Which “James”?
He appointed twelve of them, whom He designated as apostles… James son of Zebedee and his brother John (whom He named Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”)… James son of Alphaeus… Mk 3:14-18
vs.
οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τέκτων, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς Μαρίας καὶ ἀδελφὸς Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωσῆτος… Mk 6:3
Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of the Mary and the brother of James and Joses…
Μαρία ἡ Ἰακώβου τοῦ μικροῦ καὶ Ἰωσῆτος μήτηρ Mk 15:40
Mary the [mother] of the lesser “James” and of Joses
Μαρία ἡ Ἰωσῆτος Mk 15:47
Mary the [mother] of Joses
vs.
Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Ἰακώβου Mk 16:1
Mary the [mother] of the [relatively greater] “James” [the aforementioned “son of Alphaeus” Mk 3:18]
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I interpret “the lesser” as distinguishing two Jameses: the reputed brother of Jesus–“the lesser James” vis-a-vis an implicitly greater “James”–James, son of Alphaeus.
- The unusual spelling, Ἰωσῆτος/Joses, indicates of one and the same person/family in each of the 3 usages (the only 3 uses of this particular name/spelling in the NT).
- Ἰακώβου τοῦ μικροῦ (the lesser “James”) distinguishes between two Jameses on a spectrum “from the least to the greatest of them” (ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου αὐτῶν Heb 8:11 Cf Acts 8:10), alluding to the definition of “greatness” in Mark 10:43 (Cf Luke 22:24), “whoever wants to become great (μέγας) among you must be your servant.”
- The implicitly greater servant “James” of Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Ἰακώβου (Mary of the James, Mk 16:1) is interpreted as “son of Alphaeus” Mk 3:18–not to be confused with James, son of Zebedee, who was always mentioned in connection with his brother John.
I have not found this particular two Jameses interpretation of “the lesser” in GMark in print. I would like to know if such a possible interpretation is discussed in print somewhere, as distinct from the standard interpretations discussed here: ** you do not have permission to see this link **
And here: ** you do not have permission to see this link **
The elements of my exegetical reasoning are commonplace in the tradition, but strangely, my conclusion–that “the lesser” distinguishes the reputed brother of Jesus named “James” from the son of Alphaeus named “James”–would seem to be unheard-of!
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Thoughts?
My interpretation of GMark’s “lesser James” vis a vis the son of Alphaeus cues to my two Jameses reading of Galatians in some specific ways.
1. In Galatians 2:12, I read “Before the coming of some from James (ie GMark’s “lesser James” not to be confused with James “the reputed pillar”/GMark’s son of Alphaeus), Cephas ate with Gentiles”.
2. οἱ δοκοῦντες (the recognized rulers) GMark’s discourse on true greatness is cued to οἱ δοκοῦντες of Gal 2:6 and 2:9, (the recognized ones). Matt and Luke delete that particular cue, but Luke adds another usage of the same word: “A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was recognized (δοκεῖ) to be greatest. James, son of Alphaeus, Peter and John were all in the audience for that teaching, of course. And I think their moment of “greatness” (that showed they listened well) was when they blessed Paul’s gift of mission to the Gentiles and welcomed Titus.
3. To become “first” Jesus said according to Mk 10:44, you must become “servant of all” (πάντων δοῦλος), and so it is that James the recognized pillar/GMark’s son of Alphaeus merited being named first–he was a servant of all, including the Greek, Titus. By contrast, those who “came from James (the lesser one)” were not, in Paul’s view, servants of all.
BDEhrman
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