AJTC - Perpetual Virginity of Mary
The next thing that seems to have presented itself in my journey through Catholicism is the question of the perpetual virginity of Mary. I had been taught that Jesus had siblings, one brother named James at the very least. The Catholic position on this is that Mary was a perpetual virgin and maintained her virginity throughout her life, even after Christ was born. There are a couple things that Catholics use to support this.
The new testament word for brother is "adelphos" (#80) which means: "1) a brother, whether born of the same two parents or only of the same father or mother, 2) having the same national ancestor, belonging to the same people, or countryman, 3) any fellow or man, 4) a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection, 5) an associate in employment or office, 6) brethren in Christa) his brothers by blood, b) all men, c) apostles, d) Christians, as those who are exalted to the same heavenly place." Therefore, theoretically, the various scripture verses that refer to the brothers of Jesus, could have in actuality been referring to his cousins or other kinsfolk.
Ezekiel 44:1-2 says:
"Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut."Some Catholics believe that this gate is symbolic of the virgin Mary, who was also from the east.
John 19:26-27 says:
"When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."This would have been quite unusual, and I am told unthinkable, if Christ had other siblings who were able to care for their widowed Mother.
Protestant Christians frequently point out that Christ is called the "firstborn" assuming that it implies that there must have been more than one child. It has also been pointed out that the Bible says that Joseph did not know Mary until she gave birth to Jesus, implying that he knew her after that.
Unfortunately I think both of these arguments are fallible. I have only one child, and he is my firstborn. In Exodus 13:2 God says:
"Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine."This does not mandate that any additional children be born, only that the one who "openeth the womb," the first-born, is sanctified.
When most people think of the word "until" they compare it to the word "but." It's commonly used in the English language to show that there was a change of status. (I thought this was a good argument until I looked into it.) It does not, however, guarantee a change of status.
Condsider this example: If I tell my son that he may not go outside until his toys are picked up, that does not necessarily mean that he can play outside after his toys are picked up. Let's pretend we're doing LSAT questions w/ EarlCat... If not toys > not outside. To flip and negate: If outside > toys. In laymens terms, if he goes outside then he's picked up his toys. This does not equate that he absolutely will go outside if he's picked up his toys. On the contrary, he may have picked up his toys but taken so long that it got dark in the process... so he is still not allowed to play outside. It is necessary to pickup his toys, but not sufficient.
Ok, sorry about the tangent... I just wanted an excuse to do LAST games. Hope it was clear.
The word used for until is "heos" (Strongs #2193) which means: "of uncertain affinity; a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place):--even (until, unto), (as) far (as), how long, (un-)til(-l), (hither-, un-, up) to, while(-s)." So in the New Testament, until typically does not signify a change of status, but rather a specific point in time. Take John 5:17 where Jesus says:
"My Father worketh hitherto [heos], and I work."This certainly does not imply that they stoped working then, but rather that they were continuing to work even to the present time. In Psalm 110 it says:
"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until [heos] I make thine enemies thy footstool."I could be wrong, but I do not think He is asking him to sit there only until he fetches a footstool. This would just be silly.
It is for these reasons I do not necessarily agree that these verses prove that Mary and Joseph had intercourse, and/or other children, after the birth of Jesus.
Although it may be accepted that several of scriptures that refer to "the brothers of Jesus" may be explained as referring to the cousins or near kinsmen of Jesus, I personally believe that any specifically named people who are called "the brothers of Jesus" should be able to have their biological relationship clarified... especially if they are not indeed the biological half-brothers of Jesus, and the sons of Mary. So this is where I am planning to focus my energy. Also, since people were generally listed in order of importance (ex: oldest siblings to youngest siblings), I am inclined to investigate them in that order.
If I remember correctly, there is a place which refers to James and John as the brothers of Jesus, but since James and John are the sons of Zebedee (Mark 1:19, Luke 5:10, etc) so I am not concerned with that (especially since I cannot seem to re-locate the scripture).
There are two places though where the names of the "brothers" of Jesus are listed that I am concerned with. Mark 6:3, and Matthew 13:55 state:
"Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?"If these are not the brothers of Christ, the sons of Mary, who are they?
According to Wikipedia (1): "The identification of James son of Alphaeus with the brother of Jesus was.... widely accepted in the Roman Catholic Church, while Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches tend to distinguish between 'James son of Alphaeus' and 'James the brother of the Lord'."
I'm going to have to start a chart to keep track of every body here, but from what it looks like there was 1) Mary, the mother of Jesus, 2) Mary, the wife of Cleophas(aka Alpheus), 3) Mary Magdaline, 4) Salome, the wife of Zebedee and, 5) Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and a follower of Jesus. For simplicity sake, we're not dealing with all of them, but keep in mind that they're there.
"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19:25)So either Mary #1 had another sister present, or her "sister" was Mary # 2. (Keep in mind that "sister" has the same basic meaning as "brother." Strongs # 79.)
Here are some other listings of women by the cross:
"Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." (Matthew 27:56)Although you could argue that Mary the mother of James and Joses, was Mary #1, the mother of Jesus, I find it very surprising that she would be identified by her other children at this time. Also, in Acts 1:13-14 it identifies a James and Judas, and possibly Simon, that were the sons of Alphaeus (Cleophas), the husband of a woman named Mary:
"There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome." (Mark 15:40)
"And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."This, on top of the quotes from the early church that I mentioned in my last post "An Email to my Mother" are certainly worthy of checking into. It'll be interesting to see what I find, although I doubt I'll spend as much time on this topic as I did on Peter. Wish me luck!
Edit: There is a word for cousin. It is "syggenēs" (Strongs #4773), and used in Luke 1:36:
"And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren."This word was used 12 times in the New Testament, and variously translated as kinsmen, cousin, kinsfolk and kin. If James, Judas and possibly Simon were the cousins of Jesus, then why wasn't this word used?
Also, to mix things up a little more here's a quote from Wikipedia:
"Joseph Blinzler, in his study Die Bruder und Schwestern Jesu, concluded that the "brothers" and "sisters" of Jesus were cousins of his. For Simon and Jude, their relationship with Jesus came from their father Cleophas/Clopas, a brother of Joseph and thus a descendant of David. Their mother's name is unknown. The mother of James and Joses was a Mary, distinct from Jesus’ mother; she (or her husband) was related in some unspecifiable way to Jesus' family. There are indications that the father of James (and Joses) was of sacerdotal or Levitical origin and was a brother of Mary. The silence of the Gospels about Joseph after Luke 2 indicates that the putative father of Jesus died soon, after which Mary and her son joined the family of her (their?) closest relative. The children of this family (these families?), grew up with Jesus and were called his brothers and sisters, since in Aramaic there was no other term for them. The early Church kept this term even in Greek to honour in this way these relatives who had meanwhile become eminent members of the Church, and as a way of distinguishing them from the many others in the early Church that had the same names."
(1) See James, son of Alphaeus.
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