The “brothers” of Jesus: Who are they REALLY?
by Rick on Friday, March 6th, 2009 | 18 Comments
Catholic Crusader asked:
The brethren of my uncle but circumlocutions are your male descendants regardless of the number of haran abrahams nephew and who are descended male relatives from whom you your sons lot for certain their exact status strictly on the son of haran abrahams nephew and his uncle but circumlocutions are mentioned but note that the brother of those.
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The brethren of my uncle but circumlocutions are your male descendants regardless of the number of haran abrahams nephew and who are descended male relatives from whom you your sons lot for certain their exact status strictly on the son of haran abrahams nephew and his uncle but circumlocutions are mentioned but note that the brother of those.
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bevis and butthead
Ernie and Bert
Batman and robin
Laurel and Hardy
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Nice try.
Note that Joseph had “relations” with Mary after Christ’s birth. The results of which were children.
The Bible is the final authority.
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I agree with you, probably because I am Catholic. There is an alternative explanation that Jesus’s siblings could be step brothers from a prior marriage of St. Joseph. As I am not Orthodox, maybe I should not say what the Orthodox believe, but my understanding is that the Orthodox belief is that the brethren of the Lord are step-siblings.
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Jesus had brothers and sisters from Mary and Joseph. You can’t believe that Mary and Joseph were married and she was a virgin all her life? They had other kids, and these were his brothers and sisters.
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Yes, and not only relatives. We are told that after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to more than five hundred brethren (adelphoi – brothers) at once. Presumably these were not all the children of Mary and Joseph. Either you believe what the Bible states or you don’t. The bible states that whatsoever is bound upon earth by the Church Christ founded is also bound in heaven. The perpetual virginity of Mary is binding teaching as defined by the one true Church. End of story.
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Jesus’ brothers are mentioned in several Bible verses. Matthew 12:46, Luke 8:19, and Mark 3:31 say that Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see Him. The Bible tells us that Jesus had four brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas (Matthew 13:55). The Bible also tells us that Jesus had sisters, but they are not named or numbered (Matthew 13:56). In John 7:1-10, His brothers go on to the festival while Jesus stays behind. In Acts 1:14, His brothers and mother are described as praying with the disciples. Later, in Galatians 1:19, it mentions that James was Jesus’ brother. The most natural conclusion of these passages is to interpret that Jesus had actual blood siblings.
Some Roman Catholics claim that these “brothers” were actually Jesus’ cousins. However, in each instance, the specific Greek word for “brother” is used. While the word can refer to other relatives, its normal and literal meaning is a physical brother. There was a Greek word for cousin, and it was not used. Further, if they were Jesus’ cousins, why would they so often be described as being with Mary, Jesus’ mother? There is nothing in the context of His mother and brothers coming to see Him that even hints that they were anyone other than His literal, blood-related half-brothers.
A second Roman Catholic argument is that Jesus’ brothers and sisters were the children of Joseph from a previous marriage, before he married Mary. An entire theory of Joseph’s being significantly older than Mary, having been previously married, having multiple children, and then being widowed before marrying Mary is invented. The problem with this is that the Bible does not even hint that Joseph was married or had children before he married Mary. If Joseph had at least six children before he married Mary, why are they not mentioned in Joseph and Mary’s trip to Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7) or their trip to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) or their trip back to Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-23)?
There is no Biblical reason to believe that these siblings are anything other than the actual children of Joseph and Mary. Those who oppose the idea that Jesus had half-brothers and half-sisters do so, not from a reading of Scripture, but from a preconceived concept of the perpetual virginity of Mary, which is itself clearly unbiblical: “But he (Joseph) had no union with her (Mary) UNTIL she gave birth to a son. And he gave Him the name Jesus” (Matthew 1:25). Jesus had half-siblings, half-brothers and half-sisters, who were the children of Joseph and Mary. That is the clear and unambiguous teaching of God’s Word.
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Mary did not remain a virgin through out her life. Read Mat 1:24 -25- When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
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John, Paul, George and Ringo?
Larry, Moe and Curly?
Grocho, Harpo, Zeppo and Chico?
Look – the historical facts about Jesus are pretty darn thin.
Many scholars would agree that Mary also gave birth to James.
And you are correct – the Bible does lose something in translation over the centuries…so, the other “brothers” could include his twelve apostles:
Simon, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James (the Less), Matthew, Simon the Canaanite, Judas and Thaddaeus.
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The context of Matthew chapter 13 is clear that Joseph and Mary had at least six more natural children together after Jesus was born. Four brothers and at least two sisters.
This is clear in the Greek NT as well as in English translations.
55″Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
Then there is this passage from Paul:
Galatians 1:19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.
19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. (NIV)
Every reference to James after the first two where James the brother of John is killed by the sword, is a reference to James, Jesus’ younger sibling.
