“And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.”
He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.—James the son of Zebedee (one of the inner circle of apostles, Mark 13:3) is executed by sword (Greek: machaira, a short sword), a form of execution fitting governmental execution. His is the first apostolic martyrdom recorded in Acts; he fulfills Jesus's prediction (Mark 10:39) that James would drink his cup of martyrdom. The swift death-sentence shows Herod's ruthlessness and the stakes of Christian witness.
Church Fathers on Acts 12:2
At that time, of course meaning the time immediately following: for this is the custom of Scripture. And he well says that Herod the king (did this): this was not he of Christ's time. Lo, a different sort of trial — and mark what I said in the beginning, how things are blended, how rest and trouble alternate in the whole texture of the history — not now the Jews, nor the Sanhedrin, but the king. Greater the power, the warfare more severe, the more it was done to obtain favor…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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