The brothers of Jesus, also called adelphoi in Ancient Greek (romanized as adelphoí, meaning "of the same womb, brothers"), are named in the New Testament as James, Joseph (also called Joses), Simon, and Jude. The New Testament also mentions unnamed sisters in the books of Mark and Matthew. These individuals may have been:
Some people who believe that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life do not accept the idea that Jesus had biological brothers and sisters. Instead, they suggest that these individuals were either cousins of Jesus (a view supported by the Catholic Church) or children that Joseph had from a previous marriage (a view supported by the Eastern Orthodox Church). Some Lutheran Churches accept both of these explanations as valid ways to understand the belief that Mary remained a virgin.
Etymology
The Greek plural noun ἀδελφοί (adelphoi), made from the parts a- (meaning "same") and delphys (meaning "womb"), can refer to physical brothers or siblings, or to symbolic brothers or siblings. In some cases, adelphoi means more than a blood brother, as seen in examples like Genesis 29:12, Romans 9:3 (kinsman), Matthew 5:22–3 (neighbor), and Mark 6:17–8 (step-brother). The meaning of adelphoi depends on the context in which it is used. It is different from the word anepsios, which refers to a cousin, nephew, or niece. The word anepsios is never used to describe James or the other siblings of Jesus. The word "anepsios" appears only once in the entire New Testament, in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Neither Hebrew nor Aramaic had a specific word for "cousin," but both languages described a cousin as "son of an uncle" (Hebrew: ben dod; Aramaic: bar dad). The Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, never translated these expressions as "brother" or "sister." The Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Bible, uses the word frater (meaning "brother") in places like Mark 6:3. In classical Latin, the word frater could also mean "maternal cousin" or "paternal cousin."
Adelphoi(brethren) of Jesus
Mark 6:3 lists James, Joses, Judas (usually called Jude in English), and Simon as Jesus’ brothers. Matthew 13:55, which likely used Mark as a source, gives the same names but in a different order: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. "Joseph" is the longer form of "Joses," suggesting James was the eldest, followed by Joses/Joseph. However, Matthew’s different order makes it unclear who was the youngest. Unnamed sisters are mentioned in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:56, and may be implied in Mark 3:35 and Matthew 12:46, but their number is not known.
The Gospels describe a difference between Jesus and his brothers early in his ministry (Mark 3:31–35 and similar passages in Matthew 12:46–50 and Luke 8:19–21). His brothers are not seen with him during his lifetime. In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ brothers advise him to go to Judea despite the danger, and they are not present at his burial, which was their responsibility. However, they later appear in Acts 1:14 with the Eleven (the remaining disciples after Judas Iscariot’s betrayal): "These all were persevering in prayer along with the women, with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
In 1 Corinthians 15:3–7, Paul lists a "James" among those who saw the risen Christ, and most scholars believe this refers to James, Jesus’ brother. Paul personally knew James (Galatians 1:19). The 2nd-century historian Hegesippus reported that James, Jesus’ brother, was called James the Just. Eusebius of Caesarea (died 339) wrote that James spent so much time in prayer his knees became "like the knees of a camel." Clement of Alexandria, as reported by Eusebius, said James was chosen as bishop of Jerusalem. After Peter left Jerusalem following Herod’s attempt to kill him (Acts 12), James became the main leader in the Jerusalem church and presided at the Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15. In Galatians 1:19, Paul mentions meeting James, the brother of the Lord, during a visit to Jerusalem after his conversion. He does not clearly state whether James was an apostle. Later, Paul met "the pillars of the Church" — James, Peter, and John — with James mentioned first, suggesting he was the main leader. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul describes how he and Peter stopped eating with Gentile Christians after "certain people from James" warned them, fearing Jewish traditions. The 1st-century historian Josephus wrote that James was martyred by Jews in 62 AD for breaking Jewish law.
Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians that Jesus’ other brothers (besides James) traveled as evangelists and were married. He writes, "Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas (Peter)?" (1 Corinthians 9:5). The 3rd-century church leader Eusebius listed 12 early church bishops, two of whom, Joseph/Joses and Jude, may have been Jesus’ brothers. The New Testament does not name Jesus’ sisters, but the apocryphal Gospel of Philip (3rd century) mentions a Mary, and Salome, who appears in the Gospel of James (2nd century), may be another sister.
The author of the letter of James introduces himself as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." He does not claim to be Jesus’ brother, an apostle, or a church leader. However, some recent studies describe this letter as "the most Jewish text in the New Testament." The letter of Jude identifies its author as "Jude… the brother of James," but many scholars believe it was written in the early 2nd century by an unknown person using Jude’s name. Hegesippus mentions a Simon or Simeon (equivalent names) who led the Jerusalem church after James’ death, making him the son of Clopas, Joseph’s brother.
The Gospels never directly connect Jesus’ brothers to Mary or Joseph. Only Jesus is called "son of Mary," "the son of Mary," or "son of Joseph." Only Jesus is linked to Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, and only his genealogy is recorded.
Relationship to Jesus
In the 19th century, scholar J.B. Lightfoot noted three possible views about the relationship between Jesus and those called his brothers and sisters, based on the opinions of 4th-century scholars. These views are named after their main supporters: the Helvidian (after Helvidius, who wrote around 380), the Epiphanian (after Epiphanius of Salamis, who lived from 315 to 403), and the Hieronymian (after Jerome, who lived from 349 to 419/20). A fourth view, not mentioned by Lightfoot, suggests that the "brothers and sisters" of Jesus were his full-blooded siblings. This view denies the belief that Jesus was born of a virgin and claims his siblings were full brothers and sisters. This idea was supported by the Ebionites, a 2nd-century Jewish Christian group that rejected the belief that Jesus was divine or the Son of God.
The Helvidian view, supported by Helvidius, states that Jesus' brothers and sisters were half-siblings, born to Mary and Joseph after Jesus. This is the most common belief among Protestants.
The Epiphanian view, named after Epiphanius, a 4th-century bishop, and supported by theologian Origen and bishop Eusebius in the 3rd and 4th centuries, claims that the "brothers" and "sisters" mentioned in the New Testament were children from Joseph’s previous marriage, making them Jesus’ stepbrothers and stepsisters. This is the official position of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The Hieronymian view, proposed by Jerome in the 4th century, argues that both Mary and Joseph were lifelong virgins. Jerome believed the "brothers of Jesus" were the sons of Mary, the mother of James and Joses, mentioned in the Bible. He linked this Mary to the wife of Clopas and the sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother, as described in the Gospel of John. The Catholic Church continues to teach that the "brothers and sisters" of Jesus were his cousins.
A family tree from the book Jesus and His World by John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav illustrates these relationships. Another family tree from Richard Bauckham’s Jude and the Relatives of James explains that Jerome’s view led to the unlikely idea of two sisters named Mary. A modern version avoids this by identifying Clopas as Joseph’s brother, making the two Marys sisters-in-law. In this version, Jesus’ cousin Simon is linked to Symeon, an early leader of the church in Jerusalem.
Development of the tradition
Starting in the 2nd century, the growing focus on ascetism and celibacy as important Christian practices, along with the belief in Mary’s purity, led to the idea that she remained a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. This belief is not directly supported by the Bible. It first appeared in the mid-2nd century in the Protoevangelium of James, which describes Mary as a lifelong virgin, Joseph as an older man who married her without physical desire, and Jesus’s brothers as Joseph’s children from a previous marriage. Richard Bauckham suggests that the belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity might have developed because early Christians remembered that Jesus’s brothers were not Mary’s sons. Reliable historical records from the early 2nd century existed, even though they included some legendary details.
