Was Jesus Married To Mary Magdalene?

According to TDVC...

"The marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record." (Page 245)

"The Last Supper practically shouts at the viewer that Jesus and Magdalene were a pair." (Page 244)

""the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?'" (Page 246, quote from the Gospel of Philip)

"as any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion, in those days, literally mean spouse" (p. 246)

The Truth - EXPOSED!!!

Unlike other Jewish teachers of his day, Jesus had close relationships with women, many of whom were his followers (Luke 8:2-3) and learned from him (Luke 10:38-42). Several of these women are mentioned by name in the New Testament gospels, including, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, who together helped to support Jesus and his other disciples financially (Luke 8:2-3). But nothing in the New Testament suggests that Jesus was ever married to any of these women, or to any other woman, for that matter.

But, you might wonder, what about Mary Magdalene? Isn't there evidence that suggests she was in fact married to Jesus?

Brown correctly observes that few Jewish men of Jesus' day did not marry.

But why, then, did the apostle Paul, himself celibate, not mention Jesus and Mary when he argued that apostles could marry? For example, in 1 Corinthians 9:5 the apostle Paul defends his right to get married if he so chose to do so:

Don't we have the right to take
a believing wife along with us,
as do the other apostles
and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?

~ 1 Corinthians 9:5 ~

Now, if Jesus had been married, surely the apostle Paul would have cited Jesus' marriage as the number-one precedent. The fact that he did not mention a wife of Jesus indicates that Jesus was not married.

Finally, nothing in the Bible even hints that Jesus was married, or, as some have suggested, that he had a sexual relationship with anyone outside of marriage.

Throughout the New Testament, there is NO mention of Jesus being married prior to the beginning of His three-year ministry. There is NO mention of Jesus being married during His three-year ministry. There is NO mention of Jesus being married at the crucifixion. There is NO mention of Jesus being married at His burial. There is NO mention of Jesus being married at His resurrection. In other words, there is NO mention of a wife anywhere! In fact, whenever the New Testament gospels refer to Jesus' natural relatives, they speak only of his father, mother, and siblings, but never of a wife or a lover.

In 1970, William E. Phipps published Was Jesus Married? The Distortion of Sexuality in the Christian Tradition. In this book Phipps argued that the silence of the New Testament about the marital status of Jesus indicates that Jesus was in fact married.

Some try to argue that it was expected of every Jewish man to get married because virtually every Jewish man in Jesus' day did marry, especially those who were considered to be Rabbis. Surely Jesus must have followed custom and gotten married!

Such an argument is unconvincing, because:

• A number of major prophets were never married - including the likes of Jeremiah and John the Baptist.
• There were whole communities of Jews which included non-married men - such as the Essene community at Qumran.
  
• Note that Jewish leaders often granted exceptions to the general rule of marriage. It was certainly not an unbending requirement by law -either governmental or religious - to marry.
  

For now we must acknowledge that the main argument in favor of Jesus' marriage is at best weakly circumstantial. Moreover, it forces us to believe that the most reliable accounts of Jesus' life failed to mention one of the most salient aspects of that life. How unlikely!

Mary Magdalene in the New Testament

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town
and village to another, proclaiming the good news
of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,
and also some women who had been cured of
evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene)
from whom seven demons had come out;
Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager
of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others.
These women were helping to support them
out of their own means.

~ Luke 8:1-3 ~

Nothing in this passage suggests that there was anything unusual about Mary's relationship with Jesus, other than the very unusual fact that she was included among Jesus' retinue. Jewish teachers in Jesus' day usually didn't teach women or include them as followers. In his inclusive practice Jesus was virtually unique, and his relationship with Mary and her female counterparts quite counter-cultural.

The next time we run into Mary Magdalene she is among the women who observe the crucifixion of Jesus.

Some women were watching from a distance.
Among them were Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses,
and Salome.
~ Mark 15:40 ~

Then, on Easter morning she and a couple of female companions go to the tomb of Jesus, only to find it empty. Mary encounters Jesus near the tomb, and then goes to announce his resurrection to the other disciples (John 20:1-18). In a sense, she is the first Christian evangelist, the first person to pass on the good news of Easter.

