15. The brothers of Jesus

Both Catholics and Protestants believe that Jesus has more brothers, but each one means something different for it. Catholics profess that all Christians are brothers and sisters of Jesus through baptism. At the same time profess that Jesus had no siblings. The Protestants, on the other hand, believe that Mary had more children. Are based on the passages which mention the “brothers” of Jesus.

Matthew 12.46: “he was still talking to the crowd, when his mother and his brothers came out and tried to talk to him.

6.3 Frameworks: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they were offended because of him”.

John 7.5: “Is that not even his own brothers did not believe in him.”

1.14 Facts: “They devoted themselves to prayer, together with the same spirit in the company of some women, of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”

1 Corinthians 9.5: “we do not have the right to bring with us a Christian woman, as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?”

Meaning of “brother”

To understand the above passages it is essential to understand the use of the words in the culture of the Jews of that time. Both the Hebrew and Aramaic (the language of Jesus and his disciples) used the same word to designate to the brothers, cousins, and to members of the same clan. The authors of the New Testament were of Hebrew culture and wrote in Greek. The Old Testament was also translated into Greek by being the most popular language of the time. Is the Bible of “1970s”.

The Hebrew word for brothers and cousins was translated to the original Greek text of the Bible as “adelphos”. Unlike the Hebrew or Aramaic, Greek has a specific word for cousins: “anepsios”, but the translators of the Bible of “1970s” and the New Testament, being of Hebrew culture, preferred using “adelphos” when you used the Aramaic word “brothers”, which, as we have said includes cousins and other relations. That is to say, they used the Greek word but in the original meaning of the language of Jesus. Therefore, to find out if this is the blood brothers, cousins or other relations, there is a need to review the context of the quotation. We can find out by several examples found in the Old Testament.

A Lot is called “brother” of Abraham in Gen. 14.14, but we know from the same Bible that was his nephew (Genesis 11,26-28). Jacob called “brother” of Laban who is actually his uncle (Genesis 29.15). I Chronicles 23,21-22 speaks of the “Sons of Majli: Eleazar and Kish. Eleazar died without children; he had only daughters, the sons of Kish, their siblings, taken by women.” Other examples are in 1 Sam. 9.13; 20.32; 2 Sam. 1.26; Amos 1.9. Deuteronomy 23.8: “You don’t have by abominable Edomite, because he is your brother.” II Kings 10,13-14 42: “brothers” of the king Ahaziah that went down to salute the children of the king and the queen. Nehemiah 5.8: “And I said: “We have rescued, to the best of our ability, to our Jewish brothers who had been sold to the nations. And now ye! Sell your brethren”. Jeremiah 34.9: “in order to allow each one to his servant or slave Hebrews free giving them the freedom to luck that no Jew outside servant of his brother.”

Children of Joseph

For some, the brothers of Jesus could be children of San Jose with a first wife if this was a widower. But the Grand Master of the Sacred Scriptures in the early centuries (4th Century), Saint Jerome, raised rather than it is cousins, which fits perfectly, as we have seen, within the meaning of “brothers” supported by the Jews of the time. San Jerónimo, like the other Fathers of the Church, defended the perpetual virginity of Mary Most Holy.

There is not a single hint in the Bible that Mary had other children. When the Holy Family flees to Egypt or when they lose the child in Jerusalem (Luke 2,41-51), always refers to a single child. The Nazareth, even when they speak of the “brothers” of Jesus, he is referred to as “the son of Mary”, not as “a son of Mary” (6.3). This use of words would be very strange if they were in fact those other “brothers” sons of Mary.

There are also other cultural reasons which indicate that the “brothers” of Jesus were not of blood. Among the Jews, the friars minor could not advise the elderly. That’s why when on a date a brother advised to another it is understood that who counsels is the largest. However the “brothers” of Jesus encourages you to go to Judea (John 7,3-4). On another occasion, try to take it (Mark 3.21). These brothers cannot then be blood brothers since Jesus is the firstborn (not that I had older brothers: Luke 2.7).

In the year 2002 came to light an ossuary with the inscription: “Jacob [James], the son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus”. Many thought that this “finding” cast doubt on the Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. However turned out to be a fraud. As well as the director of the Israel Antiquities, Shúka Dorfman, who announced (June 18, 2003): “The ossuary is real. But the inscription is false. Which means that someone picked up a royal box and he prepared the writing on it, probably to give you a religious significance”. Unfortunately, the means of communication that so widely propagated the deception, they did almost nothing to rectify it.

The hour of death 

John 19,26-27: “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother: “Woman, behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple: “Behold your mother.” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”. The Gospel gives us the names of four of the “brothers” of Jesus: James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. If they were their blood brothers would be sons and daughters of Mary. Why then Jesus gave it to Juan?. So understood St Hilary of Poitiers, a Father of the Church: “If they (the brethren of the Lord) have been sons of Mary and not those of the first marriage of Joseph, she never would have been delivered at the time of the passion of the apostle John as his mother.” Jesus sets a mother-child relationship that is not by nature, but by grace. Like John, all the baptized are sons and daughters of Mary and we are brothers of Jesus. In the book of Revelation we see, in effect, those who are the other children of Mary. Revelation 12.17: “So vengeful against women, went to make war with the rest of their children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.”