Matthew 12:46

Tuesday, 2 September 2025

 

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Matthew 12:46

 

“And He yet speaking to the crowds, you behold, His mother and His brothers had stood without seeking to speak to Him” (CG).

 

In the previous verse, Jesus finished His words about the unclean spirit returning to the home it had previously left. Matthew next records, “And He yet speaking to the crowds, you behold, His mother and His brothers.”

 

Though the words seem to lack any really pertinent information other than the surface meaning, they are important both to the surrounding narrative and to Christian theology. As for the surrounding context, that will be seen as the next verses unfold. However, the fact that Jesus’ brothers are mentioned flies in the face of the Roman Catholic heresies or false teachings surrounding Mary.

 

Though not heretical, the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary is a complete distraction and a direct attack on the concept of keeping our eyes on Jesus. Instead, those in the Roman Catholic Church spend much of their time fixing their eyes on Mary.

 

The word used here, adelphos, signifies a brother. It can be taken figuratively as a brother in the faith, which is the way it is commonly used in the epistles. In fact, it is used in that manner by Jesus in verse 12:49.

 

The word is derived from the connecting particle a and delphus, the womb. Thus, it is a sharer of the same womb. The word applies to a brother of the same father and mother, or only of the same father or same mother. As such, Roman Catholics insist that Jesus alone was born of Mary and the others were born to Joseph by a wife before Mary.

 

This is found in an apocryphal gospel, not in the Bible. However, the Roman Catholic church is famous for going to such texts when it is convenient to obtain theology that supports their aberrant teachings. In the case of this account, by mentioning Mary along with Jesus’ brothers, the implication is that they are her sons.

 

In Mark 6:3, it mentions sisters as well. Of all of these, Jesus was accounted as the Son of Joseph in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 for the purposes of lineage. If Joseph had previous sons, it would remove Jesus from the firstborn status to him.

 

It is true that there are provisions in the law for raising children of deceased relatives. These and other considerations mean anything is possible concerning Mary. But the obvious and clear understanding to be obtained from reading the accounts in the canonized gospels is that these other sons noted here are from Mary. With this as the intended understanding of the passage, it says they “had stood without seeking to speak to Him.”

 

Mary and Jesus’ brothers had come and stood outside the area where He was and waited to speak to Him. The pluperfect verb gives the sense that they were there while Jesus was speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees, and when He finished His words to them, He was notified of their having come.

 

Life application: A few points to be considered concerning Mary need to be addressed. Whether Mary was a perpetual virgin or not cannot be determined from the canonized gospels. Nothing is said of it, and therefore, it is not a doctrine that is acceptable to be taught in the church.

 

As noted above, a reading of the surrounding narrative concerning Mary without any bias or presupposition would immediately alert the reader to consider that these brothers of Jesus were sons of Mary. Unless there was a valid reason to assume otherwise, there would never be a hint that further investigation was necessary.

 

The terminology in Matthew 1:25, which says that Joseph did not know Mary (meaning he did not have sexual relations with her) until she brought forth Jesus, implies that he did, in fact, know her afterwards. Likewise, in that same verse, Jesus is called her Firstborn. It is true that a firstborn can mean a first and only, but the Greek monogenēs, only begotten, would have made more sense if she were to have no more children.

 

Such logical deductions tell us that the Roman Catholic Church has a set agenda in distracting people from the prescription found in Hebrews 12:2, where believers are to fix their eyes on Jesus. The willful manipulation of what is clearly implied in the case of Mary having other children tells us this.

 

For whatever reason, the cult of Mary was introduced, and it has blossomed into an entire subsect of Roman Catholicism. It is highlighted numerous times throughout the year by the main church as well.

 

Rather than being distracted by such teachings, the clear intent of Scripture is that we should focus our minds, hearts, and attention on Jesus. To do anything else is to fall short o