Your are treating Jesus as a Person separate from the Word!
As far as John goes, Jesus can do whatever he would like, agree?
He can but who was there to be the witness? Who among the Jews and the Romans would believe the allegations of a follower of a convicted criminal?
What children (such as +James of all people) would forsake their Mother and hand them to someone unrelated? Be real! There was no one at the foot of the Cross to vouch for that.
It's based on an understanding of the plain meaning of the text. Mary's perpetual virginity was a doctrine that came AFTER the canon was complete
Mary's perpetual virginity was a doctrine that came AFTER the canon was complete
The non-canonical Protoevangelium of James appeared about 150 AD. That is about 150 years before the Christian Canon was "complete" (and even then it wasn't fully complete).
As far as I know, the Church never rejected it outright, although it is not canonical.
I am not treating Jesus as a person separate from the WORD!!! Give me a break. My whole point was that the Greek Orthodox source cited was saying that the Bible said the "firstborn WORD" when that is not what that SPECIFIC TEXT said.
Who said Mary's children forsook her? Not I.
The Canon of Scripture was COMPLETE about 90 AD when John wrote Revelation. There were no more canonical books coming out from that point. What the council decided later is not what I was referring to. The lists of canonical books were intact before the Council (some lists had other books as well lest you want to lecture me on history).