DAY 25
CHALLENGE
“The Church covered up Jesus’s marriage to Mary Magdalene. The Gospel of Philip says they were married, and Jewish men didn’t stay unmarried in Jesus’ day, so he wouldn’t have been celibate.”
DEFENSE
There were celibate Jewish men in Jesus’ day, and the evidence shows that Jesus stayed unmarried.
The Gospel of Philip is a second- or third-century writing in the Coptic language. It does not contain reliable history, and it does not describe Mary as Jesus’ wife but as a companion, which she was, along with others (see Luke 8:1–3).
There are several women named Mary in the New Testament, and to keep them straight, they are referred to by various appellations. Normally, women were referred to by their male relations, as in “Mary, the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). If Mary Magdalene were Jesus’ wife, she would be referred to as “Mary, the wife of Jesus,” but she is not. “Magdalene” is a place name. Magdala was a village by the Sea of Galilee, and she was “Mary of Magdala” (John 19:25, 20:1, 18). The fact that she is referred to by a place name indicates that she did not have a father, husband, or son whose name she could be called by.
There were celibate Jewish men in Jesus’ time, as well as before. The prophet Jeremiah was one (Jer. 16:1–2). In the first century, celibacy was practiced among Jews both by individuals (Life of Josephus 2) and among groups such as the Theraputae (Philo, On the Contemplative Life 3[21]), the Essenes (Philo, Hypothetica 11:14; Josephus, Antiquities 18:1:5, War, 2:8:2), and the Christians (see Day 92). Jesus recommended celibacy as a spiritual discipline (“for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”) to those who could accept it (Matt. 19:11–12). It would be surprising for Jesus to advocate celibacy this way if he did not practice it.
The New Testament never speaks of Mary Magdalene, or any other individual, as the wife of Jesus. Instead, it speaks of the entire Church as his bride (2 Cor. 11:2–3; Eph. 5:21–32; Rev. 19:6–9, 21:1–2, 9–10). This is significant because the metaphor of the Church as the bride of Christ would not have arisen if Jesus were married to an individual woman and there were a literal “Mrs. Jesus” in the early Church.