© 2009 Jan Herca (license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0)
This issue has been one of the most controversial and contentious throughout the centuries of Christianity. Due to certain references in the New Testament, a question arises: Did Jesus have other siblings? Or was he an only child?
The answer to this question would be entirely irrelevant were it not for the fact that Christianity posited a series of dogmas and beliefs surrounding Jesus’s mother, Mary, that directly conflict with the idea that he had other children besides Jesus. For what significance could it have that Jesus was an only child or had more siblings? Does this undermine his possible divine origin? Does it make him seem more human? Does it render his teachings about “a universal family, that we are all sons and daughters of God and therefore should treat one another as brothers and sisters” less true, or, on the contrary, does it enhance them in a more clarifying context?
Personally, I believe this matter has surpassed the bounds of reason and has become a mystery and a matter of blind faith. Many people here don’t try to determine, through historical and verified evidence, whether there is sufficient evidence to believe that Jesus had more than one family, but rather seek to strengthen and defend predetermined beliefs and postulates. Therefore, we will attempt to offer a summary of the situation, without advocating for any one position, and let the reader judge for themselves.
First of all, it must be said that there is no conclusive, definitive evidence to support the idea that Jesus had more brothers. Opponents of this idea have found countless inconsistencies, making it difficult for its proponents to find a solution. Recently, an archaeological discovery came to light in Israel of an ossuary bearing the inscription “Jacob, son of Joseph and brother of Jesus,” which, it turns out, was a fraud.[1] But if it had been authentic, would that have provided conclusive proof? Apparently not, which indicates how unprovable either view is.
Basically, there are two positions on the issue, and what I’m going to try to do is examine the evidence that each of them provides as arguments in their favor.
¶ Position A: Jesus had no brothers, he was an only child
The most important evidence presented is summarized as follows:
1. The references to “brothers” and “sisters” in the New Testament are due to a vague translation, but they should not be taken literally. Greek clearly distinguishes between brother (aldelphos), sister (adelphe), cousin (anepsios), and relative (synguenis). But in Hebrew or Aramaic, the word for brother (ah) could designate other kinship relationships, such as cousin.
Some evidence for this interpretation can be found in the Old Testament: “Then Moses called for Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, ‘Come near and bring your brothers out of the holy place outside the camp’” (Leviticus 10:4), where the brothers were actually sons of their cousin Aaron; Abraham tells Lot “we are brothers” (Genesis 13:8), when we know that they were actually uncle and nephew ((Genesis 11:26-28)[/en/Bible/Genesis/11#v26], Genesis 12:5).
2. The names of Jesus’ “brothers” mentioned in the Gospels (Mt 13:55; Mc 6:3) could be explained as “cousins,” sons of Jesus’ uncles, who could be Cleopas and Mary, mentioned as parents of “James the younger and Joseph” (Mt 27:56; Mc 14:40; Jn 19:25).
«Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not all his sisters with us?» Mt 13:55
“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?” Mk 6:3
«Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee to assist him were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee» Mt 27:56
«Some women were watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Younger and Joseph, and Salome, who had followed Jesus and had ministered to him when he was in Galilee. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem» Mk 14:40
«Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene» Jn 19:25
These passages and others seem to establish that at the foot of the cross stood a group of women, whose names are offered as those to whom Jesus later appeared first:
- Mary of Magdala (she is the most mentioned as a beneficiary of Jesus’ appearances: Mt 27:61, 28:1; Mc 15:47, 16:1, 16:9; Lc 24:10; Jn 20:1, 20:11-18 and she also appears clearly mentioned in Lc 8:2),
- Mary the wife of Clopas, sister of Mary, mother of James the younger and of Joseph,
- Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward,
- Salome, wife of Zebedee, mother of the apostles James and John,
- possibly also there was Susanna, a follower of Jesus mentioned in Luke 8:2.
Cleopas and Mary seem like suitable candidates as Jesus’ uncles, whose children were mistaken for Jesus’s siblings. From what we’re told, their mother, Mary, frequently accompanied Jesus, and this suggests that her children were also somewhat followers of Jesus.
3. In the New Testament letter of Jude, he introduces himself as “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (Jude 1). Why doesn’t he say “Jude, the brother of Jesus Christ and of James”? The idea is that they were not, in fact, brothers of the flesh, as James was of Jude.
