"Was Jesus Married?" and Other Red Herrings

Every few years someone "discovers" some amazing new archeological scrap of evidence that threatens to overturn a major assumption of our faith.

Today, news is breaking that some fragment of a 4th century document, supposedly quoting from a 2nd century source, hints that Jesus had a wife. Of course, this will provide further "proof" to people who swallowed the fiction novel, The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown, as if it were uncovering a 2,000 year-old conspiracy to hide this same thing. It made for a fun read, as long as you did not spend years studying the actual ancient documents, or if you already hated the Catholic Church or Christianity and just wanted another reason to hate them.

The only problem is that you would have to ignore the vast preponderance of the evidence to believe that this proves anything more than that there was a movement in the 2nd century, dominated by the Gnostics, to re-invent Jesus for their own purposes. Young Christians are often duped into thinking that something like "The Gospel of Thomas" is another suppressed writing.

There is a reason that these writings were not included in the New Testament canon (the recognized authoritative writings). They were rejected because:
1.  They were not accepted as reflecting the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles;
2.  They could not be credited to an Apostle or someone with close proximity to an Apostle.

Early writings like "The Didache" and "Shepherd of Hermas" and the epistles of Ignatius and the writings of Clement were rejected, not as heretical, but not authoritatively inspired. The early church debated canonicity for centuries. Some rediscovered Gnostic writing, was consistently rejected by contemporaneous Christian leaders centuries ago.

Thus, the four Gospels were accepted as the direct teaching of an Apostle (Matthew and John) or were the work of the disciple of an Apostle (Mark from Peter, Luke from Paul). The Gospel of Thomas was written by someone in the 2nd century using the name of an Apostle to add credibility so that a heretical Gnostic slant on Jesus would be accepted. It was soundly rejected.

The rest of the New Testament is similar. Luke, who traveled with Paul, wrote Acts. Paul wrote many epistles (although scholars dispute some authorship). James and Jude, brothers of Jesus each wrote one epistle. Peter and John wrote epistles. John wrote Revelation. The book of Hebrews was attributed to Paul, but does not match his writing style. As Origen said, "Only God knows who wrote the epistle of Hebrews." But we do know that the early church accepted the Apostolic authority that resonates in the book of Hebrews. In my opinion, if it was written by someone we know, Apollos fits the bill. It is the best Greek in the New Testament and makes many arguments using neo-platonic logic. Apollos was from Alexandria, the center of Philo's school which utilized neo-platonism. And we know that Apollos was a strong teacher, compatible with Paul's teaching and accepted as an early apostle.

So why am I spending a blog column on seemingly esoteric textual issues?

I don't want you to be shaken up by titillating news stories and History-channel sensationalism that lacks real substance. God has given us His Word and the Church throughout history has affirmed the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles. Don't get fooled by flashy news stories that actually lack real substance.

In Peace with God, Billy Graham tells the story from the bombing of Warsaw by the Germans in World War II. "Warsaw was flattened, but on Jerusalem Street one wall of the Old British and Foreign Bible Society remained standing. On it were these words painted in large letters: 'HEAVEN AND EARTH WILL PASS AWAY, BUT MY WORDS WILL NOT PASS AWAY.'" (p. 24).

Jesus' words were recorded exactly the same in the three synoptic Gospels (Matt: 24: 35: Mark 13: 31; Luke 21: 33).

And after 2,000 years, the New Testament continues to stand as the authoritative Word of God to us today.

So, rather than try to find some scrap of evidence that might bring down that wall--perhaps we should begin to take it seriously. If it is indeed God's Word to us, maybe it is time that we actually studied it and obeyed it.

As G. K. Chesterton said: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried."