Was Mary, The Mother Of Jesus, A Virgin For Her Whole Life?
Believers in the Orthodox communion and Roman Catholic Christians believe that Mary was a virgin even after she gave birth to Jesus. I would say that the Bible, in its most natural reading, tells us that this is not correct. The Bible makes several references to brothers and sisters of Jesus. The most natural reading of the text is to assume that these are brothers and sisters of Jesus, mothered by Mary and fathered by Joseph.
I see zero theological necessity for Mary to be a virgin. First of all, she would be withholding marital relations from Joseph, which would mean to neglect fulfilling some of her duty as a wife. Secondly, there’s no theological necessity for it.
God had a very special purpose for the womb of Mary. Mary conceived Jesus by a miracle of the Holy Spirit without any kind of normal human relations for the reproductive course of life. Once that purpose was fulfilled – in giving birth to Jesus the Messiah through a miraculous conception –there was no reason to believe that Mary lived a sinless life, nor that she lived what we might consider to be a celibate life. There is no indication of her doing that in the Scriptures.
This belief is built upon traditions that have no biblical foundation. Now, not all traditions are bad. As Christians, we don’t say, “Forget all traditions, we don’t even care that.” No, there are some traditions that are good and helpful. But we should be very careful to never put tradition on the same level as biblical teaching. Biblical teaching is always higher, greater, and better. Biblical teaching is of ultimate authority, and is much, much more authoritative than the traditions of man.
So, I’m not saying that we should ignore traditions, or that we should casually disregard them or not care about them at all, but we should never put them on equal level to the Word of God.