Dear Powerball

Dear Powerball:

It would seem that the Blessed Virgin Mary was not always a Virgin, for Matthew 12:46-47, Luke 3:31-32, and Luke 8:19-21 speak of Jesus having brethren. How would you respond?


In the Hebrew and Aramaic the word for brother and kinman is the same, so James, Joseph, and Jude were kinsmen, relatives. This is a common attitude in Mediterranean and Semitic cultures. For instance, the Apostle James is the Son of Alpheus (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15) and brother of the Apostle Matthew Levi (Mark 2:14) and the Apostle Jude (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13), yet this Apostle is specifically referred to by Paul as the brother of Jesus (Galations 1:19). Surely the Virgin Mary did not have more than one husband.
Jude Thaddeus is also called the brother of Jesus, but he is also the brother of the previously mentioned James (Luke 6:18, Acts 1:13)

4 comments:

The Unseen One said...

In the apocryphal Infant Gospel of James, it mentions that Joseph had another wife before Mary who died. It said that Jesus' brothers were sons of Joseph, but He was the only one born to Mary.

I don't really buy that, though. There are reasons the apocryphal books aren't included in the Bible.

Although Matthew 1:25 states "But he had no union with her UNTILL she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."

~Mark said...

I've never understood this. Why would she remain a virgin? She was a teenaged married girl. She was human. I would think that she'd have had to sleep away from Joseph to avoid either of them falling into temptation, and something so drastic in the culture would seem something that would draw a lot of attention and deserve some mention in writing.

Thomas Dodds said...

In the Hebrew and Aramaic the word for brother and kinman is the same, so James, Joseph, and Jude were kinsmen, relatives.

What makes you assert that they weren't his actual brothers?

Jesus acknowledged having bothers and sisters - look at the context. He says, "Lo, my mother and my brethren! for whoever may do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.'" The fact that the original language includes the word for sister reduces the family ties to immediate family NOT this kinsman notion.

For instance ...

Mary's sister was also named Mary. Now PBall will have to concretely resolve the multiplicity of names used at that time. Every mention of James must be the son of Alpheus? Is Alpheus a nickname for someone else? What about the disciple(s) Nathanael and Bartholomew? It would seem they are the same person - are they?

Surely the Virgin Mary did not have more than one husband.

Mary outliving Joseph makes this entirely possible and legal in the Jewish economy. I'm not saying there's factual evidence of it - but PBall even denies that possibility.

The point is that the Scriptures are concerning Christ. He is preeminent.

Thomas Dodds said...

PS: The Gospel of Matthew was written in Greek, not in the Hebrew or Aramaic, although it is rife with Jewish cultural elements.

There is no support for the claim of Papias (~130AD) that the Gospel of Matthew was written in Hebrew (some claim Aramaic) and then translated to the Greek.