4. The few testimonies we have about Jesus’ adolescence do not seem to indicate that Jesus had any siblings. When he went with his parents to Jerusalem, he seems to be the only one accompanying them:
«Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. When the child was twelve years old, they went up to celebrate the Passover, as was the custom. After the festival was over, as they were returning, the child Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. They thought he was in the procession. When the first day’s journey was over, they looked for him among their relatives and friends.» Luke 2:41-45
Did they go looking for Jesus without their children? It doesn’t seem likely, which supports the idea that Jesus had no brothers.
5. Jesus asks his apostle John to care for his mother Mary (Jn 19:26-27). If he had other siblings, it doesn’t seem appropriate to entrust her with this guardianship. In that case, he wouldn’t leave Mary alone.
6. When mention is made of Jesus’ “brothers” and “sisters,” it is never explicitly stated that they were sons and daughters of Mary, but only this is stated of Jesus (Mt 13:55; Mc 6:3).
7. Ancient texts such as the Protoevangelium of James, dated between 140 and 170 AD, present a vision of Mary as a woman dedicated to religious service, part of the congregation of “virgins of the temple of Jerusalem.” It shows Joseph taking care of her as a husband, but he was a widower and already had children from his previous marriage.
«And Joseph laid aside his utensils and went out to join the other widowers, and they all gathered together to meet the high priest. […]» Protoevangelium of James 9:1
«But Joseph refused, saying, I am old and have sons, but she is a child. […]» Protoevangelium of James 9:2
In summary:
As we see, this position led, from the earliest Christian era, to at least two possible theories: either the “brothers” and “sisters” mentioned in the writings referred to Jesus’s cousins, children of his mother’s sister; or they referred to children from Joseph’s previous marriage, and therefore to Jesus’s stepbrothers and sisters. This second theory has even more points in its favor. The word “brother” and “sister” would not be entirely inappropriate and would justify the silence that falls on Joseph in the Gospels during Jesus’ adult life. Since Joseph was considered elderly and a widower, it is reasonable to assume that he died some time before. The passage John 7:1-9 also has a suitable tone, where Jesus’ brothers harshly criticize him for not appearing more in public. Some say that this criticism would make no sense unless Jesus’ brothers were clearly older than he was.
Of course, this has been the official position of Christian churches from the beginning of Christianity to the present day, especially in those churches where the belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity became a dogma of faith. Some Protestant churches denied this idea.
¶ Position B: Jesus had at least six brothers and sisters
This position can be summarized as follows: Joseph and Mary married young, like any other couple of their time. Their first child was Jesus, but after him they had four more sons and at least two daughters, who are mentioned in the Gospels and other writings.
The points in favor of those who think this way can be summarized as follows:
1. The fact that the Aramaic word ah for brother is in fact a vague translation does not mean that the Greek translation is the same. The evangelist Luke wrote his gospel in Greek and did careful research before writing (Luke 1:3). In the passage Luke 8:19-21 he uses the Greek word adelphos, which explicitly means full brother. Luke does not write cousin (anepsios), nor foster brother (syntrophos), nor half-brother (plêgenês), nor kinsman (synguenis). On the other hand, if in early Christianity it was so clear that Jesus was an only son and that the aforementioned “brothers” were cousins or stepbrothers, then why did all the Greek translators insist on using “adelphos,” which is a term that clearly designates a brother? Why didn’t they use anepsios or plêgenês?
2. The Jewish religion had a very different conception of marriage than that which ancient Christianity seems to convey. Living together without being married was strictly forbidden, and the possibility of a vow of virginity and celibacy within marriage was not admitted. God ordered spouses not to deny themselves sexually to one another except for a brief time, by mutual consent, and in order to devote themselves to prayer (this seems to be what Paul, who had a deep Pharisaical training in 1 Cor 7:3-5) suggests. If position A is true, there is no doubt that Mary and Joseph violated these norms. Furthermore, if Mary and Joseph did not have sexual relations, they could never have been spouses, since the marriage never materialized, which is a biblical, civil, and ecclesiastical foundation for being spouses.
In the customary Jewish wedding ceremony of Jesus’ time, the bride and groom had to spend their first night in the bridal chamber, or cheder, and “two friends of the bridegroom” had to watch that nothing would prevent the consummation of the marriage, that is, their first sexual relations. Furthermore, in the account of the Annunciation, we do not hear the archangel order Mary to abstain from sexual relations with her husband (Luke 1:26-38). He merely announces to her that she will be the mother of a “special” son. But he does not prohibit her from having other children.
