John Calvin (1509-1564)
On the perpetual virginity of Mary
Calvin Routinely brushes aside the difficulties sometimes raised from "first born" and the “brothers of the Lord." (O'Carroll, M., 1983, Theotokos, Glazier, Inc.: Wilmington, DE, p. 94.)
[On Matt 1:25:] The inference he [Helvidius] drew from it was, that Mary
remained a virgin no longer than till her first birth, and that afterwards she
had other children by her husband . . . No just and well-grounded inference
can be drawn from these words . . . as to what took place after the birth
of Christ. He is called 'first-born'; but it is for the sole purpose of informing
us that he was born of a virgin . . . What took place afterwards the historian
does not inform us . . . No man will obstinately keep up the argument,
except from an extreme fondness for disputation.
(Calvin's Commentaries, tr. William Pringle, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1949, p.215; on Matthew 13:55)
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1509-1564