Spirituality & Religious StudiesThe Perpetual Virginity of Mary
This is a Christian doctrine that Jesus’ mom, Mary, was a virgin before, during, & after Jesus’ birth.
In Western Christianity, Catholics, many Anglicans, some Lutherans, Reformed, & other Protestant sects believe in this doctrine. It’s 1 of the 4 Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. In Eastern Christianity, the Oriental Orthodox Churches & the Church of the East both follow this doctrine. Eastern Orthodox churches recognize Mary as Aeiparthenos, meaning “ever-virgin.”
The surviving written tradition of the perpetual virginity of Mary 1st appears in a 2nd century text called the Protoevangelium of James. The Second Council of Constantinople in 533 gave her the title of “Aeiparthenos.”
At the Lateran Synod of 649, Pope Martin I emphasized the 3-fold character of the perpetual virginity, before, during, & after the birth of Jesus.
The Lutheran Smalcald Articles (1537) & the Reformed Second Helvetic Confession (1562) codified the doctrine of perpetual virginity of Mary as well.
The doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity has been challenged on the basis that the New Testament doesn’t say that Joseph had adult spicy adult time with Mary until AFTER the birth of Jesus. It mentions that Jesus had brothers (adolphoi).
The brothers (& sisters for that matter) are the basis for contention because they may have been:
- Sons of Mary & Joseph, born AFTER Jesus (making Jesus the 1st born son, which is a HUGE deal in that time period).
- The sons of Joseph from a previous marriage. Joseph was married before Mary came into the picture, but it’s theorized that Joseph’s 1st wife passed away. Thus making way for Mary to be these kids’ stepmom. Jesus would be Mary’s 1st born son.
- The sons of another woman named Mary in Mark 15:40, whose been identified as the wife of Clopas & the sister of the Virgin Mary, or a sister-in-law to Joseph.
The infancy narratives in Matthew & Luke show Mary as a virgin at the time she conceives Jesus. A conception that doesn’t involve sexual relations with a man. But this fact by itself doesn’t require the further claims that she remained a virgin in childbirth or afterward.
Only in later doctrinal reflection do Christians explicitly describe Mary as a virgin before, during, & after Jesus’ birth. The Protevangelium of James provides the earliest surviving text that clearly supports this view.
The Gospel of James states that Mary remained a lifelong virgin. Because Joseph was an old man who married her without physical desire (Sure guys, sure.). The brothers of Jesus mentioned in the canonical Gospels are explained, again, as Joseph’s sons from a previous marriage.
The Second Apocalypse of James portrays James (James the Just or James, brother of Jesus) as the canonical bio brother of Jesus. Not as a kid of Joseph’s. But of a certain “Theudas,” who was a relative of Jesus.
The 8th book of the Christian Sibylline Oracles (circa late 2nd or early 3rd centuries) describes Mary as “always virgin” & that she received God in her “intact bosom.” (Umm…not to be disrespectful but did we miss that day in human biology class?)
The Ebionites denied the virgin birth & Mary perpetual virginity.
The Protestant Reformation saw a rejection of the special moral status of lifelong celibacy. As a result, marriage & parenthood were praised. Mary & Joseph were seen as a normal married couple.
Mary’s perpetual virginity was upheld by Martin Luther (who named her “ever-virgin” in the Smalcald Articles, a Lutheran confession of faith written in 1537), Huldrych Zwingli, John Wycliffe, & later Protestant leaders, including John Wesley (co-founder of Methodism).
In Evangelical Lutheranism, the Formula of Concord upholds the perpetual virginity of Mary. This is in addition to the Smalcald Articles.
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