Thought I’d give this another shot. After taking the time to review some of the replies from my OP & some followup comments, & despite the fact of providing relevant Scripture, & creating a ‘Jesus Family Tree’ based on those Scripture passages, I see that there is still a lot of confusion to who the ‘brothers & sisters’ of Jesus are in Matthew Ch.12 & 13. So, I thought I’d address a few comments that some people have made:
- “He’s confusing ‘John’ the brother of James, with John the Baptist, as Jesus’ cousin.”
This is based on the belief that since Mary & Elizabeth were cousins (Luke 1:36), then their sons were also cousins. However, Scripture doesn’t directly come out & say that John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin. It actually tells us that Elizabeth was a close ‘relative’ (Gr: ‘syggenis’) of Mary (Luke 1:36). This Greek word means ‘relative’ or ‘kinswoman,’ not ‘cousin,’ & is only used once in the Bible. However, some translations use the Greek word (‘syggenes’), which ‘can’ be translated either, ‘of the same kin, related by blood, of the same nation, a fellow countryman, kinsfold, or COUSIN.’ This is why some Bibles use the English word ‘cousin,’ rather than ‘relative’ to describe Elizabeth’s relationship to Mary, which would also make John the Baptist & Jesus ‘cousins.’
However, ‘if’ they were cousins, I am not confusing John the Baptist with John the Beloved disciple of Jesus. As mentioned before, John the Baptist was a cousin of Jesus, because their mothers were cousins. Likewise, James & John - Jesus’ disciples, were also His cousins, because their mothers - Mary & Salome - were sisters, by looking at Matthew, Mark, & John’s accounts of the women at the cross, which I graphed out in the ‘Jesus Family Tree,’ based on those passages. Also, it was James & John’s MOTHER who went to Jesus to ask about placing her sons on either side of Him in His Heavenly Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-21). Salome was hoping that her ‘familial influence’ might help.
- “If Jesus had half-siblings, why did He leave His mother in the care of a non-related disciple?”
He didn’t. As previously mentioned, Jesus left His mother in the care of His beloved disciple AND blood-related COUSIN, John. His half-brothers weren’t at the cross, because John 7:5 tells us that they didn’t “believe IN HIM.” In order to be a disciple of Christ, you have to believe in Jesus. Another ward, you can’t have a ‘unbelieving believer.’ Likewise, the rest of His disciples weren’t at the cross (they were hiding behind locked doors), & it is presumed that Joseph was dead, otherwise, Jesus would not have needed to entrust His mother to anyone. So, since Jesus’ ‘spiritually-believing’ AND ‘blood-related unbelieving’ brothers weren’t at the cross, the only man for Jesus to entrust the care of His beloved mother in was His ONLY, truly, faithful disciple AND cousin - John.
- “If Jesus had half-brothers who came to Christ later (Acts 1:14), then why didn’t Jesus later entrust Mary to one of them?”
This really begs the question. Being omniscient, obviously, Jesus knew that His half-brothers were going to eventually believe in Him. However, they, like His disciples, weren’t there. So, knowing He was about to die, He needed to place His mother in the care of a trustworthy & faithful man. John was the only one there, so He placed her in the care of John, who was also His COUSIN. There would be no need to ‘change His mind’ later, since she was in the care of a close & faithful FAMILY member.
- “If Jesus had younger siblings, then why aren’t they mentioned in the caravan in Luke, when Jesus stayed behind at the Temple?”
The simple answer is that they were simply not mentioned, but were included ‘among His relatives & acquaintances’ (Luke 2:44). The fact Jesus was 12, it is not uncommon in Scripture for younger siblings, who were ‘not of age,’ to not be mentioned by name. In fact, the ‘unnumbered sisters’ of Jesus in Matthew Ch.13 aren’t mentioned by name either, despite His brothers being mentioned by name. The same question could be asked, "If Joseph had children from a previous marriage (who would have been OLDER than Jesus), then why aren’t THEY mentioned in the caravan, or with Mary & Joseph when they find Him at the Temple? Why aren’t they mentioned during Mary & Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:4-5)? Or their trip to Jerusalem (Luke 2:22)? Or during their escape to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14)? Or during their return to Nazareth (Matthew 2:19-21)?