3. From a Jewish sociocultural perspective, it was an honor for a married woman to have many children, and for a man it was a blessing (Ps 127:4.5). No scripture states categorically that Mary had no other children after Jesus. We are only told that Jesus had half-brothers or cousins, but this does not exclude the other possibility.
4. All the mentions of Jesus’ “brothers” and “sisters” are in conjunction with mentions of his mother Mary (Mk 3:31-15; Mt 12:46-50; Lk 8:19-21; Acts 1:14). Isn’t that a bit unusual, if they were his cousins? Were his cousins constantly at their “Aunt Mary”’s side?
5. One argument against the brothers mentioned in several Gospels being half-brothers, sons of Joseph from a previous marriage, is found in the story of Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem. When they left for Egypt, the evangelist says, “Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt” (Mt 2:14). If they were Joseph’s previous sons, why is there no mention of them in the account? As can be seen, it is a similar argument to the one used in “position A” when they talk about the event of Jesus and his parents’ visit to Jerusalem at the age of twelve.
6. Why did the idea that Mary was the mother of Jesus, a divine being, imply that she and her father could not have sexual relations? One of the Church Fathers, Origen, stated: “…that body which was chosen to serve the Word and of which it is said: ‘The Holy Spirit will descend upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you’ knew no union with a man, because the Holy Spirit descended upon it and it was overshadowed by the power from on high. I reasonably maintain that the first fruit of purity and chastity for men is Jesus and that for women is Mary. Indeed, it would not be in accordance with piety to attribute the first fruit of virginity to someone other than her.”
Doesn’t this text give the impression that virginity is a model to follow? Just as Jesus remained celibate, creating a role model for men, the early Christian church looked to Mary for a similar feminine role model.
In summary:
This position demonstrates fairly well that the “cousins” theory lacks foundation, but it runs into a stumbling block in proving that Jesus’s “brothers” were not half-brothers, children of Joseph’s other marriage. The truth is that, as can be seen, there is evidence that seems to point in one direction as well as the other. Both theories, “full brothers” or “stepbrothers,” seem to fit very well with one or the other passages of the Gospels.
¶ Which one to choose?
Without further documentary evidence, it is entirely inappropriate to say that the matter is settled and that the evidence points in only one direction. Personally, I have leaned toward the “full brothers” solution because the other seems to be a later postulate in Christianity to demonstrate Mary’s virginity. The oldest document that explicitly narrates that Mary was a second wife to an elderly Joseph is the Protoevangelium of James, which was written long after the canonical gospels. Furthermore, if you read this protoevangelium, you will see that the story of Joseph’s marriage to Mary is preceded by the account of Mary’s birth and her childhood as a “virgin in the temple.” Everything seems to delve into the idea that Mary was a special woman. Her conception was announced to her parents in a similar way to how Jesus was later announced to her. The author seeks to establish a parallel between Mary, the Christian female prototype, and Jesus, the male. This is confirmed by the fact that Joseph, throughout this story, seems like a completely secondary character, somewhat inappropriate for Jewish custom but more to the liking of Gentile Christians.
Ultimately, I think the whole discussion is really about the eternal dilemma of whether Mary, the mother of Jesus, was that “very special” person whom many devout Christians have venerated and continue to venerate, and about whom the Catholic Church has approved five dogmas, or, on the contrary, was an ordinary woman of her time. But we won’t continue down this path because there will be time to address it in other articles.
Personally, I have no reason to prefer one solution to the problem over the other. Whether Jesus was an only son or had a number of siblings, I believe it’s not important for knowing him and learning his teachings.
But if we reflect and try to imagine Jesus’s motives for his incarnation, we will realize that Jesus seemed to want to live within a normal, average family of his time. That’s why he chose a Jewish family like Joseph and Mary. And this only makes me think that if what he was looking for was a typical family environment, the normal thing in Jewish times and culture was to have many siblings and live in a large family setting where grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings often lived together, met frequently, and even formed communal homes for the entire clan. Only if we understand that Jesus came to live and experience firsthand a full and complete human life will we realize that being an only child would have deprived him of precisely the great educational benefits that come with having siblings. And only in light of the precise experience of being an older brother can many of the comparisons and parables about family relationships that Jesus was so good at relating to his listeners be explained and clarified.
¶ External links
¶ References
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Various authors, The Urantia Book, 1955.
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New Testament, La Casa de la Biblia, 1992.