Proclaimer Blog
Would it have mattered if Jesus was married?
The BBC have been reporting that Jesus may have had a wife. Their headlines and intro are written with some licence, however, given that even the professor who is hawking the 4th Century coptic manuscript says, "It is not evidence, for us, historically, that Jesus had a wife. It's quite clear evidence, in fact, that some Christians, probably in the second half of the 2nd Century, thought that Jesus had a wife." Not quite what the headlines are saying. But does it matter? (Since I wrote this blog post, the BBC have sensibly changed their online headline).
Simon Gathercole has written an excellent piece out of Tyndale House (see here). But here's a slightly different question, and one I challenge you to think about. Every now and again these issues come around and I think it is helpful to think about them constructively. We all agree that Jesus the Son of God is at the heart of our faith. So here is my question. It will test your Christology. It will help you see how robust your Christology is. Discuss it at next week's elders meeting or Monday morning staff meeting.
Would it have mattered if Jesus was married?
Here's the standard Catholic answer: Yes. Catholics argue that as Christ gives us his whole body in communion, then had he been married there would have been someone else to whom he gave his whole body and the eucharist would have been diminished. What do you think?
Perhaps your answer (or lack of it) may make you think you're going to put down all those self help and biblical counselling books and read something worthy on Christology. That would be no bad thing.