The Lord's Brothers and Sisters

Q: I've been reading the Bible and it says in Matthew that Jesus had 4
brothers and it mentions he had sisters, but it doesn't give their
names or how many. I was wondering if you knew what happened to his
brothers and sisters and what the sister's names were?

A: Matthew 13:55-56 states, "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his
mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and
Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this
man all these things?"

As you pointed out, there are four named brothers and some unnamed and
uncounted sisters, though the plural use of sisters shows that there must
have at least two. The only brother we know anything significant about is
James. He is called "the Lord's brother" in Galatians 1:19. Paul goes on
to refer to this James as a pillar in the church of Jerusalem (Galatians
2:9). Certainly, he is the James who had great preeminence in the church
of Jerusalem as mentioned in Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18. There is a good
possibility that he was the author of the book of James, but this is in
dispute by Bible students.

Now if the James who wrote the book of James was the brother of Jesus,
then the author of the book of Jude may be the "Judas" of Matthew 13:55.
The human author of Jude introduced himself as the "brother of James"
(Jude 1:1). Another brief reference to the brothers of Jesus is when His
brethren are named as some of those in the upper room in Acts 1:14. This
is despite the fact that they did not believe in Christ during His
earthly ministry (see John 7:5). I know of no other references to the
brothers or sisters of Christ after His death and resurrection.

Thanks for writing. I hope this helps.

Till He comes,

Pastor David Reagan

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