Mini Master Class
On Mary’s perpetual virginity, the Bible itself remains silent.
🤔 That raises a serious, probing question:
If Scripture does not clearly teach it, should believers embrace it?
🔍 What Scripture actually says:
• The Gospel writers never taught the perpetual virginity of Mary.
• Matthew explicitly stated Joseph did not “know” Mary until Jesus was born (Mt. 1:25).
• The New Catholic Bible says Joseph “engaged in no marital relationship with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus”
That STRONGLY implies they did have a normal marital relationship afterward.
• In that verse, Jesus is also called Mary’s firstborn.
That STRONGLY implies Mary did have other children.
• Scripture names Jesus’ brothers (James, Joses, Simon, and Judas) and mentions His sisters—(Mt. 13:55).
• The Greek words used normally mean siblings, not cousins (adelphos and adelpha).
• Those words mean “from the same womb” (a = from, delphos = womb).
📚 Opponents of this view, theorize two main ideas:
- That they were Jesus’ cousins.
- A later, questionable, apocryphal source (the Protoevangelium of James) claims they were Jesus’ stepbrothers (Joseph’s sons by a previous marriage).
If the opposition can’t agree, let’s lean on Matthew 1:25.
💭 So another question arises:
Should later tradition override the plain reading of Scripture?
Or must new insights agree with Scripture to be considered valid?
🌿 Important distinction:
• Mary was extraordinary—but still human.
• She was chosen, faithful, obedient, and holy—but not sinless or divine.
• Upon hearing Elizabeth’s prophetic greeting, she declared, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Lk. 1:46-47).
• So, Mary admitted her need of salvation, her need of a Savior.
• She needed to be born again just like the other disciples in the upper room (Ac. 1:12-14).
🤔Catholicism teaches God “saved” her from original sin and from committing any sin in her life—saving her in a different way than the rest of us.
Acts 1-2 reveals she was in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came in the upper room and they were ALL filled with the Holy Spirit (including Mary). She had to be born again just like the others.
➡️ She points us to Christ.
➡️ She does not replace Him (53 prayers to her in the rosary and none to Jesus)
➡️ She is not elevated to His level.
➡️ She is not our “Redemptrix” or our “Mediatrix.”
👑 Scripture commands us to honor the Son as we honor the Father (Jn. 5:23).
📖 Scripture never commands us to honor Mary in the same way.
🤍 Does honoring Mary require adopting doctrines Scripture never clearly teaches?
💬 Final reflections:
This isn’t about diminishing Mary.
This isn’t about disrespecting tradition.
It is about:
• Holding tradition accountable to Scripture.
• Letting the Word of God remain the final authority.
• Practicing exegesis, not eisegesis.
• Pursuing truth with reverence, humility, and honesty.
Catholics often point out that the early church did not have the Bible.
Early Christians based their beliefs, for about 350 years, on oral tradition.
➡️ But they did have individual copies of the Gospels and the epistles.
➡️ These holy writings were their foundation even then, so . . .
🙏 Let us proceed prayerfully.
📖 Let us read carefully.
🕊️ Let us discuss respectfully.
Let us love one another through it all and . . .
Above all—let the Word of God speak for itself.