scribes and Pharisees had confidently expected of him !). Among other personal traits Hegesippus mentions that James was a Nazirite and strict ascetic, and that, so constant was he in prayer, his knees had become hard as a camel's. There is a variant of the martyrdom story in Clem. Recog. 1., bdx., bcx., where, after James has shcmi 'by most abundant proofs that Jesus is the Christ,' a tumult is raised by an enemy, and he is hurled from the Temple steps and left for dead, but recovers.
The tendency to exalt the position of James in later times is seen in the statement of Clem. Alex. {ap. Euseb. HE ii. 1) that Peter and James and John chose him to be bishop of Jerusalem ; while in the letter of Clement prefixed to the Clem. Horn, he is addressed as 'lord,' and 'bishop of bishops.'
Literature. — To J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James', 1910, Introduction, ch. i. : 'The Author,' and the other litera- ture mentioned above, add T. Zahn, 'Briider und Vettern Jesu,' in Forschunyen zur Geschichte des neuiestamentlichen Kanons, vi., Leipzig, 1900, pp. 225-36.3 ; A. E. F. Sieffert, in PRE\ viii. 57-1 fif. ; F. W. Farrar, Early Days of Christian- ity, 1SS2, voL i. chs. xix., xx. W, MONTGOMERY.
**JAMES, EPISTLE OF 1. Literary character- istics.— The Epistle strikes us at once as the ex- pression of a vigorous personality. The author p|unj;es into his subject ■with a bold paradox, and is short, decisive sentences fall like hammer- strokes. He constantly employs the imperative, and makes much use of the rhetorical question. His rebukes contain some of the sharpest invective in the NT (41* 5^"''), and he knows when hony will serve him best (2^^). He piles up metaphor upon metaphor until the impression becomes irresistible (3^'^^), andmultipUes attributes with the same effect of emphasis {e.g. 'earthly, sensual, devihsh' [3^''; of. l^-*-^^]). Like most vigorous -n-riters, he delights in antithesis (cf. !"• l^^- 25 35 47)_ j^^ j^jg illustrations he uses direct speech with dramatic effect ('sit thou here in a good place,' etc. [2^; cf. 216 413]), Every here and there are struck out, hke sparks from the flint of this rather hard-edged style, phrases of arresting beauty and significance : ' the crown of hf e wlaich the Lord promised to them that love him ' (1^^) ; ' the grace of the fashion of it perisheth' (1^^) ; 'mercy glorieth against judge- ment ' (2^^) ; ' What is your life ? For ye are a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then
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vanisheth away' (4*^) ; 'Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain' (5'^) ; 'the supphcation of a righteous man, when it puts forth its strength, availeth much'
(5^6).
The form is, in the main, the terse, gnomic form _ of the _ Wisdom Uterature, but the spirit that inspires it has deeper roots. It goes back to OT prophecy. It is an Amos that we seem to hear in the vigorous denunciation of 5^~'^ ; Isaiah is the direct inspirer of the stately passage in V^-, and the writer has distilled the quintessence of the prophets into that fine saying which sums up his teaching and comes home with special force to the modern world : ' Pure rehgion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to succour (cf. Lk 1^*) the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world' (1^'^).