Who Are They?
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.”
Matt 10:1-4
“And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.”
Luke 6:13-16
In the above two texts, I’ve highlighted the names of two individuals; James, and Judas (or Lebbaeus). What I want to discuss with you, is who are they?
If you study what we’re given about these men, we discover they were brothers, that they had another brother called Joses, and a mother called Mary. Sound familiar?
I want you to tell me, if you can, if these two men are the half brothers of Jesus. We know Jesus had four half brothers, called James, Judas, Joses, and Simon. Did Jesus choose two of the twelve from the sons of Mary and Joseph?
Hm….
Most interesting…
But.
I have no idea.
Good Question!
John 5:7 says, ‘For neither did his brethren believe in him.’
Jesus cannot be talking about his brethern in the spiritual family for if they did not ‘believe in him’ then they could not be spiritual ‘brthern’. This also being said after the deciples have been choosen. I dont think there seems to be any clear evidence for Jesus’ half brothers conversion until after the resurection, (Acts 15:13-22).
Just my thoughts. : )
Brian - Yeah, it is. Hopefully we’ll all have a bit more of an idea after discussion.
Matthew - You mean John 7:5?
That’s what I would have said emphatically not too long ago. Consider this however, wouldn’t the text still make sense if it was only speaking of two of his brothers?
It could not be Jesus’ brother: “….James the son of Alphaeus…”
Also Mary was a fairly common name back then, bit like Jones is a common last name in todays phone book.
goood question!! I didn’t even know that Jesus had 4half brothers!! lol. take it Alphaeus is translation of Joses? took me a while to think bout all the different names and work out who was who!! lol
I thought the conversation was going to die there.
Jermayn - Well spotted buddy.
Stephen - I’m glad you’ve learned something. The Roman Catholic church denies it, but it’s in black and white in every Bible.
I must admit, I would have arrived at the same conclusion as Matthew and Jermayn - they can’t be the half brothers of the Lord.
However, I was listening to Dr. Alan Cairns on the topic. He’s not dogmatic about it - it’s impossible to be on this passage - but he throws out the suggestion that they may indeed be the half brothers of Christ.
It’s not easy to relate in written form, but basically, he address the two arguments head on.
Jn 7:5 - Wouldn’t this statement still be true if only two of his brothers (Simon and Joses) didn’t believe?
Matt 10:3 - You’ll find that “the son” isn’t in the original greek. Dr. Cairns then goes on to relate a relation between the name Alphaeus and Simon, and how the passage may have intended to say, “the brother of Simon”.
The argument is further strengthened by the authority James (the brother of Jesus) has in Acts 15, where he takes precedence over the apostles in the early church council. If James the brother of Jesus, mentioned in Acts 15 isn’t an apostle, how come he took lead over apostles? That is difficult to fathom. The authority was always in the apostles. Therefore, James must have been an apostle, and therefore is the very James among the twelve.
Also, James (the brother of Jesus) is known as a “pillar of the church” along with Peter and John.
These issues are difficult to argue, if James the apostle isn’t the half brother of Christ.
Thoughts?
hmm…
I was never 100% sure before, now im definately not!
Armen- you said ‘Jn 7:5 - Wouldn’t this statement still be true if only two of his brothers (Simon and Joses) didn’t believe?’
im not sure that it would, it would make it more of a half truth, Jesus said, ‘For neither did his brethren…’ James and Judas were his brethern and so in a way to say that he could be talking of only two brothers would make this statement seem untrue. understand what im trying to say?
im not dismissing the fact that they were brothers at all, but there does seem to be alot of assumptions made to defend that they are. As you said, ‘the passage ‘may’ have intended to say…’ and is he (Alan Cairnes) sure that some one who wasnt an apostle could take lead over the apostles?
i think it would be hard to come to any conclusion but it would be interesting to know for sure.