Why Didn’t Jesus Get Married While On Earth?

by Jack Wellman · Print Print · Email Email

Why didn’t Jesus ever get married while He was here on earth?

Born into Flesh

There are so many false beliefs about Jesus that are being taught today that it borders on the ridiculous. One theory is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had two children. This is mentioned in the fictional book “The Da Vinci Code” too, however there are also false gospels that claim Jesus did much more than the Scriptures reveal, but once we begin to look outside of Scripture for truth, we find that there is no way that we can be sure, because if it’s not in the Bible, it’s impossible to prove that it’s true. Some of the so-called “lost gospels” should have stayed lost because these are phony works of mankind (really, Satan) that have 0% validity and certainly do not belong in the Bible. Jesus came to be born of a virgin, taking on the nature of man in the flesh, and came to live a sinless life of perfection. The fact that Jesus didn’t have a human father indicates that He did not inherit the sinful nature of mankind. His mother Mary was a virgin at the time so she could not pass on this human nature of man to Jesus because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. That makes this a divine conception unlike any other birth in human history. He is the God-Man Who came to redeem man. That’s His purpose for coming to this earth. It certainly wasn’t to get married, settle down and have children. He came to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Sinless Perfection

I truly believe that since the first century, people have been trying to rob Jesus of His divinity and glory with the desire to make Him less than fully divine or fully God. Those who believe or teach that Jesus was married do so, most likely, with the intent of making Him not be the sinless Son of God. There is nothing wrong with marriage and neither is it sinful to have sex within marriage or bear children, but to go outside of the Bible to try and question whether Jesus was married or not is to miss the point entirely about why He came. Jesus was not born in sin like the rest of humanity but was born without having a human father and having a sin nature like we have. The Apostle John wrote that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Apostle Peter wrote that “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1st Pet 1:18-19). If people try to teach or believe that Jesus was only a man and not God and Man, then they might not feel as convicted about their sin. If our Savior is less than God (which they would love to prove), then we are not as bad as the Bible tells us we are (Rom 3:10-12).

Why Jesus Never Married

Jesus never married and never had any children because that was not His purpose in coming. Rather, as John the Baptist said, He came to take away our sins (John 1:29) and Jesus’ life was “put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Rom 3:25). If Jesus had married, then He would have had more obligations to His wife and His children (if they had any) but His first priority was to come and preach the gospel of repentance and faith (Mark 1:15), not to get married and have children. There are no reputable historians that have ever written that Jesus married and had children. No respectable historian has any evidence to make such a claim. Even secular historians never made such claims and few even acknowledged the rumors or scandalous claims that He married and had children. There is no historical or biblical evidence for any of this. The reason why Jesus never married is because that was not His purpose for coming. The false idea or belief that He did comes from those who want to bring down Jesus to our level…a human level, because if they can make Jesus only a man and not God, then they see no reason to believe in Him. Satan has since long ago been a slanderer and has been working feverishly in trying to get the world to bring down Jesus as just a man but if He’s only a man, then the whole Bible would have to be wrong, and we know that it’s not.

Marriage

God upholds marriage to a very high standard and will judge those who refuse to repent of their sexual immorality. God, as the originator of marriage, would see no reason to have the Son of God enter into that type of human relationship, and even though marriage is a good thing, Jesus wasn’t coming to earth to satisfy His own needs, but to give His own life for those who deserved the wrath of God. The relationship between a husband and a wife is very close to the relationship that Jesus has with the church. Why would Jesus marry since He is already engaged to marry His church at the consummation of the kingdom? He is already betrothed to His Bride so there would have been no reason for Him to marry a woman here on earth. He is preparing the wedding feast right now for the great day of that marriage feast in the kingdom where He Himself will serve those who have trusted in Him, therefore it would not serve His purpose to come to earth, get married, and raise a family.

Conclusion

We know Jesus’ purpose here on earth had nothing to do with starting His own family, unless you mean that the family of God which Christ Himself brought us access to. Jesus came into the world, not to condemn it but to save it, as John tells us that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17), and as Jesus says, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38) and God’s will was not that Jesus raise a family or get married, but He is to marry the Bride of Christ, the church. Have you received a wedding invitation to that? If not, today can be your day of salvation (2nd Cor 6:2) because tomorrow may be far too late (Heb 9:27).

More about Jesus here: Was Jesus Married?

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.



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