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Translated by John Patrick.
Origen Resources OnLine & in Print
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128 Pages
Page 30
17. The Brethren of Jesus.
And the saying, "Whence hath this man this wisdom," [5260] indicates clearly that there was a great and surpassing wisdom in the words of Jesus worthy of the saying, "lo, a greater than Solomon is here." [5261] And He was wont to do greater miracles than those wrought through Elijah and Elisha, and at a still earlier date through Moses and Joshua the son of Nun. And they spoke, wondering, (not knowing that He was the son of a virgin, or not believing it even if it was told to them, but supposing that He was the son of Joseph the carpenter,) "is not this the carpenter's son?" [5262] And depreciating the whole of what appeared to be His nearest kindred, they said, "Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?" [5263] They thought, then, that He was the son of Joseph and Mary. But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel according to Peter, [5264] as it is entitled, or "The Book of James," [5265] that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honour of Mary in virginity to the end, so that that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word which said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee," [5266] might not know intercourse with a man after that the Holy Ghost came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the first-fruit among men of the purity which consists in chastity, and Mary among women; for it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the first-fruit of virginity. And James is he whom Paul says in the Epistle to the Galatians that he saw, "But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." [5267]
[5260] Matt. xiii. 54.
[5261] Matt. xii. 42.
[5262] Matt. xiii. 55.
[5263] Matt. xiii. 55, 56.
[5264] The Gospel of Peter, of which a fragment was recovered in 1886 and published in 1892.
[5265] Protevangelium Jacobi, c. 9.
[5266] Luke i. 35.
[5267] Gal. i. 19.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/matthew-commentary.asp?pg=30
