Q&A

Did Jesus have brothers and sisters (siblings)?

Did Jesus have brothers and sisters (siblings)?

Yes! The Bible tells us that Jesus had both brothers and sisters. They all would have been younger than Jesus because Joseph "had no union with her (Mary) until she gave birth to a son. And he gave Him the name Jesus" (Matthew 1:25). Jesus' brothers and sisters were born after Him, from the union of Mary and Joseph—Jesus' mother and earthly father. So technically they were his half-blood siblings, sharing a common mother, since Jesus' true Father is God in Heaven (Luke 2:29).

Biblical Evidence of Brothers & Sisters

The Controversy of Cousins

Some believe that Jesus' brothers were actually His cousins because sometimes the Greek word for "brother" refers to other relatives. However, there IS a specific Greek word for "cousin," yet that word was never used in any references to Jesus' siblings. Also, if Mary wasn't their mother, it wouldn't make sense that they are so often placed in attenance with her. Nothing in the biblical context implies that they were anything but Jesus' literal, blood-related half-brothers.

There's another controversy that states Jesus' siblings were all Joseph's children from a previous marriage. However, the Bible doesn't provide any evidence to support that. And logically, if Joseph and Mary had extra children with them before Jesus was born (as many as six more), they would have been mentioned in Joseph and Mary’s trip to Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7) or later during their trip to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) or their trip back to Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-23).

Going by what the Bible says, we can know for sure that Jesus indeed had younger half-brothers and half-sisters who were all the natural children of Joseph and Mary.