by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)
19But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.
But other of the apostles saw I none,
The words "save James" may indicate a certain degree of hesitancy on the apostle's part concerning the appropriateness of the exception which he makes. The reason for this will become clear if we take into account that "James the Lord's brother" was not really one of the apostles; but nevertheless, through the position which he held in the Church of Jerusalem, he was held in high regard and was thought to be nearly equal with the revered twelve. And so, Paul felt compelled, in connection with his present statement, to mention James, when affirming so solemnly that Cephas was the only apostle that he saw during his visit. The GOD'S WORD® Translation may be more understandable: “I didn't see any other apostle. I only saw James, the Lord's brother.” The reason for this statement is probably to show, that just as he did not receive the Gospel from Peter, neither did he get it from any of the other apostles, whom he did not see, much less converse with.
There is no way to tell for certain what the situation was in Jerusalem that made Peter the only one of the twelve he saw. In Acts 8.1 we read: “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” This indicates that during the persecution which followed the martyrdom of Stephen, the apostles still remained at Jerusalem while many in the Church there were scattered throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria. The state of severe persecution occurred for the two or three years prior to Paul’s coming to Jerusalem. The state of things was undoubtedly quite different now; the Church had come together again; but the apostles may have been absent in the country, engaged in their apostolic duties, as Peter would soon be according to Acts 9:31, 32: “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.” The assumption that this was the cause appears more credible than the view which supposes them to have continued to distrust Paul, even after the two great leaders, Cephas and James, had been won over to candidly and publicly recognize the new convert. As for James being in Jerusalem, when the apostles were gone, the assumption is that he remained in charge of the mother church, as its bishop.
save James the Lord's brother.
This “James” is not James the son of Zebedee, the brother of John, whom Herod slew with the sword; but James the son of Alphaeus, who made the speech in the synod at Jerusalem (Acts 15:13), was the writer of the epistle which bears his name, and was the brother of Joses, Simon, and Judas, who are called the brethren of Christ (Matthew 13:55), and because they were the kinsmen of Christ according to the flesh, it was common practice for the Jews to call such relatives brethren. James was the Lord’s brother, but not in our strict sense, but in the sense of a "cousin," or "kinsman": “Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me” (Mt 28:10). In John 7:3, 5 we read that “His brethren, therefore, said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest…For neither did his brethren believe in him”—the "brethren" who did not believe in Him may mean His close relatives, not including the two of His brethren, that is, relatives (James and Jude) who were among the Twelve Apostles. In Acts 1:14, "His brethren" refers to Simon and Joses, and others (Mt 13:55) of His kinsmen, who were not apostles—“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1.14). It is not likely there would be two pairs of brothers named alike, of such eminence as James and Jude; the likelihood is that the apostles James and Jude are also
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