Charles
Paul disparaged YAKOV and the rest of YESHUA's true apostles, the Desposyni, the flesh and blood famiy of YESHUA. His writings are filled with hatred towards them and towards Jews in general and to the TORAH. No wonder that many Christians think so little of it as to imagine that the TORAH is impossible to follower. But realize this; by teaching you that, he was teaching you that you cannot in ay way please God. All you can rely on is your belief in Jesus instead of your God-given ability to obey His commandments.
There is an entire history of the persecution of the Desposyni, the NATURAL familiy of Jesus, by early Christians and later by Rome, both before it made Christianity the Imperial religion and after it.
"When Catholicism became the dominant form of Christianity in the early fourth century, and the perpetual virginity [of Mary] began to be accepted by almost all Christians as dogma, Jesus ipso facto did not have siblings, and any lingering interest in Jesus' brothers and their importance in the early church quickly waned."
[but even Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:4-6] "gives us solid evidence that it was well known in Christian communities throughoujt the Empire that Jesus' brothers were among the most important and influential leaders in the early chirch. __ until only very recently almost all scholars worked under the assumtion that Jesus was at odds with his family."
The Secret Legacy Of Jesus by Jeffrey Butz
It's difficult to erase James and Jesus' other TORAH practicing family from Christian tradition since early Christians knew of their existence and importance from both people who acrually knew them and from mention of them in the New Testament.
But even in the New Testament, James is introduced suddenly without any context of who is is or what his relationship with YESHUA was.
In fact, Catholicism and other forms of Christianity refer to YAKOV as James the Less when he should be called YAKOV HA-GADOL, James the Great.
"A difficult question that arises here is whether the gospel writers were as guilty of putting a Pauline spin on things as the Jewish Christian writers were of putting a 'Jamesian' spin on tiings. The Pauline communities faced quite a dilemma in the fact that James and Peter - who any objective observer would agree knew the teachings of Jesus better than Paul (who did not know the historical Jesus - at all) disagreed with Paul's understanding of Jesus' teaching regarding the Law.
Consequently, we see Paul constantly tryimg to prove that his teachings are valid, especially in his arguements in Galatians, but in most of his other letters as well. In fact, it cold be said that the purpose of almost all of Paul's letters was to counteract the authority, beliefs, and practices of James and the Jerusalem church.
We see how Paul lost this battle at Antioch, when Peter and Barnabas, at the urging of James, parted ways with Paul over the issue of eating with Gentiles. On this issue, the book of Acts tries hard to 'Paulinize' Peter by omitting the salient fact of Peter's break with Paul at Antioch.
That Acts does attempt to put a Pauline face on Peter is best illustrated in the famous scene where Peter receives a vision that that he should abandon Jewish dietary laws:
(Acts 10:9-15)"
Conservative scholar, Craig Evans, coeditor of the compendium of research papers, James the Just and Christian Origins, follows the trail of evidence to another startling conclusion. He notes some astonishing commonalities between James and Jesus regarding the reason for their deaths:
According to the four New Testament Gospels, Jesus engaged in controversy with the ruling priests, a controversy which included a demonstration in the Temple precincts, and was subsequently handed over to the Roman governor who executed him as the "king of the Jews..
Although diferent at points, the fate that overtook James, the brother of Jesus, is similar.
Jesus had been accused of blasphemy, while James later was accused of being a lawbreaker. Both were condemned by High priests who were related by marriage. Jesus was handed over to the Roman governor, who complied with the wishes of the ruling priests while James was executed without the approval of Roman authority.
In the scholarship from the conservative and liberal camps reaching the same conclusion on the thorough Jewishness of James and Jesus. One of the very few common conclusions reached by the many scholars engaged in the quest for the historical Jesus is that Jesus' arrest and crucifixion were a direct result of his terroristic protest in the Temple, which is, significantly, one of the few stories relayed in all four Gospels (Matt. 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-22).
According to the synoptic gospels, Jesus was arrested not long after his attempt to cleanse the Temple. And if Jesus actually believed himself of the line of David, this attempt to purify the Temple would have been his royal prerogative. This was the temple envisioned by David and built by his son, Solomon.
-The Brother Of Jesus And The Lost Teachings Of Christianity, Jeffrey J. Butz, Inner Traditions Press, 2005