Did Jesus have sisters and brothers or step brothers/sisters?

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Rozellelily

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The Catholic Church states that Jesus was an only child conceived by the Holy Spirit but there’s a bible verse that says:

Mark 6:3English Standard Version (ESV)

“3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.”

I’ve heard people suggest this meant his cousins?
I understand that families were extended back then,but as a person of European background with many cousins myself,and we have different word for the cousin and different word for sister.

It’s hard to know what to believe and if the Catholic Church is right or not.
They say you should have a deposit of faith (ie:go with what they are saying as being truth regarding scripture passages and other things even if you don’t understand it) but how do you know your faith in the Catholic Church and its interpretation is built on truth?

From my own mind,it would be unlikely someone would say sisters and brothers and mean something else, and it would seem even more unlikely considering the time period and area where Jesus lived that Joseph,as a man even the greatest of men,would have never had any children prior to Mary or even after Jesus’s birth with Mary (I mean further children with Mary).

Is the Catholic Church suggesting Joseph was a virgin his whole life?
Realistically,how many men do we know of in the Middle East region that are virgins their whole lives?

One thing in support of Jesus having no brothers is he left Mary to the care of St John and if he had of had brothers this would have been extremely disrespectful!

I don’t know if I can realistically believe this.
What if I “give my faith” but the Catholic Church is not the right ones on these matters?
What if a different Christian denomination is or even the Muslim interpretation (although I’m not really big on that).
Is there anything “more solid” I can go on than just “trust us”?
 
Jesus was Mary’s only biological child. That much we can be sure of. It gets fuzzy from then on out, since we’re not 100% sure if the “brothers and sisters” mentioned in the Gospels were Joseph’s actual children, or just his nieces and nephews. Either way, Jesus having step-siblings doesn’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things.
 
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Jesus had Brothers? | Catholic Answers
Catholic Answers › online-edition › jesus…
 
In the protoevangalium of James it talks on Mary being a virgin
 
brian_custer said:
good grief; this topic has been hammered lately

Mary was/is the Perpetual Virgin

Mother Mary had no other children other than Jesus

why can’t protestants get that concept through their thick, centuries long protesting skulls?
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You make both Catholics and general Christianity look bad. People like you are the reason Atheism and Agnosticism are so rampant. Maybe if you could get that concept through your thick skull you’d begin showing your fellow brethren respect… That is–unless you yourself are unsure about your faith, and must minimize others in a desperate attempt to validate your own resolve, then I suppose you need to spend less time trolling on an internet forum and more time reading your Bible.

God Bless. 😉
 
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@Rozellelily

“Brothers of the Lord Argument” is old! And so easily refuted. Lot is referred to as the brother of Abram in the OT. Yet we know he wasn’t his brother but rather Abram’s uncle’s son. The fact is that in ancient Israel they used the term “brother” or “brethren” to refer to blood relations. Furthermore, if Mary had other children why did Jesus place her in the care of the Apostle John as Christ died? If there were other children they would be required to care for her. Hmmm. Additionally, on another occasion someone tells Jesus that his mother and “brothers” are outside demanding to see Him. Now, since Jesus was first born, these “brothers”, if they really were biological siblings would be younger than Jesus and Hebraic culture would not allow for a younger sibling to demand an older sibling to do anything. Pray sincerely to the Lord to open your mind to the Truth!

In the 8th century the Word of God was changed from Virgin to young Women because many of the Jews were converting to Christianity based on this verse Is 7:14.Being virgin which was, at most important, naturally it’s a physical virginity, and God obviously will selects a virgin who is a pure vessel. The perpetual virginity of Mary is a Marian doctrine taught by the Catholic Church and held by a number of group since Christianity which asserts that Mary (the mother of Jesus was “always a virgin, before, during and after the birth of Jesus Christ.” because Jesus came out of her like a light, a miraculous birth. John 1:4, 5 in Him was life and the life was the light of all people.5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. Those people who mistranslated as young women give silly excuse to discredit Mary’s status and of being a virgin.
 
