Toto

The desposynoi seem to have been rejected by the later church as an embarrassment, probably because they advocated adherence to the Jewish laws.

The gospels do not seem to indicate that any of Jesus' relatives were his followers. They all thought that he was a madman.

There is a very old thread (from 2002) in the archives here, which quotes some of the sources Andrew Criddle mentions.

aa5874

But, Church writers claimed PAPIAS was an early writer who knew acquaintances of the apostles and that he wrote an "Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord" in five books.

These are fragments from the "Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord" attributed to Papias supposedly of early 2nd century.

And now this is found in the fragments of " The Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord" about JAMES.

See http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/papias.html

It would appear based on the fragments from the "Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord" that it was always known, believed or intended to be believed, that some James was the son of Mary a sister of the Lord's mother who was also called MARY since the 1st century.

So based on Papias and Jerome, James was not the brother of the Lord after all, perhaps a cousin, a "spiritual brother", an error or just belief.

spamandham

I do recall you posting this before, but I would expect Jesus' other family members beside James to also be featured in the early textual evidence if James was his blood brother. Consider that if what Eusebius quoted from Julius Africanus were historically accurate, then there is no reason for such references to be missing from the earliest sources. We should expect them.

Because under the proposition that James is his blood brother, we then must further propose ordinary cult dynamics wherein the immediate family members of the cult leader, who are also members of the cult, have dominant roles in the cult - just as Julius Africanus states. This follows from the fact that James holds the highest position in the church at the time of Paul.

The Gospels mention 4 brothers by name (including a James), his mother and father by name, and anonymous sisters. His mother and brothers are all clearly depicted as cult members in the gospels. Why do we hear nothing further about them in the early texts? Paul wrote extensively and seems to visit every dominant church, but yet only James is ever mentioned. If a blood relationship with Jesus was important to Paul (which it must be under the blood brother proposition), then we would expect him to mention the others as well.

aa5874

There is no indication whatsoever in the Pauline writings that any James is the head of any Church. Perhaps Cephas/Peter, but certainly not any James.

The Pauline writer claimed Peter was given the gospel of the circumcision while "Paul" was given the gospel of the uncircumcision.

Ga 2:7 - Ga 2:11 - It would appear that the Pauline writer regarded Cephas/Peter as some kind of spiritual leader. Even in Acts of the Apostles, no character is called the Lord's brother, JAMES the Just, and leader of any Church. Some James is mentioned perhaps four times but Peter was mentioned over 50 times in Acts.

The claim that there was a character called James the Just, the Lord's brother and bishop of Jerusalem appears to be a LATER invention.

The Gospels do NOT clearly depict his mother and brothers as cult members.


These are the authors of gMatthew and gMark.

Mt 13:55 -
Mr 6:3 - There is nothing clear here that his mother and brothers were cult members when those questions are virtually all that was asked and unanswered by the author.

But, there were more than one person called James in the NT it is likely that there were more than one James in the Pauline writings.

The James mentioned with Cephas and John who seemed to be "pillars" may be the character called James the son of Zebedee and his brother John who were depicted as being many times together with Cephas/Peter.

Matthew 10.2-3 There is no James the son of Joseph brother of the Lord even as a named disciple only James the son of Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus.


When the Pauline writings are examined it can be seen CLEARLY that is NOT certain who James was when there were more than one apostle called James.

1Co 15:7 - Who was this James? It is not clear.

Ga 1:19 - But, there is not even mention of a James a son of Joseph who was an apostle of Jesus and the Lord's brother.

Ga 2:9 - This James may be the son of Zebedee or son of Alphaeus.

Ga 2:12 - Again this James is unknown. The Pauline writer claimed he met James the Lord's brother in Jerusalem, but this James is mentioned when Peter was in Antioch.

So we have virtually nothing whatsoever about the Lord's brother as a leader of any Church in Jerusalem in the Pauline writings or that the mother of Jesus and his brothers were members of a cult.

Chili

I like it. Gal. 1:1-4
1. It was for liberty that Christ freed is. So stand firm, and do not take on the yoke of slavery a second time!!!!!!!!!!!
(exclamation stretched for clarity).

2. Pay close attention to me, Paul, when I tell you that you have yourself circumsized Christ will be of no use to you!!!!!!! (exclamation stretched to draw attention).

3. I point our once more to all who receive circumcision that they are bound by the law to it's entirety!!!!!!!!!!!! (exclamation added by me).

4. Any of you who seek your justification in the law have severed yourselves from Christ and fallen from Gods favor. (no more needs to be said).

James was known as a self proclaimed Christian on account of his righteous action and slavery to the law of sin . . . and so it was that his saved-sinner complex prevailed until he died nonetheless. He therefore was a brother of Jesus as described in Matthew where Jesus goes 'down' to be juxtaposed with the Jesus of Luke where Jesus goes 'up.'

The only difference was the announcement of John the Baptist who was born 'of old' to make known the Advent period (replacing the flood metaphor) that preceded the virgin birth in the mind of Joseph in Luke's Jesus. This clearly shows that Jbab and Jesus were bosom buddies (in Luke 1:41) later to meet again at the foot of the cross in John 19:21.

The absence of Advent in Matthew's Joseph is shown by the 'no manger and no swaddling clothes' for Jesus in Matthew and thus the astrologers got lost while Jesus was acting like a chicken with it's head chopped off on an evangelistis rally = Billy Graham's favorite (his name used only as metaphor to identify America's most favorite sport) = heartbreakingly tragic.