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Dear Hermann,

"Luke 1.34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?"

In my own mind, this is the most persuasive evidence, either way, relating on Mary's perpetual virginity.

Ordinarily, a woman about to be married would not wonder how she would conceive.

Being engaged to be married, to be told that she would be expecting a child, who would be the Messiah, if her expectation were the usual sort of marriage, one can imagine her asking:

"Why is God making me the mother of the Messiah?"

or:

"What will be the effects of this on my life?"

But the question, "How shall this be done, because I know not man?"

doesn't make sense.

Gabriel doesn't say, "You have conceived."

Gabriel says: "You WILL conceive."

If Mary is expecting a usual sort of marriage, then she would know how she would conceive in the near-term - through relations with her new husband.

If she were expecting to have relations with her new husband, one can imagine the answer to, "You WILL conceive," being, "I know that," or "I certainly hope so, I don't want to wind up like my cousin Elizabeth."

But, "How shall that be done?"

That's a question which would run contrary to her expectation, if she had not taken a vow of perpetual virginity.

The question she asks makes no sense if she expected to have relations with Joseph.

If one makes the assumption that these two would marry in the usual way, and have relations, then this verse becomes nonsensical, and sticks out as inexplicable.

Certainly, that the doctrine is confirmed by the unanimous teaching of the early Church, and that the weight of Scripture favors it, one would think that "Bible Christians" would accept it, as they often accept other doctrines not explicitly or completely explicated in Scripture, like the doctrine of the Trinity.

sitetest

If she were expecting to have relations with her new husband, one can imagine the answer to, "You WILL conceive," being, "I know that," or "I certainly hope so, I don't want to wind up like my cousin Elizabeth."

But, "How shall that be done?"

Hey, you stole my argument! :-)

This is indeed a "sore thumb" verse, and my many attempts to have NCs contemplate it have gone unfulfilled. The simple fact is that a woman entering a marriage who is told she will conceive a child would not answer "how can this happen?" unless she had no plan of having intercourse.