James was the son of Zebedee and the brother of John. With Peter and John, he formed the inner circle of Jesus' disciples. Jesus nicknamed the brothers Boanerges — "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17) — probably for their intensity.
In the Gospels
James is present at the raising of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:37), the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2), and the agony in Gethsemane (Mark 14:33). In Luke 9:54 he and John want to call down fire on a Samaritan village that rejects Jesus — a request Jesus rebukes. He and his brother ask Jesus to grant them the seats of honor in his kingdom, and Jesus responds by asking if they can drink the cup he is about to drink (Mark 10:35–40).
Death
James' death is the only apostolic martyrdom recorded in the New Testament. Acts 12:1–2 says that Herod Agrippa I "had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword." This occurred around AD 44, during a broader persecution of the church in Jerusalem.
The account is historically significant because it tells us two things. First, that the apostles we're willing to die for their testimony from the earliest years of the movement. Second, that the church's central leadership was already being killed off within roughly a decade of the resurrection.
No later traditions add reliable information about James' final days beyond this brief record, though legends developed in the medieval period.
Sources
- Acts 12:1–2.
- Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.2 (on Agrippa I's death in AD 44).
- Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament, 889.