In the Greek, Luke uses the phrase τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς τὸν πρωτότοκον, translated literally as the son of her, the firstborn. In English we would say, her firstborn son.
The key word in this section is πρωτότοκον (prototokos). It means first, pre-eminent; the first among others. It allows for other children to be born to Mary.
Contrast this with John 3:16 where John uses the Greek Υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ, literally Son the only begotten.
The key word is μονογενῆ (monogenes). It means one and only; one of a class.
We know this is the correct description of Jesus as He is the only Son of God.
However, He is not the only son of Mary. Recall that Luke was a physician who by his own account researched a lot so we would have an accurate account of what happened.
If Luke wanted to indicate Mary had only one child he would have used the phrase John did.
Rnmomof7, thanks for the ping.
Ealgeone,
Excellent analysis! Many thanks!
This part of the article got my attention :
“... ‘Brothers’ (adelphoi) never means ‘cousins’ in New Testament Greek” (1976,1:181,emp. added). Indeed,the Greek language had a separate and distinct word for “cousins”—anepsioi ....”
That, plus your observation leads to my answer to the question posed by the article....
YES.
Mary had children by Joseph, and they were Jesus’ half siblings.