ΑΝ AMERICAN COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. EDITED BY ALVAH HOVEY, D.D., LL.D. PHILADELPHIA: AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 1420 CHESTNUT STREET. [no.177 COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. BY EDWIN T. WINKLER, D. D. PHILADELPHIA: AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 1420 CHESTNUT STREET. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by the AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. INTRODUCTION TO THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. I. AUTHOR OF THE EPISTLE. 66 THE title assumed by our author, "Servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 : 1), would of itself naturally suggest the conclusion that he was not an apostle, and hence that he must be identified neither with James the son of Zebedee, nor James the Little, the son of Alphæus-both of whom were upon the apostolic lists-but rather with the James whom the gospels and epistles designate as the Lord's brother" (Matt. 13: 55; Mark 6: 3; Gal. 1: 19), and who, as appears from the history (Acts 12: 17; 15: 13 ff.; 21: 18 seq.), and also from Paul's testimony (Gal. 2: 9), had great influence in the mother-church at Jerusalem. James the Elder, the son of Zebedee, and the brother of John the Evangelist, fell a victim at an early period (about A. D. 42) to his impetuous zeal in propagating the gospel. (Acts 12: 2.) Even sooner than he does James, the son of Alphæus, disappear from the evangelic history, having probably encountered a similar fate in regions remote from Palestine. James, the brother of the Lord, and the brother of Jude (Jude 1), lived, says Hegesippus, until the destruction of Jerusalem was near at hand; and during that period (extending according to Josephus to the year A. D. 63), exercised pastoral authority in the metropolitan church of the Jewish Christians. The Jews recognized him as a righteous man, and tradition gives him the title of "the Just." To this eminent disciple every probability assigns the authorship of the Epistle-a conclusion in which the majority of interpreters are agreed. Yet there is a pretty general unwillingness to accept the literal statement that this James was the brother of our Lord; the deep-rooted prejudice in favor of the celibacy of the Virgin Mother being the main difficulty in the way. Hence, some have insisted that James, the Lord's brother, was the same person as James the Little, the son of Alphæus. They argue that Alphæus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Cleophas; that Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and the mother of James and Joses (Mark 15: 40), was sister to Mary, the mother of Jesus; that James was therefore the cousin of Jesus, and that merely that remoter relationship may be indicated by the title, "Brother of the Lord." But these positions are not tenable. For, 1. The evidence is not entirely satisfactory that Alphæus and Cleophas are the same name. 2. It is highly improbable that two sisters should have each had the same name. 3. It is quite certain that Mary, the wife of Cleophas, was not the sister of Mary, the wife of Joseph. There were four women at the cross of Jesus, one of whom was "his mother's sister." (John 19: 25.) She was not named by John, who here displays his characteristic modesty, for she was his own mother, Salome; but this omission is supplied by the other evangelists. (Matt. 27: 56; Mark 15 40.) 4. The employment of the title "brother" to indicate a cousin is contrary to usage. The more tender title for such a kinsman could only be used under special circumstances, but by no means as a common designation. 5. And finally, neither James, |
