Matthew 1:18-25
“Notice what you notice.” Verse 25, “…until…”, as in “Joseph … kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son.” I well remember from my Catholic childhood the phrase, “Blessed Mary ever virgin”. The obvious follow-up to that phrase is that Joseph never consummated his marriage to Mary, Jesus had no “true” brothers or sisters, and any mention of His brothers or sisters simply reflected His cousins. I presume that that Catholic teaching still holds; I went online to four Catholic websites (including one Vatican website) that hold to that doctrine.
But the word “until” is a challenge for them. One argument went something like this: If I say “The Lord bless you until we meet again”, does that mean the blessing stops when we do meet again? That is, the inclusion of “until” does not imply any certainty of any suggested or implied action. I am not a theologian or a rhetorician, so I don’t want to pursue this issue any further. But it’s what I noticed. All I know is that I am on the other side from my Catholic brothers, sisters, and friends!
Slava Bohu!