Gospel of James PT 3 Non Canonical books of the Bible
I have been asked several times if there are any Christian books not contained in the New Testament. There are many such books that did not make it in the Bible Canon in 325 A.D.
Origen mentions the Book of James (and the Gospel of Peter) as stating that the ' brethren of the Lord' were sons of Joseph by a former wife. This is the first mention of it, and shows us that the book is as old as the second century. To collect later references to it is unnecessary.
It is generally agreed that the story of the death of Zacharias (chs. xxii-xxiv) does not properly belong to the text. Origen and other early writers give a different account of the cause of His death: it was, they say, because, after the Nativity, he still allowed Mary to take her place among the virgins in the Temple.
Difficulty is also caused by the sudden introduction of Joseph as the narrator in ch. xviii. 2 sqq. We cannot be sure whether this means that a fragment of a 'Joseph-apocryphon' has been introduced at this point; or, if so, how far it extends. We are sure, from a sentence of Clement of Alexandria, that some story of a midwife being present at the Nativity was current in the second century.
We have the book in the original Greek and in several oriental' versions, the oldest of which is the Syriac. But, oddly enough, there is no Latin version. The matter is found in an expanded and altered form in the 'Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew', but we have yet to find an old Latin translation of the present text. Such a thing seems to have existed, for a book identifiable with ours is condemned in the Gelasian Decree.
In the early chapters the Old Testament is extensively drawn upon, and imitated; but the author is not familiar with Jewish life or usages.
The best recent edition of this book is a French one, by Amann. There is as yet no really critical edition of the text, in which all manuscripts and versions are made use of. I follow Tischendorf's in the main.
Text
III. 1 And looking up to the heaven she espied a nest of sparrows in the laurel-tree, and made a lamentation within herself, saying: Woe unto me, who begat me ? And what womb brought me forth for I am become a curse before the children of Israel, and I am reproached, and they have mocked me forth out of the temple of the Lord? 2 Woe unto me, unto what am I likened ? I am not likened unto the fowls of the heaven, for even the fowls of the heaven are fruitful before thee, O Lord. Woe unto me, unto what am I likened ? I am not likened unto the beasts of the earth, for even the beasts of the earth are fruitful before thee, O Lord. Woe unto me, unto what am I likened ? I am not likened unto these waters, for even these waters are fruitful before thee, O Lord. 3 Woe unto me, unto what am I likened ? I am not likened unto this earth, for even this earth bringeth forth her fruits in due season and blesseth thee, O Lord.
IV. 1 And behold an angel of the Lord appeared, saying unto her: Anna, Anna, the Lord hath hearkened unto thy prayer, and thou shalt conceive and bear, and thy seed shall be spoken of in the whole world. And Anna said: As the Lord my God liveth, if I bring forth either male or female, I will bring it for a gift unto the Lord my God, and it shall be ministering unto him all the days of its life.
There are many such stories written, as to their validity, this is between you and your creator.
Rev Robert Fuller
