Where was Joseph?

[ServingHim]

and so the question remains...was Jesus an ONLY CHILD... YES he was. 

Did he have cousins, perhaps half-brothers & sisters?  Perhaps, as Scripture is not clear on this. 

Yes Jesus had half-brothers. Joesph was their father. Joseph was not Jesus father.

In His Love,

Bro John

I agree...Jesus most likely had half-brothers, and yes I KNOW that Joseph was NOT the father of Jesus...duh!!!!

[Guest LCPGUY]

and so the question remains...was Jesus an ONLY CHILD... YES he was.

[BlindSeeker]

Some thoughts from nisbett.com....... which make sense to me.

The husband of Mary (Mt 1:16; Lk 3:23), considered by his contemporaries to be the father of Jesus. He seems earlier to have been widowed and apparently had children by a former marriage (see Brethren of the Lord). While engaged to Mary he discovered that she was to have a child and decided to put her away without exposing her; but after he was informed in a dream that the child had been miraculously conceived, he married her and brought her child up as his own son (Mt 1:18

[nebula]

Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."

[JesusisGod2]

and so the question remains...was Jesus an ONLY CHILD... YES he was.

[traveller]

we as a people need to break away from religous teachings and take the yoke of Christ and learn from Him. We will not be judged upon how well we kept our religous traditions, but on how we kept the commandments of God.

In Jesus

Kevin

True words Kevin! :il:

[ServingHim]

and so the question remains...was Jesus an ONLY CHILD... YES he was.

[ServingHim]

These were half brothers - the sons of Mary.

No, they were possibley half-brothers, sons of Joseph from another marriage...NO WHERE does it say that MARY gave birth to ANYONE ELSE...I it seems as if your reading into the text.... I can accept that possibly those were his 'half' brothers, by fathership of Joseph...the whole point I was trying to make was the Mary did NOT give birth to ANY of these people (except Jesus of course)...and NO WHERE IN scripture does it allude that SHE GAVE BIRTH to ANYONE OTHER than Jesus. I belive that JESUS was HER ONLY CHILD...her FIRSTBORN SON, and HER ONLY SON. I understand now that we were talking about 2 different things...you were defending possible 'HALF-BROTHERS' and I agree that this MIGHT be so, but not with Mary as their birth mother...but possibly Joseph as their birth father.

Matt 1:25 says that Joseph knew her "not until ("heos", in Greek)" she bore a son. If you're trying to PROVE by this verse that Joseph had relations with Mary after she bore a son, then it is weak, IMHO. It would be reading into the text because "not until" does not ALWAYS mean "did not...until after." Instead, "not until" she bore a son means "not up to the point that" she bore a son. This confirms that Mary was a virgin when she bore Jesus. Here are other texts that prove "not until" means "not up to the point that": Matt 28:29 Jesus says "I am with you "until the end of the world." This does not mean Jesus is not with us after the end of the world. And in Luke 1:80, John was in the desert "up to the point of his manifestation to Israel." Not John "was in the desert until after" his manifestation. And in Luke 2:37, Anna was a widow "up to the point that" she was eighty-four years old. She was not a widow after eighty-four years old. And in Luke 20:43, Jesus says, "take your seat at my hand until I have made your enemies your footstool." Jesus is not going to require the apostles to sit at His left hand after their enemies are their footstool. In 1 Tim. 4:13, it says "up to the point that I come," attend to teaching and preaching. It does not mean do nothing "until after" I come. And lastly for now, in Gen 8:7,- the raven flew back and forth "up to the point that" [until] the waters dried from the earth. The raven did not start flying after the waters dried.

So, thanks for a good discussion...I'll stick with what I believe and that is that Jesus was the ONLY SON of Mary, and perhaps he DID have half brothers from his much older father, Joseph...from perhaps a previous marriage in which their mother might have died...we don't know though...the scriptures don't expound on the issue...just as they don't say that Mary gave birth to ANYONE OTHER than our Beloved Savior of the World, Jesus Christ! :il:

[ServingHim]

we as a people need to break away from religous teachings and take the yoke of Christ and learn from Him. We will not be judged upon how well we kept our religous traditions, but on how we kept the commandments of God.

In Jesus

Kevin

True words Kevin! :il:

so true, Kevin, YET I don't believe that it is a sin to defend what the Bible says... living the Truth and also 'sharing' the truth are vital...isn't that why you guys have this 'worthyboard'. I see MANY on here 'teaching' the bible...so when an issue comes up that people disagree on, is it all of a sudden then NOT something that should be discussed.

Perhaps this is why paul said this . . . Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Gal 4:16 . . . because many disagreed with him, but he KNEW that he was telling truth. Nonetheless, I agree with ALL you said, and appreciate you words. Blessings. :il:

[JesusisGod2]

we as a people need to break away from religous teachings and take the yoke of Christ and learn from Him. We will not be judged upon how well we kept our religous traditions, but on how we kept the commandments of God.

In Jesus

Kevin

True words Kevin! :il:

so true, Kevin, YET I don't believe that it is a sin to defend what the Bible says... living the Truth and also 'sharing' the truth are vital...isn't that why you guys have this 'worthyboard'. I see MANY on here 'teaching' the bible...so when an issue comes up that people disagree on, is it all of a sudden then NOT something that should be discussed.

Perhaps this is why paul said this . . . Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Gal 4:16 . . . because many disagreed with him, but he KNEW that he was telling truth. Nonetheless, I agree with ALL you said, and appreciate you words. Blessings. :il:

I hope I am not your enemy and am for certain that I dont count you as mine, I was just pointing out to you that in order to be a half brother of Christ they would have needed to be born of Mary, otherwise they would be step brothers.

Now as far as defending the bible and telling the truth, that has yet to be established, however, I do believe you are sincere in speaking your belief.

But I understand the truth of the matter differently, in that Mary was a virgin up until the birth of Christ and afterwards consumated her marriage to Joseph and had other sons and daughters. This can be backed by the scriptures.

Also to say that Joseph was married and had other children is pure speculation and it dosent even give a hint of evidence in the scriptures. It may be a teaching of the catholic church, This cannot be backed by scripture.

I do appreciate your gentle spirit and your sincerity and I enjoy reading your post.