Judas, mentioned at the end, author of the book of Jude, is another of the Lord’s younger siblings.
Acts 1:13
When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
Acts 12:2
He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
Acts 12:17
Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the brothers about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
Acts 15:13
When they finished, James spoke up: “Brothers, listen to me.
Acts 21:18
The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.
1 Corinthians 15:7
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
Galatians 1:19
I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.
Galatians 2:9
James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.
Galatians 2:12
Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
James 1:1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
Jude 1:1
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
Matthew chapter one is also clear that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born but not afterwards:
24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Most of the teaching about Mary, even in the Roman Catholic Church has been in the past 200 years.
This is when various teachings about Mary were proclaimed by the “church”:
Immaculate conception of Mary 1854, Papal infallibility 1870, Assumption of Mary 1950, Mary proclaimed Mother of church 1965
This is all the result of one or more demons appearing to young children and claiming to be Mary.
This is the cause of great error entered the already morally bankrupt Roman Church.
Pastor Art
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OK you had me following you all the way, until you made a huge jump in logic. You went about showing that the words used and translated as brother COULD ALSO mean something like cousin. Which I have no reason to doubt, without further study. But then comes the BIG jump in logic: “So, if it is established that the “brethren of the Lord” were not Jesus’ brothers or half-brothers through Mary, who were they?”
You went from it COULD be possible, to ‘it is established’. A possibility does NOT constitute a factual imperative. The problem that I have is that it is possible that they were also LITERAL brothers. I see no strong evidence either way as to whether they were literal brothers, cousins, or someone even farther removed! And until I have more (or even ‘some’) I prefer to reserve judgment.
Kansieo.com
There is a passage when Jesus is with his disciples in Capernaum, but the crowds are so great they can’t even eat (if I remember details right). Jesus mother and brothers come to get him to come away, as they feel somwehat ashamed of him (and probably blamed him for the milling and chaotic crowds). That would indicated to me they were natural brothers. Sex was certainly not a sin in Mary, she was married and fulfilling her obligations to her man, and he to her.
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Three things in the Bible lead some Protestants to believe that Mary was not ever-virgin: the reference to Jesus’ “brothers”, the use of the word “until” in Matthew 1:25, and the reference to Jesus as Mary’s “firstborn.”
The word “brother” or “brethren” is often used in Scripture for relationships other than that of those born of the same parents.
If Jesus had brothers and sisters, don’t you think their descendants would know it? At least in the first 300 years or so of the Church? Where were they? Did they speak of “Uncle Jesus” often? I’d think that if He had all of these brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews around, there’d have been some word of it.
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Oh brother…the great ‘pastor’ art has spoken..falsely, AGAIN.
Backing up the testimony of Scripture regarding Mary’s perpetual virginity is the testimony of the early Christian Church. Consider the controversy between Jerome and Helvidius, writing around 380. Helvidius first brought up the notion that the “brothers of the Lord” were children born to Mary and Joseph after Jesus’ birth. The great Scripture scholar Jerome at first declined to comment on Helvidius’ remarks because they were a “novel, wicked, and a daring affront to the faith of the whole world.” At length, though, Jerome’s friends convinced him to write a reply, which turned out to be his treatise called On the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Mary. He used not only the scriptural arguments given above, but cited earlier Christian writers, such as Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr. Helvidius was unable to come up with a reply, and his theory remained in disrepute and was unheard of until more recent times.
Prior to the time of Jerome, the standard theory was that they were Jesus’ “brothers” who were sons of Joseph though not of Mary. According to this view, Joseph was a widower at the time he married Mary. He had children from his first marriage (who would be older than Jesus, explaining their attitude toward him). This is mentioned in a number of early Christian writings. One work, known as the Proto-evangelium of James (A.D. 125) records that Joseph was selected from a group of widowers to serve as the husband/protector of Mary, who was a virgin consecrated to God. When he was chosen, Joseph objected: “I have children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl” (4:9).
Then look at what John says: “But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (John 19:25). If we compare these parallel accounts of the scene of the crucifixion, we see that the mother of James and Joseph must be the wife of Clopas. So far, so good.
An argument against this, though, is that James is elsewhere (Matt. 10:3) described as the son of Alphaeus, which would mean this Mary, whoever she was, was the wife of both Clopas and Alphaeus. But Alphaeus and Clopas are the same person, since the Aramaic name for Alphaeus could be rendered in Greek either as Alphaeus or as Clopas. Another possibility is that Alphaeus took a Greek name similar to his Jewish name, the way that Saul took the name Paul.
So it’s probable that James the younger is the son of Mary and Clopas. The second-century historian Hegesippus explains that Clopas was the brother of Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus. James would thus be Joseph’s nephew and a cousin of Jesus, who was Joseph’s putative son.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was officially defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854. When Fundamentalists claim that the doctrine was “invented” at this time, they misunderstand both the history of dogmas and what prompts the Church to issue, from time to time, definitive pronouncements regarding faith or morals. They are under the impression that no doctrine is believed until the pope or an ecumenical council issues a formal statement about it.
