Brother or bond-servant

In the beginning days of the church, when preachers and teachers were not abundant, letters were written, sometimes to a large audience, to encourage Christians to put into practice their faith. The Epistle of James is such a letter.  The author identifies himself as “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). The early church fathers identified this James as the half-brother of Jesus. They believed he had the same mother as Jesus, Mary, and his father was Jo