JAMES, PETER & JUDE · SIDE BY SIDE · GREEK WORDS · OPEN QUESTIONS · THE CANON

Side by side, and how they were read

The passages they share, the questions readers have asked, and how the church received them.

SIDE BY SIDE

Any two, side by side

Click two to compare them; click one again to let it go, or a third to swap it in. Click a connection to read both passages side by side.

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY).

GREEK WORDS

The words they lean on, side by side

The key Greek words of all four letters together, a column for each. Choose a star to see every verse behind it.

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

10 questions about these letters. Each answer is shown with the people who held it; this page does not choose between them.

James the Lord's brother, a son of Joseph and Mary (the "Helvidian" view, after Helvidius, 4th century)

J. B. Mayor (1892), who examines all three theories of the Lord's brothers

The plain reading of Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55 names James as a brother of Jesus. Because the brothers did not believe in him during his ministry, they cannot have been among the Twelve; the risen Jesus appeared to James, and Paul calls him "the Lord's brother" and a "pillar" of the Jerusalem church. Mark 6:3 Matthew 13:55 John 7:5 1 Corinthians 15:7 Galatians 1:19 Galatians 2:9 [1]

The Lord's brother as a son of Joseph by an earlier marriage (the "Epiphanian" view, after Epiphanius, a 4th-century bishop)

Examined by Mayor; Bigg reports that Clement of Alexandria held it of Jude, following the tradition in the Protevangelium of James; Eusebius says only that James was called the Lord's brother as a son of Joseph

An early tradition that keeps the brothers as real family of Joseph's household while preserving Mary's virginity. Mark 6:3 [1][3][10]

A cousin, the same man as James the son of Alphaeus, one of the Twelve (the "Hieronymian" view, after Jerome)

Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men ch. 2; Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)

"Brother" is read in the wider sense of kinsman: Jerome made James the son of a sister of the Lord's mother, which lets the writer be one of the apostles. Matthew 10:3 Acts 1:13 Galatians 1:19 [13][21]

Undecided between the son of Alphaeus and a Jerusalem leader

John Calvin (1551)

Calvin thought the "pillar" of Galatians 2:9 was more likely the apostle, the son of Alphaeus, because he doubted a non-apostle would rank above apostles — but he declined to say which James wrote the letter. Galatians 2:9 [8]

A later writer using the name, or a Jewish work lightly made Christian

Spitta (a Jewish treatise with "Jesus Christ" added at 1:1 and 2:1), as reported by the ISBE; Davidson, Hilgenfeld, Baur, Zeller, Hausrath, von Soden, Jülicher, Harnack and Bacon, who dated it between about 70 and 150

The letter has little explicit Christian teaching and is written in good Greek. James 1:1 James 2:1 [17]

THE CANON

How they were received

Witness by witness, when each letter was quoted, used and accepted.

WHERE THIS PAGE COMES FROM

  • Joseph B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James: The Greek Text with Introduction, Notes and Comments (1892), Introduction.
  • Joseph B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. Jude and the Second Epistle of St. Peter (1907), Introduction.
  • Charles Bigg, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude (International Critical Commentary) (1901 (2nd ed. 1902)), Introductions to 1 Peter, 2 Peter and Jude.
  • F. J. A. Hort, The First Epistle of St Peter I.1–II.17 (1898), Additional Note III, "The Provinces of Asia Minor included in St Peter's address", pp. 157–185.
  • Alfred Plummer, The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude (The Expositor's Bible) (1891), ch. II.
  • B. F. Westcott, A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament (7th ed.) (1896), pp. 219–221, 248–249, 344, 488–491.
  • Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 1: Apostolic Christianity (1889), section on the Epistle of James, note "James and Paul"; § 100, list of commentaries on Hebrews.
  • John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles (1551) (1855), Arguments to each letter; on Jas 2:21 and 1 Pet 5:13 (paraphrased here, not quoted).
  • Council of Trent, tr. J. Waterworth, The Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Oecumenical Council of Trent (1848), Session 6 (1547), Decree on Justification, ch. X, pp. 37–38.
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, book 2 (NPNF Second Series, vol. 1) (1890), 2.1, 2.15, 2.23, 2.25.
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, book 3 (NPNF Second Series, vol. 1) (1890), 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 3.19–20, 3.25.
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History, book 6 (NPNF Second Series, vol. 1) (1890), 6.14, 6.25.
  • Jerome, tr. E. C. Richardson, Lives of Illustrious Men (NPNF Second Series, vol. 3) (1892), chs. 1, 2, 4.
  • Athanasius, tr. R. Payne-Smith, Festal Letter 39 (NPNF Second Series, vol. 4) (1892).
  • R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, or 1 Enoch (1912), 1 Enoch 1:9 with note (pp. 8–9); Introduction pp. xcv–xcvi.
  • R. H. Charles, The Assumption of Moses, Translated from the Latin Sixth Century MS. (1897), Introduction; fragments of the original Assumption, pp. 105–110.
  • Doremus Almy Hayes, "James, Epistle of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), checked against CrossWire's digital ISBE (1915), 2026-10-07.
  • William G. Moorehead, "Peter, the First Epistle of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), checked against CrossWire's digital ISBE (1915), 2026-10-07.
  • William G. Moorehead, "Peter, the Second Epistle of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), checked against CrossWire's digital ISBE (1915), 2026-10-07.
  • William G. Moorehead, "Jude, the Epistle of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), checked against CrossWire's digital ISBE (1915), 2026-10-07.
  • M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.) (1897), entries on each letter and on Pontus, Bithynia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Asia.

Rooted in Scripture. Open for discovery.

A place to read slowly, ask deeply, and follow the connections. Scripture, study and the voices of Christian history, brought together for a lifetime of learning.

SPEND TIME IN THE WORD

  • Open the reader
  • Books & reading progress
  • Compare Scripture editions
  • Find a passage

FOLLOW YOUR QUESTIONS

  • Study collections
  • People & places
  • Faith & apologetics
  • Stories of faith

A library with a paper trail.

Meet the authors. Explore the collection. Trace each work to its source.

Download the code.

Open source on GitHub.