In what kind of relationship did Mary and Joseph live together after the birth of Jesus?

[Andriya]

According to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Joseph took care of Mary when she was 12 years old as she had reached puberty and so she had to leave the temple. It seems that Joseph's task was to keep Mary a virgin. According to the Gospel of James, Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit at the age of 16. What is missing from the Gospel of James is the section of Mary's life after the birth of Jesus. Therefore my question: Is it known if or when Mary and Joseph got married?

[Jayne]

3 hours ago, Andriya said:

According to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Joseph took care of Mary when she was 12 years old as she had reached puberty and so she had to leave the temple. It seems that Joseph's task was to keep Mary a virgin. According to the Gospel of James, Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit at the age of 16. What is missing from the Gospel of James is the section of Mary's life after the birth of Jesus. Therefore my question: Is it known if or when Mary and Joseph got married?

Let me answer your question first, and then I have something to tell you, but I'll put it in a second post.

Yes, we know "if or when" Mary and Joseph got married.  The Bible says this:

• Matthew 1:18 - "Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.".  There was an INTENT to be married from the beginning between these two people which is DENIED by the gospel of James.  The gospel of James says that Mary came to live with Joseph when he was an old man and she was 12 and living in the Temple with the chief priests and being fed by angels as "the virgin of the Lord" since the age of three.  Joseph was chosen by the chief priests to take care of her and be her husband.  He did not want this responsibility and balked at it.  It offended him. He only took her into his home because he was frightened by the priests into doing so.  You see, the gospel of James contradicts the Bible.

 

• Matthew 1:24-25 - "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son."  As I said, there was an intent to marry and they DID marry.  And they DID, as this verse says, have normal sexual relations as husband and wife after Jesus was born.   It's very clear that they did marry.  How old were they?  That, we will never know.  The Bible does not tell  us that.

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Jayne

[Jayne]

4 hours ago, Andriya said:

According to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Joseph took care of Mary when she was 12 years old as she had reached puberty and so she had to leave the temple........

Andriya,

The gospel of James, also called the Infancy Gospel of James, is a false, false book.  I encourage you to discard it and never look back.

I've read the whole thing twice this morning.  It's very short and only takes about 20 minutes to read.

Here are the problems:

• This false book teaches that Mary went to live with the priests in the Temple when she was three and was fed by angels.  In chapters 6 and 7 it says that the priests blessed her and claimed that "“The Lord God has magnified your name among all the generations. Through you, the Lord will reveal his redemption of the people of Israel in the last days.”  How would the priests know this when she was three?"  And even if they DID know it, then why didn't they accept Jesus as that proof of what they said?
• This false book claims in chapters 12-13 that Mary "forgot the mysteries" that Gabriel revealed to her and had no idea what to say to either Elizabeth or Joseph.
• It also falsely claims that Herod, when declaring the baby boys to be slaughtered wanted to kill John the Baptist, too.  John the Baptist was only "John the baby" at that point.  He had no credentials.  No one knew that Jesus was the Messiah, so how could anyone know that John was the cousin of the Messiah?  Besides, the BIBLE says that Herod only had the baby boys of Bethlehem slaughtered.  John the Baptist and his family were not from Bethlehem.  He was never in danger.
• But yet, it says that John's mother ran with him and his father was murdered in the Temple because he would not tell Herod where his son was.  It claims that John's mother prayed to the mountain and the mountain opened up and an angel protected them.  How can that be true when they were never in danger?
• Lastly, it claims that Mary heard about Herod wanting to kill the babies and she hid Jesus in a manger with the cows.  The Bible says it was JOSEPH who was warned in a dream the night the Wise Men left to flee to Egypt with his family because Herod was going to going to start a search for him.

There are other problems, but I will just repeat - let go of this book and turn your attention to what the Bible has to say.

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Jayne

[missmuffet]

5 hours ago, Andriya said:

According to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Joseph took care of Mary when she was 12 years old as she had reached puberty and so she had to leave the temple. It seems that Joseph's task was to keep Mary a virgin. According to the Gospel of James, Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit at the age of 16. What is missing from the Gospel of James is the section of Mary's life after the birth of Jesus. Therefore my question: Is it known if or when Mary and Joseph got married?

The Holy Bible doesn't say that Joseph took care of Mary when she was 12 years old. The Bible doesn't mention Mary's life after the birth of Jesus. 

There are three passages of Scripture that pertain specifically to the time of Joseph and Mary’s betrothal, the consummation of their marriage, and the birth of Jesus: Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-56; Luke 2:1-7. Each passage reveals something about their relationship as well as the cultural mores of that time.

