Passage

Galatians 1.19

"But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother." (Galatians 1:19, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"17. neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me: but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus. 18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days."

"19. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."

"20. Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 21. Then I came unto the regions of Syria and Cilicia." (Galatians 1:17-21, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"17. nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia. Then I returned to Damascus. 18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days."

"19. But of the other apostles I saw no one, except James, the Lord's brother."

"20. Now about the things which I write to you, behold, before God, I'm not lying. 21. Then I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia." (Galatians 1:17-21, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"17. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. ^{went up: or, returned}"

"19. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."

"20. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 21. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;" (Galatians 1:17-21, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"17. nor did I go up to Jerusalem unto those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia, and again returned to Damascus, 18. then, after three years I went up to Jerusalem to enquire about Peter, and remained with him fifteen days,"

"19. and other of the apostles I did not see, except James, the brother of the Lord."

"20. And the things that I write to you, lo, before God, I lie not; 21. then I came to the regions of Syria and of Cilicia," (Galatians 1:17-21, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: Christian believers in Galatia (Jewish-Christian-influenced)
Location: composed in Antioch or Ephesus; addressed to Galatia
Time period: composed c. AD 49 (South-Galatian) or c. AD 53-57 (North-Galatian)

Theological reading

Galatians 1:19 is one of the most apologetically load-bearing single verses in the Pauline corpus. In a letter dated by even skeptical scholars to within roughly twenty years of the crucifixion, Paul casually identifies the leader of the Jerusalem church as Iakōbon ton adelphon tou Kyriou, "James, the brother of the Lord." The phrasing is not theological; it is biographical and incidental, which is precisely what makes it powerful. Paul is not arguing for a historical Jesus; he is naming the man he met on a specific trip to Jerusalem after his own conversion. The implicit claim is that the Lord of Christian worship has a flesh-and-blood sibling who can be visited in person.

The verse anchors three apologetic moves. First, it grounds the historicity of Jesus against any "Jesus never existed" revisionism: an enemy-turned-witness mentions Jesus' brother by name, in a letter whose authenticity even hostile critics do not seriously dispute. Second, it confirms the existence of a Jerusalem apostolic leadership distinct from Paul's missionary base, the same James the Brother of Jesus who presides at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 and authors the epistle of James. Third, the phrasing weighs against the perpetual-virginity tradition: Paul uses adelphos (brother) without qualification, the same word used elsewhere for biological siblings, and parallels the synoptic naming of Jesus' brothers in Mark 6.3.

The historical attestation is reinforced by the non-Christian witness of Josephus, who in Antiquities 20.9.1 records the martyrdom of "James the brother of Jesus who was called Christ", a passage almost universally accepted as authentic, since later Christian scribes would have written something far more reverent. Together, Paul's Galatians 1:19 and Josephus' Antiquities 20 form a double attestation, one Christian and one Jewish, that James of Jerusalem was the biological brother of the historical Jesus. This is the bedrock the Minimal Facts Argument and the broader Resurrection of Jesus case build on.

Key words

G2962 - kyrios, kyrios, "Lord"; Paul's habitual title for the risen Jesus, weighing the adelphon tou Kyriou phrase with full christological force

Theological themes

Historical Jesus attestation. Early, casual, biographical naming of Jesus' sibling in a Pauline letter of undisputed authenticity.
Jerusalem apostolic leadership. James the Lord's brother as pillar of the Jerusalem church; cf. Galatians 2.9.
Apostle as broader category. Paul calls James an "apostle" here in a wider sense than the Twelve; relevant to apostolic-office debates.

Cross-references

Mark 6.3, synoptic naming of Jesus' brothers, including James
Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council James presides over
Galatians 2.9, James named with Cephas and John as "pillars"
Galatians 2.16, Paul's justification-by-faith thesis in the same letter
Galatians, book hub
Romans, Paul's mature exposition

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.