| Question Title | Posted By | Question Date |
|---|---|---|
| perpetual virginity | Doug | Thursday, October 7, 2004 |
Question: In the reply to non-catholics that 'If Matthew 1:25 means that Joseph and Mary had relations after the birth of Jesus, then in 2 Samuel 6:23 we have another miraculous birth: And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child UNTIL the day of her death,' isn't there a strawman argument? Wouldn't it be equally valid to say if Mt 1:25 doesn't deny perpetual virginity then we have another miracle? For after Mary conceived, she was pregnant UNTIL she gave birth. (wasn't she???) Wouldn't that mean, according to catholic 'logic', that Mary is perpetually pregnant? However, you are quite mistaken that a miracle occurs on the day of a woman's death when a child is born, for it is written that 'as her (Rachel) soul was departing for she died, that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.' Therefore, Rachel did not have her second child until the day of her death. |
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| Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+
Dear Doug: Your post is very confusing and make little sense. As best as I can figure you misunderstand the issue to the second power. It appears that you not only misunderstand the language convention of the use of the word "until", but even misunderstand the typical anti-catholic misunderstanding of the language convention. The presumption is the the use of the word "until" is not used in the Bible the same way it is used in today's English. Biblically, the Greek "heos" only that some action did not happen up to a certain point; it does not imply that the action happen later, which is the modern sense of the term. We can easily see this point by looking at other passages of the Bible besides Matthew 1:25 Given the modern concept of "til" or "until" meaning that there was one condition before the "until" that changes after the "until" 2 Samual 6:23 becomes nonsensical: "Michal the daughter of Saul had no children till the day of her death" (2 Sam. 6:23). Are we to assume she had children after her death? Matthew 1:25, given the language convention in use of that day, does not imply that Mary and Joseph had marital relations after the birth of Jesus. It simply does not say that. The passage only says that Joesph and Mary had no relations up to the time of the birth of Jesus. There is no comment or implication one way or the other about after the birth of Jesus. Translations that render this passage in modern English that gives a more accurate sense of the Greek include the New American Bible: "He had no relations with her at any time before she bore a son" and the Knox Bible: "He had not known her when she bore a son". Anyone who knows and understands God's economy of the nature of the Sacred and the nature of Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant would know that Mary had to be immaculately conceived, had to be sinless, had to give virgin birth, had to be perpetually virgin, and had to be assumed into heaven. If these things are not so, then God is a liar and a traitor to His own economy. No one questioned the perpetual virginity of Mary, not even Martin Luther and other "reformers". It was only after the Protestant chaos went deeper into its heresies and distortions and removed itself even further away from the True Church and God's Revelation that the man-made notion that Mary was not perpetually virgin was invented. See the following articles: Catholic Encyclopedia:Immaculate Conception Perpetual Virginity of the blessed Mary by St. Jerome Catholic Encylopedia: Feast of the Assumption Catholic Answers: Mary & Saints (list several links about Mary and what the Church Fathers said of her) Also this link which does a Scripture Study about Mary: Scripture Catholic: the Blessed Virgin mary God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary |
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