This is all we know about Mary Magdalene from the biblical gospels. Several centuries after these texts were written, Mary became associated with the prostitute who bathed and anointed Jesus' feet (Luke 7:36-50). But there's nothing in Scripture that makes this connection. We have no reason to believe that Mary had ever been a prostitute.

There's also nothing whatsoever in the biblical material to suggest that Mary was Jesus' wife, What is exceptional about Mary, when understood in her own cultural setting, is that she was one of Jesus' closest followers. Moreover, she was the first witness to the risen Christ, a role of exceptional honor and privilege. Ironically, the efforts to turn Mary the disciple of Jesus into Mary the wife of Jesus *actually* minimize how truly extraordinary she was as a central follower, supporter, and witness of Jesus.

Because nothing in the New Testament suggests that Jesus and Mary were married, those who advocate this position claim to rely on the evidence of non-canonical "gospels."

Most people are not familiar with the non-canonical gospels. Thus when they hear that these writings reveal Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene, they are at a loss to evaluate this claim, and often accept it at face value. Many even assume that the non-canonical evidence for Jesus' marriage must be strong and ample since some writers get so excited about it. In fact the actual evidence is both weak and scanty, as we'll see.

A word of caution before we begin to look at the non-canonical evidence: Dating of the non-biblical gospels is perilous because we have so little solid evidence. Those who want to see these gospels as reliable historical sources often push their authorship as early as possible, sometimes even into the first century A.D. Most credible scholars date the writing of the non-canonical gospels in the second or third century A.D. These texts are, at any rate, later than the biblical gospels by a long shot (with the possible exception of the Gospel of Thomas, which may have been written in the first century, though this is not at all certain). Several of the non-canonical gospels are named after one of the original disciples of Jesus, including Mary, but these disciples had nothing to do with the actual writing of the extra-biblical gospels.

Mary Magdalene in The Gospel of Thomas

Mary plays a tiny role in the Gospel of Thomas, asking Jesus a question about the disciples: "Whom are your disciples like?" (section 21, trans. Thomas O. Lambdin). This is the only place she speaks. She is mentioned at the end of this gospel in a most curious passage, which reads:

Simon Peter said to them, "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." (section 114)

This passage does affirm what we already know from the canonical gospels: that Mary was included among Jesus' followers and that Jesus himself intentionally included women. Of course in the biblical record he valued them as women, not as beings that had eternal value if they became male. Maleness, in this text, should not be understood literally, but as a symbol of one's spiritual or divine nature.

So, one who is looking for evidence of a secret marriage between Jesus and Mary will be disappointed by the earliest of the non-canonical gospels. The Gospel of Thomas, in its peculiar way, simple underscores what we already know of Mary from the biblical gospels.

Mary Magdalene in The Gospel of Peter

The Gospel of Peter, written in the second century A.D., focuses only on the last hours in the life of Jesus. It is noteworthy for its view that Jesus felt no pain when crucified (section 10) and for its exoneration of Pontius Pilate for the death of Jesus (sections 1, 45-46). Mary Magdalene appears only on Easter morning, when she and her women friends come to the tomb of Jesus to weep for him. She is described as "a female disciple [Greek mathetria ] of the Lord" (section 50,). At the tomb, Mary and her friends see an angel who announces the resurrection of Jesus, and they run away frightened (section 56-57).

Once again, Mary is only portrayed as a female disciple of Jesus.

Mary Magdalene in The Dialogue of the Savior

The Dialogue of the Savior, also written in the second century A.D., is a dialogue between the Savior (never called Jesus or Christ) and some of his disciples, including Mary. The disciples ask questions about esoteric religious things, and Jesus gives equally esoteric answers. Although Mary is one of the frequent interrogators of the Savior, at one point she makes an observation. The text explains, "This word she spoke as a woman who knew the All" (Section 139, trans. Harold Attridge). In other words, Mary has special knowledge of spiritual reality.

There is no hint in The Dialogue of the Savior of a marriage between Jesus and Mary (or the Savior and Mary). She is seen, once again, as central among the disciples of the Savior, and as a person with special insight.

