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Hello Fr. The church says Mary had no other children after Jesus. My orthodox study (and other) bible shows different. MATTHEW 1:25. ........and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn. .....?
Answer to Question 477 Matthew begins by giving us the genealogy of Christ and then describes in which way he was born of the Virgin Mary. Some of the verses of this Nativity account have been cause for many who read the English translations to be scandalized with the Church's teaching concerning the virginity of the Mother of God and have been used by Protestants to argue that the Bible says that Mary and Joseph had a normal marriage like most couples and had more children together.
Misunderstood Verse 1: “When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” When western minds read the Nativity story and the part that says: “When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” they automatically assume that because it says “before they came together” then it is logical that they must have come together afterwards. There are three reasons for their assumption, one because the translation they read is not 100% correct, two because they interpret with modern or western thoughts and do not understand that each language has its own ways of expressions that cannot be conveyed in another language without loosing the true meaning and three because they are ignorant of Jewish Law and the customs that prevailed 2000 years ago.
Matthew mentions Mary as espoused, in other words as a fiancé, and a little further down as wife. According to the ancient Jewish Law, the betrothal was the preparation period before the wedding similar to as it is today. The wedding took place when the man received the woman into his house. But the betrothal was a binding relationship with obligations between the betrothed. If for example the man died before the wedding, the woman was considered a widow. After the betrothal and before the wedding, the man was the legal husband and the bond could only be loosed if the man gave the woman a written release and monetary compensation.
The verse in question has been grossly misunderstood and even mistranslated by western minds. When it says “before they came together”: naturally one would assume that it means that they came together afterwards, but this is a total misunderstanding of what is said in the original Greek. In the Greek it is “πρίν ἤ συνελθεῖν αὐτούς”. It is not in the past tense as translated in English, but rather in the infinitive case and should therefore read “before they were to come together”. But even this does not refer to the coming together of the flesh, but to the fact that Mary had not yet moved into Joseph’s house. So in fact it is saying “before Mary went to live together with Joseph”. It cannot mean the marital relationship because the wedding had not yet taken place and Joseph had not received his fiancé into his own home.
Another misunderstood Verse is: “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS”
This is probably the most misunderstood and controversial of all the Nativity passages. The troublesome words are “until” and “firstborn son” At first glance the passage seems to suggest that after the birth of Jesus, Joseph knew Mary intimately and even had other children with her. But what is it actually saying? “And knew her not” means that even though Joseph took her into his house and was legally recognized as his wife, they continued to live as betrothed and had no sexual contact. The word “until” doesn’t necessarily mean that after the birth they came together. Matthew’s attention is completely devoted to the birth of Jesus and not on whether Mary remained a virgin or not. He is giving us details up to the birth and not after.
In scripture we come across the word “until” many times and in many cases it does not mean a change in the circumstances after its insertion. For example we have the account in Genesis where Noah sent out from the ark a raven. “And he sent forth a raven, and it went forth and returned not “until” the water was dried from the earth.” (Septuagint, Gen. 8:7) The passage seems to be saying that the raven returned when the earth dried up. And indeed the water eventually dried up from the earth, but the raven didn’t return. Another example of the use of “until” is the passage from the Psalms and from the Gospels “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?” Are we supposed to interpret this as meaning that Christ is to sit on the right hand of the Father only “until” the submission of his enemies? Will not Christ sit on the right hand even after this and forever and ever?
So, as with these examples, the use of the word “until” in the passage “And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son:” does not necessarily denote a change, but as Joseph did not know Mary in the marital sense before the birth, he did not know her even afterwards. Matthew was concerned with the miraculous birth and not whether after this great event in the history of mankind, the Virgin had other children.
The word firstborn again does not denote that he was the first among other brothers and sisters, but that he is the first and only. In Isaiah its say of God “I the Lord the first” does this mean that there are other Lords besides the One God? No, it means I the one and only God. When the Lord struck down the firstborn of the Egyptians, it says that it also struck Pharaoh’s firstborn. This didn’t mean that Pharaoh had other children; he had only that one child.
Hope this has cleared up some of those niggling doubts concerning the teachings of the Church. Don't forget it was the Church, established by Christ's Apostles, who wrote the Bible so only the Church can give the true interpretation of what she has written.
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