Possible identity as James the Less James, son of
Alphaeus, is often identified as James the Less, who is only mentioned four times in the Bible, each time in connection with his mother. refers to "Mary the mother of James the younger and of
Joses", while and
Matthew 27:56 refer to "Mary the mother of James". Since there was already another James (James, son of Zebedee) among the twelve apostles, equating James, son of Alphaeus, with "James the Less" made sense. (James, son of Zebedee, was sometimes called "James the Greater").
Jerome identifies James, son of Alpheus, with James the Less, writing in his work called
The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary the following: It has sometimes been thought that
Papias of Hierapolis, who lived circa 70–163 AD, in the surviving fragments of his work
Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord relates that Mary, wife of Alphaeus, is the mother of James the Less: However, this is likely a misattribution. Rather, this quote should be attributed to the eleventh-century lexicographer
Papias, not the second-century Papias of Hierapolis, and indeed this passage has been found directly in the lexicographer's writings. Modern Biblical scholars are divided on whether the identification of James of Alphaeus with James the Less is correct.
John Paul Meier finds it unlikely. Amongst evangelicals, the
New Bible Dictionary supports the traditional identification, while
Don Carson and Darrell Bock both regard the identification as possible, but not certain. by
Angelo de Rossi.
Possible identification as James, the brother of Jesus Jerome, voicing the general opinion of
Early Church, maintains the doctrine of
perpetual virginity of Mary. He proposed that James, son of Alphaeus, was the one referred to as "James, the brother of the Lord" (
Galatians 1:19) but that the term "brother" was to be understood as "cousin." The view of Jerome, the "Hieronymian view," became widely accepted in the
Roman Catholic Church, though certain
Protestants do not subscribe to this view.
Geike (1884) states that
Hausrath,
Delitzsch, and
Schenkel think James, the brother of Jesus, was the son of Clophas-Alphaeus. In two small but potentially important works ascribed by some to
Hippolytus,
On the Twelve Apostles of Christ and
On the Seventy Apostles of Christ, he relates the following:
James, the brother of Jesus is attributed the same death; he was stoned to death by the Jews, too. This testimony of "Hippolytus", if authentic, would increase the plausibility that James the son of Alphaeus is the same person as James the brother of Jesus. These two works of "Hippolytus" are often neglected because the manuscripts were lost during most of the Christian era and then discovered in Greece in the 19th century. As most scholars consider them spurious, they are often ascribed to "". The two are included in an appendix to the works of Hippolytus in the voluminous collection of Early Church Fathers. According to the surviving fragments of the work
Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord by
Papias of Hierapolis, Cleophas and Alphaeus are the same person, Mary, wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, would be the mother of James, the brother of Jesus, and of Simon and Judas (Thaddeus), and of one Joseph. Thus, James, the brother of the Lord, would be the son of Alphaeus, who is the husband of Mary of Cleophas, or Mary, the wife of Alphaeus. However, the Anglican theologian
J.B. Lightfoot maintains that the fragment in question is spurious. As reported by
the Golden Legend, which is a collection of
hagiographies compiled by
Jacobus de Voragine in the thirteenth century:
Possible brother of Matthew Alphaeus is also the name of the father of the tax-collector Levi mentioned in . The publican appears as
Matthew in , which has led some to conclude that James and Matthew might have been brothers. The four times that James son of Alphaeus is mentioned directly in the Bible (each time in the list of the Apostles), the only family relationship stated is that his father is Alphaeus. In two lists of the Apostles, the other James and John are listed as brothers, and their father is Zebedee. ==Gospel sources==