Why Was the Book of James (Jacob) Written? And, a warning to leaders who don’t give God glory

A quick clarification before we begin: The James executed by King Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12 was James, son of Zebedee (the brother of John), not James, the brother of Jesus. James, the brother of Jesus—known as James the Just—survived this persecution, went on to lead the Jerusalem Messianic community for decades, and is almost certainly the author of the New Testament letter that bears his name—Jacob.

Yes, the name James did not exist in ancient Hebrew culture; the name both men went by was Jacob—the most Israelite-ish name one could have. Many scholars believe that his epistle was written precisely because of the persecution in 44 CE described in Acts 12. Here’s the case.

The Setting: Judea, 41–44 CE

Herod Agrippa I (10 BCE – 44 CE), grandson of Herod the Great, ruled Judea from 41 to 44 CE as a Roman client king. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, he was a clever diplomat who, through his friendship with the Roman imperial family, obtained the kingdom of his grandfather and displayed great acumen in conciliating both Romans and Jews.1 Yet, conciliating the Jewish establishment came at a price—and the Yeshua-movement paid the price.

(Note: when Luke refers to “the Jews” hoi Ioudaioi, in Acts 12, he is not referring to all Jews, but specifically to the Jewish religious political establishment in Jerusalem. Agrippa had no need to please Jewish fishermen in Galilee or Jewish farmers in Sharon. Of the tens of thousands of believers in the Jerusalem area (see Acts 21:20), all of them were Jewish. Agrippa’s alliance was with a corrupt leadership‚ not the people of Israel.)

Britannica summarizes the pattern bluntly: “In Judaea, Agrippa zealously pursued orthodox Jewish policies, earning the friendship of the Jews (that is, the Sanhedrin) and vigorously repressing the Jewish [believers in Jesus].”2 Acts 12 describes the result: James, son of Zebedee, was executed by the sword, and Peter was arrested and only escaped through what Luke describes as angelic deliverance.

Agrippa’s position was a delicate balancing act. He owed his throne entirely to Rome—he had grown up in the imperial household and was personally close to both emperors Caligula (37-41 CE) and Claudius (41-54 CE)—yet his legitimacy in Judea depended on appeasing the Jewish religious establishment. At moments, he leaned in directions that troubled Rome: he began fortifying the walls of Jerusalem and convened a summit of regional client-kings at Tiberias, both of which the Syrian legate Vibius Marsus shut down on suspicion of conspiracy. 3

This is the political tightrope that led Agrippa to persecute the Messianic Jews. Striking at the Yeshua-movement was a safe way to please the Jewish religious establishment without provoking Rome—the empire saw the early believers as an internal Jewish sectarian dispute, not a Roman concern. The German historian Emil Schürer documents Agrippa’s notably pro-Pharisaic posture and pious public conduct,4 and Josephus himself records that Agrippa “loved to live continually at Jerusalem, and was exactly careful in the observance of the laws of his country” (Antiquities 19.7.3). Persecuting the Jewish followers of Yeshua was politically cheap currency for a king playing this game, whereas projects like fortifying the walls of Jerusalem could be seen as preparing for insurrection. 

Why James (Jacob) the Brother of Jesus, Escaped

If Agrippa was systematically targeting the leaders of the Jewish Yeshua-movement, why did Jacob the Just—already a “pillar” of the Jerusalem church according to Paul (Galatians 2:9)—survive? Two main scholarly theories emerge.

1. Torah-observance shielded him. Many scholars have argued that James was so meticulously Torah-observant—reputedly a life-long Nazirite with access to the Temple—that he was widely regarded as a pious Jew in the eyes of the establishment.5 The second-century writer Hegesippus, preserved by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 2.23), describes James as so devout that the Pharisees and people of Jerusalem revered him.6 On this view, attacking James would not have pleased Agrippa’s constituency; it would have outraged them. Jacob, Yeshua’s brother, was the most respected Jew in Jerusalem.7

Ron wrote a scintillating narrative about the life of James (Jacob), Yeshua’s brother, for his master’s program several years ago. It remains one of our more popular articles. Most people know very little about the fascinating life of Jacob. https://drron.org/jacob.

2. He wasn’t yet prominent enough. Richard Bauckham takes a different view. In his major study “James and the Jerusalem Church,” he argues that James’s immunity from Agrippa’s persecution was not the result of his Torah-observance (as both Peter and James, the brother of John, were also Torah-observant), but of his relative obscurity at that early date. In Bauckham’s reading, the Twelve were still recognized as the leaders of the Christian community; James rose to prominence during and after the persecution, precisely because the Twelve were dispersed or killed.8

Both views agree on the historical outcome: the 44 CE persecution scattered the Jerusalem believers and thrust James into a new leadership role over a now-dispersed flock.

The Main Question: Why Was the Book of James Written?

