Did Jesus Have Brothers? Examining Matthew 13:55-56

Did Jesus have brothers? In Matthew 13:55-56, we read “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t His mother’s name Mary, and aren’t His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” The Greek word for brother or sibling is adelphos, which is the word used in this passage and there are precise words for cousin and other relations in Greek. However, adelphos can be used to describe other relations other than siblings and there is other proof in the New Testament that this was the case here.

In John 19:25, it says that “Standing by the foot of the Cross of Jesus were His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” Furthermore, in Matthew 27:56, it says that “Among them [at the Cross] were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph.” If it was the same Mary (Jesus’s Mother), why mention just James and Joseph and not that she was also the mother of Jesus? It’s much more likely that Matthew was referencing Mary the wife of Cleophas, who was Mary’s sister, thus making James and Joseph Jesus’s cousins. As for Simon and Judas, admittedly the Bible does not specify their exact relationship with Jesus, but if He wasn’t really blood brothers with James and Joseph, it’s not too much of a stretch to assume the same with regards to them.

In our own lives, we also may have close relations with cousins or even just friends to where we consider them to be more like a brother or sister. We may live close by and visit often enough to where it feels like they are our sibling. Jesus likely had this kind of relationship with those referred to as His brothers in Scripture, rather than them being actual brothers to Him. Scripture does not say explicitly whether or not Jesus had brothers, but by looking at evidence in other passages, we can see that it is likely that He did not and so we must in faith believe what the Church tells us in regard to this and help our Protestant brothers and sisters to do the same.