ZedDash

Did Jesus have any siblings?

Kareena, Sydney Australia

• The Pope says "no". The Bible says "yes". You work it out.

  Garrick Alder, London

• Aren't we all the children of God, making us all his siblings?

  Glen Smeaton, London, UK

• Barabra Thiering's book "Jesus the Man", based upon an interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a good guide. She says that Jesus's brother James was, for some time, a political rival to Jesus. As they both were, through Joseph, decendants of David they had claims to be regarded as King. Jesus was "revolutionary" in that he thought he could be a priest as well, despite not being a Levite. Even if you believe in Christianity (she dismisses the virgin birth, etc as metaphorical) or not it's an excellent book.

  richard, london uk

• While this answer may be treated with suspicion by some who love to disagree with anything the Catholic Church teaches, it is the case that the Church affirms definitively that Mary was a perpetual virgin. This means (1) she was a virgin when Jesus was conceived, (2) she remained a virgin despite childbirth, (3) she did not have sexual relations, and therefore no other children. The Bible does not comment on this question specifically, but the saints and the tradition of the church have been very clear on this matter. The Bible certainly does not say that Mary had other children - references to brothers and sisters of Jesus must be understood in context. In many ancient languages, such words were used as synonyms for "kinsmen", "cousins", etc. I'm sure this answer will be virulently attacked, but the perpetual virginity of Mary is a defined dogma of the Catholic church.

  Kurt Barragan, London

• Jesus had two half brothers. They were half because they were Mary and Joseph's, whereas Jesus was Mary and God's.

  Lyndsey,

• Certainly, the Bible mentions some of Jesus' siblings by name (Joseph, James, Judas, Simon - Mark 6:3). There is even some speculation that the latter of these three were three of the apostles. (ie. James = James The Less, Judas = Jude The Obscure, Simon = Simon The Zealot). However a reference to James The Less as the son of "Alphaeus" (Mark 3:18) seems to contradict this. (Having said that, in the different Gospels various names are given for some of the Apostles: eg. Levi=Matthew, so Alphaeus may be another name for Jesus' (Step-)Father Joseph.) A very strong suggestion that James The Less was Jesus' brother comes in Galatians 1:18-19 where Paul writes "I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles - only James, the Lord's brother" although admittedly, the interpretation is ambiguous and could mean that the James referred to was not an apostle, or that he was. Another indication that Jude The Obscure was brother to James The Less (and therefore possibly also to Jesus) comes in Jude's own epistle, which opens "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,". Also notice the stylistic similarities between the epistles of Jude and of James. Any suggestion that Mary preserved her virginity after the birth of Christ is nonsense. There is now biblical basis for it, only a dogmatic tradition. Indeed Matthew 1:25 "He [Joseph] had no union with her [Mary] until she gave birth to a son." undeniably states that the pair had a sexual relationship after the birth of Christ.

  Matt Becker, Oxford UK

• In middle eastern Jewish tradition, the body was left to rot, the bones collected, and the remains reburied in ossuaries. There is an ossuary, currently, I believe, on show in Toronto, which bears the inscription 'James, brother of Jesus'. Jesus was a relatively popular name, so to speculate that it is the brother of Christ is maybe pushing it, but some believe it.

  John, Leicester UK

• According to Mark 6:3 Jesus had four brothers (and two sisters): "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" Given that brother here is used in the same context as mother it is likely the author means that Mary did indeed have other children.

  Nick, Ormsteel Bolivia

• Have any of the people so glibly quoting the Bible (especially those who keep talking about this 'until' business) actually read the bible in the original tongue? I always understood that the translations were pretty haphazard - and some of the quotes appear to be from the 'Good News' Bible, which is not even a good modernization of the King James! Doesn't this make such quibbles rather meaningless?

  P aul, Prague Czech Rep

• The good news bible is NOT a translation of the king james bible, it is a more accurate translation from the original texts, utilising more accurate modern understanding of the ancient languages. That people consider the KJB to be the definitive translation when many modern ones are more accurate and much more easily understood seems strange to me. Not an answer to the question i know but a useful point nonetheless!

  steve b, london uk

• Who cares? The really interesting point is that this (semi-)mythological character seems to have turned out pretty well in spite of his father's homicidal tendencies and liking for plagues etc. Maybe having an absent father isn't such a bad thing after all.

