Bible Study: Still on Mary's Virginity

Matthew 1:24-25

"24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus."(RSV)

A friend wrote me implying that Matthew 1:25 has already made it clear that Mary stopped being a Virgin (that she had sex) after she gave birth to Jesus. His reason is that the word "until" has said it all. In his words he said:

"The key word there is...... Until. I have looked at it in 45 different translations. It says Joseph didn't consummate the marriage until Mary delivered. One translation says he only consummate the marriage after the Messiah was brought forth."

First, I don't agree with the translation he quoted. Secondly, I do not agree with the conclusion he is inferring that with the word "until", it is already clear to conclude that Mary was not a virgin after she gave birth to Jesus.

Below is my response:

To understand this, let us look at Matthew 1:25 in the original language that it was written, which is Greek.

καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτὴν ἕως οὗ ἔτεκεν υἱόν· καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν.

Let's transliterate, English is in bracket[ ]

καὶ[and] οὐκ[not] ἐγίνωσκεν[knew] αὐτὴν[her] ἕως[until] οὗ[that] ἔτεκεν[she had brought forth] υἱόν[a son]· καὶ[and] ἐκάλεσεν[he called] τὸ[the] ὄνομα[name] αὐτοῦ[of him] Ἰησοῦν[Jesus].

I discovered that this topic on Mary's virginity appears to be controversial. For me, the reason why this is so is due to the failure of most bible exegetes to differentiate between EXEGESIS and EISEGESIS in biblical interpretation of texts.

While exegesis is the process of drawing out the meaning from a text in accordance with the context and discoverable meaning of its author, eisegesis occurs when a reader imposes his or her interpretation into and onto the text.

The word "UNTIL" as you noted in Mathew 1:25 may to you seem very clear in giving you reasons to imply that Joseph knew Mary carnally after she gave birth. But the word 'UNTIL' both in the Bible and in English language does not all the time imply cessation.

In the bible we have examples like:
1 Cor. 15:25, "For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet."

Phil. 1:10, "so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ."

1 Tim. 6:14, "that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In each verse, the word "until" does not designate cessation of the condition mentioned. In 1 Cor. 15:25 Jesus still reigns after he puts all enemies under his feet. In Phil. 1:10 we will still be blameless after the day of Christ. In 1 Tim. 6:14 we are to still keep the commandments of God after Jesus returns.

In English language, assuming I am a class teacher and in the process of teaching my class, something came up that I needed to attend to, such that I decided to tell my students to "Stay in the class UNTIL I come back". Does it mean that once I am back the students are free to leave the class?

Another example will be a married man whose wife is pregnant. Let assume the man made statement like this: " I looked after my wife UNTIL she gave birth". Now does it automatically imply that he stopped looking after his wife from the moment she gave birth? No! Rather, it was used to make emphasis. So also is Matthew 1:25.

No doubt, there are places in the bible and in English Language in which the word "until" means a cessation. That is why the context is very important in biblical interpretation as well as the use of other biblical verses and references. To immediately use Matthew 1:25 as the sole reason to believe that Mary was not a virgin after she gave birth to Christ because of the word "until" amount to nothing but eisegesis.

Now, this is a question I wish to ask:

How come, no where in the bible did we ever see any other child being referred to as Mary's child except Jesus? The bible will rather say, this and this are Jesus' brothers and sisters. NOT, this and this are Mary's Children. No place in the bible will you see any child been named as Mary's child except Jesus. The reason is because, It is possible for one to have a brother and a sister and they may not necessarily be his or her mother's children. (We have already discussed this in detail elsewhere).

The prophet Ezekiel made a prophetic statement in Ezk 44:2 in reference to Christ passing through a gate, "This gate must remain closed; it will never again be opened. No one will ever open it and pass through, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered here. Therefore, it must always remain shut."

Why is it hard to believe that with God nothing is impossible, that no other child passed through the gate that Christ passed through; and that Joseph stands out not just as an example of purity but one whom God chose to protect that gate?

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