He appears in the slightly variable lists of the Twelve Apostles, as does James a Low: Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13. He is as well mentioned while his mother appears around Mark 15:40 (in which he is labelled "less", "little" or even "younger" based on the translation) & Matthew 27:56; her marriage to Clopas is probably mentioned around John 19:25.

Non very much is known all about his late ministry. Eusebius of Caesarea reported a tradition identifing him by having James the Just, the head of the early Christian Church inside Jerusalem. Modern biblical scholars ordinarily distinguish the two. Notwithstanding, these are known that a Pauline Christians, to whom two Mark & Luke (when followers & associates of Paul) belonged, sharply downplayed a importance of Jesus' blood kin. Accordingly, a Markan identifier "The Less" can be interpreted when but an required Pauline criticism of the punctually appointive leader of the Nazirite followers of Jesus by having whom Paul was inside straight conflict (watch, for instance, Galatians 2:12).