THE FAMILY LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST!
Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Org
Last Updated : July 23, 2006
Inaccuracies From Hollywood, Mary Lost Her Virginity,
Scriptural Proof Concerning The Lord's Brothers And
Sisters, Roman Catholic Idol Destroyed
The following article is more of a curiosity item than
anything else. It is not a major doctrine of the Christian
faith. It doesn't affect your salvation. Nevertheless, some
of you might find it interesting, and perhaps might even
want to make it a topic of conversation with friends, just
to see what kind of reactions you get when you pop the
question. The issue of whether or not Jesus had family has
been hotly debated between Catholics and Protestants for
many years. In all of the movies I have seen over the years
about the life of Christ, there is no mention of other
family members. Most productions center on Joseph, Mary and
Jesus. But then, we know that many Hollywood movies are not
known for their historical accuracy. In some cases, movie
producers just don't do enough research, or else they choose
to ignore the facts or embellish the truth if it means
making more profit. For example, one of the biggest known
bloopers in Hollywood movies about the life of Christ, is
when the shepherds and the three wise men appear
simultaneously before the baby Christ child. A simple
reading of the Scriptures would quickly verify that these
two events were separated by a period of several years. When
the three wise men/kings/magi arrived on the scene from the
East, possibly Babylon or further, Jesus was already being
referred to as a boy and not a baby. It will also be noted
that they were now in a 'house' and not in the stable. This
could also be why Herod ordered that all of the children
under two years of age be slaughtered. On one hand, we have
the Catholics who, according to my understanding,
dogmatically claim that, following Jesus' birth, Mary
retained her virginity the rest of her mortal life and never
had any more children. Thus, they refer to her as the Virgin
Mary. On the other end of the spectrum we have the
Protestants who insist that the Lord blessed Joseph and Mary
with more children following Jesus' birth. Obviously, both
sides can't be right, so what is the truth to this matter?
As always, the best way to find an answer is to go straight
to the Scriptures and do a bit of Biblical research. Since
most of you probably don't have the time to do this, I have
already done it for you, and will now present the results of
my quest in this paper.
The following verses are as clear as a bell. There is no
way to interpret them any other way than that Jesus did in
fact have other family:
"While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and
his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him."
(Matthew 12:46)
"Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called
Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and
Judas?" (Matthew 13:55)
"Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children."
(Matthew 27:56)
"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of
James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his
sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."
(Mark 6:3)
"There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of
Joses, and Salome;" (Mark 15:40)
" His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go
into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that
thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in
secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou
do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did
his brethren believe in him." (John 7:3-5)
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and
supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus,
and with his brethren." (Acts 1:14)
But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's
brother." (Galatians 1:19)
"Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to
them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ, and called:" (Jude 1:1)
We can learn quite a bit from the above verses. First, it
can be easily seen without any need for any kind of
interpretation or speculation, that Jesus had at least four
flesh brothers and two sisters. More specifically, His
brothers' names were: James, Joses, Simon and Judas (aka
Jude). From reading these verses closely, it appears that
at first all of his flesh brothers rejected him as the Son
of God...but then, can anyone really blame them? Put
yourself in their position, and I bet you or I would have
reacted in the same manner. They must have thought He was
crazy or full of pride to claim such things. But notice
what happens after He has done a few miracles. At least
James and Jude came to understand the unique ministry and
calling of their Older Brother and became two of His most
devout disciples. Eventually they would write the epistles
of James and Jude. In the above verses, we also see a hint
that one of Jesus' sisters, (the exact number of which is
not made certain other than to be in the plural), was
possibly called Salome. Because of the way the verse is
worded, it isn't clear as to whether Salome is being
referred to as another child of Mary, the mother of Jesus,
or as a third woman present in this verse apart from Mary
Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus. In either event,
this is probably not the same Salome who asked for the head
of John the Baptist in a platter, unless she later became
a believer, which isn't impossible. After all, Jesus did
say 'With men this is impossible; but with God all things
are possible.' (Matthew 19:26). In short, there were at
least seven children in the family of Joseph and Mary that
we can account for.
Now, those who fight against this idea, particularly the
Catholics, try to use the argument that the word 'brethren'
is kind of nebulous in the Scriptures, just like the word
'cousin.' It is true that both these words have a variety of
meanings in different parts of the Bible. However, even if
we remove some of the above verses which contain the word
'brethren', we are still left with enough to show without a
doubt, in my view, that Jesus was NOT a lone son...And why
should He be? What on Earth could be wrong with Joseph and
Mary having more children? It was a perfectly normally
healthy thing to do, and something which was ordained of God
since the Book of Genesis. The only reason this truth is
fought against is because it exposes another one of the
many false doctrines of the Catholic Church. It tears down
the image of one of their most sacred idols, the Virgin
Mary. As I have stated before, Mary was in deed chosen and
blessed by God to be the vessel for His very own Son, but
that is no reason to set her up on a pedestal such as has
been done within the Catholic faith. Jesus is the one and
only true mediator between God and man. The fact that He had
flesh brothers and sisters in no way detracts from His
divinity or the mission He came to fulfill. He is still the
only begotten Son of God, that is, born of a human woman.