This Sept. 5, 2012 photo released by Harvard University shows a fourth century fragment of papyrus that divinity professor Karen L. King says is the only existing ancient text that quotes Jesus explicitly referring to having a wife. King, an expert in the history of Christianity, says the text contains a dialogue in which Jesus refers to "my wife," whom he identified as Mary. King says the fragment of Coptic script is a copy of a gospel, probably written in Greek in the second century.Credit: AP
Translated, the text states:
“‘… not [to] me. My mother gave to me li[fe] …’”
“The disciples said to Jesus, ‘…”
“deny. Mary is worthy of it” (Or: “deny. Mary is n[ot] worthy of it”)
“…’ Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’”
“… she will be able to be my disciple …”
“Let wicked people swell up …”
“As for me, I dwell with her in order to …”
“an image”
“my moth[er]”
“three”
“forth which …”
Much work needs to be done; the provenance of the fragment is unknown but what is mostly likely is that it arises from a Gnostic group. If so, it may add nothing to the search for the historical Jesus in that Gnostics commonly postulated ideas consistent with the newly released fragment, but the larger, orthodox Church rejected. In addition, if more context is discovered, the fragment may be referring to a spiritual, or idealized marriage, and in that instance it not meant to be interpreted as a physical, literal marriage at all.
Finally, there are numerous passages that refer to Jesus' spiritual marriage in any case.
The Bible refers to Jesus’ wife, repeatedly. Only that wife is not Mary Magdalene or any other earthly woman. It’s the church.
Christ calls himself a bridegroom throughout the New Testament. When the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples don’t fast, he answers:
"How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.In other words, Christ is the groom and his disciples are his friends—and it would be rude of them to abstain from eating while they’re in the presence of the groom."
Later, as Jesus foretells the coming of God’s kingdom, he also refers to himself as a groom: “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” Again, Christ is the groom and his followers are the groom’s friends—there to celebrate the wedding with him.
The study of ancient manuscripts is fascinating but I would not jump to conclusions about this fragment until extensive scholarly research is conducted on the piece.
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