He was educated at the University of Madras and joined the CMS College High School as teacher.
For the next twenty years he was Principal of the Cambridge Nicholson Institute at Kottayam.
[2] Jacob was consecrated a bishop on 6 May 1945 at St George's Cathedral, Madras; he was the first Indian to be elected to a diocesan See, and he was native to his own diocese.
[3] On 27 September 1947, he presided over the inaugural service of the Church of South India, the successor to the Anglican Church in South India, after Indian independence.
In acknowledgement of his contributions to the formation of the Church of South India, he was presented an honorary doctorate by the Wycliffe College, in Canada.