Joseph knew Mary not UNTIL she had given birth to Jesus

[tonychanyt]

Matt 1:

24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25a but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

Did the word "until" imply that Joseph had sexual intercourse with Mary after Jesus was born?

Not necessarily. Bengel explained:

οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτὴν, ἓως οὗ, knew her not until) It does not follow from this ἓως (until) that he did so afterwards

Gill agreed:

the word "until" may be so understood as referring to the time preceding, that the contrary cannot be affirmed of the time following,

Did Joseph have sexual intercourse with Mary after Jesus was born?

Looking at other passages, I think so.

 

[Reluctant Theologian]

Joseph not having intimate relations with Mary would be violating his marriage duties, but as you may know I doubt that Mary had other children herself later on. To interpret the various references to Yeshua's 'brothers/sisters' to be references to his actual half-siblings, or even cousins, solves way more problems than interpreting it to mean just literal full-siblings (which is unnecessary given the knowledge available on Greek).

I don't share the aversion to sex with the Early Church and later Roman Catholic Church, but it's fascinating to observe the belief in Mary's perpetual virginity was nearly universal in the first couple of hundred years of Christianity.

I'm just chasing a hypothesis that is causing least problems with all the facts at hand

 

[tonychanyt]

To interpret the various references to Yeshua's 'brothers/sisters' to be references to his actual half-siblings, or even cousins, solves way more problems than interpreting it to mean just literal full-siblings

By "half-siblings," I meant they were fathered by Joseph through Mary; Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. I don't think Mary had another husband after Joseph's death.

 

[Reluctant Theologian]

By "half-siblings," I meant they were fathered by Joseph through Mary; Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. I don't think Mary had another husband after Joseph's death.

Stories circulated that Joseph was a widow who already had other children before marrying Mary - although the Bible doesn't refer to that (other than that Joseph had already died at the time of Yeshua's crucifixion; supporting the hypothesis he was significantly older than Mary), it also doesn't exclude it.

 

[tonychanyt]

Stories circulated that Joseph was a widow who already had other children before marrying Mary - although the Bible doesn't refer to that (other than that Joseph had already died at the time of Yeshua's crucifixion; supporting the hypothesis he was significantly older than Mary), it also doesn't exclude it.

Check out How old was Joseph when he married Mary?