Talking Out Of Turn

A common question which crops up among Christians and non-Christians alike is, was Mary the mother of Jesus perpetually a virgin? Or perhaps to ask it another way, did Jesus have any siblings? I thought I’d collate the relevant verses (in my view, and so far as I’m aware, at least) and let you draw your own conclusion:

• Matthew 12:46: “While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.”
• Matthew 13:55-56: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
• Mark 3:31: “And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.”
• Luke 8:19: “Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.”
• John 7:1-10: “After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.’ After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.”
• Acts 1:14: “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”
• Galatians 1:19: “But I [Paul] saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.”