Most evangelical and many critical scholars connect the letter of James directly to this scattering. John MacArthur summarizes the mainstream evangelical position: “James most likely wrote this epistle to believers scattered (1:1) as a result of the unrest recorded in Acts 12 (ca. A.D. 44). There is no mention of the Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15 (ca. A.D. 49), which would be expected if that Council had already taken place. Therefore, James can be reliably dated ca. A.D. 44–49, making it the earliest written book of the NT canon.”9

The evidence converges on this conclusion in five ways.

1. The opening address. James writes “to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (James 1:1). The Greek word is diaspora—scattering. The natural reading is that he is writing to Jewish believers who had been displaced from Jerusalem, and the persecution of Acts 12 is the most plausible occasion in the 40s for such a displacement.

2. The thoroughly Jewish character of the letter. James references the synagogue (2:2), draws constantly from Hebrew Scripture, never mentions Gentile believers as a category, and engages Jewish wisdom traditions. The letter is shaped like a Jewish diaspora epistle, blending moral exhortation with practical pastoral instruction.

3. The silence on the Jerusalem Council. If James had written after 49 CE, his silence on the council’s landmark ruling about Gentile believers would be inexplicable—especially since he himself presided over that council (Acts 15). It was the most significant theological council to date and changed the trajectory of the gospel message. 

4. The themes match the moment. James opens by urging joy in trials (1:2–4), warns against trusting wealth (1:9–12), denounces wealthy oppressors who drag believers into court (2:6, 5:1–6), and calls for patient endurance until the Lord’s coming (5:7–11). These are the precise concerns of a scattered, persecuted, impoverished community.

5. The diaspora-letter genre. James stands in the established Jewish tradition of “Letters to the Diaspora,” including the letters of Gamaliel (Paul’s teacher) and the festal letter in 2 Maccabees 1:1–9. James, the leader still in Jerusalem, was writing as a Jewish shepherd to scattered Jewish sheep—exactly what the moment required.

The Picture That Emerges

In 44 CE, Agrippa struck. James son of Zebedee died, Peter fled, and many believers scattered north to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (cf. Acts 11:19). James the Just, left holding the Jerusalem community together, took up his pen and wrote what may be the New Testament’s earliest book—a pastoral letter to Messianic Jewish refugees, calling them to faith working through endurance.

The persecution that was meant to crush the movement instead produced its first written Scripture.

A Warning to Arrogant Leaders

Luke does not let the story end with the scattering. He records, with deliberate symmetry, the end of the persecutor himself. Just weeks after executing James and trying to execute Peter, Agrippa appeared at a public assembly in Caesarea, “arrayed in royal apparel,” and the crowd cried out, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” (Acts 12:21–22). 

Agrippa accepted the worship. He did not deflect it. He did not give the glory to God. “Immediately,” Luke writes, “because he did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:23). Josephus independently confirms the public scene and Agrippa’s sudden, agonizing death (Antiquities 19.343–350).

The lesson Luke wants every reader to take is brutally clear, and it lands hardest on leaders. A king who killed an apostle to boost his ratings, who imprisoned another to entertain a crowd, who accepted worship that belonged only to God—did not last the year. The same chapter that opens with a martyr’s funeral ends with the persecutor’s corpse. Pride is not a minor flaw in a leader; in Acts 12, it is the very thing that invites divine judgment. God specifically resists the proud, but gives grace to those who recognize that all authority comes from him (James 4:6).

Every shepherd who consolidates power, silences critics, demands deference, and confuses applause for anointing should read this chapter and tremble. Agrippa was charming, politically savvy, and beloved by religious elites—and none of it saved him when he reached for glory that was not his. “God opposes the proud,” James himself would later write, “but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). He had watched it happen.

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[1] Encyclopedia Britannica, “Herod Agrippa I,” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herod-Agrippa-I.

[2] Encyclopedia Britannica, “Herod Agrippa I.”

[3] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 19.326–327 (walls of Jerusalem) and 19.338–342 (summit at Tiberias). See also “Marsus, C. Vibius,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/marsus-c-vibiusdeg. Some scholars suspect Marsus or Roman authorities of involvement in Agrippa’s sudden death in 44 CE.

[4] Emil Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C.–A.D. 135), rev. ed., vol. 2 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1979), 155–159, on Agrippa’s pro-Pharisaic posture and pious public conduct.

[5]  Eusebius, Church History (Book II), 23:5, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250102.htm.

[6]  See my Scholarly article on James/Jacob. He is one of the more fascinating characters in the New Testament, and most do not know his story. https://drron.org/jacob. 

[7]  Eusebius, 23:2.

[8] Richard Bauckham, “James and the Jerusalem Church,” in The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian Setting, ed. Richard Bauckham (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 415–480, esp. p. 441.

[9] John MacArthur, “Introduction to James,” Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/macarthur_john/bible-introductions/james-intro.cfm.