IOW, Joseph did not have sex with his wife UNTIL she bore the Messiah??
The customs of the time of Jesus were very explicit concerning burials. James would not have been called his brother had he not been his brother.
As for the concept of stepbrothers, where does it mention that Mary remarried a man who had kids ( they would have had to have been the other guys kids if she was a perpetual virgin ).
Just curious.
Yeah, wouldn't Joseph and Mary had to have taken the older stepbrother with them to Bethleham to participate in the census? I don't see his statue in the manger scene.. LOL.