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There Is History That Joseph Was a Widower with Four Children. Can You Prove That the Children Attributed to Mary Were Not Indeed Inherited?

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Answered by True Bible Teachings AI on 6/28/2026

1) Direct Answer
Yes. The “widower with four children” story is not Scripture. The Bible presents Jesus’ brothers and sisters as Mary’s own children born after the virgin birth.

2) Scriptural Explanation
- Psalm 69:8 says of the Messiah, “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.” John 2:17 and Romans 15:3 apply Psalm 69 directly to Jesus. Now notice, it says “my mother’s children,” not “my father’s children.” That fits the virgin birth and shows Mary had other children.
- Matthew 1:25 says Joseph “knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son.” “Till” shows normal marital union followed the birth of Jesus, and “firstborn” points to more children afterward.
- Matthew 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3 name His brothers—James, Joses, Simon, Judas—and mention His sisters as present among them. The people said, “Is not this the son of Mary… and his brethren… and his sisters…?” That is natural, household language.
- John 2:12; Matthew 12:46; John 7:5 show “his mother and his brethren” moving and standing together as one family.
- Galatians 1:19 and 1 Corinthians 9:5 speak plainly of “the Lord’s brother.”

3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- The Bible never says Joseph had previous children. That’s a later story, not the Word.
- The Messianic Psalm settles whose children they are—“my mother’s children.”
- “Till” and “firstborn” align with Mary and Joseph entering normal married life after Jesus’ birth.
- Jesus giving Mary to John at the cross doesn’t deny other sons; at that time His brothers did not believe (John 7:5). He entrusted her to a believing disciple present.

4) Reinforcing Statement
We don’t build doctrine on tradition. We stay with the Scripture: Jesus had brothers and sisters, Mary’s own children, born after His virgin birth.

What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?

Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.

SermonRelevance 40

Questions and Answers, Part 3

Sunday morning, the 30th of August of 1964 at the Branham Tabernacle in Jeffersonville, Indiana, U.S.A.

64-0830M §63

He created the womb that was in a woman. He had no womb to be born in; he had to borrow a womb. He created the earth and had not a place to be buried in; he had to borrow a hole in the ground to be buried in, Joseph of Arimathea, see. They had to borrow a place, yet He was God ... proved that He was God. Now, you understand? We are not... We are messiahettes, but not that Jesus. He is our Father; we're just anointed with his Spirit, and that's the reason his life... And that gets people. See, if you don't set and t...

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SermonRelevance 40

Proving His Word

Monday, the 26th of April 1965

65-0426 §77

Father, God, You are the same God that proved ... when You said "The girl is not dead, she is asleep," then you had to prove it. Now You promised that just before the coming of the end-time that the Son of man would reveal Himself in the same manner He did at Sodom. You promised it, Lord. Now You've come to the earth in the form of the Holy Spirit and got among us tonight, we believing people, and have proved it. You have proved Your Word, like You did that day. Lord, we need no more proof. You're among us. We love...

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SermonRelevance 40

But from the beginning it was not so

Thursday, the 2nd of October 1958

58-1002 §27

It reminds me of a story that I've just been reading this afternoon. It was the early life of our Lord, when He had been born in Bethlehem, and raised up there in Judea. And at the age of twelve there was a certain custom that the people kept. That was a feast. I think the feast of the Passover. And His people, Mary, His mother, and Joseph, His foster father, all went up to Jerusalem to keep this certain tradition. Just as lawful as they could. And while they were up there they got in a big way talking to their kin...

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SermonRelevance 40

Be not afraid, it is I

Friday, the 29th of June 1962

62-0629 §27

And four more years passed. And one day we found out that she was to be mother again. Some of them said, "Is this Joseph?" I said, "I don't know." But I said, "I don't know. But Joseph is coming, 'cause God never told me nothing but what was true." And so, I went out to the hospital, and kissed her as she went up into the room---the delivery room. A few minutes, the nurse came down. She said, "Who is Rev. Branham?" And I said, "Me." And she said, "You have a fine seven-pound boy." I said, "Joseph, honey, you've bee...

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Church Age BookRelevance 40

An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages

Chapter 6: The Thyatirean Church Age

CAB 6:E-41

Now with this verse I want you to drop down to verse 23 and see the proof of a great truth I have been bringing to your attention all along. "And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts." I have been saying right along that there are actually two churches, though the Spirit speaks to both of them in each age, as though they were but one. Here it is plainly stated that there are churches, and it states just as plainly that some of those c...

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