Analysis of biblical passages.
The issue of Mary has divided Catholics and Protestants. One of those points of difference is Mary’s perpetual virginity. According to the Catholic Church, Mary only had Jesus but Protestants argue with the Bible that she did have more children.
When I meet a Protestant, whether evangelical, Jehovah’s Witness or Adventist, and I want to adopt a fundamentalist tone, they get upset. I always start the conversation with the question: Does the Bible say that Mary had more children or does it say that Jesus had more brothers? According to them, I cannot put myself in that perspective (and think that they are the ones who take everything literally). But objectively, it is not the same, since for example they could be children of Joseph and not of Mary. The truth is that none of them had more children. With a simple genealogical and Greek grammar analysis we will demonstrate it.
Let’s first analyze the quotes used by Protestants to say that Mary had more children. It is good to say before that in NO quote is the expression used children of Mary, which is what Protestants argue, but in any case let’s follow their argument.
“Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary? Aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? And aren’t his sisters all living among you?” (Mt 13:55-56)
Nowhere does it say children of Mary, what it says is brothers of Jesus, but it will easily be demonstrated who the mother of these characters is.
“Hey, your mother, your brothers and your sisters are outside and asking about you.” (Mk 3:32)
When I ask Protestants why they don’t believe in purgatory, they tell me: that word is not in the Bible. I would tell you that, then Mary did not have more children, because the expression “children of Mary” or “Mary had more children” does not appear in the Bible either. In this case, they do resort to other tricks to ensure this.
“After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum and with him his mother, his brothers and his disciples.” (Jn 2:12)
“All of them persevered in prayer and with the same spirit, in the company of some women, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and their brothers.” (Acts 1:14)
Why not say: Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her other children? Let each one respond.
“But I saw no other apostle except James, brother of the Lord.” (Gal 1:18)
It seems that one of the names mentioned in Matthew appears again. So could it be that he is another son of Mary?
In addition to these quotes, two more are used. In the first, the expression until, It makes one think that what is being narrated would happen later:
“AND “He did not know her until she gave birth to a son whom Joseph named Jesus.” (Mt 1:25)
In the second, the expression firstborn It makes you think that since it was the first, there must have been more children.
“And she gave birth to her firstborn.” (Lk 2:7)
With the above quotes, any poorly versed Christian would make the mistake of believing that Mary had more children. Now comes our turn to show the truth.
Jewish culture is a patriarchal culture. In it, paternal authority prevails, and this authority takes on linguistic attributions such that when referring to a blood brother it is necessary to clarify: my father’s children, since what to say brother I could only refer to any degree of relationship such as: uncle, nephew, cousin, etc. This occurs because in the Hebrew language there is no word for uncle, cousin or any other word. Let’s look at some biblical references:
“Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother’s son.” (Gen 12, 5)
Here it is clear that Abram is Lot’s uncle; However, later he will call him his brother:
“So Abram said to Lot: Look, it is better that there be no quarrels between us, nor between my shepherds and yours, since we are siblings.” (Gen 13, 8)
There is an example in Deuteronomy, which can illuminate the grammatical difference between blood brothers.
“Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or his mother.” (Deut 27:22)
The author has to specify “son of” since saying only “brothers” does not indicate any specific degree of consanguinity.
Another text that can make Protestants understand the difference between mother’s sons and brothers is found in Psalm 69. Once on the website of an anti-Catholic Protestant I found that they argued against the virginity of Mary using this Psalm which says:
“I became like a stranger to my brothers, and like a stranger to my mother’s children.” (Ps 69,8).
According to this Protestant, this psalm is messianic because of what it says in verse 10: “Zeal for your house devours me,” which the gospels mention in (John 2:17). From this he deduces that Jesus does mention his blood brothers. You really have to have a very narrow mind to think that; since looking at verse six it says:
“You know, O God, if I have gone astray, then my sins are not hidden from you.” (Ps 69, 6).
Will we perhaps come to think that Jesus sinned? Rather we will say that there are some messianic verses but not others. What really matters about this text is how there is a difference between brothers and mother’s children, since the author makes the distinction between the two.
This explanation based on grammar and quotations from the Old Testament should be enough to show that the references to Jesus’ brothers do not imply that they are children of Mary; But even so, let’s analyze who those supposed brothers are.
Before entering with the supposed brothers, let’s analyze the aforementioned expressions: until and firstborn.
According to Matthew’s text, after Mary gave birth, it would seem that she did have relations with Joseph. The truth is that the meaning in Greek and Hebrew is different from Spanish. For us, until what, indicates an action that occurs later, while for the Jews it indicates an action that does not happen until that moment, without mentioning what may happen afterwards. We will demonstrate it with texts from the Old Testament.
“And Michol, daughter of Saul, had no children until the day of her death.” (2 Sam 6:23).
With a Protestant perspective I should say that Michal had children after she died; because, as they say, until her death indicates what will be done in the future, then: a dead woman gave birth. If we analyze the previous quote carefully, we will see that in Jewish culture, the expression “until” refers to what has happened up to a certain date, without mentioning anything afterward. The same thing happened with Mary. Matthew mentions that until the moment of Jesus’ birth, Mary was a virgin; it is not indicating anything that this virginal condition was lost later.
Now, we see in Luke an expression about the firstborn status of Christ. Many believe that firstborn means the first of many, but it only indicates the first, regardless of whether there will be more.
“Sons of Moses: Gerson and Eliezer. Sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah, the firstborn. Eliezer had no more sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were numerous.” (1 Chr 23:15-17).
As you can see, Eliezer had his firstborn, who was his only son. To think that Mary had more children because Jesus is called firstborn is not to know the Scriptures, and to think that we Catholics are the ones who supposedly do not know them.
Now we will get to know the “brothers” of Jesus:
The first text that Protestants use to argue for children to Mary is:
“Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary? Aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? And aren’t his sisters all living among you?” (Mt 13:55-56)
We already said before that nowhere does it say: children of Mary.
Let’s look at the four names and memorize them: SANTIAGO (Catholic and Jehovah’s Witnesses version) or JAMES (Queen Valera Version), JOSEPHPH, SIMON AND JUDAS.
Let’s get to know who the mother of these four brothers is.
Starting with Matthew, let’s get to the moment of the cross:
“There were also many women there… of whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.” (Mt 27:55-56)
From this text we can extract the following:
- There is no mention of Mary the mother Jesus.
- A Mary, mother of Joseph and James, is mentioned
- The mother of Zebedee’s sons is mentioned: James and John (Mt 10:3)
From this, we see that James the “brother” of Jesus is not the same James, brother of John. But will this mother be Mary? Already in Matthew, this woman presents herself to Jesus, asking for the first positions for her children.(Mt 20:20-28). We see that he does not call Jesus son, nor does he present his children as his brothers. This Mary is not the Virgin Mary
So? Will this Mary mentioned now be the same one from chapter thirteen? What can be analyzed is that if Mary (Jesus’s) is truly the mother of James and Joseph, Matthew does not name her as the mother of Jesus, but as the mother of the other two, this is very suspicious.
If we quickly read the three synoptic gospels, when Jesus chooses his twelve disciples we see that he mentions James, son of Alphaeus, followed by Jude Thaddaeus.
If we already rule out that James, John’s brother, is the same one from chapter thirteen, we have to prove if this son of Alphaeus is really the brother of Jesus.
Let’s move on to Mark:
Mark is the only one who shows us the only part where Jesus is called: Son of Mary (Mk 6, 3), hence it is very difficult for us to believe the Protestant expression: the other children of Mary, since the Bible says it about Jesus only once, while the Protestants attack him every day.
“…among whom were: Mary the mother of James the younger and Joseph, and Salome” (Mk 15, 40).
We see that Salomé now appears, and James and Joseph come out again. In this text we once again observe Mary Magdalene, Mary, that of Jesus, DOES NOT APPEAR, and a Mary, mother of James and Joseph, appears again.