- "If Mary & Joseph’s children weren’t born yet when Jesus was left behind at the Temple, then James would have been too young to be leader of the Jerusalem Church."
This response comes from the earlier question about “where were Jesus’ siblings when He was left behind at the Temple?” The point of making the comment was to demonstrate that the fact they aren’t mentioned ‘by name’ or ‘by relationship’ in Luke, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t there - it simply means they were there, but Luke didn’t MENTION them, or it could just mean that they weren’t born yet. We have to remember that Jewish women were considered ‘adults’ at 12, & had children by 13 back then. Also, there would be no reason to separate births by 2 years. They didn’t have birth control back then, & since people didn’t live as long as they do now, they started their families early & rapid, since they didn’t live as old as they do now. So, if Mary was pregnant with James, when Jesus was 12, that would have put Mary at about 25, if she gave birth to Jesus at 13. Based on OT Law, Jesus would have went into public ministry at 30, & died at 33. This would have put James at around 21, & unlike today, back then a 21 year old man would have been an ‘adult’ for nearly 10 years. So, James would not have been ‘too young’ to be leader of the Jerusalem Church. Furthermore, I was NOT claiming that Jesus’ half-brothers WEREN’T born yet - just that them not being born yet would not contradict Scripture, nor change it, in explaining where they were when Jesus was left behind at the Temple.
- “The ‘James & Joseph’ who are ‘brothers of Jesus’ in Matthew Ch.13 are actually the ‘James & Joseph’ of Mary the wife of Clopas, & are Jesus’ cousins.”
These are 2 completely different ‘James’ & Joseph’s.’ First, the ‘James & Joseph’ in Matthew Ch.13 also have brothers named ‘Simon’ & ‘Judas.’ There are also unnamed/unnumbered sisters there. The ‘James & Joseph’ that are the sons of
Alphaeus, have a mother named ‘Mary.’ This ‘Mary’ is described elsewhere in Scripture as ‘the mother of Joseph’ (Mark 15:47) & ‘the mother of James’ (Mark 16:1) but never ‘the mother of Simon & Judas,’ nor described as having ‘daughters.’ So, these are 2 completely different ‘James’ & Joseph’s.’
If they were Jesus’ cousins, Matthew would have either used the Greek word ‘syggenis’ (or ‘syggenes’) or ‘anepsios’ - which are found in the NT (see, Colossians 4:10 for ‘anepsios’). Second, Scripture doesn’t support that this ‘James & Joseph’ are Jesus’ cousins. The brothers of Jesus in Matthew Ch.13 are grouped together in the
same sentence with Jesus’ mother & father -
Joseph & Mary.
- “Since Scripture doesn’t specifically state that Mary & Joseph had 6 children, then then you can’t say for certain they are His half-siblings.”
If a person takes that position, then they have to take that position with EVERY example in Scripture. For instance, Scripture tells us that Peter was the son of John (John 21:15), however, it doesn’t tell us that Peter’s brother (adelphos), Andrew, was his full blood-brother, or if they had the same 2 parents. It is ‘assumed’ they had the same 2 parents. So, since ‘Scripture doesn’t specifically state that they had the exact same parents,’ should we not believe they were full-blood brothers? Likewise, we know absolutely nothing about the parents of Martha, Mary, & Lazarus. Again, it is ‘assumed’ they had the same 2 parents. So, since ‘Scripture doesn’t specifically state that they had the exact same parents,’ should we not believe they were full-blood brothers & sisters? If we apply this method of denying that Jesus had half-brothers & half-sisters for this reason, then in order to be consistent, we have to use this same method to deny that Peter & Andrew, as well as Martha, Mary, & Lazarus were blood-brothers & blood-sisters.
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Acts 1:13-14