By the 3rd century, the idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin became widely accepted. However, the Bible clearly mentions Jesus’s brothers, which created challenges for this belief. A group called the antidicomarianites claimed that Joseph was a widower with six children when he married Mary and that Jesus was not born from their union. In the late 4th century, a bishop named Bonosus was criticized by other bishops for saying Mary had children after Jesus. Orthodox theologians like Hippolytus, Eusebius, and Epiphanius supported the belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity. Eusebius and Epiphanius believed that Jesus’s brothers were Joseph’s children from a previous marriage. Epiphanius added that Joseph had children named James, Joses, Simeon, Judah, Salome, and Mary or Anna, and that these children were not Mary’s. Joseph’s first wife died, and years later, at age 80, he married Mary. Epiphanius explained that the Bible called these children “brothers of the Lord” to challenge those who disagreed. Origen wrote that the Gospel of Peter described Jesus’s brothers as Joseph’s children from a previous marriage.
The History of Joseph the Carpenter, likely written in Egypt in the 5th century, supported this view by describing Joseph as an older man with children from a prior marriage, helping explain references to Jesus’s brothers in the New Testament.
Fragments from the work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord by Papias of Hierapolis, who lived around 70–163 AD, suggest that “Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus” was the mother of James the Just, Simon, Judas (Jude the Apostle), and Joses. Papias identified this Mary as the sister of Jesus’s mother, making her Jesus’s maternal aunt. However, the Anglican theologian J.B. Lightfoot believed this evidence was not reliable.
The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, written in the 7th century, stated that Jesus’s brothers were his cousins.
Both Eastern and Western traditional churches teach that Mary was a perpetual virgin. Early Protestant leaders, including Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, and John Wesley, also supported this belief. A Christian Catechism written by Anabaptist leader Balthasar Hubmaier taught the same. The Catholic Church, following Jerome, concluded that Jesus’s brothers were his cousins, while the Eastern Orthodox Church, following Eusebius and Epiphanius, believed they were Joseph’s children from a previous marriage. Lutherans accept both explanations as valid.
Other Christian denominations view Jesus’s brothers as his half-brothers or do not specify their relationship to Mary, as the Gospels do not describe Mary’s connection to them, only to Jesus.
Absence of Jesus's brothers
Some stories in religious writings do not mention Jesus's brothers or sisters. For example, the Bible does not describe any siblings of Jesus during the time he was lost in Jerusalem’s Temple at age 12, as recorded in Luke 2:41–51. Robert Eisenman believes the author of Luke’s Gospel may have tried to reduce the role of Jesus’s family by leaving out references to his brothers, such as James and others. Karl Keating, a Catholic writer, argues that Mary and Joseph immediately returned to Jerusalem after realizing Jesus was missing, which suggests they did not have other children to care for at that time.
The Gospel of John describes Jesus’s final words on the cross, where he told his disciple, “Woman, behold your son!” and “Behold, thy mother!” (John 19:26–27). It then states that the disciple took Mary into his home. Since the time of early Christian leaders, this passage has been used to suggest that Jesus had no other biological children to care for Mary after his death. Constantine Zalalas argues that if Mary had living sons, Jewish customs would have required the eldest son to care for her, not a disciple. Karl Keating notes that it is unlikely Jesus would have ignored family traditions if James, Joseph/Joses, Simon, and Jude were also Mary’s sons. Pope John Paul II explained that Jesus’s command to the disciple was meant to provide Mary with a new family connection after losing her only son. John of Shanghai and San Francisco suggested that Joseph’s sons viewed Mary as a stepmother and treated her with less care than John, who was considered her adopted son. Vincent Taylor pointed out that these interpretations may overlook the fact that Jesus’s brothers opposed his teachings and the respected position of John, the beloved disciple, in early Christian communities.
Descendants of Jesus's family
The early Christian historian Sextus Julius Africanus (died around 240 AD), in his work called "Genealogy of the Holy Gospels," wrote about "relatives of our Lord according to the flesh," which he referred to as desposyni. This term means "from the Lord's family." Among these individuals, only Judah Kyriakos, who was the Bishop of Jerusalem in the 2nd century, is known by name in historical records.