  Ian Iles, Taunton, UK

• To understand what Matthew means when he says "He (Joseph) had no union with her (Mary) UNTIL she gave birth to a son", one only has to look at the Hebrew meaning of "until" and other references in the bible. "Until" makes reference to ONLY the time that has passed before the occurence; therefore meaning "before". It does not mean that Joseph necessarily had relations with Mary after this time. Two examples in the bible which support this: 1 Timothy 4:13 "Till I come, attend to reading, to exhortation, and to the doctrine". This clearly doesn't mean that they should stop this when he returns, but rather "while I am gone". Another example from Psalms 109:1 "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit Thou at my right hand UNTIL I make Thy enemies Thy footstool". We know that that the Lord is eternally at God's right hand and not just "until" he makes His enemies His footstool. As for Jesus having siblings, the use of word "firstborn" is not meant to suggest that Mary had other children after Jesus, but that she bore no child prior to this. According to the Law of Moses, "thou shalt dedicate the first born of every household" (Exodus 13:11-16). When Matthew refers to Jesus' "brothers" (James, Joseph, Simon and Judas) and "sisters", since the bible never mentions that Mary bore other children, it is likely that they were his cousins or nephews. According to Jewish custom, as is African languages, there are no special terms for various degrees in family relationships, so cousins and nephews are all included as brother and sister. Lot and Abraham were refered to as "brothers" although the bible later describes them as uncle/nephew. "Thare's sons were called Abraham, Nachor and Aran; and Aran had a son called Lot" (Gen 13:8).

  Chris Fowler, Mountain View, California, USA

• Isn't is weird that sometimes (for instance when it comes to the question of homosexuality) the bible, even at its most confusing, is considered definitive; yet other times the same bible, at its clearest, (for instance when telling us the names of Jesus' siblings) is apparently "open to interpretation"... the thought also occurs that, surely for Jesus to be the "everyman" he is sold as, he must've had some sex somewhere along the way; equally, there are few men who would accept a sexless marriage in these "enlightened" times - one can hardly imagine poor old Joseph schlepping around with his Missus and not expecting a bit of how's-yer-father.

  Gerry, Edinburgh

• To "side with tradition" is simply ignorance. To side with the Bible, which is not in any way ambiguous, is a concrete stand. The claim that some cultures don't make a distinction between brothers and cousins and the like is also irresponsible, as it is clear from scripture that the writers, inspired, by God, were clearly trying, and in fact were successful, to indicate that Jesus had siblings. Many posts have already pointed out that the Greek is exact in its rendering of "brother" and "firstborn" vs. "cousin" and "only". So, Jesus had brothers and sister, and if he did not, so what. Are we to believe that Mary and Joseph never had relations? There is no indication to that effect nor any indication that she or Joseph were somehow commanded to abstain from sex. Why would God want that? To what end or for what purpose? This is simply absurd!

  carlos, Pomona, Ca USA

• It could be possible that Joseph had another wife before he married Mary. I believe he was much older than her when they married. The term "brothers" could perhaps mean step brothers? Possibly.

  Diana, Atlanta, Ga USA

• I think what a lot of us are looking for is the truth about the historical Jesus. When I was young and Catholic, the nun said that no, he didn't have siblings--they were cousins, and that Joseph was in his 90s (and therefore couldn't "cut the mustard.") There's a lot of energy around keeping the Virgin unsullied. People are threatened by the notion of siblings because it makes Jesus and his mother more human and less divine. In some ways, to me, whether he had siblings or not doesn't matter. I'm very much interested in the truth, but I also appreciate the story and its rich metaphors, symbolism, and thoughts that are important and more ancient than Jesus. Myths (which are stories, not false things) are what we need to recover in this society - the mystical, not the factual and the ethical. Read the Nag Hammadi library (Dead Sea scrolls and other ancient texts) for some fascinating pre-Christian mysticism and other texts with post-Christian influence and renderings.

  Joe, Vancouver Canada

• Brothers and sisters, our lord was born of virgin Mary. Jesus or Emmanuel had no brothers or sisters. It's not a catholic dogma to say Mary was a virgin, she was actually a virgin in the true sense. Assuming that we are all Christians, whether Christ had brothers or sisters, how does it deepen our faith? Some issues are not worthwhile pursuing. What is happening now is people are using info from the web as fact. You can get anything from the net so don't ever think that what you read from blogs and Google is the honest truth.

  Max Savanhu, Mandara, Harare, Zimbabwe

• Jesus didn't exist anyway. The bible is a fable written by poets.

  Rob, Kent England