Brothers of Jesus

The brothers of Jesus or the adelphoi (Greek: ἀδελφοί, translit. adelphoí, lit. "of the same womb")^[1]^{[Notes 1]} are named in the New Testament as James, Joses (a form of Joseph), Simon, Jude,^[2] and unnamed sisters are mentioned in Mark and Matthew.^[3] They may have been: (1) the sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph, (2) sons of Mary the wife of Cleophas and sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus; or (3) sons of Joseph by a former marriage.

Those who uphold the perpetual virginity of Mary reject the idea of biological brethren and maintain that the brothers and sisters were either cousins of Jesus (option 2, the position of the Catholic Church) or children of Joseph from a previous marriage (option 3, the Eastern Orthodox Churches).^[4] Some Lutheran Churches have accepted both option 2 and option 3 as being valid explanations for the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary.^[5]^[6]

^ Segal 1999, p. 184.
^ Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 237.
^ Bauckham 2015, p. 8.
^ Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 237-238.
^ Futrell, Rich (27 April 2013). "What are We to Make of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary?". Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
^ Cite error: The named reference Erasmus1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=Notes> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Notes}} template (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTESegal1999184-1] Segal 1999, p. 184.

[FOOTNOTECrossLivingstone2005237-3] Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 237.

[FOOTNOTEBauckham20158-4] Bauckham 2015, p. 8.

[FOOTNOTECrossLivingstone2005237-238-5] Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 237-238.

[Futrell2013-6] Futrell, Rich (27 April 2013). "What are We to Make of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary?". Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. Retrieved 18 September 2023.

[Erasmus1998-7] Cite error: The named reference Erasmus1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1]

[Notes 1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]