This is a theological point about which there is much discussion and debate between Protestantism on the one hand and Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy on the other. Therefore, with this text being very relevant to that discussion, it demands at least some attention. The main theological question is regarding the perpetual virginity of Mary and whether Jesus’ brothers and sisters were only his cousins since Mary never had any other children or that they were his half-brothers and half-sisters for they were children from a former marriage of Joseph.1
One of the counterpoints that this text would present is that there is a single article used in the son of Mary and the brother of…
which strongly suggests the natural reading that Jesus’ brothers and sisters were his real blood relatives.2 Additionally, to understand the Greek term for brother
in Mark 5:3 (ἀδελφὸς) as cousin
does not fit the context, because there is a specific Greek word for cousin
(ἀνεψιὸς). Even though there may be certain instances in which the term brother
(ἀδελφὸς) may mean more than a blood brother, the natural and plain reading of this text suggests that it means blood brother
.3
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.