[Campion]

We aren't really allowed to ditch portions of the faith we think "aren't important". And the Perpetual Virginity of Mary is certainly an ancient teaching of the church. St. Jerome condemned Helvidius in no uncertain terms for rejecting it back in the 5th Century, as did the Roman Pope of the time. All Catholics, Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Christians believe it.

Mary's Perpetual Virginity emphasizes the divinity and miraculous conception of Jesus. He was not an ordinary human child, and he was not biologically Joseph's child. Because of this, Mary was "off limits" to Joseph in sexual terms.

Remember for a moment that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, literally the vessel in which the flesh of the New Covenant was contained. What happened to Uzziah when he touched the ark of the old covenant without permission? He was instantly struck dead.

By the way, heos hou ("until") does not necessarily imply a reversal of the situation. Matthew is just emphasizing what happened before the birth of Jesus, because that's important to his discussion at that point.

We know that the Blessed Mother had no other biological children because Jesus consigned her to St. John's care before he died on the cross. Unless you want to take the (rather unlikely) view that Jesus had younger blood siblings who all died before he did, it would have been impossible and sinful for him to give Mary into St. John's care. It would have amounted to him doing exactly what he condemned the Pharisees for in Mt 15:5-6 -- absolving another Jew from his responsibility toward the commandments.

[cloudmountain]

Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel." This Old Testament prophecy is quoted in the gospel of Matthew (Mt 1:23) and specifically applied to the virginal conception of Christ.

It HAD to be so because it was prophesized as such.

[reaganaut]

Mary’s Perpetual Virginity emphasizes the divinity and miraculous conception of Jesus. He was not an ordinary human child, and he was not biologically Joseph’s child. Because of this, Mary was “off limits” to Joseph in sexual terms.

- - - - -
The virgin birth covers this, not the perpetual virginity.

There are other reasons why Jesus would have said that to John other than the lack of half brothers, but that isn’t the topic of this thread.

[Salvation]

The FR thread about St. Jerome and Helvidius was when my computer balked and wouldn’t let me access any more search links.

I’ll get the rest later.

Great post, BTW.

[usconservative]

Mary's Perpetual Virginity emphasizes the divinity and miraculous conception of Jesus. He was not an ordinary human child, and he was not biologically Joseph's child. Because of this, Mary was "off limits" to Joseph in sexual terms.

Remember for a moment that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, literally the vessel in which the flesh of the New Covenant was contained. What happened to Uzziah when he touched the ark of the old covenant without permission? He was instantly struck dead.

I don't believe your comparison is accurate. Uzziah literally "broke the rules" by which God established for worshipping and burning incense at the altar, and as a result was struck down with leprosy.

There aren't any Scriptural references or "rules" that say Mary must have remained a virgin after Christ's birth, and I don't see how people make that leap absent Scriptural evidence.