When the apostle Paul was converted, likely only a couple of years after Jesus’ resurrection, he stayed in Damascus for a while. In Galatians 1:18-19, Paul related what happened next: “Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas [that is, Peter] and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother” (NIV). Already, within perhaps five years of Jesus’ resurrection, James was a leader in the Jerusalem church.

Acts 12 tells the story of Peter being imprisoned and being miraculously released by God’s angels. Peter then left Jerusalem to hide out elsewhere, but, before he left, he gave this message to a group of believers who had been praying for him: “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this” (Acts 12:17). This “James” was most likely Jesus’ brother since James, the son of Zebedee, had already been martyred (Acts 12:2). With Peter’s departure, James seems to have assumed Peter’s role as the primary leader in the Jerusalem church.

A few years later, some Jewish Christians from Jerusalem were telling the new gentile Christians in Antioch that they needed to be circumcised. This resulted in church leaders from both places assembling in Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-30). Peter, based on his own experience with gentile Christians, spoke in favor of not forcing gentiles to be circumcised. Paul and Barnabas reported on what had been happening in Antioch. And then James issued his “judgement” (krino in Greek) that the gentiles should be required to only follow a few Jewish laws and not be circumcised. James’s recommendation was accepted by the other leaders and formed the basis for a formal latter that was sent to the gentile churches. This all suggests that James was the primary leader of the Jerusalem church.

This does not mean that James could not be challenged. James was the perceived leader of the church in Jerusalem and of the “Jewish faction” in the Christian church elsewhere. Galatians 2 describes another visit of Paul to Jerusalem, probably about 52 AD, between Paul’s second and third missionary journeys: “Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.…Meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.” Paul wanted these leaders to examine what he was preaching to make sure he was on the right track. However, “not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.” Paul explained that this issue “arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks” demanding that gentile Christians obey all of the Old Testament rules. Paul strongly opposed these requirements. In response, “those who were held in high esteem…recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised” and “James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship.” (In an aside, Paul said that these esteemed leaders had no authority of their own, but that they, Paul, and other Christians were all equal before God.) In this same passage, Paul described another incident: “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.” Paul rebuked these Jewish Christians and church leaders, pointing out that “they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel” and that “a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”

These issues were apparently sorted out. Acts 21 describes Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem, about 59 AD: “The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God.” However, James and the other leaders told Paul about a problem: “Many thousands of Jews have believed [in Jesus], and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.” The Jewish Christians, following James’s advice, had accepted that gentile Christians did not need to follow the Old Testament law, but they were convinced that Jewish Christians should still obey it. Therefore, they suggested that Paul should participate in some temple rituals to show that he still followed the law. Paul did this, but some Jews (not Christian Jews) misunderstood what Paul was doing and thought he had brought gentiles into the Jewish part of the temple. Paul was arrested and eventually sent as a prisoner to Rome.

What are we to make of all of this? This does not mean that James was wrong. Well, he was clearly wrong in giving some support to the idea that gentile Christians needed to be circumcised. But all of the Christian leaders were still sorting through how Christians should relate to the Old Testament, and James was not alone in making some mistakes on this issue. This does not mean that James was not a Christian. He clearly was. But his mindset was clearly influenced by Jewish tradition, and he emphasized different aspects of Christian theology than Paul and some other early Christian leaders. When we come to James’s letter, which was addressed to “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (James 1:1), we should recognize that it seems to be addressed primarily to Jewish Christians, and that will have some bearing on how we understand his message.