Why do Catholics still call Mother Mary a virgin?

Question

Why do Catholics still call Mother Mary a virgin, even though Jesus had a brother and a sister?

Or didn’t she ever consummate her marriage after Jesus‘ birth?

Answer 1

Mary is Ever Virgin
Exodus 13:2,12 - Jesus is sometimes referred to as the "first-born" son of Mary. But "first-born" is a common Jewish expression meaning the first child to open the womb. It has nothing to do the mother having future children.

Exodus 34:20 - under the Mosaic law, the "first-born" son had to be sanctified. "First-born" status does not require a "second" born.

Ezek. 44:2 - Ezekiel prophesies that no man shall pass through the gate by which the Lord entered the world. This is a prophecy of Mary's perpetual virginity. Mary remained a virgin before, during and after the birth of Jesus.

Mark 6:3 - Jesus was always referred to as "the" son of Mary, not "a" son of Mary. Also "brothers" could have theoretically been Joseph's children from a former marriage that was dissolved by death. However, it is most likely, perhaps most certainly, that Joseph was a virgin, just as were Jesus and Mary. As such, they embodied the true Holy Family, fully consecrated to God.

Luke 1:31,34 - the angel tells Mary that you "will" conceive (using the future tense). Mary responds by saying, "How shall this be?" Mary's response demonstrates that she had taken a vow of lifelong virginity by having no intention to have relations with a man. If Mary did not take such a vow of lifelong virginity, her question would make no sense at all (for we can assume she knew how a child is conceived). She was a consecrated Temple virgin as was an acceptable custom of the times.

Luke 2:41-51 - in searching for Jesus and finding Him in the temple, there is never any mention of other siblings.

John 7:3-4; Mark 3:21 - we see that younger "brothers" were advising Jesus. But this would have been extremely disrespectful for devout Jews if these were Jesus' biological brothers.

John 19:26-27 - it would have been unthinkable for Jesus to commit the care of his mother to a friend if he had brothers.

John 19:25 - the following verses prove that James and Joseph are Jesus' cousins and not his brothers: Mary the wife of Clopas is the sister of the Virgin Mary.

Matt. 27:61, 28:1 - Matthew even refers to Mary the wife of Clopas as "the other Mary."

Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:47 - Mary the wife of Clopas is the mother of James and Joseph.

Mark 6:3 - James and Joseph are called the "brothers" of Jesus. So James and Joseph are Jesus' cousins.

Matt. 10:3 - James is also called the son of "Alpheus." This does not disprove that James is the son of Clopas. The name Alpheus may be Aramaic for Clopas, or James took a Greek name like Saul (Paul), or Mary remarried a man named Alpheus.

Jesus' "Brothers" (adelphoi)) = Cousins or Kinsmen
Luke 1:36 - Elizabeth is Mary's kinswoman. Some Bibles translate kinswoman as "cousin," but this is an improper translation because in Hebrew and Aramaic, there is no word for "cousin."

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.

Acts 1:12-15 - the gathering of Jesus' "brothers" amounts to about 120. That is a lot of "brothers." Brother means kinsmen in Hebrew.

Acts 7:26; 11:1; 13:15,38; 15:3,23,32; 28:17,21 - these are some of many other examples where "brethren" does not mean blood relations.

Rom. 9:3 - Paul uses "brethren" and "kinsmen" interchangeably. "Brothers" of Jesus does not prove Mary had other children.

Gen. 11:26-28 - Lot is Abraham's nephew ("anepsios") / Gen. 13:8; 14:14,16 - Lot is still called Abraham's brother (adelphos") . This proves that, although a Greek word for cousin is "anepsios," Scripture also uses "adelphos" to describe a cousin.

Gen. 29:15 - Laban calls Jacob is "brother" even though Jacob is his nephew. Again, this proves that brother means kinsmen or cousin.

Deut. 23:7; 1 Chron. 15:5-18; Jer. 34:9; Neh. 5:7 -"brethren" means kinsmen. Hebrew and Aramaic have no word for "cousin."

2 Sam. 1:26; 1 Kings 9:13, 20:32 - here we see that "brethren" can even be one who is unrelated (no bloodline), such as a friend.

2 Kings 10:13-14 - King Ahaziah's 42 "brethren" were really his kinsmen.

1 Chron. 23:21-22 - Eleazar's daughters married their "brethren" who were really their cousins.

Neh. 4:14; 5:1,5,8,10,14 - these are more examples of "brothers" meaning "cousins" or "kinsmen."

Tobit 5:11 - Tobit asks Azarias to identify himself and his people, but still calls him "brother."

Amos 1: 9 - brotherhood can also mean an ally (where there is no bloodline).

Answer 2

How was James, “the brother of the Lord,” (Matt. 13:55, Acts 15:13-21, 1 Cor. 15:7, Gal. 1:19) related to Jesus. All believers agree he was related, but no one knows exactly how.

