Paul and Jesus

Eusebius, the early-fourth-century Christian historian, in commenting on this passage wrote, “James whom men of old had surnamed ‘Just’ for his excellence of virtue, is recorded to have been the first elected to the throne of the oversight of the church in Jerusalem.”²¹ The Greek term thronos refers to a “seat” or “chair” of authority and is the same term used for a king or ruler. In Eusebius’s time the bishop of Rome had not yet achieved supremacy over bishops in other areas, so Eusebius seems to have no problem with presenting James as a kind of proto-pope in Jerusalem.

Eusebius also preserves the testimony of Hegesippus, a Jewish-Christian of the early second century, who he says is from the “generation after the Apostles”:

The succession of the church passed to James the brother of the Lord, together with the Apostles. He was called the “Just” by all men from the Lord’s time until ours, since many are called James, but he was holy from his mother’s womb.²²

The Greek word that Hegesippus used here, “to succeed” (diadexomai), is regularly used for a royal blood line, for example, when Philip king of Macedon passes on his rule to his son Alexander the Great.²³

We also have a recently recovered Syriac source, The Ascents of James, embedded in a later corpus known as the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions, that reflects some of the earliest traditions related to the Jerusalem church under the leadership of James the Just.²⁴ It records events in Jerusalem seven years following the death of Jesus, when James is clearly at the helm: “The church in Jerusalem that was established by our Lord was increasing in numbers being ruled uprightly and firmly by James who was made Overseer over it by our Lord.”²⁵ The Latin version of the Recognitions passes on the following admonition: “Wherefore observe the greatest caution, that you believe no teacher, unless he bring from Jerusalem the testimonial of James the Lord’s brother, or of whosoever may come after him” (4:35). The Second Apocalypse of James, one of the texts found with the Gospel of Thomas at Nag Hammadi, stressed the intimate bond between Jesus and James, in keeping with the idea that James was the “beloved disciple.” In this text Jesus and James were “nursed with the same milk” and Jesus kisses his brother James and says to him, “Behold I shall reveal to you everything my beloved” (50.15–22).

What is impressive about these sources is the way in which they speak with a single voice, yet come from various authors and time periods, confirming what the book of Acts never relates openly, but Paul states explicitly. The basic elements of the picture they preserve for us are amazingly consistent: Jesus passes to James his successor rule of the Church; James is widely known by the surname “the Just One” because of his reputation for righteousness both in his community and among the people; and Peter, John, and the rest of the Twelve, as well as Paul, look to James as their undisputed leader.

It is quite remarkable that the contemporary Jewish historian Josephus, who had no affiliation with the Christian movement, relates the death of James, not recorded in the New Testament, in some detail. Josephus reports that the Jewish people viewed James’s death at the hand of the Jewish Sanhedrin, led by the high priest Ananus, with such disfavor that their protest caused Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, to have Ananus removed from his priestly office after only three months.²⁶ Based on his account we can reliably date James’s death to A.D. 62. The early Jewish-Christian writer Hegesippus preserves the bloody details, relating how James was thrown from the corner of the Temple enclosure into the Kidron valley, where he was stoned and beaten to death with a club.²⁷

To think that the influence and importance of James has been all but forgotten by Christians through the ages is cause enough for wonder, but beyond the man is a message. What about the lost Christianity that Jesus, James, and the early followers of Jesus represented?

RECOVERING THE LOST CHRISTIANITY

OF JESUS

Although James has been all but written out of our New Testament records he nonetheless remains our best and most direct link to the historical Jesus. However one evaluates Paul’s “Gospel,” it is nonetheless a fact that what Paul preached was wholly based upon his own visionary experiences, whereas James and the original apostles had spent extensive time with Jesus during his lifetime. Is there a reliable way to recover the Christianity of James and the early Jerusalem church?