The Gospel of Jesus Wife is a fragment of ancient papyrus written in the Egyptian Coptic language. Like something straight out of Dan Brown’s The Davinci Code, this so-called “gospel” makes the claim that Jesus had a wife. The Harvard News Office reported that the papyrus shows close connections to other newly discovered gospels written at that time, especially the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and the Gospel of Philip (1).
Today news outlets online rushed to confirm that The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife has now been confirmed as “authentic”.
For Christians that are familiar with textual criticism, and Apocryphal literature, this should immediately raise suspicion. The Gospels of Thomas, Mary, and Philip are all writings that were produced by the 2nd-century heretical Gnostic movement, which were never accepted by orthodox Christianity. Gnosticism was a philosophical worldview that stressed special knowledge. The word comes from the Greek gnosismeaning knowledge. Gnosticism was prevalent in the first century during and after the time of Christ. It maintained that matter is evil and spirit is good. Because matter is bad human souls, in a sense, are trapped in a material world (2).
After reading more about The Gospel of Jesus Wife this evening, red flags began going off everywhere. This papyrus clearly does not meet the criteria to be confirmed as “authentic”. Authentic in my mind and the minds of others would be to say that it is Theópneustos (which means God-breathed). However, when this document is met with scrutiny it becomes clear that it is of course not authentic in anyway shape or form. The claims made today is nothing more than a tactic that has been launched to strike fear in the hearts of Christians everywhere and to cast doubt on the reliability and authenticity of the Bible. If Christians can be made to believe that there are lost books out there that didn’t make into the canon of Scripture for whatever reason, then their job is complete! However, there is a specific reason why this book, and these other Gnostic writings never made it into the canon of Scripture, not counting that they came from a non-Christian, heretical movement.
There are three tests that a book must pass to be considered part of the canon of Scripture:
- Apostolicity
- Rule of Faith
- Consensus
The test of Apostlicity means that a book must be written by an Apostle or one connected to an apostle. When applied to the New Testament, most of its books automatically meet this requirement (those written by Matthew, John, Paul, and Peter). Mark and Luke were both associates of Paul. James was half brother of Jesus, and Jude is either an apostle or the half brother of Jesus. The only book that has much difficulty with this criterion is Hebrews. Many in the early church believed that Paul wrote Hebrews, but many NT scholars today suggest that it was written by Luke. However, we can be certain that this book meets the criterion of Apostlicity. Hebrews 13:23 says, “Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released.” Whoever the author was, this reference places him within the Pauline circle.
The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife does not meet this criterion. According to articles, it has been dated to the 8th or 9th century AD, and may be as early as the 4th century. This puts this document way out of the range to meet the criteria of Apostlicity. John was the last Apostle to die, and according to church history, this occurred around 100 AD. This document was written at the most 800-900 years after the death of the last Apostle (8th-9th century date). At the very least, it was written 400 years after the last Apostle (4th-century date).
The rule of faith refers to the conformity between the book and orthodoxy. “Orthodoxy” means “right doctrine”. Therefore, the document had to be consistent with Christian truth as the standard that was recognized throughout Christian churches (e.g., in Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, etc.). If a document supported heretical teachings, it was rejected.
The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife does not meet this criterion. According to its internal testimony, the document states, “Jesus said to them, my wife” (3). When the rule of faith is applied to this document, it becomes obvious that this is an aberrant teaching that was not accepted within the early Christian church. It is not consistent with the doctrines found within the testimonies of eye-witnesses to the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. If Jesus had a wife, his own brothers (James and Jude) would have surely mentioned it. If Jesus had a wife, surely his apostles would have mentioned it in their writings.
Finally, consensus refers to the widespread and continuous use of a document by the churches. Widespread acceptance could sum up this point. For a document to be “authentic” as claimed by secular scholars, this document would have to meet this criteria, and it simply does not. Whatever this document is, it was not widespread in orthodox Christian churches or it would have been included into the canon. We also have to keep in mind that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd century Christians wouldn’t have ever even seen this document since the earliest possible date for it is around the 4th century. It simply doesn’t date back far enough to have been widely circulated, and even if it did it still didn’t reflect orthodox Christian teaching, which would have caused it to be rejected immediately.
Applying these criteria to the books contained within the New Testament, and to those that were left out shows the consistency of the canon as it was handed down. The Gospel of Jesus Wife fails these criteria. It cannot be definitively linked to Apostles, or those associated with them. On this basis, it fails the test of Apostlicity. The Gospel of Jesus Wife teaches that Jesus had a wife, which contradicts the teachings found in the eye-witness testimonies which makes up part of the canon of Scripture. On this basis, it fails the rule of faith test. The Gospel of Jesus Wife was not used universally or continuously by the early church, nor is it quoted by any early church father, etc. On this basis, it fails the consensus test. Since this document fails all three tests, it must therefore be rejected and regarded as a counterfeit.
Bibliography:
- HDS scholar announces existence of new early Christian gospel from Egypt (Harvard Divinity School, 18 September 2012)
- http://carm.org/questions/about-philosophy/what-gnosticism
- http://gospelofjesusswife.hds.harvard.edu/testing-indicates-gospel-jesuss-wife-papyrus-fragment-be-ancient
- Essence of the New Testament, Towns & Gutierrez, 2012, pg. 4
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