The New Testament mentions four people named James ("Jacob" in the Greek):

1. James the son of Zebedee ("James the Great")

An early disciple of Jesus (Matthew 4:21), he was present at the Transfiguration and the Raising of Jairus' daughter. He and his brother were given the nickname "Boanerges", which translates as "Sons of Thunder". The meaning of this is obscure, but may denote a tendancy to violent action. . Jesus predicted the death of James (Mark 10:39), and this occured within a few years when the grandson of Herod the Great, Agrippa I, took control of the whole of Israel. Agrippa may have seen the Christians as a threat to his power; he had James executed, and then planned to execute Peter. If this James was the writer of the epistle, it must have been written before 42 CE, and thus be unrelated to Paul's letters on "Justification by Faith", such as Romans, which were written some ten years later.

2. James the Brother of Jesus ("James the Just"). James the Brother of Jesus was initially opposed to Jesus' ministry (Mark 3:31 ), but was converted and became head of the church in Jerusalem. Paul cites him as one of the first to receive a resurrection appearance ( I Corinthians 15:7). He is identified with the "James the brother of Christ" mentioned by Josephus as having been executed by the high priest, Ananus, during the interregnum after the unexpected death of the Roman governor, Festus in 61 CE. This move was apparently highly unpopular, and led to the deposition of Ananus. Eusebius quotes Hegessipus at length, recounting events from the trial of James (including the cryptic question "What is the Gate of Jesus?") and an account of James being thrown down the steps of the temple and then bludgeoned to death. "James the Just" had a reputation for extreme piety, his knees calloused by much prayer in the temple. At the arraignment of Paul before the Jerusalem church, on a charge of having taught Jews to reject the Law, it is James who decides the action to be taken.

3. James the Son of Alphaeus. Little is known about this James, He is usually identified with "James the Less" (Mark 15:40)

4. James of Judas. A translation problem inhibits our understanding as to whether this James was a brother or a father of Judas Iscariot.

A puzzle for any of these possible authors is the high standard of the Greek, not to be expected from a group of men whom the priests considered to functionally illiterate (Acts 4:13 ), though Katrhryn suggested that the letter was written in Aramaic and then translated by another.

To many commentators it seems odd that James, if he were the brother of Jesus, should never appeal to his brother for authority, or as an example. For that matter he does not quote any incident from the Jesus' ministry, though he may have been opposed to it at the time. Some Christian preachers have tried to show the Christian influence on James' writing, but others have shown that all references are Talmudic, and claim that the Epistle may be a Jewish document with two small Christian modifications. The ease with which the letter may be read in Jewish or Christian terms may show how close early Christian thinking was to Jewish thought.

The writer seems to assume a violent congregation, with adultery and murder common occurences.