One of the key issues for those who argue that Jesus was not a historical figure is the identity of James. Not James, the brother of John and the son of Zebedee, but the James that is referred to as the brother of the Lord.
Traditionally this has been understood as being James, the actual biological brother of Jesus, being the son of Joseph and Mary (I will deal with the debates below). Obviously, if Jesus was not a historical figure, he could not have had a biological brother.
Richard Carrier and His Argument
Richard Carrier, one of the most prominent of the Jesus Mythicists, deals with this in a blog post related to his ongoing debate with Bart Ehrman. The argument is focused on Galatians 1:19.
but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother.
Carrier’s argument is that in this verse, Paul differentiates James from the apostles by putting him in the category of “the Lord’s brother.” What does that category refer to? Simply, fellow Christians.
Carrier observes that Christians are referred to as brothers. Colossians 4:7 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13 are just two of many examples of this practice. The New Testament also refers to Christians and sons/children of God and co-heirs of Christ. Therefore every Christian is “the Lord’s brother” while a special few are apostles.
The Problem With This Argument
It is true that Christians referred to each other as brothers and sisters. But there are no examples of average Christians being referred to a brother of the Lord or the Lord’s brother. That phrase is only used for James.
Carrier might respond by saying that Galatians 1:19 is the example of the practice that demonstrates that his interpretation of the passage is correct. That is circular but there is more to say.
Keeping in mind that only James is given this title, what happens when we search for “James” and “brother” in the New Testament. Aside from James, son of Zebedee, we find another James who is listed as a brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:15, Mark 6:3). James is listed with other named brothers of Jesus.
Could these be just another example of a group of people who are brothers of the Lord in the sense of followers? Besides being paired with Mary, the mother of Jesus, these brothers are described as being skeptical of Jesus’ words and actions. We also have a reference of Mary and the brothers in Acts 1:14, that looks an awful lot like a family and not just a group of believers.
What Were the Debates?
Carrier refers to a number of scholars and peer reviewed articles that suggest that there is more going on than we realize. Carrier is correct that there is a debate about this verse.
Scholars disagree about whether James was considered an apostle or not. I find it interesting that he cites approvingly the great scholar H.D. Betz and his commentary on Galatians. What else does Betz say?
It is clear from other passages that James had a special position in primitive Christianity, which was expressed by his title: “the brother of the Lord.”
What Carrier does is use the debate over whether James was an apostle to shoehorn his view that the brother of the Lord was just a name for a Christian. It was actually a special title, only given to James.
Interestingly, Betz also says in the same commentary:
Mark 6:3 (= Matt 13:55) mentions James as one of Jesus’ brothers.
Betz does not see this phrase as a reference to Christians in general. Carrier inserts his idea that a brother of the Lord is a Christian rather than a relation of Jesus despite that being absent from the scholarly discussion.
Now, there is some debate about whether James is an actual brother of Jesus, but not in a way that helps Carrier.
Although the earliest statements by Church Fathers see James as the half-brother of Jesus, as veneration of Mary and her perpetual virginity arose, this became problematic. Two solutions were offered. One was that James and the rest were children of Joseph and his first wife and the other that they were cousins rather than brothers.
Concluding Thoughts
Carrier needs James to not be a brother of Jesus because James is historical and Jesus is supposed to be unhistorical. Carrier comes up with a creative idea that James is only called a brother of Jesus because he is a Christian and all Christians are brothers (or sisters) of Jesus.
Only James was known as the brother of the Lord in the New Testament. He was known as that because he was the eldest brother of Jesus, a son of Mary.
