James the half-brother of Jesus

James the half-brother of Jesus

Scriptures that show Mary had other children after she had Jesus.  Matthew 12:46; Matthew 13:55; Mark 3:32; Luke 8:20; John 2:12;Acts 15:13-18

Scripture showing James, the half-brother of Jesus made the decision at the Jerusalem Council – Acts 15:13-21

¹³ And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: ¹⁴ Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. ¹⁵ And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ¹⁶ ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;

I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; ¹⁷ So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
Says the Lord who does all these things.’  “Known to God from eternity are all His works. ¹⁹ Therefore I judge (emphasis mine. Tony S) that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, ²⁰ but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. ²¹ For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Matthew 4:21. See also Matthew 10:2
“Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? Matthew 13:55

Two James. One was the brother of the Apostle John.

The other is the half-brother of Jesus

Acts 12:2 (“Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.”) shows they had already killed James (known as the Just) the brother of the Apostle John before the Jerusalem council so the James at the council could not have been James the Just, an original Apostle.

When God brought Peter out of prison, he (Peter) told those in the house praying to let James and the others know God freed him. Remember, at this point James the Just was already dead.

Acts 12:17 ¹⁷ But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

James was important enough that Paul went to him to verify his message was on-track. Acts 21:18 ¹⁸ On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

Peter seemed concerned when people came from (supposedly) James. Galatians 2:12   for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.

More on Positive and negative reinforcement.

A bit of a continuation. A Christian does not take their actions based on attaining something (i.e. Heaven) or avoiding something (i.e. Hell). A Christian knows they cannot earn Heaven by their actions and, through the blood of Christ and their faith in Christ, the Christian is already a part of the family of God and is going to heaven. The actions of a Christian are based on the love of Christ for them and their love for and faith in Christ, positive reinforcement.

Negative vs, positive reinforcement.

Reading a book on management today something concerning Christianity and all other religions became quite clear to me. What I am about to say is a general comment concerning the differing philosophies. I know specific instances can be argued. The difference is that all other religions work on negative reinforcement where Christianity works on positive reinforcement. That is: other religions base their actions on avoiding negative results but in Christianity actions are based on positive results. Christianity is based on love, caring for others, etc. based on following Christ and His love for all creation. With Christ actions bring a positive result, even wrong actions can bring positive results - repentance and forgiveness.