With Easter Sunday having just passed there are normally a slew of programs about the life of Jesus. Inevitably there are people who pose questions such as: do we really know Jesus even existed and did he have children (oh how the Da Vinci code brought endless questions on this matter)? While reading 1 Corinthians this week I realized that 1 Corinthians 9:5 seems to provide evidence that at least Paul did not think Jesus was married and I am curious why this is not the first piece of evidence marshaled to counter any claims that Jesus was married. (Of course the fact that Jesus is not portrayed as having a wife in the Gospels is pretty compelling on its own!)
1 Cor 9:5 (NRSV) Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
This passage occurs in the context of Paul defending his rights as an apostle. The most common reading of this passage is that the brothers of Jesus, Peter, and at least some of the other apostles had wives. More specifically commentators stress the fact that these wives travelled with them. If Paul is citing examples of other important Christians who have wives it seems that Jesus would be at the front of this list if he had a wife. I suppose it is possible that one could argue that Jesus had a wife who did not travel with him, but I suspect Paul would have reworked this sentence to include Jesus if he had a wife. Possibly this is the first passage used to counter any claims concerning Jesus and marriage however I have not heard it used in this context.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter, my daughter certainly enjoyed her first Easter.
Paul of Tarsus 
April 15, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Jesus was actually secretly married to Herodias. It was a big and confusing scandal, so Paul wanted to sweep it under the rug 😉
April 16, 2009 at 12:19 am
When the Da Vinci Code came out some in my family were convinced that the book was historically accurate and Jesus did in fact have children and a wife. Christmas at grandma’s house was wild and crazy that year.
April 16, 2009 at 8:03 am
If Jesus were married, do you think his wife would allow him to spent so much time with “The Guys”, a.k.a. the disciples?
April 16, 2009 at 9:27 am
I had some close friends who loved the book and, since the book is **loosely** based on historical situations, weren’t sure what they could believe about the historical contexts in the book (like Constantine). In that way, it is a bit like historical movies. So, most people who saw the movie probably think that Commodus was actually killed in the arena by a general named Maximus and that the Republic was restored.
April 23, 2009 at 3:27 am
It might be that Jesus is not mentioned because he is talking about the current practice (among the living Christians). Paul is not talking about earlier times/periods. I guess that leaves Jesus out of the discussion.
April 23, 2009 at 10:43 am
Chrystheo,
I would certainly agree that Paul is referring to present circumstances but I cannot imagine that if Jesus also had a wife he would not have included Jesus in his list. For certainly Jesus would have been the ultimate example of one who had a wife.