Did Jesus have brothers?

[Teh Wiccan]

And what were their names?

 

[PRMan]

It depends on who you ask.

Many Catholics and other "high" churches believe that Mary didn't but many Protestants and "evangelical" churches believe she did. The Bible references his brothers in a few places. I think the Catholics believe they were half-brothers or something.

I'm curious, why do you ask?

 

[a2j4ever]

Read Matthew 12:46-50
You have to remember too, that in Jesus' time people always had more than one child, it just so happens that Mary's first child was the Son of God!!! Amazing huh?
By the way, the Bible doesn't tell us the names.

 

[stiger77797]

bible dont tell names.. but yes Jesus had brothers and sisters

 

[princess_ballet]

Nope, Jesus didn't have brothers and sisters, at least not full brothers and sisters. Mary remained a virgin.

The brothers were sons of Joseph's from a previous marriage.

 

[PRMan]

Actually, the Bible does tell us their names in Mark 6:3:

Mark 6:3
Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,[ 6:3 Greek Joses, a variant of Joseph] Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. (NIV)

James (not the disciple, but the one that wrote the book of James) was one of Jesus' brothers.

 

[stiger77797]

Nope, Jesus didn't have brothers and sisters, at least not full brothers and sisters. Mary remained a virgin.

The brothers were sons of Joseph's from a previous marriage.

ummm actually no offence but in the bible... DONT ASK WHERE...
it says "He (Joseph) knew her (had sex with mary ) not untill after the birth of Jesus and after that she had many other children" not exact quote but close

 

[PRMan]

Matthew 1:25
But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (NIV)

Like I said, some people believe Mary remained a virgin forever. I personally don't believe that, based on the fact that Jesus had brothers and that Matthew 1:25 says she didn't remain so after Jesus was born.

I've never been sure why it's so important AFTER Jesus was born anyway. It's not like it invalidates his virgin birth if she gave him brothers and sisters later.

 

[InquisitorKind]

And what were their names?

Well, the plain reading of the Scriptures indicates that he did.

But this becomes a complicated topic when the Roman Catholic Church makes an infallible claim to the contrary.

The short answer is that it's highly probable she had children.

~Matt

 

[princess_ballet]

Highly probable, but it didn't happen. End of story.

 

[PRMan]

End of story why? Because you say so? What evidence do you have? Matthew (an eyewitness) seems to disagree with you.

 

[SolomonVII]

The Catholic tradition about Mary being Ever-Virgin would indicate that if Jesus had brothers and sisters they would be only distantly related genetically and may have been Joseph's children from a previous unknown marriage. Of course many churches do not have the same Marian tradition as the RCC so their reading of scripture would be that James et. al would be the literal brothers and sisters of Jesus.
In the theological sense, God is our Father and we are all the brothers and sisters of Christ. Scripture referring to the brothers and sisters of Christ may be read with this in mind as well. The relationship we are to have with Jesus is meant to be a close one, like a brother or a sister. Through Christ we become family.

 

[PRMan]

Ah, but Jesus first used the brother / sister terminology when his actual brothers and sisters were outside waiting for him.

Matthew 12
46While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."[7]
48He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (NIV)

 

[ps139]

ummm actually no offence but in the bible... DONT ASK WHERE...
it says "He (Joseph) knew her (had sex with mary ) not untill after the birth of Jesus and after that she had many other children" not exact quote but close

That is what it seems at first glance. But "until" in Greek is not exactly the same in English. Prepositions are the hardest things to translate. Since I cannot explain it as well as this guy below I've pasted a little text from an Eastern Orthodox bishop named Lazar Puhalo. He shows that "until" or "eos" in Greek does not have the same connotation of "until" in English, and shows where else it is used in both the Old (Septuagint) and New Testaments. : (all bolds and italics are mine)


