Virgin Mary

Mary didn't choose this, God chose her to bear His Eternal Son. It was necessary for her to be a virgin at the time God sent His Son into the world, that He might be born without sin, not as we are born, as sinners. According to Scriptures, after the birth of Christ, Mary & Joseph had normal marital relations. They had four sons and at least two daughters after Christ was born, according to Scriptures. Even if they never had further children, Mary would not have remained a virgin, for the account in the Bible shows that Mary and Joseph had normal marital relations.

As the Gospel account in Matthew 1 shows us, Joseph had initially thought that Mary had somehow fallen morally into adultery, for he had not had sexual relations with her during their espousal, yet she was pregnant: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." v. 18. So, Joseph thought it best to quietly divorce her (The espousal was more binding than an engagement of today.): "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily." v.19.

But the angel Gabriel came to Joseph and clarified why and how Mary became pregnant: "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife (a normal marriage after the espousal): for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." vv. 20,21.

Mary had also been puzzled at Gabriel's announcement to her: "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS." Luke 1:31. She asked: "How shall this be, seeing I know not (was not intimate with) a man?" Luke 1:34. The angel consoled her: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:35-37.

So, Joseph obeyed the angel's instructions. However Matthew, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit writes: "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet [Isaiah 7:14], saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." Matthew 1:22,23.

Moreover, Matthew continues in explanation of Joseph's obedient actions: "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not (was not intimate with Mary) till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." The only understanding possible of this passage, without confusing it, is that Joseph did not have intimate relations with Mary, until after the birth of Jesus. This clearly means that he did have the normal marital relations with Mary, after the birth of Christ. "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled." Hebrews 13:4.

The normal relations between this married couple brought forth their sons, after Jesus: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother (Greek: adelphos) of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon?" Mark 6:3. He certainly was known as "The Carpenter," and "the Son of Mary," so we should not contort the Scriptures, saying Christ had four brothers (in the original language). He also had at least two sisters: "are not his sisters here with us?" v.3. It is confirmed by Paul the Apostle in Galatians 1:19: "But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." There would be no reason for Paul to say "the Lord's brother" in a generic spiritual sense, for James the Less and James, the son of Zebedee, and others named James were spiritual brothers to Christ.

The point of Mary being a virgin, was to bring the sinless Son of God into the world, into her womb, by the supernatural means of the Holy Spirit. The Bible clearly states of man born naturally: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. Yet of Christ, it tells us: "For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21. Pilate said, "I find no fault in this man." Luke 23:4. The apostle Peter said: "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." 1 Peter 2:1.

God sent His Son into the world as sinless, to be the one who would pay for our sins. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sentnot his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16,17(emphasis added). If He had sinned, in any way, He would have had to pay for His own sin, and would not have been able to pay for ours. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27. Jesus died for our sins on the Cross, so that we would not be condemned, if we trusted in Him as our Savior.

The virgin birth was essential to bring the sinless eternal creator God, Jesus Christ, into the world, so He could save us from the penalty of our sins. Mary, as a godly Jewish maiden who gave offerings for her own sins (compare Luke 2:24 with Leviticus 12), didn't choose to be a virgin, she already was so, previous to the birth of Christ. She obediently submitted to God's choice of her to bear the sinless Savior of the world by virgin birth. Afterwards she had normal marital relations with Joseph, and bore children.

See the Question link below for further study.

Catholics believe that Mary was always a virgin, before and after the birth of Jesus. That belief has been Tradition ever since the time of Mary.

The Catholic Church teaches Mary chose to be a virgin because she wanted to fully consecrate herself to God (Paul even says in his letters that an unmarried person is more fully able to serve God.) That is why she did not understand the angel's greeting; she did not know why God would ask her to do this.

But God made known to her His plan and she accepted it. The Catholic Church interprets the Scriptures from the Greek differently than do Protestant denominations, holding that Mary remained ever a virgin before and after Jesus' birth, and she chose to do it because she believed it to be the will of God.

Some will point to Matthew's gospel to say that Mary did not remain a virgin for he says "he knew her not, till she brought forth her son..." The Greek heos hou (till) however only deals with the time up to the birth of Christ and not after, Mattew 26:36 is a good example of this, where the disciples stay rather than leave Jesus.

Some also note that Jesus had brothers, but the Greek adelphos, had a much broader meaning including children of the father but not the mother. In Acts ch. 15 we read of about 120 brothers. In Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40 we see that some of his 'brothers' are actually his cousins, their mother being another Mary.

