[Mad Dawg]

This kind of argument is difficult. If verse 8 is proof that Jesus' mother had other children, is the opening verse proof that he once was caught in a flood while at the same time sinking in a slough?

This is not a gotcha question. How does one decide that one verse is to be taken so literally as to be proof of something while another verse is just a figure of speech?

[Quix]

Of course . . . by

1. CONTEXT.
2. THE REST OF SCRIPTURE
3. HOLY SPIRIT.

And that verse is not the only one mentioning his blood half-siblings by Mary.