The Orthodox Church has always proclaimed the Ever-Virginity of Mary, the Mother of our God (Theotokos). The verse referring to Mary's "Firstborn" has been misinterpreted by a countless number of the heterodox.
"...and he knew her not up to [Greek = eos] her having brought forth her firstborn son..." (Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:7). This verse seems to be often translated as "he knew her not until after..." This is not, however, what is meant. The Greek original, "eos", indicates the true meaning, of "he had no sexual relations with her prior to her giving birth." The Evangelist makes this statement in order to assure us that Joseph had no part in the conception of
Jesus. The term eos ou does not require the understanding that he had relations with her after Christ was born. It merely indicates that, as regards the birth of Jesus, Joseph had not had relations with Mary prior to the birth, thus, he was not the father of Jesus. This is merely a usual turn of phrase, the use of a standard and familiar form of expression. This same term and meaning is used elsewhere in the Bible as a standard expression, and it clearly does not indicate what the heterodox (non-Orthodox) claim it does. At 2 Samuel 6:23, for instance, we read, "And Milchal, the daughter of Saul, had no child until [eos] her death. Did she, then, have children after her death? Of course not!, and neither did Joseph "know" Mary after the birth of Jesus. At Genesis 8:7, we read that Noah "sent forth a raven; and it went
forth and did not return till [eos] after the water had gone from off the face of the earth." We know from Scripture that in fact, the raven never returned to the ark. It says that it did not return "until after," but in fact, it never returned at all. The Scripture says that "Joseph knew her not till after...", but in fact, he never "knew" her at all. In another example, the Bible says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until [eos] I make Thine enemies Thy footstool" (Mark 12:36). Does this mean that Christ will cease to sit at the right hand of the glory of the Father once His enemies have been overcome? Of course not ! Hence, the Bible does not say that "Joseph knew her not until after she brought forth her first born, but then he did." The Bible says, "He did not know her before (up until) she had brought forth her firstborn," meaning simply and clearly, "Joseph was not the father. He had not come together with her before her pregnancy, thus he was not involved in the conception of Jesus."

 

[Peter]

Luther and Zwingli both believed in the ever virginity of Mary. Calvin, in his commentary of Matthew 2, states that it is very likely that Mary had no other children.

The church has always taught that Mary had no other children. The term "brothers" has multiple meanings. There is no word to seperate "Brother" from "cousin" or "half brother." Of course the English translation is so clear, it's not Greek. The Greek word is "adelphos." This is the masculine. The feminine is "adelphe". It is used 100's of times in the NT. Paul uses this word when talking of Timothy. Was Timothy really Paul's brother? The Bible says he was.

As to the word "until". This word too has many uses. It does not mean a change in action. It indicates a passage of time. The pasage in question could just as easily been rendered, "During the whole time of Mary's pregnancy, Joseph did not have relations with Mary."
Here are some other "until" passages for you to "see clearly" what the Bible says:

"My Father is working until now." John 5:17 After that, God went on vacation?

"and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20 After that, you're on your own!

And in the OT we find a woman who bore no children until the day she died. What? After that she was a baby making machine?

Keep in mind that Joseph was a righteous man (Matt. 1:19). He was a Jew. He was told his bride was to be the bearer of the promised Messiah. Do you really think that Joseph would have her for his own common pleasure after she had been the vessel of God? Mary was "highly favored" by God. She was no mere woman. She is the one to whom the Holy Spirit said "all generations will call me blessed." She is the one to whom both the angel and Elizabeth said "blessed are you among women."

Mary, by giving birth to Christ, God in flesh, was, and is, a virgin. The Mother of God. The Mother of salvation. The Mother of all who believe. She was, and is, the new Eve to Christ's new Adam.

"It is truely meet to bless you, o Theotokos, ever blessed and most pure and the mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim and glorious beyond compare than the sepraphim, without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word. True Theotokos we magnify thee." Amen.

Peace.

Peter

 

[ps139]

As for blood-brothers and sisters of Jesus, we can prove that never happened if we can prove that Mary was a perpetual virgin. But if you do not want to accept that I think that I can prove it another way. The Greek word used for "brother" was "Adelphos" and "brothers" was "adelphi." This term, in the Hebrew culture, was a looser term. It could mean cousin, because, surprisingly enough, Aramiac had no word for cousin. In Aramaic, if you wanted to specify "cousin," you would say "the son of his uncle" (brona d-`ammeh) . Brother, or aha was a way to say cousin without using so many words. So when someone asked "Aren't those the 'aha's of Jesus?" It literally translated in Greek would be "adelphos" or "brothers." We can see this "nonexact" translation elsewhere in the Bible. The best example, I think, is when "adelphi" is used to describe the relationship between Lot and Abraham in Gen 14:16.

Some other examples are when Mary Magdalene sees Jesus in the garden after the Resurrection. Jesus says to her: "Go instead to my BROTHERS and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' Mary Magdelene went to the DISCIPLES with the news: 'I have seen the Lord!' And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:17-18)

And here's a question for thought: If Jesus did have blood brothers, why did he give John to Mary as a Son, and Mary to John as a mother in John 19:27 - Why wouldn't he have "given" Mary to one of his "brothers," who we know were still alive because some of them were disciples (Jude & James)

This is a lot of information and I don't want to overload my posts. But here are some very informative links if you want to investigate more:

http://www.catholic.com/library/Bad_Aramaic_Made_Easy.asp
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02767a.htm

 

[ps139]

Luther and Zwingli both believed in the ever virginity of Mary. Calvin, in his commentary of Matthew 2, states that it is very likely that Mary had no other children.

Here are some quotes of Martin Luther:

"It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of our Lord and still a virgin." Martin Luther, Martin Luther's Works, vol 11, pg 319

"......knew that she was to become the Mother of the Son of God, she did not wish to become the mother of the son of man, but remained in that gift." Martin Luther, Martin Luther's Works, vol 11, pg 320

"Undoubtedly, there is no one so powerful that, depending on his own intelligence, without Scripture, he would maintain that she did not remain a virgin." Martin Luther, Martin Luther's Works, vol 11, pg 320



And from John Calvin:



Helvidius displayed excessive ignorance in concluding that Mary must have had many sons, because Christ's 'brothers' are sometimes mentioned.

{Harmony of Matthew, Mark & Luke, sec. 39 (Geneva, 1562), vol. 2 / From Calvin's Commentaries, tr. William Pringle, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1949, p.215; on Matthew 13:55}



[On Matt 1:25:] The inference he [Helvidius] drew from it was, that Mary remained a virgin no longer than till her first birth, and that afterwards she had other children by her husband . . . No just and well-grounded inference can be drawn from these words . . . as to what took place after the birth of Christ. He is called 'first-born'; but it is for the sole purpose of informing us that he was born of a virgin . . . What took place afterwards the historian does not inform us . . . No man will obstinately keep up the argument, except from an extreme fondness for disputation.

{Pringle, ibid., vol. I, p. 107}



Under the word 'brethren' the Hebrews include all cousins and other relations, whatever may be the degree of affinity.

{Pringle, ibid., vol. I, p. 283 / Commentary on John, (7:3) }




from John Wesley:



I believe... he [Jesus Christ] was born of the blessed Virgin, who, as well after as she brought him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin.

{"Letter to a Roman Catholic," quoted in A. C. Coulter, John Wesley, New York: Oxford University Press, 1964, 495}

• [size=-1]
  • So, as you can see, the Protestant Reformers held the Catholic & Orthodox opinion of Mary's perpetual virginity. The idea that Jesus had brothers, in the English sense of the word, has only been a popular teaching since the 1800s.
    
  [/size]

 

[Isaiah 53]

James and Jude.


PEACE IN CHRIST!!

 

[Inspired]

And what were their names?

He had tons of brothers, according to the scripture the angels were God's sons, I'm not even going to pretend I can name them all off the top of my head.

 

[nyj]

Well, the plain reading of the Scriptures indicates that he did.

If that were the plain reading of Scripture, then it's kind of odd that this plain reading went by and large, unnoticed for almost 1800 years. Go figure.