James (the Just): leader of the Church at Jerusalem

In the combox of the previous thread here at AF, Ken Temple called into question the view held by numerous scholars (and yours truly) that James (the Just) became the leader of the Church at Jerusalem shortly after Peter was imprisoned. Ken wrote:

Off the top of my head, on the main issue - it seems your main argument is that James was the mono-episcopate (one bishop over a college of elders) at Jerusalem. And the later church records seem to read mono-episcopasy back into the earliest decades. (Eusebius, Irenaeus, etc.) Acts, Titus, 1 Timothy, I Peter 5, I Clement, Shepherd of Hermas, and the Didache are all earlier (60s-125 AD) and don't jive with the bishop's lists of 200-325 AD.

Actually "the main issue" is whether or not Ken's original assertion is accurate. Once again, here is what Ken wrote back on 01/28/15:

Moreover, NONE of the earliest churches had a mono-episcopate. They all had a plurality of elders at first.

The "earliest" church, Jerusalem, most certainly did not have "a plurality of elders at first". The first leaders of the Church at Jerusalem were 'the Twelve' (apostles). When 'the Twelve' began to spend less time at Jerusalem and more time in missionary activity, James (the Just) became the permanent, resident leader of the Church at Jerusalem; holding a position of authority above the elders/overseers at Jerusalem, but below 'the Twelve'.

Ken also wrote:

Why doesn't Acts 15 say that? Acts 15 does not call James a "bishop/overseer, who is one over the college of elders" in authority. Both he and Peter stand up and give their opinions/judgments and quote Scripture. 

It says that Paul and Barnabas came there and reported to "the apostles and elders" (Acts 15:4; and 15:6; 15:22 and "with the whole church").

James, the brother of Jesus is called an apostle in Galatians 1:19 and 1 Cor. 15:7. 

Ken is being evasive here, for he knows that none of the governmental systems held by various Christian denominations (congregational, episcopal, presbyterian) have explicit support in the NT. The view that James (the Just) held a position of leadership in the Church of Jerusalem is built upon implicit information in the NT and explicit information from post-apostolic writers. When all the evidence is brought together, an extremely strong case for this view emerges; a case so strong that even a number of scholars who do not adhere to a espiscopal form of polity support it. Note the following from a respected Presbyterian scholar:

When Peter, Paul, and Barnabas have spoken, the leader of the Jerusalem church assume the task of addressing the assembly and formulating a decision that meets the approval of the entire council. This person is James, the half-brother of Jesus, who succeeded Peter as the head of the church (12:17) and who was highly respected for his authority (compare 21:17-19). When he speaks, he literally has the last word.

A paragraph later, we read:

James functions as the chairman of the assembly. Everyone present is eager to listen to what James has to say on the subject of adherence to the law, namely, circumcision. His opening remarks are, "Men and brothers, listen to me." The similarity between these words and those of the Epistle of James is remarkable. In his epistle James writes, "Listen, my beloved brothers" (2:5). The command listen to me occurs nowhere else in the entire New Testament. It reveals that James has respect and authority in the church and that apostles, elders, and delegates to the council value his leadership. (Simon J. Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary - Acts, p. 550; note: Dr. Kistmaker was the scholar chosen to complete the NTC series started by the esteemed Reformed theologian, William Hendriksen.)

From the pen of the F. F. Bruce we read:

Then the eyes  of the company turned to James the brother of the Lord, a man who enjoyed the respect and confidence of all. By this time James appears to have occupied a position of leadership among the elders of the Jerusalem church; if the elders were organized as a kind of Nazarene Sanhedrin, James was their president, primus inter pares. (F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament - The Book of the Acts, p. 309.)

A Baptist scholar wrote:

The rise of both the monepiscopacy and the succession concept occurs in internal crises in the earliest periods of the Church. An "overseer"—a term preferred for its connotation of function, in contrast to "bishop," with its connotation of office—emerged naturally in house churches. From such overseers, or "elders" as they were often called, there was at least in some cases an overseer for a city, whom we shall term a monepiskopos (to distinguish this person from the single leader in the house churches), appointed by apostolic design at the departure of the apostles. Such a city overseer also arose apart from apostolic design, not necessarily against it, in various connections with the death of James, the monepiscopal leader of the Jerusalem church. A succession of bishops was perhaps first suggested in Jerusalem at the time of the Jerusalem Council, among Jewish Christians with nationalistic hopes, by James's kinship to Jesus in the Davidic line. The succession of bishops arose in Rome from Jewish Christian interpretation of apostolic plans in reaction to erosion of established presbyteral authority. These developments set the stage for the initial use of succession lists in internal crises rather than in dialogue with Greco-Roman society. (Robert Lee Williams, Bishops Lists, p. 45.)

