Them Bones, Them Bones

You may have read lately about a remarkable and controversial archeological find. It seems a Frenchman by the name of Andre Lemaire, a specialist in ancient inscriptions, was shown an ancient limestone box by an antiquities collector which had the inscription, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." What makes this so remarkable is that Mr. Lemaire believes and states the following: "It seems very probable that this is the ossuary of the James of the New Testament." If Lemaire’s claims can be verified, the ossuary would be the earliest known documentation of Jesus of Nazareth outside of the Bible. What does this mean to the Christian? Is this an act of God, who, working behind the scenes, has allowed this "evidence" to surface to help individuals come to a faith in his Son?

The Bible teaches that Jesus had siblings and one of them was called James. We read in Matthew 13:55, "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?" When we read the New Testament, we discover that Jesus’ brothers did not believe the claims concerning their half-brother until after His resurrection (John 7:5). However, by the time that Paul went to Jerusalem the first time after his conversion, James was a disciple of Jesus. Most Bible scholars attribute the New Testament epistle of "James" to this brother of Jesus. From all this we can conclude, if there was a Jesus, there also must have been a James who was his half-brother.

Hebrew burial practices during the First Century confirm the use of ossuaries for the burial of the bones of the deceased. It seems that the dead would initially be laid out in a burial tomb until the flesh decomposed. At that time, the bones would be placed in a limestone box – an ossuary – and re-buried. You may recall in 1990, a carved ossuary bearing the inscription "Caiaphas" was found. Caiaphas was the name of the high priest who turned Jesus over to the Romans to be crucified.

We can safely say that a man named James – who was the half-brother of Jesus of Nazareth – lived during the First Century, and that a limestone box with an inscription used for burying the bones of the dead, was consistent with burial practices at that time. However, that the ossuary found by Lemaire is truly that of James, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth – only God knows for sure.

If it is true, what does it mean to a Christian? In all reality, not a whole lot. Christians do not believe the word of God because of archeological confirmation. The Bible is accepted and believed to be the divinely inspired word of God on its own merits. Granted, when an archeological find corroborates an historical fact or personage of the Bible, we might want to say "Told ya," but our faith will not be affected if there is archeological confirmation, or if there is not. In the letter to the Romans, we are told that faith comes from the hearing of God’s word (10:17). God has given us his "once for all delivered" will (Jude 3) within the pages of the New Testament. If we will not come to Him through its message, no amount of archeological corroboration will convince us either.