Question:

What does the Holy Bible say about Saint Mary? Did she marry Lord Jesus’ birth?  Who are Jesus’ brothers?

And does this verse “The LORD said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it” indicate that Saint Mary didn’t marry?

Answer:

Yes, Joseph definitely married Mary.  This is recorded in Matthew1:24-25 which definitely implies that she “had union” with him after the birth of Jesus.  Besides, we know from more than one passage that Jesus had (half) brothers and sisters.

We know the name of four of Jesus’ brothers.  James, the Brother of Jesus is a significant person in the New Testament, being found in Acts, Galatians and also having written the book of James.  Josephus reports his death as a martyr in AD 63.  The other brother of Jesus we know something about is Jude.  We know much less about him, but tradition is that Jude, the brother of Jesus, is the author of Jude.  From Matthew 13:55 we also know the names of two more of Jesus’ brothers, Joseph and Simon.  We can conclude from this same verse that Jesus had at least two sisters, as the plural is used in this verse.

Given these facts, including the record of the non-Christian historian Josephus, we can be sure that the passage you quote is NOT talking about Mary not marrying!   Using Ezekiel 44:2 to “prove” that Mary did not have children is just about the most blatant example of the bogus use of proof-texts I have ever seen.  No one would ever believe this unless they were looking for support for a conclusion they had before making the investigation.  This is a vision of the temple and its restoration under Cyrus, as was fulfilled in 516 BC.  To apply this to Mary is to stretch the scripture beyond measure.

John Oakes

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