The possibilities are that James was:

1. A full brother of Jesus, another Son of God born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. No one to my knowledge accepts that God had another child by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

2. A half-brother of Jesus, a younger son of Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some Christians believe this possibility but most Christians including those who are Catholic and Eastern Orthodox believe that Mary remained a virgin for her entire life.

3. A stepbrother of Jesus, a son of Joseph and a previous wife. Many Christians believe that Joseph had a least one previous marriage that resulted in children.

4. A stepbrother of Jesus, an adopted son of Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. When parents died, relatives frequently took their children in and raised them as thier own. An adopted orphaned boy would be considered the brother of Jesus.

5. A cousin of Jesus. The Aramaic language has no word for cousin. Aramaic frequently uses the word “aha,” which we translate into Greek as “adelphos” or English as brother, for cousin.

6. A comrade of Jesus. This is a remote possibility. Greek uses adelphos the same as English does in “a band of brothers.”

Possibilities 1 and 2 obviously go against Catholic beliefs.

The Catholic Church prefers possibility 5 but 3, 4 and 6 would not go against doctrine.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Catholics call Mary, both Mother and virgin because:

1. She conceived Jesus Christ through the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit and not through intercourse. Therefore, Jesus was a virgin birth.

2. When Joseph married her, Joseph was already an older man and had children through a previous marriage. By the time Jesus reaches adulthood Joseph is already out of the picture and presumed death.

3. The siblings of Jesus that are mentioned in the Bible could have been the children of Joseph's first marriage or other close relatives. This is supported by many ancient manuscripts.

4. When Jesus is dying on the cross he tells Mary to "behold your son" referring to the apostle John. The Bible tells us that from that day Mary was taken into the household of the apostle. Why did Jesus give his mother to a disciple and not one of Mary's own children? This would have been unheard of in the first century. This passage means that the early church took Mary in as one would take in their mother. Mary is the mother of the Church.

5. Christians are called to imitate Christ. Christ is our spiritual brother, his mother becomes our mother, and his father in heaven becomes, "our Father who art in heaven".

Answer 4

Pastor Billy says: this question is all wrong, the right question should be why don't the majority of Protestants still believe what all original Protester prophets taught on Mary's eternal virginity like the original Christian Church has done still to this day 2000 years later?

see my yahoo 360, Luther , Calvin, Zwingli and even Wesley later all believed and taught their newly created congregations of Protestants that Mary was not only Mother of God but also eternally virgin.

Catholics still call Mary eternally virgin because there is nothing to prove otherwise not in tradition or the bible. Many times people attempt to use scripture to provide another answer but always do so taking it out of context.

see http://www.catholic.com/library/Brethren_of_the_Lord.asp

for a more in depth answer to your question.

Answer 5

Catholics know, because Catholics were there with her during her lifetime, and Mary had no other sons or daughters.

That's why St. John as charged with her care, at the foot of the cross. There was no one else.

Those who actually believe they can interpret the words of scripture without reference to the truth, can believe whatever they want to believe.

Catholics know that Mary was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, and she remains a virgin today, consecrated totally and completely to God.

Answer 6

And the real question is why you don't !

Catholic belief is that all of us, Mary included, need a Redeemer because of our fallen nature and that no one can attain Heaven without His Blood. We are saved from our fallen nature by His grace alone through faith that worketh in charity. Mary, though, because God knew how she would use the free will He gave to her, was saved, by His grace, from having a fallen nature at the moment of her conception. She was redeemed from her mother's womb, an act planned from Genesis 3 so that she could act as the New Eve and so that Christ could be born of vessel even more pure than the Ark of the Covenant. Christ would not have been born from that which is impure! God knew of Mary's will to serve even before she was conceived. He knew she would say yes to Him, and He saved her at her first moment.

Three things in the Bible lead some Protestants to believe that Mary was not ever-virgin: the reference to Jesus' "brothers", the use of the word "until" in Matthew 1:25, and the reference to Jesus as Mary's "firstborn."

Jesus could well have had step-brothers, as Church Tradition and early Church writings tell us that Joseph was an older man when Mary, a consecrated virgin, was betrothed to him so that he could act as her protector when she got to be of age enough to "defile the Temple" (though she could not, in fact defile the Temple). Please read the Protoevangelium of St. James, dated to ca A.D. 125, which, in chapter 9, clearly states that St. Joseph had other children from a former marriage. Though this document was rejected by the Church as being a part of infallible Scripture, it is very early evidence of the belief, held as possisble from the beginning of the Church, that Jesus had "brothers" because his earthly father, Joseph, had children when he married Mary, a consecrated virgin. Also see the apocryphal document, the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, yet another early source which proves that many of the earliest Christians believed in Mary's consecrated virginity, that Joseph was an aged man when he married her, and that she was kept free from sin.


