Alyssa Roat studied writing, theology, and the Bible at Taylor University. She has worked as a literary agent at 
Was Jesus Married? Did He Have a Wife?
June 22, 2026
Jesus’ marital status was seldom addressed for centuries. But with the release of The Da Vinci Code and the supposed discovery of an ancient piece of papyrus known as “The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife,” the stage was set for debate. Was Jesus married after all?
It’s hard to say where the idea that Jesus was married and have a wife came from. The first early church text related to the marital status of Jesus one way or another is from Clement of Alexandria in the late second century, where Clement specifically refers to Jesus’ singleness. In his writing and that of Tertullian, writing near the same time, Christ’s celibacy is used only as an argument for another point, and His singleness itself is taken for granted.
Multiple “Gospels” cropped up over the centuries after Christ, though the four Gospels of the Bible were complete—and canon in practice, if not by official decision—by the end of the first century. These other “Gospels,” usually falsely attributed to some apostle or other biblical figure, often laid out strange theology with a healthy portion of historical inaccuracy. Many of these so-called Gospels merged Christianity with Gnostic religion.
One Gnostic Gospel from the third century, The Gospel of Philip, references Jesus kissing Mary Magdalene (which was a common cultural greeting in His time) and refers to her as His “companion” (a Greek word meaning someone with a shared goal, not necessarily a spouse or partner). Another, The Gospel of Mary, probably originating from the late second century, mentions that Jesus loved Mary more than other women.
Even if these were reliable texts, the wording does not necessitate or even strongly suggest that Jesus was married. However, these texts originated with Gnostic sects who practiced arcane myths and rituals, not any sort of mainstream Christianity, and were written long after everyone who had known Jesus in the flesh had passed away. (You can read more about this here.)
The Origin of This Theory Explained: "The Gospel of Jesus' Wife"
A more recent find, the so-called “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife,” was a business-card-sized scrap of papyrus with Coptic writing presented in 2012 by historian Dr. Karen L. King. King put forth that the fragment was most likely from the fourth century A.D. On this fragment is the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘my wife.’”
The authenticity of this fragment has been called into question, and it is not unlikely to be fraudulent, as laid out in this detailed piece of investigative journalism from The Atlantic. However, even if the fragment is authentic, it faces the following issues:
1. It was not written until the fourth century, at least three hundred years after Jesus was walking the earth.
2. It is a fragment. The only passages read:
Front: “not [to] me. My mother gave to me li . . .” The disciples said to Jesus, “. . . deny. Mary is worthy of it… [or “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…
Back: my moth[er]…three…. . . forth which . . . (illegible ink traces)
3. There is no context for why Jesus is saying “my wife.” He could just as easily be telling a parable, quoting someone else, or even referring to the Church in the common metaphor as the bride of Christ.
4. The fragment is in Coptic, indicating that if legitimate, it would likely be associated with the other Coptic Gnostic texts.
Despite these largely obscure sources, it’s difficult to pinpoint where the idea of Jesus being married and having a wife comes from theologically or scholastically; much of public interest has probably been roused from the 2003 mystery thriller novel, The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, in which a secret society has guarded the secret of Jesus’ marriage and His descendants for years. The novel is rife with historical inaccuracies and has been criticized by experts in art, history, and architecture as well as in Christianity. Even though The Da Vinci Code is a fictional tale and not a historical treatise, it has sparked great public imagination.
Those who argue that Jesus was not married point out that if he had a wife, the Bible would have mentioned it. The Bible talks about various aspects of Jesus' life but doesn't mention a wife.
Photo credit: Unsplash/Nathan Dumlao
