Was Jesus Married

Was Jesus married? This question has been made popular from the book and movie The Da Vinci Code. Author Brown proclaims that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Is this true?

Was Jesus married - Dan Brown's Claim
The main passage that Brown uses as support is a little known paragraph from the Gnostic writings (Gospel of Philip 63:32-64:10). This text describes Mary Magdalene as a “companion” of Jesus. History tells us that this text from the Gospel of Philip was composed in the second half of the third century. This is a full two hundred years after the life of Jesus. (The four Christian gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- were written and being circulated within the first 90 years of the time of Christ.) The passage that Brown uses as his premise has many missing elements.

The key part of the text is broken at 63:33-36 and reads (Ellipses represent the broken locations in the manuscript and may signify missing words or phrases),

“And the companion of the…Mary Magdalene…her more than…the disciples…kiss her…on her…”.

Brown adds his own words to this manuscript to support point. Brown uses this manuscript and his imagination to say that Jesus was married to and had sex with Mary Magdalene. No serious scholar or serious historian who understands the complexities of Bible and extra-biblical exegesis would call this skillful academic interpretation.

Was Jesus married - Early Literature
As we study early literature -- biblical and extra-biblical -- we do not find any evidence that Jesus was married. There are thousands of ancient texts that speak of Jesus, and not one speaks of Jesus being married. They do speak of Jesus’ mother, father, and siblings, yet no wife.

• There is no mention of Jesus’ wife during His ministry.
  
  
• When Jesus was tried and crucified, there is no mention of a wife.
  
  
• After Jesus death and resurrection, there is no mention of a wife.
  
  
• Jesus’ family members -- mother, brothers, sisters -- are mentioned, yet no wife.
  
  
• There is no indication that Jesus was widowed.

“When Paul was defending his right to have a wife (1 Corinthians 9:5), he mentioned that Peter and Barnabas had wives. Had Jesus been married, Paul would have certainly mentioned such an important detail; it would have clinched his argument,” says Darrell Bock, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.¹

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¹ Bock’s complete article can be viewed at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/001/23.62.html.