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NASB | James 1:1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, ¶ To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 1:1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve [Hebrew] tribes [scattered abroad among the Gentiles] in the dispersion: Greetings (rejoice)! |
Subject: Who wrote the book of James? |
Bible Note: I'm not questioning weather or not Mary had children. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other. We are not told that she did, we are not told that she didn't. The question at hand is simply one of the interpretation of "brother". If it is only used in the familiar usage, then we must interpret it as Jesus' younger sibling. However, my argument here is that the passages could identify the usage of "brother" to indicate a near kinsman. The passages indicated earlier do show James to be Jesus's cousin. This James was the only James who could have written the Book in the NT bearing his name. For me to accept your argument that Jesus's younger brother actually wrote the general epistle, then I would have to accept the following statements: 1. The NT identifies 6 James' (a, son of Zebedee, b, James-the-less, c, James the brother of Joseph, d, James the brother of Joseph, e, James the brother of Jesus, f, James the father of Judas). (I have never heard of anyone making this statement before and I am inclined to think it is not true.) 2. Jesus brother James is an unbelieving Jew at the time of Jesus's death, but eventually becomes a pillar of the fledgling Christian church. (this is quite amazing since I only know of this happeneing to Paul, and even then Paul needed James assistance for the rest of the apostles to accept Paul) 3. At the time of Jesus death, he know that his brother will become a pillar of the church and STILL commits the care of his mother to someone outside of the family. (now that just doesn't make sense at all) Contrast those three unbelievable statements with the argument of James being our Messiah's cousin. |