The James Factor

When we talk about the evidence for Christianity, whether we're trying to encourage the faithful or persuade the unconverted, I don't think we really appreciate the gift we have in James. His story raises a pretty powerful question, one that both doubters and unbelievers would profit from wrestling with.

Let's consider his background. James was raised in a poor but devout family (cf, Luke 2:22-24). Traditions differ. One says he was Jesus' younger half-brother, a son of Mary; another says he was Jesus' older step-brother, a son of Joseph's previous wife. That means either Jesus was his oldest brother, Mr. Perfect, the one they always heard, "Why can't you be more like Jesus?", or he was the youngest, the baby, the "special one".

We know James and his other brothers didn't believe Jesus during his ministry. At one point they teased him about thinking he was the Messiah (John 7:1-9). On another occasion they decided he was crazy and tried to "take charge of him" (Mark 3:21, 31-32).

Yet a few years later, James is regarded as one of the leaders of the church (Gal 1:18-19, 2:9; Acts 15:13-19). In his own writing, he now regards his brother as "our glorious Lord Jesus Christ" (James 2:1).

This raises the question: What would it take for you to believe your brother was the Lord of heaven?

If you've got a brother or sister, maybe think of them specifically. We love our siblings. Once we no longer share a bathroom, we may even like them. Occasionally we even respect them. But to worship them? What would that take?

Skeptics might suggest that he did it for worldly gain. But what gain? Fame? The only fame he got was from nobodies. The church was not generally attracting the cream of society. Was it women? As a leader of a church teaching an incredibly high moral standard? In a society that took a very dim view of adultery? Unlikely. Did he get rich? Not even remotely. All following Jesus got James was persecution (cf, Acts 8:1-3) ultimately resulting in his death (see Josephus The Antiquities of the Jews, book 20, chapter 9.1).

So what changed his mind? Paul told us.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James... (1Cor 15:3-8).

James saw the risen Jesus. His own mother could attest to Jesus' crucifixion. Yet there he stood.

Perhaps he was fooled. Skeptics often propose a mass hallucination, that people who were disposed to believe in Jesus would have wanted him back to badly that they convinced themselves he rose from the dead. But James would not have been so disposed. When your irritating and slightly daft brother gets himself killed, you'd feel grief, and you'd miss him. But ignoring everything you'd ever been taught to fantasize that he'd been resurrected by God? Not likely.

Others have suggested there was a "secret twin" the apostles trotted out to convince the world Jesus still lived. But James would have been the last person to be fooled by such a stunt.

No. There's only one good explanation for James believing that his annoying brother, the one who thought he was special, the one who might have been a little crazy, really was the Lord of Glory: He believed he saw him resurrected from the grave.

What would it take to convince you that your brother was the Lord of heaven? That's what it would take to convince James. Yet he was indeed convinced.

And if James could believe it, we should take that story seriously and consider it carefully.


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