Mary Magdalene in The Sophia of Jesus Christ

The Sophia of Jesus Christ is a post-resurrection dialogue between the risen Christ and some of his followers, including Mary. It may have been written as early as the middle of the second century A.D. Twice in this gospel Mary asks questions of Christ, such as "Holy Lord, where did your disciples come from, and where are they going, and (what) should they do here?" (section 114, trans. Douglas M. Parrott). Mary is not singled out further, nor is there a suggestion of a marriage to Jesus.

Mary Magdalene in The Pistis Sophia

The Pistis Sophia is a Gnostic gospel written sometime during the third century A.D. It is a revelation of Christ in which Mary plays a prominent role, asking the majority of the questions about all measure of esoteric matters.

Mary is praised in The Pistis Sophia as one "whose heart is more directed to the Kingdom of Heaven than all [her] brothers" (Chapter 17, trans. Carl Schmidt and Violet MacDermott). Jesus says that she is "blessed beyond all women upon the earth, because [she shall be] the pleroma of all Pleromas and the completion of all completions" (section 19). In other words, Mary will have the fullness of knowledge and therefore spiritual life within her. So impressed is Jesus with Mary's spiritual excellence that he promises not to conceal anything from her, but to reveal everything to her "with certainty and openly" (section 25). She is the blessed one who will "inherit the whole Kingdom of the Light" (section 61).

From The Pistis Sophia we see the growing interest in Mary among Gnostic Christians, who valued knowledge (gnosis in Greek) above all. She has come to be regarded as a source of hidden revelation because of her intimate relationship with Jesus. Nothing in this gospel suggests a marriage between them, however.

Mary Magdalene in The Gospel of Mary

The Gospel of Mary, written in the second century, goes even further than The Pistis Sophia in portraying Mary as a source of secret revelation because of her close relationship to the Savior. At one point Peter asks, "Sister, We know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember--which you know but we do not nor have we heard them" (section 10, trans. George W. MacRae and R. McL. Wilson). So Mary reveals what the Lord made known to her in a vision, the content of which seems like mumbo-jumbo to anyone other than a second-century Gnostic.

The Gospel of Mary reports that several of the disciples were none too impressed by Mary's purported insights into heavenly things. Andrew responded to her revelation by saying "I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas" (section 17). Then Peter asked, "Did he really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?" But Levi speaks up for Mary, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us" (section 18).

Ah, at last, here's fuel for the fire of a secret marriage between Mary and Jesus. She is the recipient of his secret revelations and private speeches. The Savior, who is not called Jesus in The Gospel of Mary, even preferred Mary to the other disciples, loving her more than them. Mary's relationship with Jesus has clearly entered a new dimension we have not seen before.

But there is nothing here to suggest that Jesus and Mary were married. Jesus' love for Mary leads him to reveal special truth to her, not to take her as his wife. Nothing in The Gospel of Mary points to a sexual or spousal relationship between Jesus and Mary.

Mary Magdalene in The Gospel of Philip

Finally (!!!) we come to The Gospel of Philip, the last of the extra-biblical gospels to mention Mary Magdalene, and the one that excites proponents of her marriage to Jesus more than any other ancient document.

The actual document of The Gospel of Philip (which is a Gnostic Gospel) is very fragmentary. The Gospel of Philip is one of the latest of the non-canonical gospels, written well into the third-century. It is not a gospel in any ordinary sense, but rather a collection of theological observations written from a Gnostic point of view. Some but not all of these observations mention Jesus. Two passages refer to Mary Magdalene, who plays a tiny role in this gospel.

The first of these passages reads, "There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion" (section 59). Much has been insinuated about the word "companion", which, in the Greek original is koinonos. But, contrary to the wishful thinking of some, this word doesn't mean spouse or sexual consort. It means "partner", and is used several times in the New Testament with this ordinary meaning (for example, when Paul refers to himself as Philemon's koinonos in the Philemon 1:17).

