Some people argue that certain New Testament verses show Mary was not a perpetual virgin:
In Luke 1:34, Mary explicitly asks Gabriel: “How will this be, since I know not man?” (οὐ γινώσκω ἄνδρα). She asks this after Gabriel has already told Her, “You will conceive in Your womb.” At this moment Mary is already betrothed to Joseph — legally bound to him in Jewish custom — and a vow of lifelong virginity could not have been hidden from him. She would have disclosed it before betrothal, and Joseph would have had to accept it, or even share in it.
Luke also identifies Her as both “a virgin” and “the virgin” (Luke 1:27), using the term first descriptively and then as a title. That makes sense only if Her virginity was not a temporary condition expected to end at consummation, but an established, enduring state.
A woman expecting marital relations would simply assume she’d conceive naturally once the marriage was completed. Her question in Luke 1:34 makes no sense unless She was not planning to have marital relations with Joseph. If She expected intercourse later, She would have no reason to ask how conception would occur.
Instead, She asks how She could conceive at all — and only then does Gabriel explain that the conception will be miraculous, by the Holy Spirit. This shows that before Gabriel’s explanation, Mary was not expecting conception through a man, which strongly implies She had already committed Herself to lifelong virginity.
Given this, the verses cited above cannot be used as proof against Mary’s perpetual virginity. They assume a marital relationship that Mary Herself shows She was not planning to have.
- Matthew 1:25
- Matthew 12:46
- Matthew 13:55–56
- Mark 3:31
- Mark 6:3
- Luke 8:19
In Luke 1:34, Mary explicitly asks Gabriel: “How will this be, since I know not man?” (οὐ γινώσκω ἄνδρα). She asks this after Gabriel has already told Her, “You will conceive in Your womb.” At this moment Mary is already betrothed to Joseph — legally bound to him in Jewish custom — and a vow of lifelong virginity could not have been hidden from him. She would have disclosed it before betrothal, and Joseph would have had to accept it, or even share in it.
Luke also identifies Her as both “a virgin” and “the virgin” (Luke 1:27), using the term first descriptively and then as a title. That makes sense only if Her virginity was not a temporary condition expected to end at consummation, but an established, enduring state.
A woman expecting marital relations would simply assume she’d conceive naturally once the marriage was completed. Her question in Luke 1:34 makes no sense unless She was not planning to have marital relations with Joseph. If She expected intercourse later, She would have no reason to ask how conception would occur.
Instead, She asks how She could conceive at all — and only then does Gabriel explain that the conception will be miraculous, by the Holy Spirit. This shows that before Gabriel’s explanation, Mary was not expecting conception through a man, which strongly implies She had already committed Herself to lifelong virginity.
Given this, the verses cited above cannot be used as proof against Mary’s perpetual virginity. They assume a marital relationship that Mary Herself shows She was not planning to have.
Exegesis precedes theology.