{"id":8787,"date":"2020-07-31T11:50:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T15:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/?p=8787"},"modified":"2020-07-31T11:50:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T15:50:12","slug":"matthew-1355-did-jesus-have-brothers-or-was-mary-a-perpetual-virgin-as-roman-catholicism-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/matthew-1355-did-jesus-have-brothers-or-was-mary-a-perpetual-virgin-as-roman-catholicism-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 13:55 – Did Jesus have brothers, or was Mary a perpetual virgin as Roman Catholicism claims?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem:<\/strong> Evangelicals and Catholics agree that Mary was a virgin before she gave birth to Jesus (Mt. 1:23), but what about after? The Catholic Catechism (1994) states,<\/p>\n

The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary\u2019s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man.\u00a0In fact, Christ\u2019s birth \u201cdid not diminish his mother\u2019s virginal integrity but sanctified it.\u201d\u00a0And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as\u00a0Aeiparthenos,\u00a0the \u201cEver\u2013virgin.\u201d[1]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong> Mary remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin.[2]
\nA Biblical Response
\nWhile we feel that this doctrine (like the bodily assumption of Mary) is relatively harmless, it is still never mentioned in Scripture. Geisler and MacKenzie write, \u201cEven [Catholic scholar Ludwig] Ott admits that there is no direct reference to Mary\u2019s perpetual virginity in any text of Scripture.\u201d[3] By contrast, the Bible states that Mary was only a virgin before Jesus\u2019 birth, but not after. It also teaches that Jesus had other half-brothers and half-sisters. Consider these Scriptures below:<\/p>\n

Mary was a virgin UNTIL she gave birth
\n(Mt. 1:25) [Joseph] kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.<\/p>\n

The NT refers to Jesus\u2019 brothers
\n(Mt. 12:46-47) While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.<\/p>\n

(Mt. 13:55) Is not this the carpenter\u2019s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the mother and father are literal, why aren\u2019t the brothers literal, too?<\/p>\n

(Mk. 6:2-3) When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, \u201cWhere did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?\u201d And they took offense at Him.<\/p>\n

(Jn. 2:12) After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.<\/p>\n

(Jn. 7:5) For not even His brothers were believing in Him.<\/p>\n

(Acts 1:14) These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.<\/p>\n

(1 Cor. 9:4-5) Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas\u201d<\/p>\n

(Gal. 1:19) But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n

Because of these passages, we feel that the Bible does not teach the perpetual virginity of Mary. However, Catholic apologists respond in a couple of different ways:<\/p>\n

ARGUMENT #1: The Greek word of \u201cbrother\u201d can be translated as \u201ccousin.\u201d
\nCatholic apologist Dave Armstrong argues, \u201cThe Greek word for brother in the New Testament is adelphos. It is evident from the range of possible definitions of adelphos, that Jesus\u2019 \u2018brothers\u2019 need not necessarily be siblings of Jesus on linguistic grounds, as many commentators, learned and unlearned, seem to assume uncritically.\u201d[4]<\/p>\n

While the word adelphos does have a wide semantic range (e.g. brother, spiritual brother, cousin, etc.), its primary translation is a literal brother. Let\u2019s consider two alternate interpretations:<\/p>\n

Adelphos as \u201ccousin\u201d?
\nCatholic apologists that adelphos can be rendered as a \u201ccousin.\u201d However, Geisler and MacKenzie write,<\/p>\n

There is no single example where adelphos is used for \u2018cousin\u2019 in the New Testament. There is a word for \u2018cousin\u2019 (anepsios), as in Colossians 4:10, where Mark is described as \u2018the cousin [anepsios] of Barnabas.\u2019 But this word is not used in Matthew 13 or in any passage referring to Jesus\u2019 brothers and sisters.[5]
\nIn order to see if this is the translation that should be adopted in the NT, we need to consider the context. Consider this usage in Matthew 13:55: \u201cIs not this the carpenter\u2019s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers (Greek adelphos), James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?\u201d This passage mentions adelphos with Jesus\u2019 literal father and mother. We hold that a consistent interpretation holds that these are literal brothers, as well. The interpretation of \u201ccousin\u201d doesn\u2019t fit well with this passage.<\/p>\n

Adelphos as \u201cspiritual brother\u201d
\nSometimes the word is used in contrast to Jesus\u2019 disciples (or spiritual brothers). For instance, John writes of Jesus\u2019 \u201cmother and His brothers and His disciples\u201d (Jn. 2:12). Other times, Jesus\u2019 brothers didn\u2019t believe in him (Jn. 7:5). Of course, this would mean that this could not refer to his followers; otherwise, they wouldn\u2019t be considered followers at all. Moreover, Matthew 13:55 would speak against this interpretation.<\/p>\n

ARGUMENT #2: Jesus had to give his mother to John.
\nCatholic apologist Dave Hunt argues, \u201cMary is committed to the care of the apostle John by Jesus from the Cross (John 19:26-27). Many Protestant interpreters agree with the Catholic view that Jesus likely would not have done this if he had had brothers (who would all have been younger than he was).\u201d[6]<\/p>\n

However, in this culture, it would have made more sense for Jesus to give his mother to his cousins\u2014not his disciples. So, this argument would work against the Catholic view as well. Moreover, since Jesus\u2019 brothers were unbelievers (Jn. 7:5), it makes sense that Christ would give his mother to \u201cthe disciple he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church. Section 499.
\n[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church. Section 510.
\n[3] Geisler, Norman L., and Ralph E. MacKenzie. Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995. 302.
\n[4] Armstrong, Dave.\u00a0A Biblical Defense of Catholicism. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 2003. 194.
\n[5] Geisler, Norman L., and Ralph E. MacKenzie. Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995. 302-303.
\n[6] Armstrong, Dave.\u00a0A Biblical Defense of Catholicism. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 2003. 197.<\/p>\n

\n

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? (Matt 13:55)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Problem: Evangelicals and Catholics agree that Mary was a virgin before she gave birth to Jesus (Mt. 1:23), but what about after? The Catholic Catechism (1994) states, The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary\u2019s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the SonContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-errors","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}