- Son of Zebeddee, a fisherman. During the persecutions of Herod Agrippa I, King of the Jews, in c AD44, the apostle James was beheaded. "It was at this time (of great famine, possibly around AD44) that King Herod laid violent hands on some of the Church members. James, John’s brother, he executed with the sword ....." (Acts 12:1-2) . Before his death, James the Greater as he is known to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus, preached in Jerusalem and Judea, modern Israel. A later Spanish tradition is that James preached the Gospel there sometime before his death.
Two of the apostles had the name James. The lesser known was James the son of Alphaeus (Mat 10:3). Possibly he is the same person elsewhere called ‘James the less’ or ‘James the younger’, names no doubt given to distinguish him from the better known James. If this is so, his father must have had two names, Alphaeus and Clopas (Mat 27:56; Mar 15:40; Joh 19:25).
The other apostle named James was the elder brother of the apostle John (Mat 10:2). In the Gospels, he is never mentioned by himself, but always together with his more famous brother. (Concerning the family background and personal experiences shared by the two brothers see JOHN THE APOSTLE.) Jesus had warned James and John that, as his followers, they could expect the sort of persecution he suffered. For James this came true a few years later when Herod Agrippa beheaded him (Mat 20:20-23; Act 12:1-2).