The second passage in The Gospel of Philip that concerns Mary is the most suggestive:

"And the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?' The Savior answered and said to them, 'Why do I not love you like her?' When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness" (sections 63-64; the words in bold are missing in the original text, and have been supplied by the translator, Wesley Isenberg. The manuscript is broken at this point, so it could just as easily have been forehead, hand or cheek. Most translators have added the word 'mouth').

But what about the kissing? Surely this suggests something more than partnership in ministry.

Nothing suggests that this was anything more than a kiss of fellowship as practiced in the early church.

Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ send greetings.
~ Romans 16:16 ~ All the brothers here send you greetings.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
~ 1 Corinthians 16:20 ~

In actual fact, earlier in the Gospel of Philip kissing is a symbol of shared revelation, not sexual intimacy (sections 58-59). Thus when the Gospel of Philip speaks of the Savior kissing Mary, this could refer in context to His revealing secrets to her, not literally kissing her.

Notice that the Savior doesn't explain His love for Mary by referring to His marriage to her. Instead, his love for Mary has to do with her ability to receive knowledge ("see the light"). She is His companion in matters of gnosis (knowledge), not sex or marriage.

The very interaction between the Savior and the other disciples shows the folly of interpreting the Gospel of Philip as if the Savior and Mary were married. If this were the case, then the disciples' question, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" makes no sense whatsoever. Surely if Jesus had been married to Mary then his special affection for her wouldn't have been an offense. And surely Jesus could have satisfied the disciples' question by explaining that Mary was his wife. But he doesn't do this. Instead he explains his special affection for Mary by pointing to her ability to see the light, that is, to have knowledge. In the Gospel of Philip, neither the Savior nor His disciples believe that he and Mary are husband and wife. She is His companion in the sense that He has revealed special truth to her. This is the sum total of her uniqueness among the disciples. Of course in Gnostic circles, this makes Mary truly special indeed, since Gnostics prized knowledge above all else and minimized or denigrated physical life.

Even if we suppose that this passage, which appears in no other document, and which dates to about 275 A.D., several hundred years after the canonical gospels, conveys historically accurate information, the passage itself seems to disprove Jesus' marriage to Mary.

Moreover, the Gospel of Philip nowhere states that Jesus was married. Moreover, this gospel was written not in Aramaic, as Brown claims, but in Greek!!! Still further, the manuscript for the Gospel of Philip is not whole. There is nothing in the context that demands that Jesus kissed Mary on the mouth. Finally, the Gospel of Philip portrays the disciples of Jesus criticizing Mary because Jesus is said to love her more than all the disciples. However, logically, if Jesus was really married, no disciple would criticize Mary. The Gospel of Philip thus provides no hard proof that Jesus was married.

That's it. That's the best non-canonical evidence for the marriage of Jesus and Mary: a passage which, even if taken at face value as a historically accurate account, which one would be silly to do, seems to contradict the hypothetical marriage. The only way to find this marriage in the non-canonical gospels is to interject it there yourself.

One who has read The Da Vinci Code and been persuaded to accept its fictional history as fact will no doubt object at this point: "But you don't understand. Jesus' marriage to Mary was a secret. These texts only give tiny clues. The real truth of Jesus' marriage was hidden, and that's why the non-canonical gospels say so little about it."

Of course this could be true, theoretically speaking. But I'd argue that we have much more evidence for Jesus having been an alien from outer space than the husband of Mary Magdalene. After all, he is transfigured on a mountain with glowing beings (Mark 9:2-8) and he ascends to heaven in a cloud (Acts 1:9).

One can make up all sorts of theories about Jesus, but the only way to evaluate these theories is with the facts of the ancient texts we have. And these texts simply do not support the theory of Jesus' marriage.

Further, we must note that Jesus' marriage is yet future. He will one day marry the "bride of Christ," which is the church. The Bible tells us:

Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear."
Then the angel said to me, "Write:
'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'"
And he added, "These are the true words of God."

~ Revelation 19:7-9 ~

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around
him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
Whoever does God's will is my brother
and sister and mother."

~ Mark 3:33-35 ~

Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with
water through the word,
and to present her to himself as a radiant church,
without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
but holy and blameless.

~ Ephesians 5:25-27 ~