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@Rozellelily

http://www.stjames-church.com/book2c7.html

The Mystical City of God Sister Mary Jesus Agreda was a 17th Century Spanish nun who received spiritual revelations about Mary and Jesus While not biblical, these revelations did receive the Imprimatur of The Church in 1949. An Imprimatur (from Latin, “let it be printed”) is an official declaration from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church that a literary or similar work is free from error in matters of Catholic doctrine and morals, and hence acceptable reading for faithful Catholics

The most chaste spouse Joseph, full of interior joy at the words of his heavenly Spouse, answered Her: "My Mistress, in making known to me thy chaste and welcome sentiments, thou hast penetrated and dilated my heart. I have not opened my thoughts to Thee before knowing thy own. I also acknowledge myself under greater obligation to the Lord of creation than other men; for very early He has called me by his true enlightenment to love Him with an upright heart; and I desire Thee to know, Lady, that at the age of twelve years I also made a promise to serve the Most High in perpetual chastity. On this account I now gladly ratify this vow in order not to impede thy own; in the presence of his Majesty I promise to aid Thee, as far as in me lies, in serving Him and loving Him according to thy full desires. I will be, with the divine grace, thy most faithful servant and companion, and I pray Thee accept my chaste love and hold me as thy brother, without ever entertaining any other kind of love, outside the one which Thou owest to God and after God to me. In this conversation the Most High confirmed anew the virtue of chastity in the heart of saint Joseph, and the pure and holy love due to his most holy spouse Mary. This love the saint already had in an eminent degree, and the Lady herself augmented it sweetly, dilating his heart by her most prudent discourse.

By divine operation the two most holy and chaste Spouses felt an incomparable joy and consolation. The heavenly Princess, as one who is the Mistress of all virtues and who in all things pursued the highest perfection of all virtues, lovingly corresponded to the desires of saint Joseph. The Most High also gave to saint Joseph new purity and complete command over his natural inclinations, so that without hindrance or any trace of sensual desires, but with admirable and new grace, he might serve his spouse Mary, and in Her, execute his will and pleasure. They immediately set about dividing the property inherited from saint Joachim and Anne, the parents of the most holy Virgin; one part they offered to the temple, where She had stayed, another they destined for the poor, and the third was left in the hands of the holy spouse saint Joseph to be disposed of according to his judgment. Our Queen reserved for Herself only the privilege of serving Him and of attending to the household duties. For from intercourse with outsiders and from the management of property, buying or selling, the most prudent Virgin always kept aloof,
 
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@Rozellelily and All

“Brothers” of Jesus

Mary wife of Cleophas and “sister” of the Virgin Mary (Jn 19:25) is the mother of James and Joset (Mk 15:47; Mt 27:56) who are called the “brothers of Jesus” (Mk 6:3).
Acts 1:12-15 … apostles, Mary, “some women” and Jesus’ “brothers” number about 120. That is a lot of “brothers.”
Gen 14:14 … Lot, Abraham’s nephew (Gen 11:26-28), described as Abraham’s brother (KJV).
Gen 29:15 … Laban, Jacob’s uncle, calls Jacob his “brother” (KJV).
John 19:26-27 … Jesus gives care of Mary to John, not one of his “brothers.”
2 Sam 6:23, Gen 8:7, Dt 34:6 … “until.”
 
Yes, according to the Bible. He had siblings. No mention of step-anything.
 
Rozellelily.

.

Consider the verse you just brought out. (Emphasis mine)

.
MARK 6:3 “3 Is not this the carpenter, THE SON of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.”
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.

Notice also what is NOT said . . . . .

.
NOT MARK 6:3 (but a phantom verse) “3 Is not this the carpenter, ONE OF THE SONS of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.”
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.

You KNOW that there was a broad meaning for “brothers” in ancient Hebrew/Jewish culture (Just from reading the information on this thread so for i.e. here).

.
Considering all this, why do you think the people stated “THE SON” of Mary?

God bless.

Cathoholic
 
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Fivelinden:
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Yes, according to the Bible. He (Jesus) had siblings.
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.

Cathoholic:

Show me one verse that calls anyone in a biologic sense, the son of Mary other than Jesus. One verse.

Or if you want, show me one verse that calls ANY person in the Bible (other than Jesus, and in a biologic sense) a son or daughter of Mary.

One verse?
 
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Rozellelily said:
Is there anything “more solid” I can go on than just “trust us”?
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Richard Bauckham, a British NT scholar, has examined the question from every angle in his book Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. On the “brethren” question (Mark 6:3), he concludes that the oldest explanation remains to this day the most likely: they were Joseph’s children by his first marriage.

 
I have heard that he might have had step-brothers. Joseph died well before Mary’s ascension; this led some to theorize that he was older than Mary and that he had children through a previous marriage.
 
Rozellelily said:
Is there anything “more solid” I can go on than just “trust us”?
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This is a great question and one that deserves a reply. No matter how many times it is asked.