There are also many cultural aspects such as the fact the Jesus was rebuked by his 'brothers' - something younger brothers did not do. On the cross Jesus gave Mary into the care of John yet under the law if Jesus had brothers the next oldest would take care of Mary, for the oldest child had to care for a widowed woman.

St Jerome wrote a whole piece titled 'the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary,' St Augustine referred to as "heretics" those who do not believe in her perpetual virginity, and St Basil said true friends of Christ believe in it.

Mary chose to be a virgin, and remain so, to consecrate and dedicate herself/her life wholly to God and his purpose.

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The only biblical reference to Mary's family is in Luke's Gospel, which says that her cousin was Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. If this is correct, we can certainly say that Mary was a Jew and therefore of Middle Eastern descent. In any case, Joseph was a Jew and would have been most unlikely to have married an African woman, or even have known one. Mary would not have been of African descent.

Her major Feast day is August 15th, called the "Assumption" in Roman Catholicism; the "Dormition" in Eastern Orthodoxy; and simply "the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin" in Anglicanism.

That's the main one. She also has several others, some are as follows:

The Purification of Mary (February 2)

Annunciation (March 25)

Visitation (May 31)

Nativity of Mary (September 8)

Immaculate Conception (December 8)

Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12)

There are several feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The principle feast throughout the church is the Assumption which falls on August 15 and comemorates her Assumption into heaven. Another very important feast day, especially for the United States is the Immaculate Conception which falls on December 8 and is the day on which Mary was conceived by her mother, Ann. Both of these days are solemnities (the highest rank for a feast in the church) and are holy days of Obligation (a Catholic must attend Mass and rest from servile labor as on a Sunday).

After the Congress of Vienna and the battle of Waterloo Pope Pius VII returned to Rome, 7 July, 1815. To give thanks to God and Our Lady he (15 Sept., 1815) instituted for the Papal States the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, to be celebrated, 24 May, the anniversary of his first return. The Dioceses of Tuscany adopted it, 12 Feb., 1816; it has spread nearly over the entire Latin Church, but is not contained in the universal calendar. The hymns of the Office were composed by Brandimarte (Chevalier, "Repert. Hymnolog.", II, 495). This feast is the patronal feast of Australasia, a double of the first class with an octave (Ordo Australasiae, 1888), and in accordance with a vow (1891) is celebrated with great splendour in the churches of the Fathers of the Foreign Missions of Paris. It has attained special celebrity since St. Don Bosco, founder of the Salesian Congregation, 9 June, 868, dedicated to Our Lady, Help of Christians, the mother church of his congregation at Turin. The Salesian Fathers have carried the devotion to their numerous establishments.

We are told in the Gospel that Jesus' mother Mary had a "sister" called Mary. It seems unlikely that Anne and Joachim had two daughters named Mary. This other Mary in turn had a husband named Cleophas (Jn 19:25). Cleophas is probably the brother of Joseph (Jesus' adopted father). It follows that Cleophas' wife Mary is the Virgin Mary's sister in law, which explains why they can have the same name and are called sisters.

Catholic tradition says that Mary was probably an only child but does not deny that she may have had siblings. However, we have no documentation to verify this.

Because the Bible states the only way to the father is thru the son. It does not say to pray to her anywhere in scriptures. It says she will be called blessed by woman.

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According to the Catholic Church, Catholic is the only type of Christianity. Those who are not in communion with her but are validly baptized are Christians to the extent that they believe the Nicene Creed in its traditional interpretation, and attempt to live that life.

Christianity is the belief in Jesus Christ, which involves living the life that He is asking you to live, and believing in Him. As Jesus Christ only established one Church, and He was very specific about that, and that one Church is both His Body, and His Bride. That One Church is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. All other ecclesial communities who call themselves "Christian Churches" are heretical to one extent or another. They have redefined terms such as "Christianity" in order to mean other things which would include themselves in "Christianity". This is an error.

The ecumenical movement, contrary to what many believe has only one purpose, and that is to return all of those who profess belief in Jesus Christ back to the true Church. The current state of affairs, which has involved redefining language, re-writing history, and redefining Jesus, Himself, has got to stop. To deny that the Catholic Church is the only "Christian" Church is, to some extent, to deny Jesus Christ, and attempt to redefine Him as something other than what He was.