In Bible times, Jewish marriage customs regarding a couple’s engagement were far different and much more stringent than those we are familiar with today, especially in the West. Marriages were arranged by the parents of the bride and groom and often without even consulting the couple to be married. A contract was prepared in which the groom’s parents paid a bride price. Such a contract was immediately deemed binding, with the couple considered married even though the actual ceremony and consummation of the marriage would not occur for as long as a year afterwards. The time between was a sort of testing of fidelity with the couple having little, if any, contact with each other.

It was during this betrothal period that the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her of her impending pregnancy. It’s no small wonder that Mary was so inquisitive of the angel; she was still a virgin and would know no man sexually for several months, maybe as long as a year or more (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:34).

Joseph soon became aware of Mary’s pregnancy, and this no doubt was cause for consternation on his part: “Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:19). Jewish custom allowed that they be considered as husband and wife, though the marriage had not yet been consummated. The point is being made that Joseph and Mary had experienced no sexual contact with each other, as verse 18 “before they came together” points out. So, Joseph was in a quandary. Jewish law provided that his betrothed, because of her unfaithfulness, could be placed before the elders for judgment and stoned to death. But he was thinking to just put her away quietly without public knowledge. Betrothals or marriage engagements in those ancient times were binding and could only be terminated by an official divorce decree.

It was then that the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream (Matthew 1:20-25) and explained to him that all this was bringing about the fulfillment of prophecy that a virgin would bear a child who was to be the Savior (Isaiah 7:14), and “he [Joseph] did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

Luke 2:1-7 also confirms the idea that Joseph and Mary, though betrothed, were considered as husband and wife by Jewish customs even though the actual marriage ceremony had not been fully effectuated. So, Joseph and Mary were actually legally married before the birth of Jesus though their marriage was not consummated physically until after His birth.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Joseph-and-Mary.html

Edited February 16, 2022 by missmuffet

[Marathoner]

The so-called Gospel of James is part of the Nag Hammadi collection discovered in Egypt, circa 1945. This is considered to be a Gnostic text by reputable scholars. Without committing to a wall of text, here are some clues which demonstrate the Gnostic character of the narrative.

The author appears to know very little about Jewish customs common to the 2nd Temple period.  
The original text has been dated to the 2nd century, long after the passing of James.
The Word made flesh was referred to in a characteristically Gnostic fashion in the narrative; His knowledge from above was "hidden" from everyone. That's a defining characteristic of Gnostic narrative. 

The Vatican has used this Gnostic document to fashion their "Mary mythos." The canonical Gospels do not elaborate on details which the Gnostic gospels (there are many) elaborate upon. My counsel?

Steer clear of the Gnostic gospels, my friend. 
 

[Andriya]

8 hours ago, Marathoner said:

The Word made flesh was referred to in a characteristically Gnostic fashion in the narrative; His knowledge from above was "hidden" from everyone. That's a defining characteristic of Gnostic narrative. 

As far as I know, not all of the Nag Hammadi scriptures are considered to be Gnostic texts. In my opinion, the Gospel of James in not Gnostic, since it says that Mary was pregnant with Jesus so that subsequently, Jesus became flesh. This is contrary to the idea of docetism typical of Gnosticism. Hidden knowledge as such is not an exclusive feature of Gnosticism as even Nicodemus does not understand some of Jesus' words (John, ch. 3), so that they too are "hidden knowledge". Moreover, the Gospel of James does not mention the existence of a demiurge, whom the Gnostics considered to be the evildoing creator of the material world.

 

[Who me]

11 hours ago, Andriya said:

In my opinion, the Gospel of James in not Gnostic, since it says that Mary was pregnant with Jesus so that subsequently, Jesus became flesh.

Despite several posts that demonstrate the inaccuracies of this book you prefer to believe it. Why?

 

We are told to test the spirits, to infact test every different message, sermon, book against what the bible has already taught us.

The gospel of james does ot gree with the gospels so it is not worth continuing to read.

[Andriya]

10 hours ago, Who me said:

Despite several posts that demonstrate the inaccuracies of this book you prefer to believe it. Why?

I only said that in my opinion the Gospel is not Gnostic. That does not mean that I believe in it.

10 hours ago, Katie Müller said:

The Bible is 100% true; apocryphal books might have two scriptures that are true and the rest is nothing more than ancient biblical fan-fiction.

Basically, I agree with you. Nevertheless, I consider apocrypha somehow interesting.