Church History, Volume 1 (of 3)Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Religion
Church History, Volume 1 (of 3)
Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Church history
the part of the Apostle from the early Judæo-Christian standpoint
(Gal. ii. 9), which is still maintained in the Apocalypse, to
the ideal universalistic standpoint assumed in the Gospel and
the Epistles, and is inclined to identify the Presbyter of Papias
with the Apostle. Even in Tertullian we meet with the tradition
that under Nero the Apostle had been thrown into a vat of boiling
oil, and in Augustine we are told how he emptied a poisoned cup
without suffering harm. It is a charming story at least that
Clement of Alexandria tells of the faithful pastoral care which
the aged Apostle took in a youth who had fallen so far as to
become a bandit chief. Of such a kind, too, is the story told of
the Apostle by Jerome, how in the extreme weakness of old age he
had to be carried into the assemblies of the congregation, and
with feeble accents could only whisper, Little children, love one
another. According to Irenæus, when by accident he met with the
heretic Cerinthus (§ 27, 1) in the bath, he immediately rushed
out to avoid any contact with him.
§ 16.3. =James, the brother of the Lord.=--The name of James was
borne by two of the twelve disciples of Jesus: James, the son of
Zebedee and brother of John, who was put to death by the command
of Herod Agrippa I. (Acts xii. 2) about A.D. 44, and James,
son of Alphæus, about whom we have no further information. A
third James, designated in Gal. i. 19 the brother of the Lord,
who according to Hegesippus (Euseb., _Hist. Eccl._, ii. 23) on
account of his scrupulous fulfilment of the law received the
title of the Just, is met with in Acts xii. 17; xv. 13; xxi. 18,
and is recognised by Paul (Gal. i. 19; ii. 9-12) as the President
of the church in Jerusalem. According to Hegesippus (§ 31, 7),
he was from his childhood a Nazirite, and shortly before the
destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews at the Passover having desired
of him a testimony against Christ, and he having instead given
a powerful testimony on His behalf, he was hurled down from a
pinnacle of the temple, stoned, and at last, while praying for
his enemies, slain by the blows of a fuller’s club. According
to Josephus, however, Ananus, the high priest, after the recall
of the Proconsul Festus and before the arrival of his successor
Albinus, along with other men hostile to James, hastily condemned
him and had him stoned, about A.D. 63. In regard to the person of
this last-named James three different theories have been proposed.
a. In the ancient church, the brothers of Jesus, of whom besides
James other three, Joses, Simon, and Judas, are named, were
regarded undoubtedly as step-brothers of Jesus, sons of
Joseph and Mary (Matt. i. 25), and even Tertullian argues
from the existence of brothers of the Redeemer according to
the flesh against the Docetism of the Gnostics.
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