Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King created a stir in September when she unveiled the discovery of an ancient Coptic manuscript purportedly showing that certain Gnostic Christians in the 2nd century believed Jesus had a wife. The manuscript fragment, which King called 鈥淭he Gospel of Jesus鈥� Wife,鈥� contains only 33 words but appears to quote Jesus as referring to 鈥渕y wife.鈥� Many evangelical Bible scholars were quick to respond and question the credulity of this finding, including Biola professor Gary Manning and alumnus Daniel Wallace.

鈥淭here are three reasons that Jesus was probably not married. First, the New Testament never mentions a wife. Since the NT authors mention Jesus鈥� mother, father, four brothers, some sisters, an aunt, and some cousins, it is very unlikely that Jesus had a wife and no one mentioned it. Second, Jesus described a special calling of celibacy to allow a greater focus on the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:10-12; cp. 1 Cor 7:7-9). This strongly implies that Jesus was celibate. Third, the church fathers, some of whom had access to reliable oral tradition about Jesus, believed that Jesus never married (Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Chrysostom, as King points out).鈥�

鈥� Gary Manning, associate professor of New Testament

From Sept. 19 blog post on thegoodbookblog.com: 鈥淒id Jesus Have a Wife? A New Gnostic Fragment,鈥� which quickly became the most popular post in the history of the Good Book Blog.

鈥淒oes this fragment prove that Jesus was married? The answer is an emphatic no. At most, it can only tell us what one group of 鈥楥hristians鈥� in the middle of the second century thought. But it says nothing about true history, about Jesus of Nazareth.鈥�

鈥� Daniel B. Wallace (鈥�75), New Testament scholar and text critic

From Sept. 21 blog post on danielbwallace.com: