I agree. It is a really good question and it deserves a good answer. I will try to do that for you.
First of all, may I say to you that the answer can only come from the Word of God, so lets post a couple of Scriptures.
Matthew 13:55-56.............
"Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary?
and his brothers, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?"
And
his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
Mark 6:3............
"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary,
the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."
I am sure that you see the problem here. These verses so clearly contradict Catholic doctrine, that Catholic interpreters had to insist these are cousins, kinsmen, or from a supposed earlier marriage of Joseph. Now, none of those excuses are found in the Scriptures. Those are explanations given by the Catholic church in support of Mary's Perpetual Virginity. Of course, the Bible proves all these things wrong. The Catechism gives this false and incorrect explanation:
"The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, 'brothers of Jesus,' are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ..." Pg. 126 #500).
Now THINK......These "people listed as
BROTHERS and SISTERS Cannot simply be cousins because Colossians 4:10 uses a separate Greek word. John 1:41 uses the same term of Peter and his brother. Why in the world would God cause such a confusion when the words in the Greek are available to use as COUSINS and or KINSMEN??????
There is more in John 2:12 .............
"After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother,
and His brothers, and His disciples; and there they stayed a few days."
Again, the original Greek word used here is BROTHERS and is not the word used for "Cousins".
Acts 1:14 ............
"And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James
the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas
the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with
the women, and
Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers."
Again, the original Greek word here is for BROTHERS, and not cousins
Galatians 1:18.......
"Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except
James, the Lord's brother."
Same original Greek word here is used for BROTHER and is not and cannot be used for a cousin.
Colossians 4:10........
"Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and
also Barnabas' cousin Mark about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him".
The bible never uses these two Greek words anepsios or sungenis in reference to Jesus brothers.
Greek Dictionary: cousin/Relative:
anepsios (ajneyiov" , (431)), in Col. 4:10 denotes a cousin rather than a nephew (A.V., "sister's son"). "Cousin" is its meaning in various periods of Greek writers.¶ In this sense it is used in the Sept., in Numb. 36:11.¶ In later writings it denotes a nephew; hence the A.V. rendering. As Lightfoot says, there is no reason to suppose that the Apostle would have used it in any other than its proper sense. We are to understand, therefore, that Mark was the cousin of Barnabas."
(
Catholics wrong: Mary had many other children in addition to Jesus)
