Raised in Balestrand in the county of Nordre Bergenhus Amt, his father was a prominent local figure in ecclesiastical and political affairs, as a priest, mayor and member of the Norwegian Parliament.

His youngest brother Edvard Sverdrup became a professor of the MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo.

[4] His daughter Aslaug Sverdrup took the doctor's degree too, and was married to biologist Iacob Dybwad Sømme from January 1930 to 1942.

As a theologian, Sverdrup was a pietist, and sided with the laity movement, proposing that lay priests be given the right to preach.

Together with Ole Vollan he had started the magazine Ny Luthersk Kirketidende in 1877, an organ which spoke against the Conservative High Church Lutheranism of the time.

However, due to King Oscar II opposing this, Sverdrup was instead appointed a member of the Council of State Division in Stockholm,[1] effective from 26 June 1884.

A commentator in the liberal newspaper Verdens Gang stated that Jakob Sverdrup was the true mastermind of his uncle's cabinet.

[9] Following the latter election Jakob Sverdrup was twice asked by King Oscar II to form a new cabinet, but the efforts failed.

[1] Instead, the Conservative-Moderate first cabinet Hagerup assumed office on 14 October 1895, where Jakob Sverdrup was appointed Minister of Church Affairs for a third time.