Jesus has a twin sibling

[CaptainCalvert]

Or if the twin lives and later has kids does Christianity eventually form similer to our timelines Islam with a eventual schism that factored into the sunni shia rift on weather or not to follow the word of the followers of Muhammad or his descendants going forward (in this the disciples and descendents)

There's a few novels and (supposedly) non-fiction books based on the idea that Jesus had descendants, and at least one novel on a modern-day immaculately conceived daughter [1]. I'm not the right person to look at the theological implications of hereditable divinity (nor the genetic aspects) but the books provide some interesting lines of thought.
The non-fiction books can vary - some are a bit 'My friend's brother's dentist told me about a page he'd seen in a copy of... in a private library. After five years of interesting sidetracks I finally tracked down the location only to find that the owner had moved/claimed the book didn't exist/ gladly showed me his library but the book or the page was missing/the house had been demolished and turned into a sports centre.'
Still quite fun if well written.


[1] Examples I've read.
Fiction - Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow.
Non fiction - The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, and The Templar Revelation.

 

[chornedsnorkack]

Jesus had a brother.
Born in 1814. In China.
How many people believe in the said brother since the Nanjing Massacre?

 

[Jan Olbracht]

In modern Christian doctrine it would be some thing of a problem, but that’s a result of how the Church evolve.

But the Church have been able to deal with bigger problems, the Bible tells us that Jesus had brothers (who are sons of Mary) but according to Catholic doctrine they’re not his brothers, but either cousins or half brothers through Joseph. I don’t think that Christians would have a harder time dealing with Jesus’s twin, unless he was very active in the scripture, honestly for all we know one of his four brothers could be his twin,

I think mainstream Christian view is that these brothers were cousins (Mary's or Joseph's nephews) because Aramean language does not distinguish between cousins and siblings.

 

[Kellan Sullivan]

Doesn't really matter does it
if she is his twin then that implies she was conceived the same way to

Castor and Pollux weren't, since we're going with the "son of a god" comparison

 

[Pempelune]

ASB.

How is that ASB? Have you not heard of Thomas Dydimos, whom some Christians have called the twin brother of Jesus?
It's absurdly silly to say "historical person has brother" is ASB either. It's a common POD.

 

[Pempelune]

Twin and brother is very different though. Brother simply means either half brother as Rome claims, or the son of Joseph as most Protestants do. Twin means theologically, she would have had to have been conceived by the Holy Spirit as well, I don't think it's a fact that can be brushed off lightly.

Doesn't really matter does it
if she is his twin then that implies she was conceived the same way to

You two are projecting modern understanding of twin births on ancient people. We know that they did not think Jesus being the Son of God means a twin of his would also be Son of God: Thomas Dydimos was claimed by some to be a twin of Jesus, but he was never said to be anything other than human. Him being the twin of the Saviour was a justification to give him greater importance over other apostles, but that's all.
So Jesus having a twin wouldn't mean he can't be the Messiah. Certainly the prophecies say nothing about the Messiah not being a twin.

That said, I think the most likely outcome is the twin being slowly demoted to normal sibling, and eventually to not a sibling at all, as happened to James the Just.

 

[The_Persian_Cat]

Jesus may have had a half-sibling-- James, "Brother of the Lord." Now, whether or not James was Jesus's actual half-brother is a matter of speculation, but it is still an interpretation many people have. According to this interpretation, James would be Mary's son by her husband Joseph. This would mean that Mary was not a perpetual virgin-- that, although Jesus was conceived miraculously, she would go on to have a normal relationship with her husband.

As a Muslim (and a layperson, with only a passing knowledge about this), I think this reading does make some sense. Islam, like Judaism, generally looks down upon celibacy-- whereas Greeks and Romans had traditions of sacred virginity (Artemis, Athena, the Vestal Virgins, the Pythia of Delphi, etc), Judaism (and Islam) instead reveres things like marriage, the family, and motherhood. So for a holy-woman to never have sex, despite being married-- it seems like a very Greco-Roman interpretation of what is sacred, rather than a Jewish/Semitic/Levantine one.
Also, James led the early Christian community after Jesus (in Islamic terms, one could say he was Jesus's caliph, or a claimant to his caliphate). As head of the Jerusalem Church, he (and the other Apostles) condemned Paul's new Gentile-focussed Church as heretical. As James saw it, Jesus was a rabbi and a reviver of Jewish law; but according to Paul, his Crucifixion and Resurrection had abrogated the Covenant of Abraham, and therefore Jewish law with it. So there was already a divide from the start between the early Jewish Christians, and Paul's community of Gentiles and Hellenised Jews.

Of course, this is all vastly oversimplifying some complicated theology and history -- and like I said, this is mostly speculation. But the fact that it's open to speculation is historically very interesting.

 

[Zireael]

@The_Persian_Cat The Bible mentions multiple brothers of Jesus (four IIRC) and the assumption is those are Mary's later sons by Joseph

This is in no way a Muslim-only reading as I heard that explanation from multiple priests (Roman Catholic, to be precise)

 

[The_Persian_Cat]

This is in no way a Muslim-only reading as I heard that explanation from multiple priests (Roman Catholic, to be precise)

Oh, it definitely isn't a Muslim-only reading, but I just wanted to make my biases clear. Islam obviously condemns fornication and adultery, but virginity itself isn't a sacred state of being; instead, motherhood is. So of course I'd believe that Mary could have sex with her husband; it jives with my worldview. But to most Western Christians, Mary's perpetual virginity is an important matter of dogma. They identify Jesus's brothers as being either his cousins, or being Joseph's sons by another marriage, or something else (even though they're called "adelphoi," "of the same womb").

 

[WinRar Archivist]

The Bible mentions multiple brothers of Jesus (four IIRC) and the assumption is those are Mary's later sons by Joseph

He's got at least two sisters also.

 

[Jan Olbracht]

He's got at least two sisters also.

Which is quite impressive for the time-to have 6 siblings, who lived to adulthood.

 

[WinRar Archivist]

Which is quite impressive for the time-to have 6 siblings, who lived to adulthood.

Well, it does help to have miracles on hand in case of illness, does it not 😁 ?

 

[eberardo con la barba]

Jesus may have had a half-sibling-- James, "Brother of the Lord." Now, whether or not James was Jesus's actual half-brother is a matter of speculation, but it is still an interpretation many people have. According to this interpretation, James would be Mary's son by her husband Joseph. This would mean that Mary was not a perpetual virgin-- that, although Jesus was conceived miraculously, she would go on to have a normal relationship with her husband.

As a Muslim (and a layperson, with only a passing knowledge about this), I think this reading does make some sense. Islam, like Judaism, generally looks down upon celibacy-- whereas Greeks and Romans had traditions of sacred virginity (Artemis, Athena, the Vestal Virgins, the Pythia of Delphi, etc), Judaism (and Islam) instead reveres things like marriage, the family, and motherhood. So for a holy-woman to never have sex, despite being married-- it seems like a very Greco-Roman interpretation of what is sacred, rather than a Jewish/Semitic/Levantine one.
Also, James led the early Christian community after Jesus (in Islamic terms, one could say he was Jesus's caliph, or a claimant to his caliphate). As head of the Jerusalem Church, he (and the other Apostles) condemned Paul's new Gentile-focussed Church as heretical. As James saw it, Jesus was a rabbi and a reviver of Jewish law; but according to Paul, his Crucifixion and Resurrection had abrogated the Covenant of Abraham, and therefore Jewish law with it. So there was already a divide from the start between the early Jewish Christians, and Paul's community of Gentiles and Hellenised Jews.

Of course, this is all vastly oversimplifying some complicated theology and history -- and like I said, this is mostly speculation. But the fact that it's open to speculation is historically very interesting.

the cats remarks are enlightning - at least for me. I didn't realise that the virginity veneration stems from greco- roman culture. So: Jesus had siblings. Assuming there is an identical looking twin brother, the twin could make an appearance in the cemitary on the third day after crucification and claim to be the resurrected Jesus. (On the other hand it would probably have been known to the contemporaries that there is a twin).

 

[gaiusjcaesar]

This.

 

[Andristan]

We know that they did not think Jesus being the Son of God means a twin of his would also be Son of God: Thomas Dydimos was claimed by some to be a twin of Jesus, but he was never said to be anything other than human

I would say the claims are made very late (approx. 100-150 years later) by gnostics, and he was also claimed to be (depending on which gnostic book you read) to be the same as Judas Iscariot too, so I dont rate either claim as being in much relation to the truth.

Judaism (and Islam) instead reveres things like marriage, the family, and motherhood. So for a holy-woman to never have sex, despite being married-- it seems like a very Greco-Roman interpretation of what is sacred, rather than a Jewish/Semitic/Levantine one.

But there is evidence from the Torah describing vows of virginity for both married and unmarried women, for differing durations, so we can know that the idea itself existed and was recognized as legitimate in Judaism.

As head of the Jerusalem Church, he (and the other Apostles) condemned Paul's new Gentile-focussed Church as heretical.

As far as I have read, Paul states in one of his letters the opposite: that he met with James "Brother of the Lord", Peter and other apostles in Jerusalem and that they were cool with his ministry, also the council of Jerusalem endorsed Paul and his viewpoints while condemning the judaizers. I would be interested in your sources for this statement, very much so.
As far as historical siblings, I believe, we have mention of 4 men, James, Jude, Simon and Joseph who are called brothers and a some plural amount of sisters. The NT can be taken in different ways on this matter, IIRC, there is mention of multiple Marys at the cross, of whom one is described as the mother of james, jude etc, and is generally believed to be the same Mary who is other where called wife of Clopas, so we can understand the brothers reference as having a wide understanding than specifically brother, like the other commenter said farther up, the Aramaic can include uncle, nephew, cousin and most other male relation that is not father. Interestingly, pretty sure its in Hegesippus, but Simon/Simeon was appointed bishop of Jerusalem after James was killed by the Sanhedrin which could indicate that the bishopric of Jerusalem was reserved for the members of Jesus' family(extended or otherwise).

 

[PecuTheGreat]

Thomas is Jesus' twin Gnostics were correct except, Thomas is also a girl.

Which is one thing to remember, Jesus having an intelligent twin sister is far less important than the disciples thinking it's important. We don't even know the exact nature of his brothers relationship with him.

So he'll not only have to have a twin sister, that twin sister would also have to be seen as important and a variant oc the gnostics that thought Thomas was his twin are probably the best way to go.

 

[PecuTheGreat]

As far as I have read, Paul states in one of his letters the opposite: that he met with James "Brother of the Lord", Peter and other apostles in Jerusalem and that they were cool with his ministry, also the council of Jerusalem endorsed Paul and his viewpoints while condemning the judaizers. I would be interested in your sources for this statement, very much so.

Maybe they're getting it from an interpretation of the Ebionites claim that Paul ruined things. So if the Ebionites are actually the original followers of the Jerusalemite Church as they claimed, then the Jerusalemite Church must have been initially against Paul.

I don't buy it myself as the church was a highly organized institution when it started according to the gospels and when we get first secular records.

 

[PecuTheGreat]

To answer the question - if Christianity is false then ITTL it's almost certainly dead on arrival. The whole point of Jesus was that he was the messiah predicted in the Old Testament. His claims cannot possibly make sense if he has a twin sister that the OT never remotely talks about.

Yeah, exactly. The OT never talked about like the OT never talked about the Magi and like the Magi it won't be a major issue.

 

[durante]

Ever seen the movie "the Prestige"?

Moral of the story: it's a lot easier to be resurrected from the dead if you have an identical twin.

 

[WanderingWanderer]

Ever seen the movie "the Prestige"?

Moral of the story: it's a lot easier to be resurrected from the dead if you have an identical twin.

Heh, let me point out Christian Bale has played Jesus in a TV movie about the Virgin Mary, who was played by Anakin Skywalker's mom (the movie itself was "meh" although Bale as usual acted as seriously in bad movies as he does in Oscar-bait films). The idea of Jesus' twin acting as the resurrected Christ is interesting.

As others already pointed out, there's already "Thomas" the twin, who might be a literal twin of Jesus (I read somewhere "Thomas" is the nickname for Jude / Judas, one of those listed as "brothers of the Lord" alongside James etc). This might explain why Judas Iscariot (totally different guy from Jude / Judas aka "Thomas") had to identify Jesus with a kiss, the soldiers would need to know which twin to arrest, no?