Did Jesus have a brother named James?

Question

James was one of the 12 Apostles and although all of the Apostles, except John, were martyred, James was the first to be killed for his faith by Herod Antipas in the year 44 (Acts: 12:2). His title was "brother of the Lord."

What about sisters? Cousins?
If he had family is the line still continued?

Answer 1

Yes, Jesus had a couple of brothers, one of whom was James.

John the Baptist was a cousin.

Catholics insist that Jesus's brothers were half brothers, because they prefer that Mary would be an eternal virgin.

Mary did not give birth as a a virgin, however; the OT word interpreted as "virgin" was actually the Hebrew word "alma".

From http://www.outreachjudaism.org/alma.html

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Answer 2

I cannot give a definitive answer to this question, because it is the subject to much debate that, once again, involves interpretation of the meaning of particular words, like "brethren" and "brother".

If you check the Catholic Encyclopedia, you will see a definitive rejection of the possibility of Jesus having brothers or sisters.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02767a.htm

There are also those who argue that Jesus did have siblings
http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/jamesbrother.html

http://www.biblehistory.net/Chap11.htm
refers to Mark 6:2-3 which says:

"And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, 'Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?'"

He had a cousin - John the Baptist is understood to have been his cousin.

There is a program called "The Real Family of Jesus" that aired on the Discovery channel that explores this issue. You might check it out if you can.

Answer 3

If you're Catholic, like me, we had been taught Mary remained a virgin till her demise. Many different religions despite the fact that, consider that Mary and Joseph had youngsters in combination. Also, a few have mentioned that Joseph used to be a widow and had youngsters from a earlier marriage. Some additionally say that the trem "brothers" is a large time period simply regarding his friends. Either manner Jesus continues to be the son of God, whether or not or no longer he had brothers. That's probably the most importnat message in The New Testament, do not get wrapped up in small main points like this. It's intriguing, however it does not difference Jesus's message of affection and forgiveness.

Answer 4

No early Christian tradition holds that Jesus's mother had any other children, since up until the Reformation, nearly all Christians believed that Mary was a virgin her whole life.

Two explanations exist for this "brother" business. One was that the word back then (and in a different language) meant something more along the lines of "relative." Not all languages use kinship terms in the same way, you know. In fact, when I was travelling in Asia, if I'd grow close to a friend, I'd refer to the friend as my "sister," even though we weren't related by blood.

The other explanation, favored more by certain Orthodox groups, is that Joseph, Jesus's father, had children by a previous wife. they offer as evidece the fact that Joseph disappears from the story after the birth narratives, so they hypothesize that he was old, probably had a second wife, and probably died long before Mary did.


Edit: The issue has nothing to do with the Hebrew language, since the Bible was written in Greek, including the version of the Old Testament used in 1st century Palestine. Jesus probably spoke Aramaic.

Answer 5

After Jesus' birth, Joseph and Mary had other children, Jesus' half brothers and sisters. That is evident from the question inhabitants of Nazareth later asked about Jesus: "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?" (Matthew 1:25; 13:55, 56; Mark 6:3) We can conclude from this that Jesus' immediate family consisted of his parents, four brothers, and at least two sisters.

Matthew 1:25 But he had no intercourse with her until she gave birth to a son; and he called his name Jesus.

Matthew 13:55, 56 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where, then, did this man get all these things?”

Mark 6:3 This is the carpenter the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon, is it not? And his sisters are here with us, are they not?” So they began to stumble at him.

Answer 6

Yes Jesus did have a brother or should I say step-brother named James and I think he did have step-sisters too, so I'm sure there is a family line not on the dads side just Mary's. There is some scripture that talks about Jesus saying that he is not accepted in his own land and he says something about his brothers and sisters, I don't think James believed who Jesus really was till after the resurection.

Answer 7

By what I recall from a documentary, he was the eldest of seven children (5 boys and two girls) and had a half-sister called Salome (apparently from Joseph's previous marriage) Eventually, the myth of Jesus being an only child "became fact."
By what I recall, one of his brothers was indeed James. Another Judas (not Judas Iscariot), Thomas (meaning "twin") and (one of his sisters) Leah. That's all I remember.
As for cousins, he indeed did have an extended family, I saw this in another documentary about a renowned genealogist investigating Jesus' family tree from both biblical and extra biblical sources.

Answer 8

Yes the book of James was written by Jesus brother James. He was the first oldest of Jesus four younger brothers(mark 6:3) He was called just for his great piety, or his great reverance for GOD. He believed that the acid test for true religion was in doing rather than hearing, speaking and believing. He believe that true religion was moral and social religion. Doing the right thing in ones everyday life or affairs. Good or right conduct.

Answer 9

Yes Jesus had brothers and one was named James. However, according to the Bible Jesus was not the real son of Joseph but was God's son. I suppose the lineage was continued but the offspring would not have been God's. Interesting question.

Answer 10

If you think (or rather, don't think) that the "bone box" is evidence, it was proven to be a fraud.

The box was proven to be 2000 years old, but the "brother" engravings were made within the last 50 years.

The owner of the box who brought it forward, Oded Golan, is currently awaiting trial in Israeli for defacing (engraving new words) on an ancient stone in an attempt to sell it off as proof of "king solomon's mines".

Golan is guilty of fraud, trying to peddle a stone table, yet you think he's credible when selling the bone box?