For a complete discussion and understanding of the issue, please read the book: Salvation Outside the Church? By Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas which discusses all the issues as addressed by the Popes and the Ecumenical Council, this contains the entire text of Dominus Iesus. Here is a quote about Dominus Iesusthat is contained in the book:

... I was attending a meeting of a diocesan ecumenical commission, whose entire agenda on that occasion had been dedicated to a discussion of Dominus Iesus, in an effort to calm ecumenical fears and to assuage feelings of hurt and anger. . . an Assemblies of God minister. Allow me to paraphrase his summation: "As I read the document, it says two things. First, that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation for the entire human race. I believe that completely, and I thought every other Christian did, too. Second, that the Catholic Church believes that it is the unique means of putting the human race into contact with Christ and His saving Gospel. I do not believe that, which is why I am not a Catholic. And if a Catholic does not believe that, I don't know why he's still a Catholic."

Secondly, protestants always respected and loved the Blessed Virgin. Martin Luther, himself promoted devotion to her, as well as Calvin. It is only recently (in the past hundred years or so) as protestants have splintered more and more, getting further from the Church that many have turned on devotion to Mary.

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To understand why Christians pray to Mary, you must understand that the word "prayer" means supplication or beseech, entreat or implore as in the English use, "pray, be careful." It is not meant as the adoration that is only due to God. Second, the Blessed Virgin Mary is now with God, and she is the mediatrix through which all grace came to the world. In other words, Our Blessed Lord came into the world because of her saying "yes" to God. Mary only says one thing to us, as she says in the Gospel "Do whatever He tells you." (St. John's Gospel 2:5). Finally we honor her just as her Son, Our Blessed Lord did, "and He was obedient unto them." (St. Luke 2:51), and in obedience to Our Lord's command from the cross, "Behold thy mother." (St. John's Gospel 19:27), Our Blessed Lord speaking to St. John.

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from

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

2674 Mary gave her consent in faith at the Annunciation and maintained it without hesitation at the foot of the Cross. Ever since, her motherhood has extended to the brothers and sisters of her Son "who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties." (Lumen Gentium 62) Jesus, the only mediator, is the way of our prayer; Mary, his mother and ours, is wholly transparent to him: she "shows the way" (hodigitria), and is herself "the Sign" of the way, according to the traditional iconography of East and West.

2675 Beginning with Mary's unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the Churches developed their prayer to the holy Mother of God, centering it on the person of Christ manifested in his mysteries. In countless hymns and antiphons expressing this prayer, two movements usually alternate with one another: the first "magnifies" the Lord for the "great things" he did for his lowly servant and through her for all human beings; (Cf. Lk 1:46-55 the second entrusts the supplications and praises of the children of God to the Mother of Jesus, because she now knows the humanity which, in her, the Son of God espoused.

Protestants in rejecting the guidance of the Church have lost their devotion to Our Blessed Lord's Mother. This is a sure and certain sign that they have lost any vestige of Christianity which they once retained.

She very well may haveappearedto non-Catholicclergy - but would they have recognized her? The Blessed Virgin has, through the centuries, broughtmany protestants to the Faith...laymen andclericsalike....many givetestimonyof Her intercession and the power of the Rosary which made them convert.

See the link below for one of the many stories of how Our Lady appears to people.

Catholicism teaches that Mary never died, but was assumed bodily into Heaven, the same as Jesus had been.

The Doctrine of the Assumption states that Mary was assumed into heaven, body and soul. However, it does not state that she was assumed live or died and her body assumed into heaven later. One of the apocryphal (non canoninical) scriptures states that she died and when they went back to the tomb 3 days later, the body was gone and only the burial cloths remained. According to the Vatican, either explanation is acceptable and not excluded by the doctrine. We know that Mary had two tombs, one near Jerusalem and the other near Ephesus, or, at least, these are claimed to be her tombs. Whether either was the actual tomb or whether either was ever used is not known.

NO Jesus was not the only child of Mary. Mary and Joseph had other children. James the author of the book of James was one of Jesus brothers. Matthew 13:55 states that he had other brothers named Joseph, Simon, and Judas. These brothers were half brothers because Joseph was Jesus' legal father but not his biological father.

More importantly, than who his biological brothers were is the fact that those who do the will of God, the Father, are Jesus' family (Matthew 12:50).

Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ was a real historical person, she lived.

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from A Biblical Defense of Catholicism, by Dave Armstrong, Sophia Institute Press, © 2003

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1) Mary the "Mother of God" (Theotokos) The official, dogmatic proclamation of this dogma was made at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431, in response to the heresy of Nestorianism.

