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Was jesus married?


Was Jesus married?  

38 members have voted

  1. 1. Was Jesus Married?

    • No, I don't believe the Savior married in mortality.
    • Yes, I believe the Savior had a wife and was monogamous in mortality.
    • Yes, I believe the Savior had multiple wives and was polygamous in mortality.
    • The requisite OTHER option (not sure/other opinion/shouldn't speculate etc)


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In another ward, I attended a Sunday School class where we played a jeopardy style game and one of the questions was "How many wives did Jesus have?" (the answer caused a minor argument since people obviously disagreed on the number).

In another thread @webbles provided the above anecdote.
And @Tacenda asked

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Do we or does the church still believe that Jesus was a polygamist? Or is there anything said officially by the church? 

Now obviously, the correct answer is the Church has no official doctrine on the subject.
But just wondering what the board consensus might be?  Do most of us believe the Savior remained unmarried in mortality, monogamous, or polygamous?
Just based on what you've read and your personal opinion.

No reason to make this complicated, but what do you really think and how do you come to that conclusion?

ETA - edit function won't let me capitalize my topic title typo.  :unknw: 

Edited by JLHPROF
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2 minutes ago, HappyJackWagon said:

To preach in a synagogue Jesus would have had to be a certain age and married. It would have been the cultural norm for him to be married so I see no reason to think he wasn't married.

But I see no reason to believe he would have had multiple wives. ;)

The accounts of his interactions with Mary and Martha are the biggest indicator (no proof of course) but it makes sense.
And of course his anointing by Mary (possibly Mary Magdalene) is part of a restored husband/wife ordinance.

Edited by JLHPROF
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1 hour ago, HappyJackWagon said:

How so? Can you connect those dots for me. I don't see it.

All my opinion of course because that's all there is to go by.  It's all circumstantial.

Well, in the story of Mary & Martha he is supposedly a guest in their home, a visitor, yet he is asked to mediate a disagreement between two sisters over the housework.
Our assumption is that it was because they honored him as a spiritual leader, but if President Nelson was in your home and you were having a disagreement with your wife would you ask him to mediate?
Christ's interaction in the home is that of a husband of the time resolving a family issue.
As Orson Hyde put it "It will be borne in mind that once on a time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that no less a person than Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha, and the other Mary also whom Jesus loved, must have been highly unbecoming and improper to say the best of it."

And of course Joseph Smith restored the second anointing ordinance which is directly connected to John 11:2 and 12:3 and Church leaders at that time would have made the assumption of marriage.

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Luke 10: 38 ¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Martha, Martha, thou are careful and troubled about many things: But one  thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good ⦠| Mary of bethany, Jesus,  Jesus pictures

And then there's the story of Lazarus.
Yet another time Jesus is recorded as being very close to their family, staying in their home, etc.
They speak to him as though he should have been at home "if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died".  Again we could assume they meant he was a spiritual leader who could have come and healed him, but it sounds so much to my ears like a wife asking a husband why he wasn't there when she needed him?  And Jesus loved everyone, that's a foundational principle.  What was so noticeable about his love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus that it needed comment?

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John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Joseph F. Smith agreed "He spoke upon the marriage in Cana of Galilee. He thought Jesus was the Bridegroom and Mary and Martha the brides. He also referred to Luke 10th Chap., 34 42 verses. Also John 11th Chap., 2 & 5 verses, John 12:3. Joseph Smith spoke upon these passages to show that Mary and Martha manifested much closer relationship than merely a believer." (Journal of Wilford Woodruff, July 22, 1883)

Edited by JLHPROF
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11 minutes ago, carbon dioxide said:

I see all three options could be true so I voted "other" option. 

Politician? 

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I voted "polygamous in mortality".  I'm pretty certain Jesus had a wife in mortality.  And I've seen scholarship that says that polygamy probably existed during that time period.  With the stories of Mary Magdalene and Mary and Martha, I feel like the chance of Him being polygamous is greater than 50%.

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13 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

All my opinion of course because that's all there is to go by.  It's all circumstantial.

Well, in the story of Mary & Martha he is supposedly a guest in their home, a visitor, yet he is asked to mediate a disagreement between two sisters over the housework.
Our assumption is that it was because they honored him as a spiritual leader, but if President Nelson was in your home and you were having a disagreement with your wife would you ask him to mediate?

I would never have looked at it this way.  Never even occur to me.

I have always thought of it was just 2 sisters in a society that favors men.  One is sitting listening.  One is feeling left out and asks for Jesus input (since he obviously a leader and the one everyone is listening too) hoping that He will say the other should help too so that they both get a chance to listen.  

 

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Christ's interaction in the home is that of a husband of the time resolving a family issue.
As Orson Hyde put it "It will be borne in mind that once on a time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that no less a person than Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha, and the other Mary also whom Jesus loved, must have been highly unbecoming and improper to say the best of it."

And of course Joseph Smith restored the second anointing ordinance which is directly connected to John 11:2 and 12:3 and Church leaders at that time would have made the assumption of marriage.

And then there's the story of Lazarus.
Yet another time Jesus is recorded as being very close to their family, staying in their home, etc.
They speak to him as though he should have been at home "if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died".  Again we could assume they meant he was a spiritual leader who could have come and healed him, but it sounds so much to my ears like a wife asking a husband why he wasn't there when she needed him?

Joseph F. Smith agreed "He spoke upon the marriage in Cana of Galilee. He thought Jesus was the Bridegroom and Mary and Martha the brides. He also referred to Luke 10th Chap., 34 42 verses. Also John 11th Chap., 2 & 5 verses, John 12:3. Joseph Smith spoke upon these passages to show that Mary and Martha manifested much closer relationship than merely a believer." (Journal of Wilford Woodruff, July 22, 1883)

 

Edited by Rain
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3 hours ago, Rain said:

I would never have looked at it this way.  Never even occur to me.