Yet another poser: why, in the name of all that's Holy, would Jesus give Mary to John to care for if He had all these brothers and sisters around? John 19:26-27 reads, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, He saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

Some Protestants say that the use of the word "firstborn" indicates that Mary had other children, but they are simply being ignorant of Jewish law, Pidyon ha-Ben in particular. Pidyon ha-Ben is the "Redemption of the Firstborn," who were to have been consecrated to God and serve as priests and Temple workers. The "firstborn" is the male child that "opens the womb". If the child that "opens the womb" is a female child, there is no "firstborn" for the family because the child that "opened the womb" is not a masculine child. If no more children are born after the firstborn, the firstborn still has the status and title of "firstborn."

Mary remained both sinless and a virgin her entire life.

Answer 7

Because they misunderstand a lot of Scripture. Matthew 1:25 states that Joseph did not know (i.e. have sexual relations) with Mary *until* Jesus had been born. Until means that once Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had relations (thereby producing other offspring). There is nothing carnal or sinful about sex between a husband and wife. In fact, it's expected from them, even being the very first command given to Adam and Eve ("be fruitful and multiply"). There's nothing in Scripture to indicate that Mary remained a virgin; quite the contrary, in fact.

Answer 8

Official Catholic teaching is that Mary was eternally virgin. That teaching states that biblical passages that refer to Jesus' brothers and sister are linguistic misnomers, that the language used in the original texts does not connote a blood relationship.

*crickets*

No, I don't buy that either. I understand giving her the title "the Virgin Mary" due to the fact that she gave birth to Jesus without having had sex first. For me, I tend to refer to her as the "Blessed Mother." (This is one of the subjects on which I respectfully disagree with my religion.)

Answer 9

How develop into James, “the brother of the Lord,” (Matt. 13:fifty 5, Acts 15:13-21, a million Cor. 15:7, Gal. a million:19) on the topic of Jesus. All believers agree he develop into appropriate, yet no man or woman is time-honored with precisely how. the possibilities are that James develop into: a million. an finished brother of Jesus, yet another Son of God born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. no man or woman to my comprehend-how accepts that God had yet another new child through the Blessed Virgin Mary. 2. A 0.5-brother of Jesus, a youthful son of Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. some Christians believe this probability yet maximum Christians along with those who're Catholic and jap Orthodox believe that Mary remained a virgin for her finished existence. 3. A stepbrother of Jesus, a son of Joseph and a previous spouse. Many Christians believe that Joseph had a least one previous marriage that led to toddlers. 4. A stepbrother of Jesus, an followed son of Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. even as mom and father died, kinfolk contributors usually took their toddlers in and raised them as thier personal. An followed orphaned boy might want to be considered the brother of Jesus. 5. A cousin of Jesus. The Aramaic language has no be conscious for cousin. Aramaic usually makes use of the be conscious “aha,” which we translate into Greek as “adelphos” or English as brother, for cousin. 6. A comrade of Jesus. it really is a miles off probability. Greek makes use of adelphos the same as English does in “a band of brothers.” possibilities a million and a couple of for sure bypass hostile to Catholic beliefs. The Catholic Church prefers probability 5 yet 3, 4 and six would not bypass hostile to doctrine. yet another element: John 19:26-27 states: even as Jesus suggested his mom and the disciple there whom he loved, he suggested to his mom, "woman, behold, your son." Then he suggested to the disciple, "Behold, your mom." And from that hour the disciple (John) took her into his homestead. This develop into Jesus entrusting the Apostle John with the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary who through Jewish regulation and custom might want to be without help after her only son's lack of existence. This threatened lack of help for Mary also strengthens the coolest judgment that Jesus' "brothers and sisters" were not the organic toddlers of Mary who must have stepped in to look after her. With love in Christ.

Answer 10

496 From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed". The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of the second century says:

You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly born of a virgin,. . . he was truly nailed to a tree for us in his flesh under Pontius Pilate. . . he truly suffered, as he is also truly risen.

497 The Gospel accounts understand the virginal conception of Jesus as a divine work that surpasses all human understanding and possibility: "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit", said the angel to Joseph about Mary his fiancee . The Church sees here the fulfillment of the divine promise given through the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son."

498 People are sometimes troubled by the silence of St. Mark's Gospel and the New Testament Epistles about Jesus' virginal conception. Some might wonder if we were merely dealing with legends or theological constructs not claiming to be history. To this we must respond: Faith in the virginal conception of Jesus met with the lively opposition, mockery or incomprehension of non-believers, Jews and pagans alike; so it could hardly have been motivated by pagan mythology or by some adaptation to the ideas of the age. The meaning of this event is accessible only to faith, which understands in it the "connection of these mysteries with one another" in the totality of Christ's mysteries, from his Incarnation to his Passover. St. Ignatius of Antioch already bears witness to this connection: "Mary's virginity and giving birth, and even the Lord's death escaped the notice of the prince of this world: these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were accomplished in God's silence."