Jesus a married man?

[YosefYosep]

Do we have any evidence against Jesus not being a married man? A friend of mine believes he was in wedlock with Mary Magdalene. Is it just the lack of evidence, which suggests that he was unmarried?

 

[MarcoPolo]

There is no evidence he was married, and the tradition of the Church is evidence he was not, not to mention his role as bridegroom to the Church as espoused in Scripture, which speaks to a man not married to someone “else.” Your friend is merely engaging in wishful thinking, perhaps out of some animosity toward the Church, or fear of the idea of virginity sometimes called parthenophobia.

 

[Fragile]

Rather obvious from scripture alone that He was not.

 

[Sara505Sings]

Just want to say, I’m totally sick of this issue. And yes, it’s animosity towards the Church, I believe, that sparks this.

 

[Lion777]

If Jesus was married to a earthly woman it would have certainly been noted somehow somewhere in the New Testament and/or the early church fathers. The only writings that hint at this are written well after the canonical writings by gnostic herectical groups that were rejected by the mainstream church. One unclear fragmented sentence on a recently discovered papyrus fragment of dubious athenciticty is the ‘best’ evidence that Jesus had a wife. The so called gnostic ‘Gospel of Philip’ has been intpreted to say Jesus kissed Mary Magdelene, but even that is not clear due to damage to the original scroll. As far as I know this entire belief is based on these two items and reading too much into the authentic Gospel accounts. You have to believe there was a serious concerted conspiracy from the very beginning to suppress or ignore this tradition. Why would the church want to ignore this is the real question - enemies of the church want you to believe that it is anti sex and anti marriage. The church is not and never has been. Celibacy is only promoted for the clergy and religious and varies per rite of the church. There are clear scripture quotes from both Jesus and Paul recommending this for those who can take it. The vast majority of Christians are encoraged to marry and have children. In the confused theologies of the gnostics and other heresies is where you often see a rejection of marriage, children and human sexuality. Frankly if it were in God’s plan for Jesus to marry a woman (in addition to spiritually being wedded to the church) I suspect the early church would have embraced it - not suppressed it.

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[Least]

Hold a mirror under your nose.

If it periodically fogs, that may be proof that you are breathing, it will not be proof that you are breathing enough times per minute.

 

[MaryLouItalia]

Jesus was Jew and marriage in Jewish culture (and still is) is really important so, if He was truly married (with Mary Magdalene or any other woman) why the evangelists or Paul/Saul, they didn’t wrote a single word about it? There’s no shame in a wedding (remember Canaan miracle). Also John the Baptist, the Apostles (Peter excluded, he had a mother-in-law!) and maybe also Paul were single men.
Now and then, the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene appears and then, I see in the tv a documentary about Mary Magdalene and Jesus children, they fled in France and they’re the founders of the Capetian dynasty + the legend of the Graal (meaning: sang real - royal blood = Christ blood) + many other strange things. Really, I love watch a wonderful documetary about Roman Empire that listen things about this pseudo-history for the millionth time.

 

[R_C]

Do we have any evidence against Jesus not being a married man?

Yes.

Besides the solidity of the theological foundation of the Lord not being married, we have the fact that there is not one decent piece of evidence speaking about Him being married. Not one of the Apostles, not one of the Church Fathers, not once throughout the whole two thousand years of Sacred Tradition was it mentioned even as a remote possibility that the Lord was married.

Except for a couple of counterfeit heretical manuscripts, and a few fancy modern-day novels.

 

[Skye_Ariel]

No Jesus was not married, He knew what His mission was here, His purpose was to die for our sins and He would not marry someone knowing He would leave the wife widowed and children fatherless. Plus being the Son of God, why would He marry a woman? Makes no sense no matter how you think of it.

There is no evidence he was married, and the tradition of the Church is evidence he was not, not to mention his role as bridegroom to the Church as espoused in Scripture, which speaks to a man not married to someone “else.” Your friend is merely engaging in wishful thinking, perhaps out of some animosity toward the Church, or fear of the idea of virginity sometimes called parthenophobia.

I never knew such a fear existed!
Main Entry: ** parthenophobia
Part of Speech: ** n
Definition: ** a fear of young girls
Etymology: ** Greek parthenos ‘virgin’

 

[MarcoPolo]

I never knew such a fear existed!
Main Entry: ** parthenophobia
Part of Speech: ** n
Definition: ** a fear of young girls
Etymology: ** Greek parthenos ‘virgin’

Mmmhmm. Other entries I’ve seen say “virgins or young girls.” I think there are people who have that fear, or possibly the discomfort with the idea of someone else remaining a virgin, out of fear of the thought that they themselves are not comfortable with the idea for themselves.

