Rebuttals

The following passages rebut both the Roman Catholic view that the "brothers and sisters" mentioned in the New Testament are Jesus' cousins, and the Orthodox position that they are Jesus' step-siblings. These passages clearly indicate that Joseph and Mary had normal conjugal relations after the birth of Jesus:

LUKE 2:7
"And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."
(If Jesus were the only son, why does Luke say " first-born?")

MATTHEW 1:18
"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit."
(" Before they came together" is a classic biblical euphemism along the lines of "Adam knew Eve.")

MATTHEW 1:24-25
"When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son."
(Enough said!)

The following passages show that the claim that Jesus' "brothers" were simply his disciples (his "spiritual brothers" ) also does not hold water because in these passages the disciples and Jesus' brothers are clearly distinguished:

ACTS 1:12-14 (following Jesus' Ascension)
"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet . . . When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Mathew, James son of Alpheus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers."
(Here Jesus' brothers are clearly distinguished from the apostles; and, as previously noted, are again in the company of Mary, belying the idea that they were Jesus' cousins.)

1 CORINTHIANS 9:4-6 (Paul's defense of his entitlements as an apostle)
"Do we not have the right to our food and drink? 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 Peter?"
(Here again, Jesus' brothers are clearly distinguished from the apostles. Note too that Paul says that Peter and the apostles were married, clear evidence against the Roman Catholic reason for priestly celibacy.)

To sum up, the Roman Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary was first proposed by Jerome. Jerome was hugely influential in shaping the teachings of the Church on sexuality. It was largely due to his influence that the requirement of priestly celibacy came about. Basically, Jerome was obsessed with the need for chastity among Christians. Despite passages in the New Testament that indicate otherwise, he denied that the apostles were married. Jerome recommended that all Christians be celibate! He fought against the Epiphanian theory (that Jesus' brothers were Joseph's children from a prior mariage) because he believed that Joseph was also a life-long virgin.

It should be noted that the Catholic Church did not consider the perpetual virginity a necessary doctrine until after the Protestant Reformation. Even today the doctrine of the perpetual virginity is officially considered a de fidei pronouncement, not ex cathedra; meaning it is a doctrine intrinsic to the Roman Catholic faith, but is not considered an infallible doctrine.

It is largely thanks to Jerome that the role of James became lost in the dustbins of history. Since it came to be believed that James was not Jesus' brother, any interest in James and his role in the leadership of the eary church quickly waned. Thankfully, there is a lot of evidence both from the New Testament and the Church Fathers as to the huge leadership role that James played. In fact, there is an astounding amount of evidence that it was James, not Peter, who led the disiples after Jesus' crucifixion, making James in essence the first "Pope," and not Peter as the Roman Catholic church has maintained. For the evidence for this astounding claim, read on: POPE JAMES