Why is it that when somebody tries to
explain this to you, then -
YOU repeatedly respond with:
"I would never agree with your Illumination on this matter, so I will just have to walk away from this discussion."
If you
don't want the answer - then
don't ask the question.
This has been explained
ad nauseam on this thread - for those who have bothered to
read the posts.
Here's a
recap . . .
The Greek word
“Adelphos” is used for
MANY other things such as
cousin, uncle, step-brother, half-brother, friend, neighbor, fellow Believer, etc.
Acts 1:15 talks about
"120 SDELPHOI" gathered together to choose a successor for
Judas. Did they
ALL come from the
SAME mother?
NO, because the
12 Apostles are among them and we
KNOW they weren't
ALL siblings.
Did Mary have
other children after Jesus? The Bible
does not support this idea. Let’s see what the
Scriptures say about the use of the word,
“until”.
2 Samuel 6:23 tells us:
Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child UNTIL the day of her death.
Are we to assume that Michal had children
after she died
?
Moses was
buried by God in the valley of Moab after his death.
Deut. 34:6 explicitly states:
And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against Phogor: and no man hath known of his sepulchre UNTIL this present day.
Sooooo – did they find his grave
after this??
Let’s also examine
Acts 2:34-35 (also see Psalm 110:1, Matt 22:44):
For David did not go up into heaven, but he himself said: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand UNTIL I make your enemies your footstool."'
Are we to surmise that Jesus will
cease to sit at the right hand of the Father
after his enemies are made his footstool?
The problem here is that the
anti-Catholic attempts to apply
21st century English to
Hebrew and
Greek from a culture
thousands of years ago.
As to your
FIRST point above in
RED -
Biblical statistics are again onh the
Catholic side.
As I already sated -
"Adelphos" is applied to
brother of same parents, half-brother (same father), uncle, cousin, step-sibling, kinsfolk, same tribe, fellow believer and even
a fellow countryman.
Regarding the
“named brethren” of Jesus – they are from
another Mary, as the
Bible tells us.
We see this woman at the
Crucifixion standing near the cross, alongside
Mary (Mother of Jesus),
Mary Magdalene and
Salome, wife of Zebedee.
This
“other Mary” is called the
“SISTER” (adelphe) of the Mother of Jesus.
(Matt. 27:56, Mark 15:40, John 19:25). She is probably
another relation and
NOT a uterine sister because they have the
SAME NAME. She is called the
“wife of Clopas” (John 19:25).
Now –
“Clopas” is a
Greek name and can be rendered in
Aramaic as
“Alphaeus”. The Apostle,
James the Less, who is named as the
SON of this
“other” Mary is
ALSO the son of
Alphaeus/Clopas (Luke 6:15), along with
Joses (Joseph).
So,
there you have it:
Mary, the
“Sister/relation (Adelphe)” of the Mother of Jesus is the mother of
James and
Joses, et al.
These are the
statistics of the use of
Adelphos(oi) in all of its variations in the New Testament:
There are 244 instances are instances where the word “Adelphos” and all of its variations are used in the NT.
41 times (12%) are cases where "Adelphos" clearly or probably refers to a family sibling.
47 instances (14%) are cases where "Adelphos" may or may not refer to a family sibling.
256 instances (74%) are cases where "Adelphos" cannot or almost certainly does not refer to a family sibling.
So - you can whine
ALL you want about the
"Adelphoi" of Jesus - but the not
only does the Bible
NEVER state that they are
uterine siblings or children of
Mary - it pretty much
GUARANTEES that they are
NOT.
Now - I
FULLY expect you to
end the conversation with
ME as well . . .
