Doesn't Scripture imply that Mary had children other than Jesus?

[thistle]

As a Catholic I fully accept the Church’s position that Mary was a virgin for her whole life but when was this position taken and on what was it based? I am reading the Catholic Study Bible (which has a lot of study notes) and a verse in Matthew and another in Luke imply otherwise.
Matthew 1:25 says “He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus”.
The study notes say that “the evangelist is concerned to emphasise that Joseph was not responsible for the conception of Jesus, and that the Greek word translated “until” does not imply normal marital conduct after Jesus’ birth, nor does it exclude it”. I don’t know any Greek but certainly the English word “until” does imply.
Luke 2:7 says “and she gave birth to her firstborn son”.
The study notes say “the description of Jesus as firstborn son does not necessarily mean that Mary had other sons and that it is a legal description…”.
In English, to me, firstborn definitely implies there would be other sons.
As I said earlier I fully accept Mary’s perpetual viginity but I’m interested in how the Church’s position came about.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear thistle,

This question comes up here every so often. To begin with, the word “until” is used in more than one way. We can say that he gave up eating candy UNTIL Easter Sunday. This implies that on Easter Sunday he fed his sweet tooth. But we can also say He was faithful to his wife UNTIL she died. This does not mean that he was then unfaithful to her once he became a widower. This latter use of the word is how we understand it regarding Mary’s virginity after she gave birth to Jesus. Joseph had no relations with Mary UNTIL Jesus was born. This need not imply that after she gave birth, he did.

First born can mean that this is the first of the births to follow. It can also mean that Mary had no children BEFORE she gave birth to Jesus. There is no evidence in Sacred Scripture or in Sacred Tradition that she had other children. It is quite significant that as Jesus hung on the cross, he gave his mother to the care of the apostle John. If Mary had had other children, there is no doubt that she would have been given to their care.

Here’s some back up:

Mary, The Blessed Virgin
Scroll down (quite a way) to Mary’s perpetual virginity.

catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0007sbs.asp

catholic.com/thisrock/1991/9112frs.asp

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.