Santiago
Puritan Board Freshman
My wife and I joined a Hispanic congregation and I immediately joined a weekly Bible study (first time actually studying the Word of God without my English translations). It was a section on the apostles. One verse struck me as odd- “Jacobo hijo de Zebedeo, y a Juan hermano de Jacobo, a quienes apellidó Boanerges, esto es, Hijos del trueno...” (Mark 3:17). I asked why James was called Jacob in this translation. It seemed almost heretical to misname an apostle! Jesus’ brother is also called “Jacob” (Jacobo) instead of “James” (Santiago) in Matt 13:55 (Reina Valera 1960). Yet the book of James begins “Santiago, siervo de Dios y del Señor Jesucristo, a las doce tribus que están en la dispersión: Salud.” It puzzled me that the same man had two names in the same translation - and it does not appear to be a matter of cultural shifting like Saul using the gentile form, “Paul.” He has the same name in English translations, so there is greater consistency, but a little deeper study revealed that “Jacob” should have been applied in all NT instances in both languages and that neither “James” or “Santiago” are accurate.
Has anyone else struggled with this? Are there any translations that stay true to translating “lacobos” as “Jacob?” Do we continue to use James as a matter of tradition or habit?
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Has anyone else struggled with this? Are there any translations that stay true to translating “lacobos” as “Jacob?” Do we continue to use James as a matter of tradition or habit?
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