From the same book, a bit later, we read:

Evidence suggests that the churches in Antioch and the five cities addressed by Ignatius in Asia Minor began monepiscopates at the death of two first century leaders, James in Jerusalem and the "elder" of the Johannine letters in who exercised authoritv beyond their own cities. Telfer was correct in thinking that "an emergency or crisis ... in view of their loss of the guiding and supporting mother-church" led churches to adopt monepiscopacy in Antioch and Asia. (Ibid. pp. 67, 68.)

In the previous thread I provided selections from four more authors that are in agreement with the above scholars. Once again for emphasis:

In the traditions recorded by Eusebius (Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen), James was the first bishop of the Jerusalem church. His election to this position is located at the beginning of the life of the Jerusalem church. He was thus the first bishop of the leading (mother) church of the growing Christian movement. The account in Acts portrays the key role of the Jerusalem church, and even the letters of Paul confirm the importance because they show Paul contested and struggled against that leadership. But according to popular understanding, in Acts Peter is at first portrayed as the prominent leader among the twelve, giving way to James only when he is forced to leave Jerusalem (Acts 12:17). The account of the Jerusalem assembly (Acts 15) portrays James "presiding." and this position of leadership is consistent with the remaining narrative of Acts. (John Painter, Just James - The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition, Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1997, p. 4.)

The earliest leaders of the church [Jerusalem] were the Twelve, whom Luke calls 'the apostles'. At some point in the first ten or fifteen years of the church's existence an office of elder was created similar to that of the Jewish synagogue, either to succeed the Twelve, whose members began to leave Jerusalem in order to preach the gospel, or as assistants to the apostles in the administration of the church. James replaced Peter as the leader of the church and the elders took the place of the apostles. (R. Alistair Campbell, The Elders, T & T Clark International, 1994, p. 160.)

In the 2001 book, The Brother of Jesus - James the Just and His Mission, co-authors, Bruce Chilton and Jacob Neusner, present solid evidences that James was clearly the leader of the Jerusalem church by the time of Acts 15. Less convincing is their view that he was already the leader of the Jerusalem church when Peter was arrested by Herod. Note the following:

Against this background [Gal. 2:1-10] we may read Acts 12:17. It is normally taken to mean that, after Peter's arrest by Herod (12:1-3), he was miraculously released from prison but forced to flee from Jerusalem. Before leaving he came to the house of the mother of John Mark, where the church used to gather. There he passed on a message, "Tell this [news of his release and forced departure] to James and the brethren." How is this message to be understood? It is commonly understood as a cryptic message from Peter, the leader, to James, indicating that James must take over the leadership in absence of Peter. This is less than clearly the intended meaning. More likely we should understand Peter's message in the context of his report back to James, the leader of the Jerusalem church. Nothing is more natural than that Peter should report to the leader. (Page 31.)

In pages 32-35, the authors present numerous quotes from post-apostolic sources (e.g. Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Hegesippus) which clearly affirm that James was the first Bishop of Jerusalem. They begin with the following:

The role of James as leader of the Jerusalem church is uniformly found in early tradition. (Page 32.)

And then conclude the section with:

Nevertheless this tradition is unanimous that James was the first leader of the Jerusalem church, and this emphasized by the numerous references to the throne of Jesus. (Page 35.)

Before leaving Chilton and Neusner, I would like to provide one more informative selection:

James died in the year 62 C.E., so that his example had been there to influence the emerging model of episcopal hierarchy within the church attested within the Pastoral Epistles for some three decades before the Pastoral Epistles themselves were written. James was clearly a local leader, who made decisions on the basis of Scripture, and the exercise of his authority—owing to his familial relationship—brought with it a personal link to Jesus himself which was reinforced by his own martyrdom. The personal model of James as bishop was evidently sufficient to elevate that office above other possible contenders for what was to be the predominately authority within the church by the end of the first century. (Page 157 - bold emphasis mine.)

In ending, it sure seems to me that Ken is reading his congregational polity back into his interpretation of the NT and early post-apostolic data, rather than reading the data in an objective, systematic manner.

Grace and peace,

David