Response to "Jesus' Wife" Fragment

New Fragment, New Implications

It has been a few days since this fragment was made public, touting itself originally as the “Gospel of Jesus' Wife.” However, after the sensationalism of this fragment finally died down, scholars have begun to look at the implications of this text for the Christian community. Two main challenges have emerged to the claims made in this fragment, and there are other implications which this fragment might suggest.

Challenge 1: 'Wife' refers to the Church in this passage

Some Christian leaders have attempted to debunk the idea of Jesus having a wife by claiming that this text in the fragment refers to the Church metaphorically and not an actual woman. However, their claim is easily disproved because there are two more accurate words that have been used to describe the Church as Jesus' bride:

• In Mark 25:1-13 (Coptic Version) the Greek word “parthenos” (meaning maiden, virgin) is used in a parable referencing Church as the bride.
• In Revelation 25:7 (Coptic) the word (bride) is used to refer to the Church. (“his bride made herself ready...”)

In light of these references, and the fact that the Coptic construction “pexe ic” is used most often when Jesus is talking directly to either his disciples or other individuals, it does not seem likely that wife here is a metaphorical reference to the Church.

Challenge 2: 'It is a forgery'

This claim is still being debated, and I cannot comment on the chemical nature of the parchment. However, based on what has been said from the scholarly community in regards to the dating process, the text seems to be an authentic piece from a fourth century papyri text. However some textual analysis has suggested that the fragment borrows substantially from different parts of the Gospel of Thomas, mixing phrases together in a deliberate fashion (giving the text a characteristically 'bad grammar'). I think the fragment is still too small to conclude this, and philological analysis (comparing one text with another) is notoriously more controversial and proven to be more inconclusive than carbon dating.

In Conclusion: Does this mean Jesus had a wife?

If proven to be a true fourth century papyri, than this little fragment will be the first piece of evidence where Jesus refers to his wife. At most, this text indicates that some communities believed he had a wife, however it might also have some other implications about early Christian communities.

• Some Christian communities may have believed Jesus took a wife (Karen King's view, and she claims Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife; a belief supposedly covered up by the proto-Catholic Church).
• Some stories about Jesus having a wife may have been circulated during the early centuries of Christianity (powerful spiritual and religious leaders were known to have wives: Buddha, Rama, David, Moses, etc.).
• Some may have thought Jesus left his wife, and this text talks about that separation. Perhaps some groups believed Jesus was forced to separate from his wife in order to fulfill his divine calling (a similar tradition exists in Buddhism).

Given either interpretation you tend to align with, the implication of this fragment is very interesting for the future of Early Christian studies, and the discovery of more texts like this may also help elucidate one of the most theologically dynamic periods in Western history.