 

[zz912]

Yes, Jesus is married to the Church, as He is the Bridegroom, and the Church is the Bride of Christ.

 

[HelenRose]

Do we have any evidence against Jesus not being a married man? A friend of mine believes he was in wedlock with Mary Magdalene. Is it just the lack of evidence, which suggests that he was unmarried?

It would have been more acceptable in that day and age for a Rabbi to have been married. There would have been no reason what-so-ever to have suppressed this knowledge. If Christ had been married, that information would have been woven into His teachings and in the history of Christianity.

It doesn’t make sense that Jesus, knowing that he was going to be crucified and vilefied, would have wanted to have a wife live through that. It was bad enough that His Blessed Mother felt that kind of grief.

 

[Skye_Ariel]

It would have been more acceptable in that day and age for a Rabbi to have been married. There would have been no reason what-so-ever to have suppressed this knowledge. If Christ had been married, that information would have been woven into His teachings and in the history of Christianity.

It doesn’t make sense that Jesus, knowing that he was going to be crucified and vilefied, would have wanted to have a wife live through that. It was bad enough that His Blessed Mother felt that kind of grief.

Exactly, there would have been no reason to hide it.

 

[rafarose]

As you know the Jewish tradition, the age twelve is a significant age in a person’s life. This is where the person was conceived to enter “adulthood” and therefore possibilities for marriage were open after the child reached that age. Remember that story when Jesus was found in the temple after his parents had been searching for him for three days?

Well that story can be interpreted several ways one which could suggest Jesus choosing the “celibate” life, as in a life committed completely with God.
In Luke we see this ““Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” [50] But they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

Perhaps this was a way of letting his parents know that he did not want to choose marriage?

 

[abucs]

From the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:5:

“Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brethren of the Lord and Cephas?” (RSV-CE).

If Jesus had a wife before the crucifixion then you would expect the strongest argument here would have been for St Paul to cite this in making his point.

 

[Oldtimer_7]

If you will notice, when Mary Magdalene is listed with St. Mary, the mother of Jesus, MM is listed first. She was a woman of some means financially and supported Jesus’ ministry financially. All this indicates that MM was about the same age as Jesus’ mother. Greek writers listed people by their social status, with the highest status individuals being listed first. Don’t get excited, I am only speaking of earthly status, not theological status.

No Jewish family of those days would have married their son off to an older woman, since the likelihood of offspring would have been so remote. The marriage of St. Joseph and St. Mary would be a good example of the type of arranged marriages in those days.

As to rabbis being married, this was true of those who were associated with the Jewish Temple authorities. Jesus was not a rabbi in this tradition, but was called “rabbi” as more of an honorific. Thus, any formal requirements would not have applied to Him. He was more in the vein of Essene preachers, who appear to have been celibate.

Finally, St. Luke tells us that many more things happened than were written down. It may be a safe assumption that they were not relative to Jesus’ role of reconciliation of mankind with God and His gift of salvation.

 

[gnosisofthomas]

Do we have any evidence against Jesus not being a married man? A friend of mine believes he was in wedlock with Mary Magdalene. Is it just the lack of evidence, which suggests that he was unmarried?

There’s really no evidence that supports that He was married, even in extracanonical scripture. The Gospel of St. Philip does call Mary His “consort,” but even that isn’t a clear indication. I’m not ruling out the possibility entirely, but it seems to me that it would probably be mentioned somewhere if He had married. It wouldn’t change what I think of Him either way. I think the idea that He and Mary Magdalene were married is a more recent conspiracy theory, largely spurred by fiction like The DaVinci Code.

 

[YosefYosep]

There’s really no evidence that supports that He was married, even in extracanonical scripture. The Gospel of St. Philip does call Mary His “consort,” but even that isn’t a clear indication. I’m not ruling out the possibility entirely, but it seems to me that it would probably be mentioned somewhere if He had married. It wouldn’t change what I think of Him either way. I think the idea that He and Mary Magdalene were married is a more recent conspiracy theory, largely spurred by fiction like The DaVinci Code.

Yeah good point. They would of definitely mentioned Jesus being married if he was.

 

[JohnVIII]

Marcus Julius Agrippa (the only “man” that Jesus could be) was married to St Veronica, but the marriage was never consummated, both remained virgins.

 

[zz912]

Marcus Julius Agrippa (the only “man” that Jesus could be) was married to St Veronica, but the marriage was never consummated, both remained virgins.

???

I’m almost afraid to ask, but could you explain a bit more what you mean about Agrippa and Jesus?