Perpetual virginity of Mary

[Mickey]

The perpetual virginity of Our Lady has always been proclaimed.
Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Wesley believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary. My question: Does anyone know when this changed within protestant circles? Was there a single person or sect which decided to deny this at some point in history?

 

[Verbum]

Hi Mickey,

As the Protestant sects became more and more radically “scripture alone”, they denied that we know whether Mary was a virgin after the birth of Jesus. They point to the “brothers” of Jesus and say that unless we have scriptural proof to the contrary, “brothers” means “brothers”.

We Catholics cannot prove Mary’s perpetual virginity from scripture. This truth has been handed down to us from apostolic times, confirmed by councils and universally taught by the whole church. It is God’s truth, just as if if were clearly written down in letters of fire in the Bible.

Verbum

 

[Mickey]

Hi Mickey,

As the Protestant sects became more and more radically “scripture alone”, they denied that we know whether Mary was a virgin after the birth of Jesus. They point to the “brothers” of Jesus and say that unless we have scriptural proof to the contrary, “brothers” means “brothers”.

We Catholics cannot prove Mary’s perpetual virginity from scripture. This truth has been handed down to us from apostolic times, confirmed by councils and universally taught by the whole church. It is God’s truth, just as if if were clearly written down in letters of fire in the Bible.

Verbum

Yes. I have seen the adelphos–anepsios debate.
Holy Tradition reveals the truth to us.
I was just curious as to how the centuries old understanding shifted away. I suppose it is not any one individual person or group. It must have been a gradual process over time due to the unfortunate doctrine of sola Scriptura.

 

[JoeyWarren]

I guess the best question to ask is:

Who was the first Protestant Group do deny this particular teaching?

P.S. This happened to be sent to me today, it’s a daily verse from my Protestant co-worker
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, **who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.**