Mary Ever-Virgin
Perpetual Virginity of Mary

The Catholic Church    The Protestant Reformers     The Bible

Images in the Bible

The Catholic Church:

    The second Dogma proclaimed by the Church on Virgin Mary is her Perpetual Virginity, defined under anathema in the third canon of the Lateran Council held in the time of Pope Martin I, A.D. 649, insisting the Council that Mary remained "ever-Virgin"... Virgin Mary was a virgin before, during, and perpetually after the birth of Christ (Ante partum, in partu, post partum), a belief also re-asserted during the first decades of the Protestant reformation.

    Even before that, the Council of Constantinople II (553-554) twice referred to Mary as "ever-virgin."... other Councils also refer to the perpetual Virginity of Mary as ever-Virgin, and the Dogmas proclaiming the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption also refer to Mary as ever-Virgin.

    The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, as recited in the Mass, expresses belief in Christ "incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary".

    Church Fathers spoke of Mary as having remained a virgin throughout her life:

    Athanasius (Alexandria, 293-373); Epiphanius (Palestine, 315-403); Jerome (Stridon, present day Yugoslavia, 345-419);      Augustine (Numidia, now Algeria, 354-430); Cyril (Alexandria, 376-444)... St. Irenaeus  Origen  Tertullian  St. John Chrysostom  St. Epiphanius  St. Basil  St. Isidore  St. Ildefonsus  St. Jerome devotes his entire treatise against Helvidius to the perpetual virginity of Our Blessed Lady (see especially nos. 4, 13, 18).

    The contrary doctrine is called:

    - "madness and blasphemy" by Gennadius (De dogm. eccl., lxix),
    - "madness" by Origen (in Luc., h, vii),
    - "sacrilege" by St. Ambrose (De instit. virg., V, xxxv),
    - "impiety and smacking of atheism" by Philostorgius (VI, 2),
    - "perfidy" by St. Bede (hom. v, and xxii),
    - "full of blasphemies" by the author of Prædestin. (i, 84),
    - "perfidy of the Jews" by Pope Siricius (ep. ix, 3),
    - "heresy" by St. Augustine (De Hær. h., lvi).
    - St. Epiphanius probably excels all others in his invectives against the opponents of Our Lady's virginity (Hær., lxxviii, 1, 11, 23)....   See Catholic Encyclopedia

    The Protestant Reformers affirmed their belief that Mary, while remaining every-virgin, was truly the Mother of God:

    Martin Luther (1483-1546):

   It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of the Lord and still a virgin. ... Christ, we believe, came forth from a          womb left perfectly intact. (Weimer's The Works of Luther, English translation by Pelikan, Concordia, St. Louis, v.          11, pp. 319-320; v. 6. p. 510.)

     " This immaculate and perpetual virginity forms, therefore, the just theme of our eulogy. Such was the work of the Holy Ghost, who at the Conception and birth of the Son so favoured the Virgin Mother as to impart to her fecundity while preserving inviolate her perpetual virginity."⁹

    In this work whereby she was made the Mother of God, so many and such great good things were given her that no one can grasp them. ... Not only was Mary the mother of him who is born [in Bethlehem], but of him who, before the world, was eternally born of the Father, from a Mother in time and at the same time man and God. (Weimer's The Works of Luther, English translation by Pelikan, Concordia, St. Louis, v. 7, p. 572.)

    The French reformer John Calvin (1509-1564):

   It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor. ... Elizabeth called Mary Mother of the Lord, because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary as at the same time the eternal God. (Calvini Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Braunschweig-Berlin, 1863-1900, v. 45, p. 348, 35.)

    Calvin also upheld the perpetual virginity of Mary.

    The Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), wrote:

   I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the gospel as a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact Virgin. (Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Berlin, 1905, v. 1, p. 424.)

The Bible:

   In the Bible, it is obvious that Virgin Mary was always Virgin, and she only had one child: Jesus Christ, our Savior.

    1- At Calvary:

    It is obvious that Jesus did not have any other brothers nor sisters, because at Calvary Jesus had to entrust His Mother to a friend, to John, " and from that moment the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn.19:27).
    It would be unthinkable for a Jewish mother to go to live with a friend after the death of her son, if she had any other child of her own!... impossible!.

    2- We call her "virgin":

     Mary, was the name of at least six women of the Bible, including the the Mother of Jesus,  Mary Magdalene, the sister of Lazarus,   the sister of Lazarus, the wife of Cleopas, the mother of Mark, and a Christian in Rome

   We call the Mother of Jesus, "Virgin Mary" to distinguish her from the other 5 Mary in the Bible... and besides, She is called "virgin" in the Bible, and 5 times: 3 times in Lk.1, in Mt.1:23, and in Is.7:14 ... but the only title she gives to herself in the Bible is the "humble servant of the Lord".

    - 26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. (Lk.1:26-27)
    - 34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" (Lk.1:34).
    - 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." (Mt. 1:23).
    - 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Is.7:14)  A prophecy made about Mary 600 years before Her birth, fulfilled in Mat.1:23, above    

3- Before and during the Birth of Jesus:

    Again, it is obvious in the Bible that she was "virgin":

    - The statement of Luke 1:27: "to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary".

   - The conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit in Matt.1 and Luk.1... Mary's question (Luke 1:34), the angel's answer (Luke 1:35, 37), Joseph's way of behaving in his doubt (Matthew 1:19-25), Christ's words addressed to the Jews (John 8:19) show that Mary retained her virginity during the conception of her Divine Son.

    - During the "birth of Jesus" Virgin Mary remained "virgin": The "virginity" is lost in a sexual relation with a man, not in a car accident that may hurt the girl, nor in the delivery of a child... The hymen may be broken in a girl on a car accident, but she is still a virgin!... the moral virginity of a girl is a physiological concept, not an anatomical one.

4- After the Birth of Jesus: Mary did not vave more children: Brothers and sisters of Jesus 

    Some fundamentalists have several questions about this:

    1- Acts 1:14: "All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers".
    This doubt is obviously answered if you read next verse, Acts 1:15:   "In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (numbering about a hundred and twenty)"... do you really think Mary had 120 children?...
    In the time of Jesus, and in our times, many Christians call themselves "brothers", though they are not born of the same mother, they are simply "brothers in Christ"...
    But still more: At that time, the Christians were not called "Christians", but "Brothers of Jesus"... the term "Christians" started to be used in Antioch at the time of St. Paul, as the Bible says (Act.11:26).... and this term "brothers of Jesus" is often used in the New Testament, instead of "Christians", and it is one of the reasons many get confused, obviously under the influence of the father of lies!.

    2- - The word used in the Bible for brother or sister is adelphos (adelpha) in Greek, and this is the same word used in the Bible for cousin, relative, uncle, nephew, near kinsman... because the people in Israel lived in "clans" or "tribes", in groups of may be10 or 15 families, all related, descendants of the same grandparents, but children of different father and mother, and all of them were known as "the brothers"...
    ... So, in the Old Testament, "brother" is used for "nephew" (Gen.12:5), "uncle" (Gen.29: 15), "husband" (Songs.4:9), a member of the same tribe (2Kgs.9:13), of the same people (Exod.2:21), an ally (Amos 1:9), a friend (2 Kgs.1:26), one of the same office (1Sam.9:13)...
    ... In the New Testament, "brother"is used even for people of the same nationality (Acts 3:17), for persons united by a common interest (Mt 5:47), for persons united by a common calling (Rev 22:9), for mankind (Mt 25:40), for the disciples (Mt 23:8), for believers (Mt 23:8)....
    In the Bible, in fact, the term "brother" is used 350 times, mostly not in reference to a natural brother.

    In view of this, we can understand the statements of Mk.6:3 and Matt.13:55

    3- Mark 6:3: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?":
    - First, Jesus is called "the son of Mary", not the "oldest son", nor "the youngest son", there was not possibility of confusion, Mary had only one Son!... never the Bible even mention "the children of Mary" not "the other son or daughter of Mary"... never!.
    - The four brothers of Jesus mentioned are not "flesh brothers", but "cousins":
- James and Joseph were children of Mary the wife of Clopas, the Virgin Mary's sister:
        - If you read  Mark 15:40: "There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph". We know that the father of James the younger was Clopas, the husband of Mary of Clopas (Alphaeus) (Mk.3:18), making Mary of Clopas also the mother of Joseph (Joses).
        - Similar statement is made in Mat.27:56, "Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses (Joseph), and the mother of Zebedee's sons".
            In both cases Mary the mother of James and Joseph, was not Virgin Mary who is usually called in the gospels "the mother of Jesus" or "his mother".
    - Jude and Simon were also not "brothers" of Jesus but "cousins":
        - Jude also was a son of Clopas and the Virgin Mary’s sister, as Scripture speaks of him as a brother of James the younger: "James son of Alphaeus (Clopas), and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James" (Acts 1:13).
        - Jude, in his Letter, introduces himself as "brother of James", the child of Mary Clopas (Jude 1).

