Gospel of Jesus’ Wife… really?

While driving to work last week I got a text from my wife that said, “Watching the Today Show and they are saying new evidence released that proves Jesus had a wife.” My response was simple, “He did not have a wife.” I am thankful that my wife, who is beautiful and extremely intelligent, knows enough to simply shake her head at reports like the one broadcast world wide last week. But it has occurred to me over the last few days that some people could be troubled by this type of “document.” Here are my thoughts on the subject.

1. We as Christians should not be fearful of this type of interaction with the world of ancient manuscripts. I have heard from some folks that simply wish all study of ancient manuscripts would come to a screeching halt. This is not becoming of Christians. We are the people of God and the burden of proof falls on the scholars who want to change accepted historical evidence. Christians should welcome the study of ancient manuscripts because up until now the study has done nothing but further prove the validity of our Scripture.
2. Textual study of ancient manuscripts is a difficult and long process that will often take many twists and turns on the way to confirming the authenticity of  a text. I do not pretend to be an expert in the field of ancient textual study, but as a person who studies and reads about these findings with great interest I can tell you that this supposed Gospel of Jesus’ Wife has a long way to go before it will be accepted as authentic. Dr. King, the respected chair of theology at Harvard University, is a very capable Coptic manuscript expert. She has admitted that further study will have to be done to either verify this fragment of papyrus or prove it to be a phony. According to Darrell Bock  and Christian Askeland there is much suspicion surrounding this text and the process is in the early stages of scholarly criticism. My encouragement is to be patient as the process plays out because this find has a long way to go before it is legitimized.
3. We should not be surprised by the existence of alternate anti-historical accounts of Jesus’ life from the second to sixth centuries. The fact that there are alternate histories surrounding the person and work of Christ should be an encouragement to us not a discouragement. The mountain of ancient text point to the orthodox understanding of the life of Jesus as presented in the New Testament. The fact that we have orthodoxy should cause us to readily expect heterodoxy. The fact that the Gnostic Gospels exists has been confirmed since 1945. We also know that since the finding of those heretical documents there have been multiple forgery and counterfeit documents presented from various people. I am not claiming that we can know that the postcard size papyrus scrap presented by Dr. King is a phony knock-off version of the heretical Gnostic Gospels but I am comfortable with either conclusion. The fact that people in the ancient world made up stories about Jesus only gives further evidence of his existence! People do not waste time making up stories of ancient characters unless there is a historical character. I welcome the discovery of heterodoxical documents because I am confident that the New Testament manuscripts will be proven true again and again!
4. In the end this is a ploy to sensationalize a possible archeological find to sell books or movies! I hate to say this but what we are witnessing is a rush to sensationalize for the sake of profit. The money made off the Gnostic Gospel accounts of Thomas, Peter, Mary, and Judas is proof that if you want to make a fortune in ancient documents you need something sensational. Sex sells!!! Dr. King has readily admitted that even if the document she is presenting is proven to be authentic it has no impact on the historical Jesus. News flash… I only worship the historical Jesus so whatever evidence is found on the non historical Jesus does not impact me! So why would people run news stories about a document that is not proven to be authentic and even if it is authentic is not about the historical figure under consideration? Because you can sell millions of books based on a phony Jesus. Add the fact that he might have been having sex with Mary Magdalene and you have yourself a gold mine!!

Let me end by saying we have nothing to fear in the area of ancient manuscript study. We should embrace the fact that many will make much out of nothing in the area of spurious gospel accounts because sensationalism sales. If you are interested in reading more about this subject from some experts please look at this link to Justin Taylor’s blog. His story on the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife is from September 22 so you will need to scroll down the page a little to read. He also includes the earlier links along with even more expert opinions.

As a pastor I respond simply, “Jesus did not have a wife.” I welcome the historical study because my faith is solidly placed in the historical Jesus of Nazareth. I know that he was, is, and always will be the one and only God as presented in the Bible. Let’s worship him today and call others to faith in him.

Talk to you soon,

CW