Juan will give us a great clue to understand this mystery:
“There were at the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.” (Jn 19:25). Let’s look at several things: MARY FINALLY APPEARS, and another Mary continues to appear, now as the wife of Cleopas.
- Mary Magdalene appears in all the gospels
- Only in John does the Virgin Mary appear
- But we see that a Mary always appears, as the mother of James and Joseph, or as the wife of Cleopas. Will she be the same?
We analyze the answer as follows:
1. James appears as the brother of Jesus, and brother of Judas, Joseph and Simon
2. The letter to the Galatians mentions James, brother of the Lord (1:18). Since we talk about Jerusalem, it must be James the Bishop. This one, called the lesser, as Mark says (6:3), he was at the same time an apostle of Christ. As Jesus only had two named James; and we know that one is the son of Zebedee, and died for Herod; this other must be the son of Alphaeus.
3. Luke (6:16) shows us that James, son of Alphaeus, is the brother of Jude Thaddaeus. And we know that this Jude was the author of the Letter of Jude, which says: “Jude, servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James” (Jude 1, 1). We see that Judas presents himself as brother of James. In Matthew 13 a Judas and a James appear, as brothers of Jesus. But in his letter, Judas proclaims himself brother of James BUT NOT of Jesus, whose servant he calls himself.
4. From the above we conclude that the Judas who appears in Matthew 13 is the author of the letter, and he does not proclaim himself brother of Jesus, while he does of James, who also appears as brother of Jesus, and is the one that Paul saw in Jerusalem, author of the Letter of James. The name of Alpheus, his father, is the Aramaic translation of Cleopas in Greek. This shows that:
- The Mary who appears on the cross as the mother of James and Joseph is the same one who appears as the wife of Cleopas.
- Cleopas is the same as Thaddeus, therefore Judas is also the brother of James and Joseph, who appear in Matthew. And it is corroborated in the Letter of Jude, where he mentions his brother James, but the same is not said about Jesus. Furthermore, the aforementioned Simon appears in (Mt 10:3) and (Acts 1:13)
- Since the mother of these names is the sister of the Virgin Mary, they are relatives of Jesus, but not direct blood brothers.
- Understanding that among the Jews there were no words for relatives, it is not wrong that these cousins of Jesus were called brothers.
Now, let’s look at other arguments for not believing in the “other children of Mary”:
- If Jesus had more brothers, he should have given Mary to these brothers; but what he does is give it to John, son of Zebedee. In Jewish culture, a woman should not be left without a husband or child, and if this happened, someone had to take her in.
- In Jewish culture, a younger brother could not advise an older one, and Jesus is advised by his brothers.
- let him go to Jerusalem (Jn 7:3), since he is the first
- At the annunciation, Mary does not know how she will conceive Jesus, because she says:
“How will this be, since I don’t know a man?” (Lk 1:34) If Mary had intended to have marital relations with Joseph or any other man later, this question would be absurd. Mary always thought about offering her virginity to God, otherwise, when the angel told her that she would give birth, she would have imagined having him with Joseph; but her response demonstrates her firmness in remaining a virgin. Let’s look at the case of Sarah: when God promises her a son in her old age, she does not ask what that would be like, since she obviously assumed that she would have him with Abraham; while Mary did not think like that. On the contrary, she asked why her ideal was to be a virgin for the love of the Kingdom of God. (Mt 19:12).
If a Protestant brother has honestly read this study in his Bible, he must recognize that Mary has always been ever-virgin. This doctrine was made explicit in the form of dogma at the Lateran Council in the year 649, where it is expressed: “Mary was a virgin before childbirth, during childbirth, and after childbirth.” The Second Vatican Council also expresses:… when the Mother of God, full of joy, shows the shepherds and the Magi her first-born Son, who, far from diminishing, consecrated her virginal integrity. (Lumen gentium, chap. 8, 57)
Author: Anwar Javier Tapias Lakatt, Colombia
Source: Apologetica.org