Actually, doctrines are defined formally only when there is a controversy that needs to be cleared up or when the magisterium thinks the faithful can be helped by particular emphasis being drawn to some already-existing belief. The definition of the Immaculate Conception was prompted by the latter motive; it did not come about because there were widespread doubts about the doctrine. In fact, the Vatican was deluged with requests from people desiring the doctrine to be officially proclaimed.
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“Brother” in the New Testament is seen as a blood brother
(Matt. 4:18; Matt.10:2; Mark 1:19), a close relative or a fellow believer. Sister in the Gospels is never used other than for a blood sister except for two occasions (Matt.12:50; Mark 3:35). If you hold to the “brother means only close relation” thing, then Matt. 12:46 – 50 doesn’t make much sense, since Christ used both “brother” and “sister”. It would have been very unusual for a Jewish family in the 1st Century to have only one child. I think the onus is on you to prove that the terms “brother” and “sister” do not mean actual brothers and sisters in relation to Christ.
There are at least three instances in the New Testament where “mother” is used that does not mean actual, physical mother. Should we question whether Mary was actually Christ’s mother, using your logic?
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It seems odd to me that the people following Mary around Palestine that were called Jesus brothers and sisters were actually not. If they weren’t Mary’s kids, why do they always seem to appear in conjunction with Mary? Why would they not be with their own mothers? Seems that the Catholics are grasping at straws here. The most natural reading of these instances would lead us to believe that they were really his siblings. I am afraid your argument sort of begs the question my friend.
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Let me ask you this: When you were baptized into God’s family, did you become Jesus’ cousin or His direct sibling? Were you actually saved from sin, death & the devil by John the Baptist or Jesus? According to your reasoning how do you know that you aren’t just Jesus’ distant cousin?
The Bible tells us that Christ is the firstborn of all believers (Romans 8:29). He is our older brother, not our cousin. In Matt.12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21, these are Jesus’ half-brothers, the earthly sons of Mary. (Why would His cousins be following around His mother anyway?) If Jesus was making the point that those who do His Father’s will are His cousins, that is a pretty weak point to make & why then did this story make it into all three synoptic Gospels for crying out loud? They were His earthly brothers, otherwise as merely cousins, we don’t have any rights to the throne, which we know we do directly through Christ (Heb. 4:15-16).
This assertion that Mary remained a virgin after the Virgin Birth of Christ is not biblical, which ever way you try to twist God’s Words around. First, just because you’ve made the case that the Greek word “brother” could mean “cousin, etc.”, doesn’t mean that it always does mean cousin, etc. Second, why are you using an O.T. example as it was written in Hebrew? I would be willing to wager that when the Greek work ‘adelphos’ is used with the Greek work for ‘mother’ it most often takes on the meaning of literal brothers. Third, just like it is not us who make ourselves holy, it was not Mary who herself was holy, but the Christ who was within her that made her holy.
Matt. 23:16-22 warns us not to make gods out of the people or things that come in contact with the Holy God. Romans 1:25 also warns us not to worship the created, but rather the Creator. Last time I checked Mary was created, not the Creator. Although she is indeed a blessed gift to humanity, she is not our Creator & Savior as is Christ Jesus.
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Yes Jesus had brothers and sisters, they were HALF brothers and sisters, Mary was NOT their mother.
When forty years of age, Joseph married a woman called Melcha or Escha by some, Salome by others; they lived forty-nine years together and had six children, two daughters and four sons, the youngest of whom was James (the Less, “the Lord’s brother”). A year after his wife’s death, as the priests announced through Judea that they wished to find in the tribe of Juda a respectable man to espouse Mary, then twelve to fourteen years of age. Joseph, who was at the time ninety years old, went up to Jerusalem among the candidates; a miracle manifested the choice God had made of Joseph, and two years later the Annunciation took place.
Now as we can see those children mentioned in the bible that were Jesus’s brothers and sisters were His half brothers and sisters. Can someone tell me what other children Mary had besides Jesus.?
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According to Tradition that has been passed down, Joseph was a much older man. while Mary was a teenager, probably fifteen or sixteen when Joseph married her. Joseph by that time had already had a family as most men of his age, and was likely a widower with grown children or near-grown children. It was not your “normal” husband/wife relationship. The brothers of Jesus were probably Joseph’s children by another marriage, but not blood relation to Him. I’m Catholic, and so I believe that Mary is the Blessed Virgin Mary – she remained a virgin throughout her life. I don’t think that what I’ve mentioned is so difficult to believe. And you are correct about the linguistics concerning the term “brother” and the Greek and Aramaic languages. Good and informative post – thanks! And God Bless…….