Jerome wrote a response to Helvidius regarding the virginity of Mary. This post is the fifteenth in a series of responses to what Jerome wrote.
Jerome wrote:
What darkness, what raging madness rushing to its own destruction! You say that the mother of the Lord was present at the cross, you say that she was entrusted to the disciple John on account of her widowhood and solitary condition: as if upon your own showing, she had not four sons, and numerous daughters, with whose solace she might comfort herself? You also apply to her the name of widow which is not found in Scripture. And although you quote all instances in the Gospels, the words of John alone displease you. You say in passing that she was present at the cross, that you may not appear to have omitted it on purpose, and yet not a word about the women who were with her. I could pardon you if you were ignorant, but I see you have a reason for your silence. Let me point out then what John says, “But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” No one doubts that there were two apostles called by the name James, James the son of Zebedee, and James the son of Alphæus. Do you intend the comparatively unknown James the less, who is called in Scripture the son of Mary, not however of Mary the mother of our Lord, to be an apostle, or not? If he is an apostle, he must be the son of Alphæus and a believer in Jesus, “For neither did his brethren believe in him.” If he is not an apostle, but a third James (who he can be I cannot tell), how can he be regarded as the Lord’s brother, and how, being a third, can he be called less to distinguish him from greater, when greater and less are used to denote the relations existing, not between three, but between two? Notice, moreover, that the Lord’s brother is an apostle, since Paul says, “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.” And in the same Epistle, “And when they perceived the grace that was given unto me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars,” etc. And that you may not suppose this James to be the son of Zebedee, you have only to read the Acts of the Apostles, and you will find that the latter had already been slain by Herod. The only conclusion is that the Mary who is described as the mother of James the less was the wife of Alphæus and sister of Mary the Lord’s mother, the one who is called by John the Evangelist “Mary of Clopas,” whether after her father, or kindred, or for some other reason. But if you think they are two persons because elsewhere we read, “Mary the mother of James the less,” and here, “Mary of Clopas,” you have still to learn that it is customary in Scripture for the same individual to bear different names. Raguel, Moses’ father-in-law, is also called Jethro. Gedeon, without any apparent reason for the change, all at once becomes Jerubbaal. Ozias, king of Judah, has an alternative, Azarias. Mount Tabor is called Itabyrium. Again Hermon is called by the Phenicians Sanior, and by the Amorites Sanir. The same tract of country is known by three names, Negebh, Teman, and Darom in Ezekiel. Peter is also called Simon and Cephas. Judas the zealot in another Gospel is called Thaddaeus. And there are numerous other examples which the reader will be able to collect for himself from every part of Scripture.
On this point, verbosely proven, we have lost the main force of the argument. The main issue is that Scripture plainly speaks of Jesus having brothers, and naming those brothers. Because in two places where the brothers are named, the naming comes from unbelieving Jews, Helvidius seems to have attempt to bolster his argument by reference to places where we would expect to see Mary the Mother of Jesus.
Thus, Jerome has gotten sidetracked over the issue of:
Mat 27:56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
Mark 15:40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
Mark 15:47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.
Mark 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
Luke 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
John 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
Coming back to the argument, let's break it down in more detail:
1) "You say that the mother of the Lord was present at the cross, you say that she was entrusted to the disciple John on account of her widowhood and solitary condition: as if upon your own showing, she had not four sons, and numerous daughters, with whose solace she might comfort herself?"
These sons and daughters, however, were younger than Jesus. Moreover, as noted elsewhere, as yet they did not believe on Jesus. So, it was natural for Jesus to entrust the care of his mother to a fully grown believer.
2) "You also apply to her the name of widow which is not found in Scripture."
One has to admire this point by Jerome. While we suspect that Mary was a widow by this time (because the last mention of Joseph being alive is when Jesus was twelve), it is true that we do not know: Scripture does not say. Jerome is right to appeal to Scripture, but it is that same Scripture that does not give Mary the title of Perpetual Virgin, but rather wife of Joseph.
3) "And although you quote all instances in the Gospels, the words of John alone displease you."
Jerome is right to criticize a cherry-picking hermeneutical method. Whether he is right in his criticism, we will consider more closely.
4) "You say in passing that she was present at the cross, that you may not appear to have omitted it on purpose, and yet not a word about the women who were with her. I could pardon you if you were ignorant, but I see you have a reason for your silence."
This is a beautiful rhetorical flourish. If indeed Helvidius has omitted something, Jerome is right to point it out!
