Black Monk Rosarios LLC

   The Catholic Church has always taught that Mary remained a virgin her entire life, but most Protestants contend that she had more children after Jesus. The arguments employed to debunk Mary’s perpetual virginity are based upon misunderstanding of basic Bible verses and terms. One of the most commonly used arguments is based on (Matt 1:25),"and he did not know her until she brought forth her firstborn son." Protestants argue that the word "until" indicates that Mary and Joseph engaged in conjugal love after the birth of Jesus. The problem is they use the modern meaning of "until," instead of its Biblical meaning. In the Bible, “until” means only that some action did not happen up to a certain point; it does not imply that an action happened later. A perfect example is (2 Sam 6:23), “ Michal the daughter of Saul had no children until the day of her death” Does this verse mean Michal had children after her death? Of course not, no one would believe that. 
  Protestants also use (Matt 1:25) to claim Jesus could not be Mary's "first-born" unless there were other children, but this shows their ignorance of the way the ancient Jews used this term. The first male child of a marriage was termed the "first-born" even if he turned out to be a only child. Jewish parents did not have to wait until a second son was born before they could call their first the "first-born". 
  One last area of confusion is in which the terms "brothers," and "sisters " of the Lord are used in the Bible. One must first understand the reason for the confusion. Modern Protestants are unaware that in the Hebrew and Aramaic languages spoken by Christ and His disciples did not have special words to denote cousin or kinsman. In the Bible “ brother ” and “sister ” are not restricted to their modern meaning. When reading the Bible, one must look at the context of each verse in order to understand it. Furthermore, in every passage that refers to Jesus' brothers or sisters, the sacred authors were very careful to only call Jesus the son of Mary, no one else. This is evidence that the early Christians understood Mary’s perpetual virginity, and that the brothers and sisters of the Lord were relatives nothing more. 
  The Biblical evidence that supports the belief in Mary's perpetual virginity is overwhelming. First, the account of Jesus being found in the temple at age twelve (Lk 2:41-51). There is no mention or even a hint of other children. The probability of Mary and Joseph having more children if they were sexually active would have been a forgone conclusion, because the ancient Jews didn’t practice any form of birth control. Second, Jesus' action at the foot of the cross, when He entrusted his mother to John, makes no sense if Mary had other sons (Jn 19:25-28). If Jesus actually had brothers, it would have been customary by Jewish law that he bequeath her care to them. Instead he chose St. John the apostle, who was not related to Him by blood. The reality is that there is no biblical basis for rejecting Mary's perpetual virginity, but there is compelling evidence to support it.