The Gospel of James (a 2nd-century apocryphal gospel also called the Protoevangelium of James or the Infancy Gospel of James) says that Mary was betrothed to Joseph and that he already had children. In this case, James was one of Joseph's children from his previous marriage and, therefore, Jesus's stepbrother.
The Orthodox think Joseph had James by his first wife, and after she died he married Mary — whose only child was the virgin-born Jesus. Thus, James was Jesus' stepbrother. Catholics commonly hold that James was merely Jesus' close relative, perhaps the son of Joseph's brother Clopas or a cousin on Mary's side.
In Mark 6:3, the "brothers" of Jesus are named; they are James and Joses and Judas and Simon. Two of the names, James and Joses, appear again in Mark 15:40, where they are said to be the sons of a Mary, one of the women watching the crucifixion.
Adelphoi (brethren) of Jesus
Mark 6:3. names James, Joses, Judas (conventionally known in English as Jude) and Simon as the brothers of Jesus, and Matthew 13:55, which probably used Mark as its source, gives the same names in different order, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas.
According to Mark 6:3 Jesus had four brothers (and two sisters): "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
Did Jesus have a twin brother? Actually the name Thomas Didymos -- well, Thomas is Hebrew for twin. Didymos is Greek for twin.... The implication here is that he is Jesus' twin.
Since the King James Version of the Bible, the name Jacob in the Greek New Testament has been rendered as James, as a way of sucking up to the King. This is exclusive to the English-speaking world: on the Continent, and, presumably, in pre-KJV English translations, the name 'Iακωβος is rendered as Jacob.
Ben Witherington III, professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, offers the Protestant view that Jesus and James were full brothers, with Jesus being the elder.
Jacobovici and Pellegrino argue that Aramaic inscriptions reading "Judah, son of Jesus", "Jesus, son of Joseph", and "Mariamne", a name they associate with Mary Magdalene, together preserve the record of a family group consisting of Jesus, his wife Mary Magdalene and son Judah.
According to the Gospels, Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph, conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit – and therefore Christians consider Jesus the Son of God. However, most Christians understand Joseph to be a true father in every way except biological, since Joseph was the legal father who raised Jesus.
Jesus' name in Hebrew was “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua. So how did we get the name “Jesus”? And is “Christ” a last name? Watch the episode to find out!
John the Apostle was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James the Great. According to church tradition, their mother was Salome. Also according to some traditions, Salome was the sister of Mary, Jesus' mother, making Salome Jesus' aunt, and her sons John the Apostle and James were Jesus' cousins.
James, brother of Jesus
Tabor also cites a passage of Jesus referring to James as "my beloved" (twice) in the apocryphal Second Apocalypse of James as indicating James to be the beloved disciple.
According to Jerome, James the Less is identified with James the brother of Jesus and with James, the son of Alphaeus. Jerome first tells that James the Less must be identified with James, the son of Alphaeus.
Some scholars believe that James the Less and James the Just are the same person. If that were the case, James would be Jesus' brother. There is evidence that they could be the same person, but it's more commonly accepted that he was the son of Alphaeus, and James the Just was another person.
In fact, the name James means the same exact thing as Jacob—“supplanter” or substitute—and comes from the original Hebrew word for Jacob. Because of its connection to Jacob, James is a Biblical name (two of Jesus' apostles were named James).
James is one of the first disciples called by Jesus, along with Andrew, Peter, and John. As the first disciples, the four of them helped establish a foundation for Jesus's earthly ministry, which suggests that James was a great example to his fellow believers.
For Catholics, the perpetual virginity of Mary means she did not give birth to other children after Jesus. So there's no question of there being biological brothers to Jesus, although some Catholic scholars can see Jesus having cousins – a position supported by St. Jerome in the fourth century.
"Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married, even though no reliable historical evidence exists to support that claim," King said in a press release.
His name in Aramaic (Teʾoma) and Greek (Didymos) means “twin”; John 11:16 identifies him as “Thomas, called the Twin.” He is called Judas Thomas (i.e., Judas the Twin) by the Syrians.
Aramaic is best known as the language Jesus spoke. It is a Semitic language originating in the middle Euphrates. In 800-600 BC it spread from there to Syria and Mesopotamia. The oldest preserved inscriptions are from this period and written in Old Aramaic.
In her 2018 book What Did Jesus Look Like?, Taylor used archaeological remains, historical texts and ancient Egyptian funerary art to conclude that, like most people in Judea and Egypt around the time, Jesus most likely had brown eyes, dark brown to black hair and olive-brown skin. He may have stood about 5-ft.-5-in.
A careful look at the New Testament shows that Mary kept her vow of virginity and never had any children other than Jesus. When Jesus was found in the Temple at age twelve, the context suggests that he was the only son of Mary and Joseph.