5) "Let me point out then what John says, “But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”
I don't wish to spoil the beauty of Jerome's rhetoric, but for clarity to the reader, you can understand that Jerome is going to argue that Mary the wife of Clopas is the mother of James and Joses.
6) "No one doubts that there were two apostles called by the name James, James the son of Zebedee, and James the son of Alphæus. Do you intend the comparatively unknown James the less, who is called in Scripture the son of Mary, not however of Mary the mother of our Lord, to be an apostle, or not? If he is an apostle, he must be the son of Alphæus and a believer in Jesus, “For neither did his brethren believe in him.” If he is not an apostle, but a third James (who he can be I cannot tell), how can he be regarded as the Lord’s brother, and how, being a third, can he be called less to distinguish him from greater, when greater and less are used to denote the relations existing, not between three, but between two?"
Matthew 10:3
Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
Mark 3:18
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
Luke 6:15
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
Acts 1:13
And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
So, James the son of Alphaeus is definitely one of the two apostles with that name.
Jerome's argument takes "James the less," in Mark 15:40 to be the same as James the son of Alphaeus. The reasoning is that "less" is a comparative of two. This argument works great in English (and I suppose also in the Latin from which Jerome was working), but μικροῦ in Greek can mean "least" as well as it can mean "less." Moreover, we simply don't know why that James is called James the Less. It can be a reference to being a child, for example (Matthew 10:42, Matthew 18:10, and Matthew 18:14 use a form of the word to refer to children) or to someone being short (Zachaeus is called by this term in Luke 19:3). In Mark, the evangelist that calls James, James the less, the term is used of mustard seed (Mark 4:31) and of children (Mark 9:42). In short (pun noticed though not initially intended), the argument that there can only be two, if James is "James the Less," fails. He could be James the kid, or James the short, or James the younger. Moreover, there is nothing from the context in Mark 15:40 that tells us that the James mentioned is an apostle.
Moreover, no James in Scripture is called "James the Greater" or even "James the Great." So, if this is to be taken as a concrete comparison, there is no greater James identified. Indeed, he may just be younger than his brother Joses, although it is not clear why Mark would want to convey that information.
The solution for Helvidius' theory is that this "James the Less," the son of Mary, is the same as James the brother of the Lord. His being little (either in terms of stature or age) would explain why Mary needed John in Jesus' absence.
7) "Notice, moreover, that the Lord’s brother is an apostle, since Paul says, “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.” And in the same Epistle, “And when they perceived the grace that was given unto me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars,” etc. And that you may not suppose this James to be the son of Zebedee, you have only to read the Acts of the Apostles, and you will find that the latter had already been slain by Herod."
In Jerome's haste, he seems to contradict himself here. At our number 6 above, Jerome had pointed out that Jesus' brothers did not believe. Yet at our number 7, Jerome insists that the brother of our Lord was an apostle. There is a way that both things can be the case: James, the brother of the Lord, may not have been one of the twelve (nor one of the seventy), but he may have been sent as an apostle in a lesser sense, perhaps after his conversion after Jesus' resurrection or ascension.
8) "The only conclusion is that the Mary who is described as the mother of James the less was the wife of Alphæus and sister of Mary the Lord’s mother, the one who is called by John the Evangelist “Mary of Clopas,” whether after her father, or kindred, or for some other reason. But if you think they are two persons because elsewhere we read, “Mary the mother of James the less,” and here, “Mary of Clopas,” you have still to learn that it is customary in Scripture for the same individual to bear different names. Raguel, Moses’ father-in-law, is also called Jethro. Gedeon, without any apparent reason for the change, all at once becomes Jerubbaal. Ozias, king of Judah, has an alternative, Azarias. Mount Tabor is called Itabyrium. Again Hermon is called by the Phenicians Sanior, and by the Amorites Sanir. The same tract of country is known by three names, Negebh, Teman, and Darom in Ezekiel. Peter is also called Simon and Cephas. Judas the zealot in another Gospel is called Thaddaeus. And there are numerous other examples which the reader will be able to collect for himself from every part of Scripture. "
Jerome's argument, as I best understand it, is that the Mary, mother of James, is also Mary of Clopas. There were a lot of women with the name, Mary. So, one should not assume they are all Jesus' mother. Likewise, as Jerome points out, some people are given multiple names in Scripture. Moreover, Helvidius' argument faces this same problem as Jerome, in that Mary the Mother of Jesus is not usually called the mother of James and Joses. Of course, the solution is the same, namely that more than one name can be given to the same person.
-TurretinFan
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