A woman at a recent Christian gathering in our region upset a few others by slamming her Bible on the table and challenging the group, “Where in the Bible does it say that Jesus was not married?” 

This challenge tries to place the burden for proof square on the shoulders of those who believe that Jesus was single and celibate his entire life. But are adherents who hold the traditions of Jesus as a virgin His entire life really the ones who must prove the case? I think not! 

The Bible would have plainly stated if Jesus were married. The Scripture expounds upon the personal lives of other notable figures such as Moses, Noah, Abraham, and Peter who all had wives; whereas Jeremiah was told not to take a wife (Jr. 16:2). Paul said he was unmarried (1st Cr. 7:8). Certainly then, the marriage of the most important person in the bible would have clearly been stated. 

Jesus did refer to Himself in parables as “the bridegroom” (MT 9:15; 25:1-10), but his followers knew that He was not literally married to one woman. Both Paul and John understood that He is the bridegroom of the Church (Eph. 5:25; Rev. 19:7). 

Today, fictional writers and movie makers try to reinvent Jesus’ marital and paternal status for money making schemes. However, the early church fathers knew better. 

Methodius (260-312AD) stated well Jesus’ position in his discourse The Banquet of the Ten Virgins: “It was fitting that He who was first and chief of priests, of prophets, and of angels, should also be saluted as first and chief of virgins . . . And the Word, when He was incarnate, became chief Virgin.” 

As early as 96 AD Clement of Rome associated Isaiah 53:8 with Jesus: “No one will ever recount his descendants, for his life was destroyed from off the earth.” 

Justin Martyr (100—165) wrote of Jesus: “And when He had been born, and had submitted to the other conditions of the flesh, - I mean food, drink, and clothing, - this one condition only of discharging the sexual function He did not submit to; for regarding the desires of the flesh, He accepted some as necessary, while others which were unnecessary, He did not submit to . . . At the same time He foretold that, in the future world, sexual intercourse should be done away with.” 

Tertullian, the great early theologian stated that Jesus was a virgin in his work on Monogamy. Also, we know that many in the early church sought to imitate Jesus by remaining celibate. 

Thus, Jesus was not married to one woman but embraces the Church as His bride! He will come again for His bride, the Church. Are you part of His Church?

Methodius, Banquet of the Ten Virgins, chap 4-5. 

Clement, 1st Epistle of Clement, chap. 16.

Justin Martyr, On the Resurrection, chap. 3. 

Tertullian, On Monogamy, chap. 3.