Although James the
brother of Jesus did not write the Apocryphon of James, it is always
possible that some of its contents preserve echoes of the historical James’
teachings as passed down in a community that reversed his memory and authority.
It is also possible that this text’s portrait of Jesus as a seditious-minded
Jew who paid for it by being buried in a shallow ditch by the Romans is at
times more historically colored than are the canonical gospel portraits in some
cases.
But then again, even
the gospels have Jesus insisting, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace
on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). On the
other hand, this wouldn’t have to mean Jesus was a warmonger. A seeker after
justice, which is the other side of a coin that is at once both love and peace,
is not necessarily a warmonger. In the same gospel we read that Jesus taught
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt 5:9).
In agreement with the
great Jewish sages Hillel and Akiba, the gospels portray Jesus as teaching that
the Torah’s essence is for one to treat people the way one would want to be
treated. The only way to love victims of injustice is somehow to try to end the
injustice perpetrated against them. (Samuel Zinner, The Apocryphon of James
(NHC I, 2): A Commentary with Complete Facsimiles, Transcription, and
Translation [Luminescence Academic Series 1; Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Luminescence, L.L.C., Publisher, 2024], ii)
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