Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, claims Jesus was married. Is this claim historically reliable? Since there is nothing in the Bible (or other ancient literature) that explicitly denies Jesus was married, it is difficult to conclude anything on the matter with absolute certainty. On the other hand, there are good reasons to believe that he was not. One of those reasons comes from the Bible in I Corinthians 9:5 where the apostle Paul addresses whether or not the apostles (i.e. leaders within the early Christian church) were entitled to bring their wives with them when they traveled. Paul writes,
Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?
What is most telling in this passage is not what Paul says but what he does not say. If Jesus had been married, this would be an ideal place to refer to Jesus’ example as the standard which others should follow. Yet Paul makes no reference to his Lord which implies that Jesus was never married.
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Short Blog: “Da Vinci Code” Reveals Truth About Jesus?
Reference
1 Cor. 9:5 (NIV)