     4- In Matthew 13:55: Similar statement is made as in Mark 6:3, "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?", being James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude in fact the same James, Joseph, Simon and Jude just determined to be cousins of Jesus, not His "flesh-brothers".

    5- Matthew 1:25: "But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus".
   This word "until" in Greek is "heos", translates for "until or before", and does not imply anything about what happens after the time indicated.
    Please read these brief quotations:
    - "As to Michal daughter of Saul, she had no child till the day of her death" (2Sam.6:23 YLT)... does it mean that Michael had children after the day of her death?
   - "I am till you grow old" (Is.46:4)... Does it mean that when they grow old God ceases to be?..`
    -  "The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." (Psalm 110:1)... Shall he sit no longer after his enemies are subdued?"
   This verse 25, the last one of Matthew 1, is Matthews's summary, or corollary, or bottom line, of all the previous verses 18-24, on how the conception of Jesus happened, without any intervention of Joseph... to interpret it other way, and specially as that Joseph had sexual relations with Virgin Mary after the birth of Jesus, is to change the whole meaning of the chapter, it is nothing but a false interpretation of Satan. 

    6- Luke 2:7: "And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths"
    The term "first-born" was a legal term under the Mosaic Law referring to the first male child born to Jewish parents regardless of any other children following or not... Hence when Jesus is called the "first-born" of Mary it does not mean that there were second or third-born children.
    The Jewish Law required every "first-born" to be consecrated to God forty days after their birth, it was a great privilege to be the "first-born"!: "Consecrate to me all the first-born; whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine." (Exodus 13:2).
   Further, the Greek word "prototokos", "first-born", is used of Christ as born of Mary in Lk.2:7, and of Christ's relationship to His Father in Col 1:15... As the word does not imply other children of God the Father, neither does it imply other children of Mary... except, of course, many spiritual children of God the Father, and many spiritual children of Mother Mary, praise the Lord!.

    This last sentence is a good reminder that Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is also your Mother, because, in fact, she has many millions of spiritual children... she is your Mother, know it or not, believe it or not, like it or not... it is a fact revealed by God Himself!... if you have an important, but unsolvable problem, Try Her!... you will see wonders in your life!, praise the Lord!.

    7- At Calvary is obvious that Jesus had not any natural brother or sister, that's why he had to commend his Mother to a relative and friend, to John, who received her at his own home, as testified by the same John (Jn19:27)... for a Jewish mother it would have been unthinkable to go to live at the home of a friend after her son's death if she had another natural child... simple impossible!... but Virgin Mary had only one child, and now he was death. Mary, ever Virgin.

    In the four gospels there are a total of four women listed as being at the foot of the cross:

1. Mary – mother of Jesus
2. Mary Magdalene – listed in all four gospels.
3. Mary (the wife of Clopas), the mother of James (the younger), Joseph (Joses), and Salome.
4. Joanne, the sister of Jesus's mother (Jesus's aunt) who was the mother of James and John, the sons' of Zebedee.

    8- "Christians" and "brothers of Jesus": "Christians" were not called "Christians" until Antioch, in the times of St. Paul , The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:26)... until then they were called the "brothers of Jesus". In Acts 1:14 the "brothers of Jesus" are also mentioned, and in the next verse, 1:15, Peter states that at that time there were about 120 brothers of Jesus, not 120 natural children of Mary!, as some wrongly believe. After Acts 11 never appears the expression "brothers of Jesus" in the New Testament but "Christians"

    - Brothers and sisters of Jesus 
    - http://www.trosch.org/the/brothers.html

E- Mail to: J. Dominguez, M.D.   Last edition: February 2006