Scripture implicitly affirms Mary's Divine motherhood by attesting, on the one hand, the true Divinity of Christ, and on the other hand, Mary's true motherhood. Thus Mary is called: "Mother of Jesus" (John 2:1) ... "Mother of the Lord" (Luke 1:43). Mary's true motherhood is clearly foretold by the Prophet Isaiah: "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (Isaiah 7:14) . . . . the woman who bore the Son of God is Progenitress of God, or the Mother of God [ see also Matt. 1:18, 12:46, 13:55; Luke 1:31, 35; Gal 4:4]. (Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 196-197)

The doctrine of Mary as Theotokos flows consistently and straightforwardly from the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, Jesus. Cardinal Gibbons explains:

We affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word of God, who in His divine nature is from all eternity begotten of the Father, consubstantial with Him, was in the fullness of time, begotten, by being born of the Virgin, thus taking to Himself, from her maternal womb, a human nature of the same substance with hers.

But it may be said the Blessed Virgin is not the Mother of the Divinity. She had not, and she could no have, any part in the generation of the Word of God, for that generation is eternal; her maternity is temporal. He is her Creator; she is His creature. Style her, if you will, the Mother of the man Jesus or even of the human nature of the Son of God but not the Mother of God.

I shall answer this objection by putting a question. Did the mother who bore us have any part in the production of our soul? Was not this nobler part of our being the work of God alone? And yet who would for a moment dream of saying "the mother of my body," and not "my mother"? . . . (Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, 137-138)

In like manner . . . the Blessed virgin, under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the same substance with her own, is there really and truly His Mother.

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2) The Immaculate Conception of Mary Pope Pius IX (in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus) infallibly defined this doctrine as binding upon all Catholics on December 8, 1854.

Genesis 3:15

(known as the "Protoevangelion"): "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Ludwig Ott expounds this verse:

The literal sense of the passage is possibly the following: Between Satan and his followers on the one hand, and Eve and her posterity on the other hand, there is to be constant moral warfare. The posterity of Eve will achieve a complete and final victory over Satan and his followers, even if it is wounded in the struggle. The posterity of Eve includes the Messiah, in whose power humanity will win a victory over Satan. Thus the passage is indirectly messianic.

The seed of the woman was understood as referring to the Redeemer, and thus the Mother of the Redeemer came to be seen in the woman. Since the second century, this direct messianic-Marian interpretation has been expounded by individual Fathers, for example, St. Irenaeus, St. Epiphanius .... St. Cyprian ... St. Leo the Great. However, it is not found in the writings of the majority of the Fathers . . . According to this interpretation, Mary stands with Christ in a perfect and victorious enmity toward Satan and his following. Many of the later scholastics and a great many modern theologians argue, in the light of this interpretation . . that Mary's victory over Satan would not have been perfect, is she had ever been under his dominion. Consequently she must have entered the world without the stain of Original Sin. (Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 200)

Most Protestant Bible translations follow the King James, or Authorized, Version's lead in rendering kecharitomene, the Greek word, as "favored," as indeed also some recent Catholic versions. The favored (no pun intended!) Traditional Catholic rendering (actually the more literal rendering) is "Hail, full of grace" (for example, Douay, Confraternity, Knox). The word Mary (after hail) is not in the text, but strongly implied, as the angel is addressing her by title; thus we arrive at the phrase "Hail, Mary, full of grace,"

The Bible speaks only implicitly of many things that Protestants strongly believe, such as the proper mode of Baptism (immersion, sprinkling, or pouring?). The Immaculate Conception is entirely possible within scriptural presuppositions.

Luke 1:35

(The Annunciation; Mary as a type of the ark of the covenant): "And the angel said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the pow3er of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

Overshadow

is derived from the Greek, episkiasei, which denotes a bright cloud or cloud of glory. It is used in reference to the cloud at the transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34) and hearkens back to instances of the Shekinah glory of the God in the Old Testament (Exod. 24:15-16, 40:34-38; 1 Kings 8:10).

The Septuagint uses episkiasei in Exodus 40:34-35. Mary, as Theotokos, becomes, in effect, the new temple and holy of holies, where God dwelt in a special, spatially located fashion. In particular Scripture seems to be making a direct symbolic parallelism between Mary and the ark of the covenant. She is the bearer and ark of the New Covenant, which Jesus brings about (Heb. 8:6-13; 12:24).

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3) The Assumption of Mary

Pope Pius XII, in his Apostolic Constitution, Munificentissimus Deus, of November 1, 1950, proclaimed this dogma in the following carefully selected words:

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we proclaim, declare, and define as a dogma revealed by God: the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into the glory of Heaven. (CCC, pars. 996, 974; Hardon, CC 154-155, 160-163; Hardon, PCD, 32)

Ludwig Ott presents some of the biblical indications of the Assumption:

Direct and express scriptural proofs are not to be had. The possibility of the bodily assumption before the second coming of Christ is not excluded by 1 Corinthians, 15:23, as the objective Redemption was completed with the sacrificial death of Christ, and the beginning of the final era foretold by the prophets commenced. Its probability is suggested by Matthew 27:52-53: "And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose, and coming out of the tombs after His Resurrection came into the holy city and appeared to many." According to the more probable explanation, which was already expounded by the Fathers, the awakening of the "saints" was a final resurrection and transfiguration. If, however, the justified of the Old Covenant were called to the perfection of salvation immediately after the conclusion of the redemptive work of Christ, then it is possible and probable that the Mother of the Lord was called to it also.

