I attended Christmas Mass with my family, and listened as the pastor read the Gospel according to Matthew. (I was listening the whole time, actually, but I digress.) As you surely know, that Gospel reading details Jesus geneology and gives information about his conception and birth. Two things immediately struck me: Jesus’ place within the geneology and what seems [to me, at least] like a theological contradiction.
First, the genology. Matthew opens with a very long, detailed look at Jesus’ ancestry. I understand that knowing one’s family line was an important part of ancient Jewish culture, and that theirs was and is a patrilineal culture. However, as awesome as it is that one may follow Abraham to Joseph, Jesus was not born of Joseph because he was conceived through the Holy Spirit. So does the genology still hold its importance for Jesus as Joseph is sort of a foster father, or what?
What really leapt out at me was the verse “He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus”. I thought that perhaps the pastor had misspoken himself, but when I got home and looked up the Bible verse, I found that that’s exactly what it says. **This presents an interesting problem. The Bible, as it is held to be the word of God, is of course without error. It is also a central Catholic teaching that the Blessed Virgin Mary always was and always will be a virgin. But the word “until” suggests that Mary and Joseph did have relations with each other after Jesus was born. So the perfect Bible appears to say one thing and the Church (which, as I recall, was making an Ex Cathedra/infallible statement when it was issued) appears to say something else, with the two statements being mutually exclusive. **
What is the reasoning behind the apparent contradiction? Given that there are two perfect sources, I’m sure the error lies in my obviously imperfect understanding of the two. (My best guess is that there were some linguistic inconsistencies between the original Greek and the later Latin and English, but the inadequacies of language leading to a gross mistranslation would seem to detract from the perfection of the Bible.)
If you’d like to help me understand these two things, I’d be greatly obliged. I love learning about religion and I want to know as much as I can about the Church. Please understand that if I come across as ignorant or insultory, that’s absolutely not my intention and I wish you and yours all the best in this blessed Christmas season.
