© 2009 Jan Herca (license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0)
The apostles named James and Jude in the Gospels have always been the subject of some confusion among exegetes. Since two of Jesus’ brothers have been mentioned by these names, it has been assumed that they were the same people, and therefore that Jesus had two brothers among his twelve close followers. But this doesn’t fit with a well-known fact. The Gospels mention figures named James and Jude in several unclear passages:
«A little further on he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John» Mk 1:19
It mentions a James, but clearly specifies that he is the son of Zebedee and brother of John. The reason for this clarification is logical; it is to distinguish this James from another.
«Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite» Mk 3:18
Here appears the other James, who is called, to further distinguish him from the previous one, the son of Alphaeus. An apostle named simply Thaddeus also appears.
«and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him» Mk 3:19
Another Judas appears, but he is clearly identified as a different Judas, since he is called Iscariot, and we already know from the story that he would be the traitor. Therefore, there is no confusion between this Judas and the one we are dealing with.
“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?” Mc 6:3
Another James appears. But this James is clearly mentioned as the brother of Jesus and the son of Mary (and of Joseph, no?). Another Judas also appears as the brother of Jesus. But it’s clear that the Judas of Mark 3:19 and this one are different people, because in that case, how could the evangelist not mention in Mark 3:19 that James was Jesus’ brother, something so transcendental? Furthermore, in Mark 3:19 he is mentioned as the son of Alphaeus, which would leave us with the only solution being that Mary had remarried a man named Alphaeus. If this were so, why do the Nazarenes speak of this James as the son of Mary? Why don’t they say “son of Alphaeus”?
The names of Jesus’ other brothers are Joseph and Simon.
“Some women were watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joseph, and Salome.” Mk 15:40
Another James appears! Now this James’s mother is called Mary. The evangelist calls this James “the younger,” a nickname he hadn’t used before for any other James. And on top of that, he’s the brother of a certain Joseph. Who is he? He could be referring to Jesus’ brothers, James and Joseph, whom we just saw. But then, why doesn’t the evangelist clearly say “Mary, the mother of Jesus”? Obviously, because it isn’t her. So there was another woman named Mary with two sons, one named James and the other Joseph, apart from Mary, the mother of Jesus.
«When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus» Mk 16:1
Here we see the previous Mary again, and again, instead of referring to Mary the mother of Jesus, we are again referred to as “Mary the mother of James,” in order to distinguish her from other Marys. It then becomes clear that Mary the mother of Jesus and this Mary were different people, and both had sons named James. In short, we have three Jameses: the son of Zebedee, a son of Mary and brother of Jesus, and a third James, son of another Mary. It remains to be seen whether this last James is the one mentioned as an apostle and as the son of a certain Alpheus.
«Matthew, Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor» Luke 6:16
Luke introduces a significant change in the list of apostles. Mark spoke of a certain “Thaddaeus,” but here this apostle disappears and is replaced by a certain Judas, the son of James. Another James and another Judas! Are Thaddaeus and this Judas the same person?
These are all the passages with some information (those repeated in other evangelists have not been included).
Other apocryphal sources worth mentioning
- Letter of the Apostles (Epistola epistolarum): mentions a Judas the Zealot. Scholars think it actually refers to Simon the Zealot. I disagree (Wikipedia — Judas the Zealot).
- Eusebius: mentions a Thaddeus of Edessa, but he is not mentioned as an apostle, but as one of the seventy evangelists, so we must think that they are different Thaddeus (Wikipedia — Thaddeus of Edessa).
- Ancient manuscripts of Matthew in Latin: mention that the apostle Judas in question had the surname Lebbaeus (Wikipedia — Jude the Apostle).
As we can see, with just these mentions, it is entirely impossible to reach a consensus on the identity of these two obscure apostles. Everything becomes even more complicated if we also consider that Alphaeus, who appears as the father of James, also appears as the father of Levi. Are they the same Alphaeus or different ones? And to top it all off, John appears to mention a Mary, wife of Clopas, at the foot of the cross, when it turns out we have already seen that there was a Mary, mother of James, and wife of Alphaeus. Are this Cleopas and Alphaeus the same person or different ones?
All this confusion has led different Christian churches to adopt different solutions to family relationships between people who hid behind these names.
The Urantia Book offers its own view. James and Jude are portrayed as twin brothers, sons of a man named Alphaeus (LU 139:10.1-11), and their mother’s name was Mary (LU 189:4.4). Their surnames, Thaddeus for James (note, not for Jude, as has always been assumed!), and Lebbaeus for Jude, were exactly the same surnames that circulated in the apocryphal manuscripts. The two apostles, as we saw earlier, were not the two brothers of Jesus (James and Jude) mentioned in the gospels as such, and who gained much prominence in the early Christian church. Nor was there any kinship between James and Jude of Alphaeus and the family of Jesus. Jesus did not know these men beforehand, and they were introduced to him by James and John Zebedee (LU 138:4.1).
Why then did writers like the evangelists, who were supposedly direct followers of apostles or disciples who had known Jesus, fail to note that these apostles James and Jude were brothers, and twins at that? The Urantia Book (LU 139:10.1-11) has a clear answer: these men, once Jesus disappeared, returned home and renounced the great task of preaching in Jesus’ name. They didn’t feel capable, and simply went back to their networks and their routine lives. A more than convincing reason to understand that in just a few years these men were almost forgotten and it was no longer remembered that they were two brothers.
¶ References
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Various authors, The Urantia Book, 1955.
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New Testament, The House of the Bible, 1992.
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Wikipedia — Judas the Zealot, Letter to the Apostles