From her fullness of grace spoken of in Luke 1:28, Scholastic theology derives the doctrine of the bodily assumption and glorification of Mary. Since she was full of grace, she remained preserved from the three-fold curse of sin (Gen. 3:16-19), as well as from her return to dust . . .

Modern theology usually cites Genesis 3:15 in support of the doctrine. Since by "the seed of the woman" it understands Christ, and by "the woman", Mary, it is argued that as Mary had an intimate share in Christ's battle against Satan and in His victory over Satan and sin, she must also have participated intimately in His victory over death. It is true that the literal reference of the text is to Eve and not Mary, but already since the end of the second century (St. Justin), Tradition has seen in Mary the new Eve. (Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 208-209. For the "New Eve" typology, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, pars. 411, 494, 511, 726, 975.)

Lest one think that a bodily ascent into Heaven (of a creature, as opposed to Jesus) is impossible and "biblically unthinkable," Holy Scripture contains the examples of Enoch (Heb. 11:5; cf. Gen 5:24), Elijah (2 Kings 2:1, 11), St. Paul's being caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4), possibly bodily, and events during the Second Coming (1 Thess. 4:15-17), believed by many Evangelicals to constitute the "Rapture," an additional return of Christ for believers only. All of these occur by virtue of the power of God, not the intrinsic ability of the persons.

The Assumption of the Blessed virgin flows of necessity from the Immaculate Conception and Mary's actual sinlessness....

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We question and admonish all those who . . . have asserted, taught, and believed . . . that our Lord . . . was not conceived from the Holy Spirit according to the flesh in the womb of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, but, as other men, from the see of Joseph . . . or that the same Blessed Virgin Mary is not truly the mother of God and did not retrain her virginity intact before the birth, in the birth, and perpetually after the birth. (In Neuner and Dupuis, The Christian Faith, 217. See CCC, pars 484-486, 496-498, 502-506, 510, 723 (for the virgin birth); pars 499-501, 507, 510, 721 (for the perpetual virginity of Mary))

The Greek word for brother in the New Testament is adelphos. The well-known Protestant linguistic reference An Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words defines it as follows:

1. Male children of the same parents . . .

2. Male descendants of the same parents, Acts 7:23, 26; Hebrews 7:5 . . .

4. People of the same nationality, Acts 3:17, 22; Romans 9:3 . . .

5. Any man, a neighbor, Luke 10:29; Matthew 5:22, 7:3;

6. Persons united by a common interest, Matthew 5:47;

7. Persons united by a common calling, Revelation 22:9;

8. Mankind, Matthew 25:40; Hebrews 2:17;

9. The disciples, and so, by implication, all believers, Matthew 28:10; John 20:17;

10. Believers, apart from sex, Matthew 23:8; Acts 1:15; romans 1:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; Revelation 19:10 (the word sisters is used of believers, only in 1 Timothy 5:2) . . . . (Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New testament Words, Vol. 1, 154-155.)

It Is evident, therefore, from the range of possible definitions of adelphos, that Jesus' "brothers" need not necessarily be siblings of Jesus on linguistic grounds, as many commentators, learned and unlearned, seem to assume uncritically. Be examining the use of adelphos and related words in Hebrew, and by comparing Scripture with Scripture ("exegesis"), one can determine that most sensible explanation of all the biblical date taken collectively. Many examples prove that adelphos has a very wide variety of meanings:

In the King James Version, Jacob is called the "brother" of his Uncle Laban (Gen. 29:15; 29:10). The same thing occurs with regard to Lot and Abraham (Gen. 14:14; 11:26-27). The Revised Standard Version uses "kinsman" at 29:15 and 14:14.

Use of brother or brethren for mere kinsmen: Deuteronomy 23:7; 2 Samuel 1:26; 1 Kings 9:14, 20:32; 2 Kings 10:13-14; Jeremiah 24:9; Amos 1:9).

In Luke 2:41-51, ... it is fairly obvious that Jesus is the only child....

Jesus himself uses brethren in the larger sense: Matthew 23:8, 23:1; 12:49-50.

The term Firstborn means pre-eminent and nowhere assumes later siblings, etc.