Was Jesus Married?
“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” 1 Timothy 4:7
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15
Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations.
Have you seen the commercials for the new Sherlock Holmes series? After signing himself out of a drug rehab hospital, he becomes a consultant for the NY police. What he cannot learn by deduction, he learns from google. He bears only a superficial similarity to the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes from the movies in the 1940s and 50s. The woman who plays Dr. Watson in the new series reminds me even less of the man who played Dr. Watson in the movies. Unlike the Arthur Conan Doyle character, created in the 1880s, the movie Sherlock rode in cars instead of carriages and used a telephone more often than messenger boys.
Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations.
Hawaii 5-0 was a popular TV series in the 70s. The biggest member of the team was Kono. I seem to remember one episode where he was knocking on the door to a small trailer. When no one answered, he began banging on door. The whole trailer shook as he did. When commercials for the new series began a couple of years ago, I was surprised to see that the new Kono was a dainty little wisp of a girl.
Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations. It happens with both fictional and historical figures.
Have you seen the commercial of the man dressed as an aristocrat from the 1500s standing in a speed boat? He is laughing joyfully and waving his crew onward. The advertisers say that people who use their product are happier than Christopher Columbus with speed boats.
In the 1950s and 60s, popular TV shows included the adventures of Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp, and Daniel Boone. Only some of those stories were based on history. The rest were complete fiction. Wyatt Earp, in particular, was modified to make him a better role model, something which seems to be irrelevant to TV people today.
Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations. It happens with both fictional and historical figures. It is not a new phenomenon.
In recent days, entirely too much has been made of highly selective quotes from a presentation asking, “Was Jesus Married?” Reports declared the news was “apt to send jolts through the world of biblical scholarship - and beyond.” Professor Karen King of Harvard Divinity School said a scrap of papyrus has been translated to have the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’”
Two of three authorities consulted expressed doubts, but their doubts were not picked up as readily as the more sensational speculation. Most scholars at the presentation seem to think it was made too early, that not enough evidence was in, that too many questions remained.
According to the New York Daily News, "King said she dated the time it was written to the second half of the second century because it shows close connections to other newly discovered gospels written at that time, especially the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Philip."
Any reporter interested in writing an in-depth article would learn that many heretical writings exist, claiming unsubstantiated things about Jesus. The Nag Hammadi texts uncovered in 1945 include about four dozen false gospels. One more text, a scrap smaller than a business card, with no record of when it was discovered, where it was discovered, or how it was discovered is not “apt to send jolts through the world of biblical scholarship - and beyond.” Such sensationalism sounds like laying the ground-work for a TV documentary or another fictional novel (and subsequent movie) about Jesus’ secret life.
Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations. It happens with both fictional and historical figures. It is not a new phenomenon.
What is interesting about the New York Daily News quote is that in a Harvard Divinity course description Dr. King admits that two of the texts referred to are heretical.
“Orthodoxy and Heresy in Ancient Christianity
“Karen L. King
“Description
“An examination of the dynamics of early Christian identity formation, including the development of discourses of orthodoxy and heresy, practices of interpreting Scripture, selected theological disputes, sex/gender, and categories of religious identity. The course will focus on reading the primary literature, with special attention to those types of early Christianity which later were deemed heretical (including texts such as The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, The Apocryphon of James, The Gospel of Judas, The Gospel of Truth, and The Secret Revelation of John).”
Among other heresies, the Gospel of Philip, which she referred to in the news quote, teaches that knowledge of the truth frees men to become sinless and that God made mistakes when He created of the world.
"He who has knowledge of the truth is a free man, but the free man does not sin, for ’He who sins is the slave of sin.’"
"The world came about through a mistake. For he who created it wanted to create it imperishable and immortal. He fell short of attaining his desire. For the world never was imperishable, nor, for that matter, was he who made the world."
In his homily on Luke, Origen wrote, "The Church possesses four gospels, heresy a great many..." The following quote is only one reason why his list of heretical gospels included the Gospel of Thomas, another text Dr. King mentioned in the news article.
“Simon Peter said to him, ‘Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ‘I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
Do you recall anywhere in the real gospels that it says women who have sex change operations are guaranteed entrance to heaven? The church has four gospels, but heresy a great many.
So why does all this matter? The Bible says nothing either way about Jesus being married or never being married. Since He made provisions for His mother while on the cross but not for a wife, I suspect He not. That is a reasonable speculation but it is not a stated fact.
So what is the point of all this?
If your faith is rocked by the claim that Jesus may have been married, you are not spending enough time in the Word and prayer. You are not spending enough time in worship. To repeat what Origen wrote, "The Church possesses four gospels, heresy a great many..." Focus on the true gospels and “have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales, rather, train yourselves to be godly.” 1 Timothy 4:7.
On the other hand, if your faith is unshaken by the discovery of yet another fictitious gospel, but you meet Christians who are shaken by this or unbelievers under the mistaken notion that this confirms their unbelief, “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have,” 1 Peter 3:15.
