Brothers and Sisters?

OSV.com ^ | 05-01-17 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[Salvation]

Brothers and Sisters?

Q. I know that the Church believes in Mary’s perpetual virginity, but what are we to make of the passages in the Gospel that refer to Jesus’ brothers and sisters?

Rose, via email

A. There are a number of places in the New Testament (see Mk 3:31-34; 6:3; Mt 12:46; 13:55; Lk 8:19-20; Jn 2:12; 7:3-10; Acts 1:14; and 1 Cor 9:5) where Jesus’ kinsfolk are mentioned using terms such as “brother” (adelphos), “sister” (adelphe) or “brethren” (adelphoi). But “brother” has a wider meaning both in the Scriptures and at the time they were written. It is not restricted to our literal meaning of a full brother or half-brother in the sense of sibling.

Even in the Old Testament “brother” had a wide range of meaning. In the Book of Genesis, for example, Lot is called Abraham’s brother (see 14:14), but his father was Haran — Abraham’s brother (Gn 11:26-28). So, Lot was actually a nephew of Abraham.

The term “brother” could also refer widely to friends or mere political allies (see 2 Sm 1:26; Am 1:9). Thus, in family relationships, “brother” could refer to any male relative from whom you are not descended. We use words like kinsmen and cousins today, but the ancient Jews did not.

In fact, neither Hebrew nor Aramaic had a word meaning “cousin.” They used terms such as “brother,” “sister” or, more rarely, “kin” or “kinsfolk” (syngenis) — sometimes translated as “relative” in English.

James, for example, whom St. Paul called the “brother of the Lord” (Gal 1:19), is identified by Paul as an apostle and is usually understood to be James the Younger. But James the Younger is elsewhere identified as the son of Alphaeus (also called Clopas) and his wife, Mary (see Mt 10:3; Jn 19:25). Even if James the Greater were meant by St. Paul, it is clear that he is from the Zebedee family, and not a son of Mary or a brother of Jesus (in the strict modern sense) at all.

The early Church was aware of the references to Jesus’ brethren, but was not troubled by them, teaching and handing on the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity. This is because the terms referring to Jesus’ brethren were understood in the wider, more ancient sense. Widespread confusion about this began to occur after the 16th century with the rise of Protestantism and the loss of understanding the semantic nuances of ancient family terminology.

[MHGinTN]

So much verbiage, so far from reality. You proclaimed "Jesus is of the flesh of Mary, her true offspring, her descendant, her blood relative, her Son in every sense of the word: genetic ..." ALL of your proclamation is based in catholic mythos, with zero scripture proof, only the tortured twisting of Scripture to make God's Word say what you want to fit the impugning of GOD's character in support of Mariology mythos. in typical satanic lying, the syllogism is twisted to say a lie while appearing quite rational. You ASSUME God impregnated an ovum of Mary which implanted in Mary's womb. You ignore the plain wording in Scripture which states she would conceive IN HER WOMB, but does not say you will conceive in your fallopian tube, as the vast majority of embryonic history reveals. Let me give you a timeline which is normal human impregnation, though I doubt it will break through your mythos desperation:

An ovum is popped from the female's gland called Ovary. This ripe gamete then proceeds into the fallopian tube which leads from the abdomen down to the uterus. The spermatozoon penetrates the ovum in the fallopian tube and the ovum immediately closes the surface, chemically, so no other spermatozoon can penetrate. The ovum then divides the chromosome package it has so half of the genes can unite with the haploid spermatozoon (half the normal chromosome package of the normal human being. The newly formed single cell, called a zygote, proceeds down the fallopian tube, dividing into a cell mass known as the morulla, and it is the larger call mass which then implants in the uterine wall and the uterus is then known as a womb. The new life thus gestating in the womb then builds ALL the parts for life in the water world of the amniotic sac, AND the body which will eventually live in the air world upon birthing.

Your claim that JESUS IS the blood offspring of Mary is immediately suspect since it would mean, by definition, that an ovum from Mary was inseminated or somehow transformed into the zygote of JESUS.

Clearly, you demand this because it implies a goddess-hood status fro Mary, even the only human being of nature bloodline to JESUS! But you are asserting something that impugns GOD's character since Mary was already betrothed/married to Joseph! You would gladly impugn GOD's character to support the mythos of Mary the demigoddess! How very Catholic of you. But you think you have an 'out' by claiming with ZERO evidence again, that Mary and Joseph never had sex. And of course you are ignoring the FACT based in Scripture that MAry was already betrothed to Joseph, implying MAry consented to giving her genetic future to Joseph (betrothal) then cancelling that vow and being impregnated by GOD, without Joseph knowing, since the SCRIPTURES tell us when Joseph discovered Mary was pregnant he secretly thought to divorce her! In typical satanic twist, you ignore the evidence that there was not celibacy pact with Mary when she conceived in her womb!

The hold satan has on Catholic minds is thoroughly angering, and so sad because you folks cannot see how you impugn GOD to try and make HIS WORD support your mythology!

[Arthur McGowan]

What do you call YOUR father?

Of course, we all know Jesus NEVER used semitic overstatement.

[Arthur McGowan]

IIRC, there are four named individuals who are referred to in the gospels as “brothers” of Jesus, and the parents of three of them are named—and the parents are not Joseph and Mary. I would think that that would settle the question of whether “brother” always denotes a full sibling.

[ealgeone]

What do you call YOUR father?

dad.

You do understand the Bible uses the word father as in honor thy father and mother? Right? I mean, you've read that.

So that isn't the context of the prohibition.

Honestly...what did you learn at seminary????

[MHGinTN]

Sad that you are not spiritually alive enough to apply that smarm to the notion of violating GOD’s command against eating blood (claimed not to be semitic overstatement in John6), which admonition was even reinforced at the first great Church Council found in Acts. And you claim to be a Priest of the ‘one true church’!

[af_vet_1981]

we've explained numerous times why they are not cousins or other relatives based on the non-usage of the Greek words for these.

The Greeks have maintained otherwise for almost two thousand years and it is more reasonable to assume they knew their own language better than both amateur and professional modern scholarship.

A Consistent and Unbroken Tradition

The question could be inverted. Why not believe in her ever-virginity? The Eastern Church has witnessed to the perpetual virginity of the Theotokos steadfastly for two thousand years and shows no sign of tiring. In the West, the idea was largely undisputed until late in the Reformation; even Luther and Calvin accepted the tradition.

[MHGinTN]

Are you aware of how JEWISH families dealt with the sudden death of a father in a home with many little children and partially grown children? Well, here's what was commonly done: uncles and aunts would take in some of the children, usually the children grown enough to help with family work, and then the mother with still small babes would be supported by the extended family while the little ones were raised.

Why would you ignore eyewitness testimony which states Mary and the BROTHERS of Jesus came to where HE was teaching, asking to have a word with HIM? Wny? ... Because you want to twist scripture, GOD's WORD, to support the CATHOLIC dogma of demigoddess status for Mary.

[MHGinTN]

Meant to ping you to #421 ...

[ealgeone]

Because one may speak a language doesn’t prevent one from falling into error. We see error being dealt with in the early NT church by both Paul and John. What makes you think the Greek Orthodox could not be in error as well?

[Arthur McGowan]

Since you persist in repeating the slander that Catholics believe Mary is other than a human being, nothing you say interests me.

[ealgeone]

You presume there is only one James in all of The land of the NT. Same for the other names.

The four brothers are always noted to be His brothers based on the Greek. They are included in the household of Joseph and Mary when mentioned in Mark 6:3.

Again, what did they teach you in seminary? Y'all did use the Bible....at least some times....right??

[ealgeone]

Why is it ignored? Doesn’t fit Roman Catholic theology. If Mary had sex that seems to diminish her in the eyes of the Catholic.

[Arthur McGowan]

I don’t understand how you can stand wallowing around with these jabbering, spittle-flecked demons.

[MHGinTN]

LOL ... what was it that aide said to Khan when they stole the Federation Starship? ... 'Yours Satan's is the superior intellect." Why do you let him lead you around in such a fog?

'Spittle-flecked' ... LOL, I'll have to remember that one!

[af_vet_1981]

Why would Joseph and Mary look among little children for a missing child?

There is no scriptural mention that any of Jesus' brethren were younger than him. Indeed, if one uses the scriptural example of Joseph delivering his brethren who rejected him, one notices that the brethren who initially did not honor Joseph were all older brethren.

It is hard to rely on a modern interpretation to cast off twenty centuries of uninterrupted tradition in the one holy catholic apostolic church.

[ealgeone]

Jesus being the first born means He is the oldest. There wouldn't be any older children.

Your reach back to the OT account of Joseph is just that....a reach.

[MHGinTN]

Magic Thinking can stretch a loooong way, don’tchaknow.

[Arthur McGowan]

All you know about me is that I am a Catholic, and you are vomiting poison at me as though you had been nursing hate for me for forty years, ever since I raped, dissected, and ate your wife and children.

You don’t have religious views or convictions. You have nothing but mental illness.

[MHGinTN]

For a time you had on your profile page that you are a Catholic Priest. LOL ... you posts sound ‘spittle-flecked’ this evening.

[af_vet_1981]

Because one may speak a language doesn’t prevent one from falling into error. We see error being dealt with in the early NT church by both Paul and John. What makes you think the Greek Orthodox could not be in error as well?

It is the universal teaching of the entire one holy catholic apostolic church for almost 2000 years. It was only modernists who rejected this ancient and universally accepted traditional teaching about the perpetual virginity of Mary. The original Protestants allowed the traditional teaching.

Indeed, the underlying premise, and disqualifying flaw, of the thousands of disparate religious communities which insist that all those who came before them were in error. They themselves have no apostle or prophet, and no provenance back to the apostles.