Page 6 - General Epistles (James through Jude) Textbook

James.” Mark 10:35: “Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we
want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

Third James, the son of Alphaeus.
He was the disciple of Jesus Christ and had other nick names. Mark 15:40: “There were also women,
watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the
younger and of Joses, and Salome.”

Fourth James, the father of Judas who was Jesus’ disciple.
Luke 6:16: “Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. Acts 1:13: “When they had
entered Jerusalem, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. Peter and John, and James,
and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the
Zealot, and Judas son of James were there.”

On the second, third, and fourth James, Craig L. Blomberg gives a summary as to why they could not
have written the letter.

James the apostle, brother of John and son of Zebedee, was martyred under Herod Agrippa I in A.D. 44
(see Acts 12:1-2), probably too early in the development of the church to have written this letter. . .
James, the son of Alphaeus never attained any prominent position in the early church as far as we know.
. . James the less (or “the little”), mentioned only as one of the sons of one of the Marys who was
present at the crucifixion and the empty tomb, may well be the same person as the son of Alphaeus. If
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he is a different individual, we know nothing more about him.”

Provenance.
Even though there are many places where the letter according to James could have been written,
Jerusalem seems to be the convincing place of writing. The scattering of the twelve tribes in James 1:1
merge well with that one found in Acts 8:1-3 and Acts 11:19. Note: “From James, a slave of God and the
Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings!” (Jas. 1:1). Then, acts 11:19 says,
“Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as
far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews.” The writer of the letter
seems to be aware of Jerusalem and what could have caused the dispersion of the twelve tribes.
Further, if James the half-brother of Jesus Christ is the author of that letter (as I have already picked him
as the writer), the Bible does not give us many places where James lived. As a result, we are left with
only one place, Jerusalem. D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo note that “the social and economic backdrop
assumed in the letter also fits a Palestinian provenance: merchants ranging far and wide in search of
profits (Jas. 4:13-17), absentee landlords taking advantage of an increasingly poor and landless labor
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force (Jas. 2:5-7; 5:1-6), and heated religious controversy (Jas. 4:1-3).”

Date.
Carson and Moo date the letter “in the early or middle 40s” because the letter itself does not address
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the discussion that took place to resolve Judaizers’ discrimination against the Gentiles in Acts 15. W. T.
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Dayton argues for “an early date, perhaps in A.D. 45-48” because the epistle does not reflect on the
existence of the Gentile believers and “there is no whisper of the controversy relating to the council at
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Jerusalem.” Karen H. Jobes dates it “as early as the mid-40s when James assumed leadership of the
Jerusalem church, just before the Council of Jerusalem in AD 49, or any time up to his death in AD 62.”
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