Bringing you the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's magisterium
Home About
AskACatholic.com
What's New? Resources The Church Family Life Mass and
Adoration
Ask A Catholic
Knowledge base
AskACatholic Disclaimer
Search the
AskACatholic Database
Donate and
Support our work
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
New Questions
Cool Catholic Videos
About Saints
Disciplines and Practices for distinct Church seasons
Purgatory and Indulgences
About the Holy Mass
About Mary
Searching and Confused
Contemplating becoming a Catholic or Coming home
Homosexual and Gender Issues
Life, Dating, and Family
No Salvation Outside the Church
Sacred Scripture
back
non-Catholic Cults
Justification and Salvation
The Pope and Papacy
The Sacraments
Relationships and Marriage situations
Specific people, organizations and events
Doctrine and Teachings
Specific Practices
Church Internals
Church History


Robert Jackson wrote:

Hi, guys —

The Bible says that Jesus had brothers.

  • Can you clear up what the Bible says about Jesus having brothers?

Robert

  { Can you clear up what the Bible says about Jesus having brothers? }

John replied:

Hi, Robert —

Thanks for your question.

While the Bible says Jesus had brothers, and even sisters, no where does it say they were sons and daughters of Mary.

There are two possibilities:

  1. One deals with the use of the word brothers in that (society|culture). That is, it was common place to call a close relative a brother. For instance Abraham's nephew, Lot, is also called his brother. (Genesis 14:12-16, Genesis 29:10-15)

  2. The other possibility is that Joseph was a widower and had children from a previous marriage. We know from extra biblical sources (i.e. the Proto Evangelium of James) that Mary was a virgin consecrated to the Temple by her parents. This meant she would have lived a celibate life. This was a common tradition of the day.

It was also part of the tradition that the Temple priests would find an older man to become the (husband|protector) for these women. After all, once the woman's parents died, this woman would have no means of support or protection.

Remember this was 2,000 years ago: Women didn't own property, they didn't inherit property, and they didn't really have careers. Besides, these particular women spent the day at the temple.

That said, it is very possible that these brothers and sisters of Jesus were simply sons and daughters of Joseph.

John

Similar issues . . .

[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]
[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]
[Related posting]|[Related posting]

Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
© 2012 Panoramic Sites
The Early Church Fathers Church Fathers on the Primacy of Peter. The Early Church Fathers on the Catholic Church and the term Catholic. The Early Church Fathers on the importance of the Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome.