In today’s class, we focused on the letter of James. According to the Bible, Jesus did not have brothers and sisters, so reference to James the brother of Jesus is more figurative. The use of the word “brother” is meant to reference either cousin or they could be half-brothers and sisters from his father’s side. James’ real name was Jacob and it was changed to James in the translation of the Bible.
James plays a leadership role in the Jerusalem church, who comes to know Paul. Paul was one of the earliest sources of Jesus, although he was not an eyewitness. This, however, is not surprising for the time as there were no pictures of people, not seeing someone was not an indication that they did not exist. Josephus mentions James the brother of Jesus with this specific title and also Paul mentions him in this way. These examples make it seem possible that he could have been a biological brother to Jesus or some form of a family member.