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The General Epistle of James

Other early manuscripts bear the simple title in Greek, Iakōbou Epistolē (“Epistle of James”). Later manuscripts entitle this a general, or catholic, epistle, in the sense that it is addressed to the church at large rather than to any specific congregation or person. The epistle of James is referred to by Eusebius as the first of the seven epistles called “catholic,” which means “general,” or “universal” (Ecclesiastical History ii. 23). They were so called because they were addressed to the church in general, although this is altogether inappropriate when applied to 2 and 3 John, which are addressed to individuals. In all the early manuscripts the seven epistles from James to Jude were placed together after Acts, preceding the epistles of Paul. The order of the general epistles as they appear in our English Bible is the one usually observed in the principal manuscripts. 2. Authorship. There is insufficient evidence in the epistle of James to warrant any definite conclusion as to the identity of its author. The NT has many references to men by the name of James. This name was very common among the Jews, for it represents the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Jacob. The frequent use of this name is illustrated in the list of the twelve apostles (Matt. 10:2, 3; Mark 3:16–19; Luke 6:14–16). One of these apostles was James the son of Zebedee and the brother of John. A second James was the son of Alphaeus. Another Biblical character by the name of James was the father of one of the Twelve, who is identified as Judas “of James,” that is, the son of James, rather than “the brother of James,” as in the KJV (Luke 6:16). It is reasonable to suppose that the author of the epistle of James is one of the persons by that name already mentioned in the Scripture record, rather than another James, entirely different from any otherwise known. The tone of the introduction in ch. 1:1 implies that the writer speaks as one well known to those whom he addresses, and that he speaks with recognized authority. Although according to the Gospel narratives all the Twelve were closely associated with the Lord, James, the son of Zebedee, was the more prominent of the two apostles by that name. Only a very few writers have ever attributed the epistle to him. But even this possibility seems ruled out by the early date of his death (A.D. 44), and by the additional fact that ch. 1:1 implies that there was only one James prominent in the church at the time the epistle was written, instead of two or more. The second apostle named James was the son of Alphaeus. He is clearly identified four times by the use of his father’s name (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). There has been much discussion as to whether this James is identical with “James the less” (Mark 15:40). If so, not only was his father named Alphaeus, but his mother was named Mary and he had a brother Joses (Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:47; 16:1; Luke 24:10). But elsewhere this Mary is called the wife of Cleophas (John 19:25). Although attempts have been made to equate Cleophas (or Clopas, Cleopas, Luke 24:18) with Alphaeus