Did Jesus have any siblings?

Question

It's written that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus.

However, she was married, so she would not be committing sin if she lost her virginity to her husband. She would still be sinless.

I began thinking about this question after watching Dogma. In the words of "Rufus" (Chris Rock):

"The nature of God and the Virgin Mary, those are leaps of faith. But to believe a married couple never got down? Well, that's just plain gullibility!!"

I asked all my family members and they all agreed that Jesus had no siblings. I looked into it and found this:

"Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
And His sisters, are they not all with us?" - Matthew 14:55-56

You could say that "brothers" and "sisters" is not used literally, but "mother" certainly is, so I would argue that all three are used literally. Did Jesus have siblings or not?

soul_plus_heart_equals, I did not say I believed what the movie said, I only said it got me thinking of this question.

Furthermore, I did not say I believe or don't believe any of the bible.

Jesus does say, "For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother." Mark 3:35

So it can be argued either way, no?

Answer 1

Some of those people were His disciples and the rest of them, well back then Jesus called everyone His brother and sister because God made all of us. Everyone called everyone brother and sister unless they were like married.

Answer 2

Yes, Jesus had a number of siblings. His brother James (there is more than one James in the New Testament) was actually an Apostle later. The Catholics, eager to prove their belief that Mary was always a virgin (though that would have made her an ungodly wife) would say that those siblings were Joseph's from another marriage. The problem with that is that there is a passage in Psalms prophesying of the Crucifixion that states that the son of my mother would be there.

Answer 3

Jesus did have a brother named James. He had other brothers and sisters but their name is not mention. Never did Jesus say this is my step-brother. All were children of Mary and Joseph. Strange, my Bible only has 36 Verses in Matthew 14. I guess you have a different Bible.

Answer 4

The Mosaic penalty for a mother to have sex with anyone different from the father of her children is stoning to death.
So Mary would have to be stoned to death had she had other children. Since she was sinless, she could not disobey the Law.

Another argument is that there is no word in Aramaic or Hebrew for "cousin". They used the word "brother" which also meant cousin.

Acts 1:12-15 - the gathering of Jesus' "brothers" amounts to about 120. That would mean that Mary would be pregnant for 90 consecutive years to give birth to 120 "brothers". Duh, hello??

Luke 22:32 - Jesus tells Peter to strengthen his "brethren." In this case, we clearly see Jesus using "brethren" to refer to the other apostles, not his biological brothers.

All of the Protestant reformers believed in Mary's perpetual virginity. It was not until much later that this "pop-theology" has taken root.

Fundamentalists say it would have been repugnant for Mary and Joseph to enter a marriage and remain celibate. They call such marriages "unnatural" arrangements. Certainly they were unusual, but not as unusual as having the Son of God in one’s family, and not nearly as unusual as having a virgin give birth to a child. The Holy Family was neither an average family nor should we expect its members to act as would members of an average family.

The circumstances demanded sacrifice by Mary and Joseph. This was a special family, set aside for the nurturing of the Son of God. No greater dignity could be given to marriage than that.

Answer 5

There are different theological views on this. Some say that Mary was and is still a virgin. That Joseph was an old man with other children, and that the ones mentioned are Jesus' (what in our culture would be called) step brothers and sisters.

Other think that Mary did have other children with her husband. Still others say that the term bother and sister means cousins.

I tend to think that he was an only child. And if you married a women who was with child from God, would you ever touch her? I think Joseph might be a bit shy about doing that. And he was an older man, had other things on his mind.

Answer 6

It is believed that Mary was a virgin before and after giving birth to Jesus. Joseph and Mary had a son, James. Who technically was half-brother to Jesus because they shared a mother but not a father as Jesus was born of immaculate conception.

Answer 7

Yes, what the Bible says about Jesus' sisters and brothers is true. It's the reason He couldn't make any headway in His own hometown. They only saw Him as a carpenter's son, not as the Messiah. The people of his own hometown couldn't understand where He learned all that He was teaching, and because of this, Jesus didn't do as many wonders as He had done in other places because of their unbelief. <*)))><

Answer 8

Jesus did not have any flesh siblings. They figure Joseph was an elderly man and had been married before and had had children. If he would have had brothers and sisters why did he give his Mother Mary to John to take care of?

Answer 9

to think that joseph and mary never had any other kids is wrong. thier was no birth control and all married people at the time had great numbers of children. so yes jesus did have siblings....

Answer 10

Jesus had at least one half brother named James and another that was never named and he has sister that were not named either!