Quite often people will sling Bible verses back and forth saying, “see it’s right there” only to have the other guy say no you are interpreting that verse wrong. back and forth we go. To me this is proof positive that Jesus left us a visible authority in the Catholic Church. When we sling Bible verses, without submitting to an authority, we just prove all the more our need for an authority and it’s not us.

That being said, I’m not going to give you a Bible verse. Many people interpret the Bible using what we know now. They forget that the Bible was written in a different time and culture with a different way of life than we have now.
Rozellelily said:
I’ve heard people suggest this meant his cousins?

I understand that families were extended back then,but as a person of European background with many cousins myself,and we have different word for the cousin and different word for sister.
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This is one of my points exactly, you are looking at this as a “person of European background”. You need to look at it from an ancient Isreal background. There was no word for cousin back then. So you had two options you could say “and brother of…” or if you wanted to say cousin you would have had to say and James and Joses and Judas and Simon, Joseph’s brother Ralph’s sons. Well unless the 4 boys were not actual brothers either, at which point you would have had to make that statement for each one of the boys and say who their father was. See why brother is so much simpler?

Now that I have said this I would finish by saying this isn’t the “more solid” evidence I use.

This is…

From the Jewish encyclopedia…
After betrothal the parties were regarded as man and wife; and the act could be dissolved only by death or by a formal bill of divorce. If the woman proved unfaithful during the period of betrothal she was treated as an adulteress, and her punishment (that of stoning; Deut. xxii. 23, 24; Sanh. 66b) was considered to be much more severe than that (strangulation) inflicted upon the unfaithful married woman (Deut. xxii. 22; Sanh. 52b). The parties were not, however, entitled to conjugal rights, nor were they bound by the obligations of married life (see Husband and Wife).
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Mary and Joseph were already Betrothed. Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. By the letter of the Law since Joseph did not divorce Mary (which the Bible tells us is what he wanted to do), but took her into his home instead, he was no longer entitled to conjugal rights.

As you stated…
Rozellelily said:
area where Jesus lived that Joseph,as a man even the greatest of men,
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Just rephrase that sentence Joseph, as a the greatest of men, would have never broken the Jewish Law.

Hope this helps,

God Bless
 
http://www.stjames-church.com/book2c7.html

St Joseph to Mary

The most chaste spouse Joseph, full of interior joy at the words of his heavenly Spouse, answered Her: "My Mistress, in making known to me thy chaste and welcome sentiments, thou hast penetrated and dilated my heart. I have not opened my thoughts to Thee before knowing thy own. I also acknowledge myself under greater obligation to the Lord of creation than other men; for very early He has called me by his true enlightenment to love Him with an upright heart; and I desire Thee to know, Lady, that at the age of twelve years I also made a promise to serve the Most High in perpetual chastity. On this account I now gladly ratify this vow in order not to impede thy own; in the presence of his Majesty I promise to aid Thee, as far as in me lies, in serving Him and loving Him according to thy full desires. I will be, with the divine grace, thy most faithful servant and companion, and I pray Thee accept my chaste love and hold me as thy brother, without ever entertaining any other kind of love, outside the one which Thou owest to God and after God to me. In this conversation the Most High confirmed anew the virtue of chastity in the heart of saint Joseph, and the pure and holy love due to his most holy spouse Mary. This love the saint already had in an eminent degree, and the Lady herself augmented it sweetly, dilating his heart by her most prudent discourse.
 
Rozellelily said:
but as a person of European background with many cousins myself,and we have different word for the cousin and different word for sister.
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But they did not have a different word in Aramaic.
Rozellelily said:
Is the Catholic Church suggesting Joseph was a virgin his whole life?
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You are free to believe Joseph was a widower, or not.

You are free to believe Jesus had step siblings or no siblings.

What is not possible is that Mary had other children. Mary remained a perpetual virgin.
Rozellelily said:
Realistically,how many men do we know of in the Middle East region that are virgins their whole lives?
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That’s not an argument, that’s an opinion. One that reflects 21st century thinking about first century people.
 
The Muslim interpretation on the perpetual virginity of Mary is pretty similar to the Catholic one (though with a big difference due to the different views of Christ).
Virgin, The Purified, The Exalted, Mother of Isa, Mother of The Messiah, Keeper of Chastity, Mystic, Female Exemplar, Maternal Heroine, Queen of the Saints are various titles given to the “greatest of all women”.

But there is a title they miss, one that is so great, and that is Mother of God.

You are looking as a modern day European. Hebrew is much different than English. Aramaic is much different. Greek is much different. I’m pretty sure it also means cousin, like many African languages wherein “brother” means relations. This is not an uncommon thing.

but the protoevangelium also gives a very plausible explanation
 
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