James 'the Just', the BROTHER of Jesus — not one of the Twelve (the Gospels show Jesus' brothers unbelieving during his ministry, John 7:5), but converted by a resurrection appearance (1 Corinthians 15:7) and risen to lead the JERUSALEM church. Paul lists him among the 'pillars' (Galatians 2:9), his verdict settled the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:13-21), and Jewish and Christian sources alike remember him as intensely devout — the historian Josephus records his execution by stoning, on the high priest Ananus's order, about AD 62. ⚠ The letter that bears his name calls him only 'a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ' (James 1:1), pointedly declining the family tie; it is the most Jewish book in the New Testament, and its Greek is good enough that some doubt a Galilean craftsman's brother wrote it unaided. Not to be confused with the two apostles named James (the sons of Zebedee and of Alphaeus).