I think the other stories involving them add to the closeness of relationship.

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5 hours ago, HappyJackWagon said:

But I see no reason to believe he would have had multiple wives.

I think Jesus knew he would die early and while not uncommon for a husband to die, putting multiple women through that horribly traumatic event seems unnecessary. However, any suffering in mortality likely would have been very worth it to any wife if she truly understood his mission or loved him deeply as a husband. 

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but if President Nelson was in your home and you were having a disagreement with your wife would you ask him to mediate

Kids appealing to guests to talk their parents into letting them stay up for the party is not unknown, for an example.

I can see myself asking a guest who was the center of attention if they were a friend to back me up. 
 

And it is not like couples don’t appeal to bishops and others to solved relationship issues all the time. 

Edited by Calm
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13 minutes ago, Calm said:

Kids appealing to guests to talk their parents into letting them stay up for the party is not unknown, for an example.

I can see myself asking a guest who was the center of attention if they were a friend to back me up. 
 

And it is not like couples don’t appeal to bishops and others to solved relationship issues all the time. 

True, but when you read Luke 10 is that how it reads to you?

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18 minutes ago, Calm said:

I think Jesus knew he would die early and while not uncommon for a husband to die, putting multiple women through that horribly traumatic event seems unnecessary. However, any suffering in mortality likely would have been very worth it to any wife if she truly understood his mission or loved him deeply as a husband. 

Good point but what was age expectancy?  Average age of childbirth?  If some traditions were correct Christ's mother wouldn't have been 50.  His children could have been teenagers.

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35 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

If some traditions were correct Christ's mother wouldn't have been 50.  His children could have been teenagers.

If he was capable of having children, I see the likelihood of polygyny more likely.

Would his family have been treated as being related to a criminal?  Depending on the culture, families can be destroyed when someone is condemned as seditious, etc.  Some societies even kill an entire household and extended family, seize property, sell family as slaves, etc.

Edited by Calm
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I am a little surprised how many don't want to venture an opinion.

It's also interesting that most responses appeal to scriptural evidence and just a few to Christ's obedience to gospel law.

He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness.  Given that statement it is extremely unlikely he remained unmarried.  All righteousness would have to be fulfilled.

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FWIW, the notion that rabbis had to be married to preach in the 2nd Temple era isn’t well-supported for a couple reasons:

1) The concept of a rabbi was much more loosey-goosey than it is in Rabbinical Judaism, much more akin to a spiritual “sensei” or “guru” than a position one held with a formal ordination process.

2) Marriage isn’t a requirement to be a rabbi even now. It is common and encouraged, for reasons of empathy and compassion on children and families, but not required.

That isn’t an argument against Jesus being married, just an argument against an argument.

I think the best textual evidence comes from Jesus himself, who commended the mitzvah on leaving one’s Father and Mother to cleave unto one’s wife. Circumstantially, this leads me to wonder who in the world could possibly have more claim on witnessing the resurrected Saviour first before God the Father. We know at least one person did.

As to plural marriage, likely. Aside from the opinions of past church leaders on the question itself, we have many more indicating Jesus fulfilled all ordinances.

Edited by halconero
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1 hour ago, halconero said:

As to plural marriage, likely. Aside from the opinions of past church leaders on the question itself, we have many more indicating Jesus fulfilled all ordinances.

So would you personally say you think Jesus was married in mortality?

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3 hours ago, JLHPROF said:

I am a little surprised how many don't want to venture an opinion.

It's also interesting that most responses appeal to scriptural evidence and just a few to Christ's obedience to gospel law.

He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness.  Given that statement it is extremely unlikely he remained unmarried.  All righteousness would have to be fulfilled.

It's not that I don't want to tell my opinion.  It's that I don't have an opinion except to say that maybe he was married, married he was not.  There is so much missing from the scriptures.  Going through them currently trying to do a chronology of the gospels I am finding there is even more missing than I had figured before.  So it's entirely possible he did get married.  

As far as scriptures/gospel law I think we are pretty uniquely set up to show he could be not married on earth, but be married after his death so the lack of evidence of him being married in mortality doesn't do anything to say it can't be done later especially given he had a unique work.  

I'm also not one to having much opinion on this kind of thing because it sometimes puts you in a position that makes it harder for you to accept when you are wrong later.  So with lack of evidence right now and no internal incentive for me to go searching I am ok with just not having an opinion on it right now.

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In a couple of the gospels it states that Mary Magdalene was coming to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body. 

I'm not sure how common it was back then for women to be involved in such practices without there being a familial relationship, so that's another potential (indirect) indication.

And while it's true that nowhere in the New Testament does it say Jesus was married, it's likewise true that nowhere does it indicate that he was celibate either.

If Jesus was truly celibate, I'm certain Paul would have brought it up. 

So I voted for 'married monogamously,' though I could certainly be mistaken. It's not something my testimony hinges on though, so I think that's okay.

 

Edited by Amulek
Um..."could" certainly be mistaken. Not "couldn't." :)
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I believe Jesus was married monogamously with Mary Magdalene. Mostly because she was the first to see Him as a risen person.  There is certainly no proof of any sort, and the Church is wise to avoid taking a position on this controversial topic.  Further, I believe if He was married, that there was no issue.  That would have put the apostles in an untenable position in eventually running the church.  Who else could be the leader except the Savior’s son?

Did the Jews practice polygamy in the Roman era?  If so, there is no mention of it in the Bible. The Romans didn’t practice it AFAIK. 

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