When 'brothers' means cousins — Pitre's concession, Genesis 31, 1 Chronicles 23, Josephus, and Mark 6:4

Pitre concedes at the outset: 'As any Greek dictionary will tell you, the most common meaning of the word brother is the same as in English: a male from the same womb,' and if all we had were Mark 6:3 'it would be reasonable to assume they were his blood brothers.' The argument is contextual. Three texts show the stretched sense: Jacob calls Laban's sons 'my brothers' though they are his cousins (Genesis 31:36–37 LXX); the daughters of Eleazar marry 'the sons of Kish, their brothers,' their first cousins (1 Chronicles 23:21–22 LXX); and Josephus uses adelphoi and syngeneis as synonyms in one passage. Then the clincher: in the same Nazareth episode Jesus says a prophet is without honour 'among his own kin' (syngeneusin) — 'Maybe because, according to the Gospel of Mark, they are his cousins.'

• Mark 6:3 — James, Joses, Judas and Simon called his 'brothers.'
• Genesis 31:36 — Jacob's cousins called his 'brethren.'
• 1 Chronicles 23:21 — first cousins called 'brethren.'
• Mark 6:4 — Jesus calls them his 'kin' (syngeneis).
• Luke 1:36 — Elizabeth, Mary's 'cousin' — the same root.

The word is not the argument; the context is. And the nearest context of all — Jesus' own next sentence in Mark 6:4 — calls the 'brothers' his relatives.

• Josephus — Jewish War 6.356–57 (pp 106–107) · read
• Septuagint — Genesis 31:37; 1 Chronicles 23:22 (pp 106–107) · read