The Roman Catholic Church considers Mary, the mother of Jesus, as “once a virgin, always a virgin.” From what I gather, this claim is based on the need to express Mary as a pure vessel. The church goes so far with this notion that it considers Mary’s womb as a sort of “ark of the covenant.”

Mary, the church teaches, was born pure, free from the stain of original sin. Furthermore, it says she remained pure from any personal sin throughout her life. As such, she is qualified to occupy heaven as its queen, the handmaid of the Lord, and as a shared mediator with Christ.

The Bible, however, supports none of that. In fact, it says that other than Jesus, all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3: 23). Nor is there any biblical mention of Mary having ascended to heaven. Instead, the Bible says that Jesus will return to earth to take the believers with Him to where He is now, meaning heaven (John 14: 3). That hasn’t happened yet. Mary is still in her grave.* Also, the Bible says that there is only one mediator between God and man; that, of course, being Jesus (1 Timothy 2: 5).

As for Mary having remained a virgin throughout her life, the following passage of scripture is almost always brought up. It seems to address the question because it mentions that Jesus had siblings. Matthew 13: 55, 56 says, “Is He not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not His sisters all with us?” There are some Protestants who believe this implies that there was sexual intercourse between Joseph and Mary.

Catholics will dispute this passage, saying that the Greek words for brothers and sisters in these verses could be referring to them as cousins. They are right about that. Another argument is that if they were Jesus’ literal brothers and sisters, it was because they were the children of Joseph from a previous marriage. That too is a worthy argument and is one in which I’m in favor of.**

What’s not in dispute, though, is Matthew 1: 24, 25. It says, “And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son; and he called His name Jesus.”

Here, the Word of God declares that Mary and Joseph did have sex with each other after Jesus was born. However, the Catholic Church will not let this fact get in the way of its teaching. Mary must remain pure in its eyes. Apparently, Mary having sex within her marriage is seen as a defilement of her pure nature. The church ignores that it is God who setup the marriage institution for, among other things, the purpose of propagation. Therefore, sexual intercourse within marriage is not sinful.

The bottom line, though, is that the idea of Mary’s perpetual virginity doesn’t come from scripture. It is a man-made invention turned into a so-called authoritative tradition; one of many that the Catholic Church claims is above the Bible.

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*Read the Dead-on Truth About Death to find out why I believe Mary hasn’t ascended to heaven. Click here.

**Read Were Jesus and his Siblings Blood Related? Click here.