Was “James the Brother of our Lord” the same person as the “Apostle James son of Alphaeus”?

I was challenged a few days ago because I said that James, the brother of the Lord and bishop of Jerusalem in the Bible, was not the same as the two Apostles named James among the Twelve.

The courteous gentleman suggested I misspoke and that the Apostle James son of Alphaeus (or James the Less) was one and the same with James the brother of the Lord mentioned in Galatians 1:19.

So I spent most of the day yesterday responding. It was fun since I love digging in on topics like this.

So, if you are interested in such things, you can read our correspondences and my ultimate conclusion HERE.

By the way, when the Bible refers to James as the “brother of our Lord” we know he is either a cousin or a stepbrother since Mary had no other children. But that is a whole other discussion.