Does James show a knowledge of Paul’s letters and, if so, would James have been alive long enough to have written such a letter?.Would a person with James’s background be capable of the quality of Greek and the rhetorical sophistication that is found in this letter?.However, was it really James who wrote the book? Or was it simply attributed to him? This issue involves several questions. On this virtually the whole tradition of literature on this work is agreed. James chaired the so-called Jerusalem Council ( Acts 15:13–21), and Paul visited him and took advice from him on his final visit to Jerusalem ( Acts 21:18). Acts tells us that James is the only one whom Peter wanted informed about his (divinely orchestrated) release from prison ( Acts 12:17). Paul names him, along with Cephas (Peter) and John, an acknowledged “pillar” of the Jerusalem community ( Galatians 2:9) emissaries from that community are designated by Paul as “from James” ( Galatians 2:12). James was a prominent figure among the communities of the followers of Jesus living in Palestine in the first century.
It’s also possible that James was the oldest of Jesus’ cousins if one follows Jerome’s interpretation that adelphos means “cousin,” the children of Mary wife of Clopas, also identified as “the mother of James and Joses.” He is always named next after Jesus in lists of Jesus’ brothers, so he was presumably considered to be Jesus’ next younger brother. He was the son of Joseph, a construction worker who originally lived in Nazareth in Galilee.