The Firstborn Son

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. 
Romans 8:22

Aside from the texts which refer to the brothers of the Lord, the other frequently cited passage to bolster the argument against the Perpetual Virginity of Mary is Matthew 1:24-25. The Scripture reads:

"Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus."
Matthew 1:24-25 (KJV)

There are two words which, especially in conjunction with one another, appear to damn the idea that Mary bore no other children besides Jesus the Christ. They are the words "firstborn" and "till" -- words which, to those unfamiliar with the nuances of the Sacred Texts, would sequentially necessitate that there must have been other children which followed the birth of Christ. But we shall delve into and shed light on the texts, and reveal these nuances, discovering that no such necessity actually exists. Both terms carry Hebraic functions which speak beyond their simplistic meaning.

"Firstborn"

The Flight into Egypt, Carlo Dolci (1616-1686), oil on canvas

To the ears of moderns, the term "firstborn" would seem to imply that there must necessarily also be, at the very least, a second born. But this is not how ancient Jews and Christians would have understood the term. Rather, when God instructs Moses on the consecration of the firstborn throughout the land, this is how the concept is described:

The Lord said to Moses: Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.
Exodus 13:1-2 

This consecration of the firstborn, being one of the commandments of Almighty God given to the people of Israel, would have been equally applicable, presumably including the occasion when a family or an animal had only one offspring. The firstborn is nothing more than that which opens the womb for the first time.

All in all, if Mary had no other children besides the Lord, He nevertheless would still have been "the first to open the womb." (Linguistically, it's no different than the man who settled down with his high school sweetheart and explains it by saying that he married "his first girlfriend.")

"Until/Till/'Til/Unto"

Just as "firstborn" doesn't necessarily imply a "second born", neither does the word "until" necessarily imply any sort of termination of circumstance. On the contrary, sometimes it merely used for emphasis of that circumstance, affirming its details up to a certain point in time, with no bearing on what happens afterwards.

This is not an argument for some unique and abstract usage of the word "until"; the examples found in Scripture are copious indeed. Here are but a few examples:

• "And he [Noe] sent forth a raven; and it went forth and returned not until the water was dried from off the earth." Genesis 8:7 LXX
  
  [Yet anyone who's familiar with this story knows that the raven, famously, never returned to Noah.]

• "And he buried him [Moses] in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." Deuteronomy 34:6 (KJV)
  
  [The day after these words were written down, was the body of Moses then discovered?]

• "As to Michal daughter of Saul, she had no child till the day of her death." 2 Samuel 6:23 (YLT)
  
  [Should we conclude that on the day she died, Michal gave King David a child?]

• "David also said to Solomon his son, 'Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished'" 1 Chronicles 28:20 (NIV)
  
  [Is God only unfailing and faithful while there is work left for his servants to be done?]

• "From the rising of the sun till to the going down (From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same); the name of the Lord is worthy to be praised." Psalms 113:3
  
  [Is God's name not worthy of praise in between sunrise and sundown?]

• "And even to your old age I am he" Isaiah 46:4 (KJV)
  
  [After man is old and fades away into death, is God no longer God?]

• "And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age." Matthew 28:20b (BLB)
  
  [Does this mean that when the age is completed, Christ will no longer be with his disciples?]

• "We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time." Romans 8:22
  
  [If you read the wider context, Paul is very assertive that earth still has yet to give birth.]

• "And they went up to mount Sion with joy and gladness, and offered holocausts, because not one of them was slain, till they had returned in peace. "1 Maccabees 5:54 (DRA)
  
  [Does "till" imply that once Judah Maccabeus and men returned safely, at least one of them were slain?]

In these passages, this linguistic function of the word is utilized so as to emphasize the point of the text. The meanings of these other texts, are of course rather, obvious. By saying Michal bore no children "til" the day of her death, it communicates that throughout her whole life, she never bore children. Likewise, the Messiah's statement "I am with you always, until the completion of the age", communicates His unwavering fidelity, which actually reaches beyond the scope of time.

So then, what point is being emphasized in Matthew 1:25 by the inclusion of these words? That at no time at all during Mary's pregnancy of Christ did Joseph ever compromise her virginal integrity. (The dynamic force of its inclusion might interpret the verse along the lines of "he knew her not even until she brought forth her firstborn.") It operates so as to stress, to affirm against suspicion surrounding the matter, that the Lord Jesus Christ was truly conceived and born of a virgin. The purpose of this verse isn't to inform the reader about what would later become of the Lord's family, but is rather about the Lord himself, emphasizing and insisting that his miraculous birth was truly and only that: miraculous.

"I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth."

Psalms 89:27