Jesus does not have a brother in the catholic tradition, his mother Mary is a perpetual virgin, which can hardly be compatible with having several children. Yet in his epistle to the Galatians (1, 19) , Paul calls James "the brother of the Lord". In the first letter to the Corinthians (9: 4-5) , he mentions other brothers of the Lord who have the right to take their wives during their apostolic mission. It is clear in Paul's formulation that compares his rights with "other apostles and the Lord’s brothers, and the apostle Peter" that he does not attribute the qualifier of brother of the Lord only to a few specific individuals. It does not stand as synonym of disciple. From this, several historians hold the position that either Joseph or Mary had children together or from previous relationships for Joseph like P-A. Bernheim(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2584331-james-brother-of-jesus) , or F. Blanchetière[2] (https://brill.com/view/title/15554) , who point out that, Paul never qualifies Peter or John as brother of the Lord, or Fr John P. Meier who denies[3] (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/838138.A_Marginal_Jew) the theory of cousins that never appears in the Greek version of the Old Testament in which the term *adelphos* marks exclusively the fraternal bond of blood or right. However the Catholic church and many Catholic exegetes believe that Mary didn't had other children, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church , following the traditional reading based on the later belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary, following Jerome [4] (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3007.htm), the first Father of the Church to argue against the siblings theory for the benefit of the cousins one at the end of the fourth century. They also recuse the half-brothers and sisters theory presented in an apocryphal gospel from James, around 180, born of a first marriage of Joseph from previous relationships. Why these "Brothers of the Lord" have been embarrassing for the Catholic Church which make them gradually forgotten and lose their quality of brothers? Why at the same time as the cult of chastity develops, whose mother of Jesus becomes the symbol and which will find its apogee in the doctrine of its perpetual virginity? Note : Other like Assyrian and part of protestants hold this doctrine as well but I narrow my question to the Catholic Church as far as the different schisms had not yet been pronounced when the doctrine was created.

I am reading The Upper Room by Bishop J.C. Ryle and I came to this passage that surprised me: > James the son of Alphaeus was there, who had the honour of being the > presiding Apostle at the first Council held in Jerusalem, and of whom > St. Paul tells the Galatians that, together with Peter and John, James > was a "pillar of the Church" (Gal. 2:9). Is that accurate? Was James the son of Alphaeus the presiding Apostle at the first Council held in Jerusalem? And if not, was he generally thought to have been in the 19th century (by evangelicals)?

Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodoxy have the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary . Protestants generally don't have that belief. What are the main arguments Protestants use against the idea of the perpetual virginity of Mary? This question is the opposite of this one .

Some critics of Christianity, (Muslims, for example), argue that though Saint Paul believed that Jesus was crucified and his crucifixion has a significance (that he redeems all people from the effects of the Fall) but that doesn't necessarily require that the Jerusalem church led by James and Peter, believed that Jesus was crucified and assuming that they did believe that Jesus was crucified, then that doesn't necessarily require that the Jerusalem church, believed that his crucifixion has a theological significance (atonement). How can we be assured that The Jerusalem church did believe that Jesus was crucified and his crucifixion has significance? Please Note: Answers should exclude any textual proofs from the Epistle of James.

Roman Catholics believe that Mary the mother of Jesus remained a virgin for her whole life. Mary the mother of Jesus is sometimes seen in the gospels with men referred to as Jesus' brothers, with names including James and Joseph. Then there's this verse: Matthew 27:56 (NIV): > Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and > Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. Who does the Roman Catholic Church say this Mary (mother of James and Joseph) was? Were James and Joseph step-children (and therefore Jesus' step-brothers) or perhaps this is a different Mary altogether?

According to Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jew: >AND now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood, and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was also himself called Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus proved a most fortunate man; for he had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God, and who had himself enjoyed that dignity a long time formerly, which had never happened to any other of our high priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, 1 who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble a sanhedrim without his consent. 2 Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high priest. The question: Those Jews seem to be non-Christians, and it was blasphemy for the Jews to believe in Jesus as God, or elevate him, the way we see in the gospels. According to the text, they saw nothing against the Law to be committed by James, to label him as a breaker of the law. How could they believe that if they knew his elevated views on Jesus? Or maybe he had no such views on Jesus? or maybe they had only an idea of his strict keeping of the law and no idea yet of his elevated views on Jesus?

My perusal of this site has enlightened me to these three cases where a person is spoken of as being sinless from the womb. According Catholic Church were all three born sinless? 1) Mary according to the Church cleansed of all stain of sin from conception. 2) John the Baptist cleansed during the visit from Mary while he was in the womb. 3) Recently I read here https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/45451/origin-of-the-story-that-james-had-knees-as-hard-as-a-camels-because-of-prayin in a great answer that according to Eusibius quoting Hegesippus that James brother of Jesus was sinless from his mothers womb. As that was a new one on me I am asking if the Catholic Church states that all three were in fact born sinless and what similarities and differences are there among these.

I have always been told that Peter was the head of the entire Church at the time of Christ. However, James was apparently leader of the Church in Jerusalem, and Paul started a number of churches outside the Holy Land. Who is considered to be the first leader of the Church established by Jesus according to the various Protestant denominations?

The following verses refer to "James," and most commentators identify him as the same James who is referred to as the "brother" of Jesus (though the exact meaning of that word is unclear). How do we know that it refers to him, rather than the son of Zebedee or of Alphaeus , two of the Twelve Apostles? 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 >For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. >Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to **James**, then to all the apostles. >Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

From what I understand, early on there was a disagreement between James (who is said to be the brother of Jesus and the leader of the early Christian movement) and Paul, the latter saying that the law was cursed and it is not about works/actions but about faith and redemption. In a story recounted in Acts 21:17-26 , James and the Christian elders in Jerusalem wanted to show other Christians who were converted Jews, and who still observed the Jewish Law, that Paul still believed in observing the Law. They therefore told Paul to go and perform a ritual of purification and sacrifice in the Jewish temple, which he then proceeded to do. According to James's words or any other scripture, did James eventually change his view of the Law and follow Paul? Update In James 2:10 he says: > For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is > guilty of breaking all of it.

The story is, I believe, apocryphal; but the "brothers of Jesus, sons of Joseph" rejected sharing their inheritance with Jesus and James, a follower of Jesus and leader of the early church (per Acts), stated that he (James) would share one-half of his inheritance with Jesus.