How are Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary related?

Answer 1

They were cousins. (Luke 1:36)

They weren't necessarily cousins, they were more like relative's.

First, the King James translation of the term syngenis as "cousin" (Luke 1:36) is unwarranted and somewhat misleading to those who normally interpret the word to mean "first cousin." The Greek term syngenis simply means "relative" (NKJV, NASB, NIV) or "kinswoman" (ASV, RSV). It is "a general term, meaning 'of the same family'" (Vincent, 1997). Thus, Mary and Elizabeth may have been first cousins, or they may have been fourth cousins. All we know for sure is that they were kin.

Second, Mary and Elizabeth could have been from different tribes and still have been first cousins. It may be that their mothers were sisters. Their mothers could have been from the tribe of Judah or Levi. As commentator Matthew Henry noted: "Though Elisabeth was, on the father's side, of the daughters of Aaron (v. 5), yet on the mother's side she might be of the house of David, for those two families often intermarried, as an earnest of the uniting of the royalty and the priesthood of the Messiah" (1997).

However Mary and Elizabeth were related, tribal heritage among the descendants of Jacob was passed down through fathers, not mothers (cf. Ruth 4:18-22); children were always of their father's tribe, not their mother's. Thus, Elizabeth and Mary were descendants of Aaron and David, respectively, by way of their fathers' ancestry, and not necessarily of their mothers'.

REFERENCES

Henry, Matthew (1997), Commentary on the Whole Bible(Electronic Database: Biblesoft).

Lyons, Eric (2003), The Anvil Rings (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

McKinsey, Dennis (1998), "Tough Questions for the Christian Church," Biblical Errancy, October, [On-line], URL: http://home.comcast.net/~errancy/issues/iss190.htm.

Miller, Dave (2003), "The Genealogies of Matthew and Luke," [On-line], URL: (see below)

Vincent, Marvin R. (1997), Word Studies in the New Testament (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia their relation is given by St. Hippolytus, according to whom they are cousins; the mother of Elizabeth, Sobe and the mother of Mary, Saint Anne are sisters. The mother of Mary is also known from another source, the infancy Gospel of James.

Some translations of this verse states their relations as relative, kinswoman or "of your family", others such as the King James, states that they are cousins.