Mary's Perpetual Virginity Made Simple
Hello friends! And welcome to the Catholic Made Simple blog! With this blog, I am just attempting to make Catholic teachings as simple and interesting as I can! They are not meant to be exhaustive defenses, just enough information to clarify things! I hope to help you discover the truth of the faith, especially as it is laid out in Scripture.
Want clarification and Biblical support on a Catholic topic? Leave a comment!
What's the Scoop?
Today's topic is Mary's Virginity. The Catholic Church believes that Mary was a virgin before Jesus' birth, as well as after. The Church agrees with St. Augustine, when he says: Mary "remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin" (CCC 2692). Mary's virginity is a sign of her complete consecration to God and surrender to his will.
Some non-Catholics disagree that she was an ever-virgin because they believe that there are places in Scripture that contradict it.
Is it in the Bible?
Yes! It is easiest to separate Mary's virginity into two sections: First, before Jesus is born, and second, after Jesus is born.
First, before Jesus is born. Virtually all Christians agree that Mary was a virgin before Jesus was born. This is because of Luke's gospel, where he writes that the angel Gabriel was sent "to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph... and the virgin's name was Mary" (Luke 1:27). So we know that Mary was a virgin before she conceived Jesus. Then, Matthew writes that after Joseph had taken Mary as his wife, he "had no relations with her until she bore a son" (Matthew 1:25). So we know that, up to the moment of Jesus' birth, Mary was definitely a virgin. I do not know of a Christian denomination that would deny this.
Where non-Catholics have more issues is Mary's virginity after Jesus is born. I mean, there are verses that talk about Jesus' brothers, right? And wouldn't a healthy marriage between Joseph and Mary have sex involved?
Luckily, there are verses in Scripture that answer these objections! The first clue to Mary's lifelong virginity is in Luke 1. When the angel Gabriel visits Mary, she is betrothed to Joseph. That means that her and Joseph are legally married, but have not had sex yet. When couples were betrothed, they were committed for life to the marriage except in cases of death or divorce. Usually the betrothal period would last a year, while the bridegroom prepared a house for his wife and future family, and prepared for the wedding feast.
When the angel visits Mary, he tells her she will soon conceive and bear a son. But Mary is shocked at this! "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" This is an odd question to ask, considering Mary would have been very close to consummating the marriage with Joseph. Wouldn't it make sense for her to get pregnant shortly after the marriage is complete? However, reading this verse in its original language tells us another clue: When Mary says she hasn't had relations with a man, it is comparable to a person saying "I have never smoked, and I don't ever plan to smoke." So Mary is really saying to the angel, "How can this be, since I'm planning to never have relations?"
This would also make sense with the above verse, that even though Joseph took Mary as his wife, he "had no relations with her until she bore a son." That means that Joseph and Mary didn't have sex on the night of the wedding feasts, or in the first two months of marriage, or at all, at least until Jesus was born! [Side note: It is worth mentioning that the Greek word for "until" does not imply that Mary and Joseph had sex after Jesus was born. It is just stating that they didn't up until that point. Other verses in Scripture that prove this include Matthew 22:44, Matthew 28:20, and 2 Samuel 6:23.]
So why wouldn't they have sex? Well, in the book of Numbers, we find out that Jewish women could dedicate themselves to be lifelong consecrated virgins, as long as their fathers and/or their husbands accepted it. In an early-church text (not from the Bible) called "The Protoevangelium of James," we read that indeed Mary was a lifelong virgin, consecrated in the temple as a young girl. Again, this is not Scriptural, but it could provide an idea as to why the Gospel writers make these surprising comments!
Now, for the all-important point on Jesus' brothers! The verse in question is from Mark 6:3, which says, "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" This is actually a very simple problem, because the Bible itself tells us that James and Joses are actually the sons of another Mary! Later in Mark's gospel, we hear that James and Joses are sons of "another Mary," not Mary, the mother of Jesus. The gospel of John calls this Mary the wife of Clopas, who we know from Tradition is actually Jesus' uncle. So it is likely that James and Joses were actually first cousins to Jesus, and the word "brother" is simply used as a Jewish expression for a very close relative.
So that's the gist! There are other proofs for Mary's perpetual virginity as well, such as Jesus giving his mother to John at the cross, rather than any of his "brothers" or other family members, but we will not get into those! For now, hopefully the above arguments suffice!
Did Early Christians Believe Mary Was An Ever-Virgin?
Yes! As mentioned earlier, the Protoevangelium of James is very concerned with the virginity of Mary. And early Church Fathers like Origen, Athanasius, and Jerome all argued that Mary was a perpetual virgin.
In fact, from the time of the early Church, there have hardly been any dissenters on Mary's perpetual virginity - until the modern day...even the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, held that Mary was an ever-virgin!
So What Am I Supposed To Do Now?
Now, we should thank Mary for her sacrifice of virginity for the sake of dedicating herself completely to our Lord! And it was a sacrifice for St. Joseph as well! They are beautiful examples of keeping our priorities straight and centering our lives completely around Christ.
Dear Mother Mary, thank you for sacrificing your life to take care of Jesus and for completely surrendering to Him. Please help me to make that same offering, and to follow Him in whatever way he asks, even if it seems difficult or unpopular. Help me to always be faithful to him.
Amen.
I hope this blog post made Mary's Perpetual Virginity simple for you! Let me know your thoughts! Looking forward to seeing you next time, with our very important post on... Purgatory!
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