So.... Jesus had brothers, and sisters?....?

Question

Did God impregnate Mary with them also?

This is not intended to offend anyone!!!.... I heard this from a former teacher of mine today!!!

Answer 1

According to the Bible, Joseph has a good time with that booty.

Answer 2

No, Joseph was the father of the brothers and sisters. There is debate as to whether or not Mary was the mother of all--some believe that they were Joseph's by a former marriage but I haven't seen anything to substantiate that in the bible. Those that believe Mary remained a virgin her entire life may gravitate toward that explanation, but I have seen no evidence of that either. It appears that after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph went on enjoy a normal life that included having more children. But you should look into the New Testament and see what you think for yourself.

Answer 3

It has been the constant teaching of the Christian Church since the very beginning that Mary had no children other than Jesus. This is Christian dogmatic truth. Any deviation from this core belief constitutes a deviation from orthodox Christianity. The various references to "the brothers and sisters" of Jesus - more accurately, the "brethren" of Jesus - are obvious references to His disciples, His "brothers and sisters in the lord". This becomes obvious when we look at the original Greek translations. The same word - adelphoi - is used throughout the New Testament whenever the brethren of the Lord are mentioned. For example, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to more than five hundred of His brothers [adelpoi] at once. Certainly these five hundred brothers were not all the offspring of Mary and Joseph. There are numerous similar passages where the same word is used, and the meaning cannot be misinterpreted. Therefore, when we see a somewhat more ambiguous statement, such as "your brothers and sisters [adelphoi - same word] are waiting for you outside", valid exegesis requires that we maintain the constant meaning of the word that prevails throughout the rest of the text, rather than trying to force a different meaning on the word in this one isolated instance.

http://www.catholic.com/library/brethren_of_the_lord.asp

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Answer 4

The are those who believe that Mary, mother of Jesus, remained a virgin her entire life. This does not comport with the fact that Jesus had siblings. If Mary remained a virgin, this would indicated that Jesus was nothing special and the whole of Christianity should be discard on face value. The only plausible explanation to account for both would be if Joseph married another and James and the rest of Jesus' siblings were, in fact, half-brothers and half-sisters (were there even any girls in the family?). However, the Greek Scriptures only indicated full siblings.

Answer 5

No. God didn't impregnate Mary with them. Mary and Joseph were married, so they went on; in the tradition of their times and religion; to have other children.
Most people aren't taught that Jesus had brothers and sisters. It really isn't that much of an important point.
When Jesus was at the temple, they told Jesus his mother and brothers and sisters were outside waiting for him. There are other biblical references I'd have to look up.

Answer 6

That is a Catholic belief, the perpetual virginity of Mary. It is pretty illogical to believe that Mary and Joseph were married for how long and never had sex once. That is not God's view on marriage, God created marriage and sexual relations, intending for them to go hand in hand, not one or the other. Mary had children by Joseph, which would be Jesus' brothers and sisters.

One such child is James who was an early Church leader in Jerusalem and wrote the Epistle James.

Answer 7

That's an interesting question.

First, let me state that God did not "impregnate" Mary.

God caused one of Mary's seeds to begin growing without the aid of a male sperm, just as God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, and breathed life into the dead body, in the same way, He caused the (otherwise dead) seed to begin growing.

All the rest of Mary's children were from Joseph. That would mean they were half-brothers and sisters to Jesus.

I hope this helps.

Answer 8

Joseph and Mary had children!!! You can find them in the scriptures. Some claim that Mary was a virgin until her death, but how could she if Joseph and Mary had children. No where in the scriptures does it tell us that Joseph had another wife. So, where these others got their "information" is unbeknownst to the rest of us.

Matthew 13:55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?

Answer 9

Well, it depends who you ask.

Strict Catholicism says that Jesus was an only child, and Mary remained a virgin her whole life. An acceptable variation is that Jesus had step-siblings, children of Joseph by an unrecorded previous marriage.

One of the heresies (unsure which one) states that Mary and Joseph went on to have children together after Jesus was born.

The uncertainly is largely due to a problem of translation, which you can find more about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_view_on_Jesus%27_life

Answer 10

It is very reasonable to conclude that Joseph and Mary had normal intercourse after Jesus was born and therefore produced Jesus' brothers and sisters in the natural conventional manner. The Bible states that Joseph did not have sex with Mary while she was pregnant with Jesus in order to establish a contrasting point. It would have been unnecessary to state if every child Mary bore were by holy spirit.

Answer 11

Jesus did, indeed, have brothers and sisters, a number of them... born to Mary & Joseph the natural way. And yes the poster who said that truly they are half-brothers and sisters is correct.

Matthew 13:55,56 -
"Is this not the carpenter's sn? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?....."

Another supporting scripture: Luke 8:19-21

One of those brothers, James, is the author of the Bible book of the same name.