hi father, i come across 1 article rebuking about the so called " jesus tomb" n at the bottom of the article, i came across this, all the sources agree that jesus had at least 4 brothers and 2 sisters, in mark 6, they said isnt this the son of mary and brother of james and joses and judas and simon and are not his sisters here with us , well, someone told me that at that theres something such as brother n sister in christ, but i am not quite convinced yet, than according to the historian hegesippus(c1100180CE), as quoted by eusibius(c260-340E)descendants of jesus brothers continued to lead the jerusalem church until the early second century CE if i am to look at this matter deep in theology studies, how should it be? thanks. :)

The Hebrew language used the same root words to refer to siblings, step siblings, and relatives. Probably a better way to translate references to these relations of our Lord would be "kinfolk" or something equivalent. True, the New Testament was written in Greek but it still reflects the semitic background. We know with certitude from Church tradition that Mary was ever Virgin and therefore this precludes siblings of Jesus. Furthermore, if there were brothers, then why would our Lord entrust his mother to an Apostle, as he was dying on the Cross, rather than a sibling?

Thanks, Adrian

Father Echert

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