ACC ~ Galatians 1 v19

SOME NOT AMONG THE TWELVE WERE CALLED APOSTLES. JEROME: That some were called apostles apart from the twelve is a consequence of the fact that all who had seen the Lord and subsequently preached him were called apostles. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.1.19.

THE SOLEMN TITLE. CHRYSOSTOM: “And I saw no other but James the brother of the Lord.” See how much greater is his friendship for Peter, for he stayed on his account. … [He says of James] “I saw,” not “I was taught.” But see with what honor he named this man also. For he says not simply James but adds the solemn title. So free of jealousy was he. For had he wished only to indicate whom he meant he could have identified him by another name and called him the son of Clopas, as the Evangelist does. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 1.19.

WAS JAMES THE LITERAL, NATURAL BROTHER OF THE LORD? THEODORET: He was called “the brother of the Lord” but was not so by nature. For he was not, as some suppose, the son of Joseph by a previous marriage but the son of Clopas and cousin of the Lord. For his mother was the sister of the Lord’s mother…. He was thought by others to be the Lord’s brother, both because their mothers had the same names and because the families shared one house. And he was so called even by believers, both because of the extreme virtue that he possessed (for he was called “the Just”) and because of the kinship. For the sacred story of the Gospels tells us that the Blessed Virgin had no other son. For seeing her by the cross, the Lord gave her to the most divine John, but he would not have committed her to another if the blessed James, a man possessed of extreme virtue, had been her son. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.19.

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