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NASB | Matthew 12:46 ¶ While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 12:46 ¶ While He was still talking to the crowds, it happened that His mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to Him. [Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21] |
Subject: Jesus brothers. |
Bible Note: Greetings Emmaus! I fully agree with Jerome's point about the word 'firstborn'. Every firstborn is firstborn, but it does not necessarily follow that other children were born. However, as you know, I take a different position than you on the issue of Mary having other children. As such, I disagree with Jerome's argument concerning the word 'until'. The word clearly does not indicate that Joseph and Mary had sexual relations at the exact moment that Mary delivered Jesus. This is clearly a hyper literalistic attempt to descredit the clear meaning of the phrase. Allow me to illustrate from Matthew how the word 'heos' is used with verbs. Matthew 2:13 says, "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.'" Matthew 2:15 records, "where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'" The word 'until' does not mean that they only stayed in Egypt until the exact second of Herod's birth and then returned. It simply means that there stay in Egypt was to extend until Herod's death. At some point after that event, they would return. In fact, this is exactly what Mt. 2:19 records. An angel tells Joseph in a dream that Herod has died and that they can return. Nothing in the word 'until' indicates that they immediately left for Israel in the middle of the night! :-) Mt. 5:26 speaks of someone not getting out of prison 'until' he has paid the last penny owed. Mt. 10:11 speaks of staying in a house 'until' you leave. So, I would respectfully argue that the nature of the adverb 'until' definitely indicates that Joseph did not have sexual relations with Mary until some point after the birth of Jesus, but that they did in fact after that point. If the verse meant that Joseph and Mary never had sexual relations, Matthew simply could have left out the word 'heos' and his meaning would have been quite clear. :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |