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[Jewish custom allowed that they be considered as husband and wife, though the marriage had not yet been consummated. The point is being made that Joseph and Mary had experienced no sexual contact with each other, as verse 18 “before they came together”]
Yes, in 3 verses in Matthew Chapter One, the terms "husband" and "wife" are used - along with the term "betrothed" (roughly, "engaged"). And all of these times was BEFORE Jesus was born and when there was NO consummation, NO sexual relations and thus NOT a full marriage, not consummated. The term here is NOT being used in the sense that is typical of these English words. This does NOT say they were "one flesh", it does NOT say they were married in that sense.
You chose to quote a Catholic website, and you confirm what I stated earlier, the Tradition of the West is that they were "married" but that it was never consummated, they shared a house but not a bed, they were "married" only in that very limited sense. Not "one flesh." The Tradition of the East is that they were not married in any sense but indeed shared the same house (not bed) and in roles of parent. The distinction makes little difference. You are simply noting that (like "brother") the terms YOU FEEL "imply" much actually don't at all say what you insist they do.
I'll ask again:
Where is the verse that says they got married (ie, sex.... consummation.... "one flesh")?
Where is the verse that says Mary had other children?
We know what Tradition says..... we know that about 200 years ago, some very radical liberals who denied the truthfulness of Scripture, the Virgin Birth and taught that Christianity if "full of myths" invented your theory. But the Bible is SILENT. Yes, the words "husband" and "wife" are used 3 times (all when Mary and Joseph had consummated NOTHING) but the words were simply interchangable with "betrothed" and does NOT mean marriage in the full sense. And yes, "brother" CAN mean have the same mother - but it actually rarely means that in the koine Greek, MOST of the time the word did not refer to persons to shared ANY biological parent (you and I are brothers). You are pumping a LOT into ENGLISH words in an ENGLISH translation as "IMPLIED" to a modern English reader. But it's not in the text. The Bible doesn't say what you do. Tradition doesn't either/
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