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Friday November 21 2025
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1 Timothy 6:20-O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—
The idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were husband and wife was not taught in the New Testament Scritures, nor in the alleged gospel of Philip. In this article, we are going to look at the modern day claims that the Gnostic work known as the gospel of Mary Magdalene teaches that they were married. One author provides the following summary of the book under discussion.
“The Gospel of Mary is a gospel written in the name of Mary of Magdala, a follower of Jesus according to a number of early Christian texts and his dear companion according to the Gospel of Philip. In the Gospel of Mary she is said to be loved by Jesus more than the other followers, but Peter and Andrew wonder whether she can be taken seriously as a female teacher of revelatory wisdom. This dispute between Mary and the male followers of Jesus reflects the argument between gnostics and representatives of the emerging orthodox church about whether women can teach in church and whether private revelatory teachings can have the same authority as the official teachings of the priests and bishops. After six missing pages, the Gospel of Mary introduces Jesus speaking about sin, and Jesus proclaims that sin is not an ethical problem but rather a cosmological problem, as Karen L. King puts it. 1 Sin is the material mixing improperly with the spiritual. Thereafter Mary recounts a vision of the soul’s ascent beyond four cosmic powers (perhaps the four elements), in a passage that unfortunately is largely missing from the manuscript. After a hostile encounter between Mary and the male followers of Jesus, Levi intercedes, inviting all the followers of Jesus to put on the perfect person and go out to preach, without establishing any additional rules or laws. And, the Gospel of Mary concludes, that is what they did. The Gospel of Mary was composed in Greek, probably in the second century.” (Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer, The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition, 477 (Kindle Edition): Boston & London: SHAMBHALA)
The themes discussed in this book, as well as other clues from the text, show us that this book was composed by the Gnostics long after the time of Jesus. Thus, it is not a historical account of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
With that in mind, let’s notice the claims about Jesus and Mary that are often made from this Gnostic book. Here are relevant excerpts from the text.
“The students were grieved. They wept profoundly, saying, “How can we go to the gentiles and preach the gospel of the kingdom of the human child? If they did not spare him, will we be spared?” Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brothers, “Do not weep and do not grieve or be irresolute, for his grace will be fully with you and will protect you. Rather, let us praise his greatness. He prepared us and made us truly human.” When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the good, and they began to discuss the words of the savior. Peter said to Mary, “Sister, we know that the savior loved you more than other women. Tell us the words of the savior that you remember, which you know and we do not. We have not heard them.…When Mary said this, she fell silent, since the savior had spoken to her of all these things. But Andrew answered, saying to the brothers, “Say what you think about what she said. I do not believe that the savior said this. These teachings are of strange ideas.” Peter also opposed her about all this. He asked the others about the savior, “Did he really speak to a woman secretly, without our knowledge, and not openly? Are we to turn and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?”11…Then Mary wept and said to Peter, “My brother, Peter, what do you think? Do you think I concocted this in my heart or I am lying about the savior?” Levi answered, saying to Peter, “Peter, you are always angry. Now I see you contending against this woman as if against an adversary. If the savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the savior knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us. We should be ashamed and put on the perfect person12 and be with him as he commanded us, and we should preach the gospel, without making any rule or law other than what the savior said.” When Levi said these things, they began to go out to proclaim and to preach.” (Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer, The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition, 479-481 (Kindle Edition): Boston & London: SHAMBHALA)
First, the text tells us Peter’s belief that Jesus loved Mary more then the other women. Some believe this teaches that Jesus and Mary were married. However, I believe the text actually refutes such a notion. Why would it surprise Peter that Jesus loved Mary more then other women if they were actually married? The very basis of Peter’s question implies that Jesus and Mary were not married!
Second, the text suggests that there was animosity between Peter, Mary, and the other Apostles (except perhaps Matthew). Specifically, the text suggests that Peter and the others were bothered that Mary was a disciple of Christ. However, the New Testament teaches us many ways that Jesus and the Apostles elevated women. Jesus accepted another woman named Mary as one of His followers, so that Luke says that she sat at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:39). This was a Jewish expression that referenced one who studied the Scriptures for teaching. While Jewish tradition of Jesus’ day confined this only to males, Jesus included it for women! Joel’s prophecy specifically mentioned women prophesying with men in the last days (Joel 2:28-32), which Peter himself quoted in Acts 2:16-21. Paul commended at least nine prominent women in the church at Rome (Romans 16), and he praised the members at the church at Corinth for keeping his traditions he had delivered to them which included the women praying and prophesying (as long as they honored the cultural dress codes in that location-1 Corinthians 11:1-5). He also praised two women who he identified as his fellow laborers in the Gospel (Philippians 4:2-3). His restrictions on women teaching (1 Corinthians 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-14) are within contexts strongly suggesting that there were local cultural factors at play that need to be considered in those commands. However, even if there were (or are) differences in roles between men and women in the pubic assembly, this would not translate to women being marginalized, mistreated, or neglected. In short, there is no evidence that women in the New Testament church were looked down upon by the Savior or His Apostles. In fact, it was actually the Gnostics themselves who generally looked down upon women! As Jones points out:
“It was not the early church that demeaned women. It was Gnosticism. Many Gnostic texts put down the woman in no uncertain terms. Take this one, for example: “Flee from the insanity and fetters of femaleness and embrace instead the salvation of men.” 4 I have not found a statement like this within the mainstream of Christianity in its two thousand years of history. 5 According to the Gnostic Jesus, as we noted above, physical, heterosexual intercourse is evil because it carries on the work of Ialdaboath, the evil and blind Creator. The Gnostic texts develop this subject at length. The Chief Archon, the “cat-faced” Yahweh, creates sexual intercourse to embroil the first pair in matter. 6 Thus the soul became entrapped in “a contemptible body.” 7 Women and sexual desire render escape from the material body more difficult. The Gnostic Jesus teaches that heterosexual sex, childbirth, and motherhood are evil, a result of the Fall. Conceiving wombs and milk-giving breasts are rejected, 8 as are physical mothers in general. 9 The sex act, in whatever form practiced can be used only by unmarried, solitary people for spiritual rituals that produce enlightenment― not babies! Stephan Hoeller, the contemporary Gnostic, states, “It is more important to be a woman than to be a mother.” 10 As we shall see, however, even being a woman in Gnosticism is not very important. The Gnostic Christ comes to remind people of their heavenly origin and, by implication, to warn them of the trap of gender-specific sexuality. 11 He orders his disciples to “abandon bestiality,” 12 “to destroy [the] works of femaleness,” 13 and pronounces a curse on “you who love intimacy with womankind and polluted intercourse with it.” 14 This ancient refusal of marriage and childbirth has suddenly become thoroughly modern. We should have known. In the great contemporary rush to practice Gnostic forms of spirituality, the Gnostic worldview will be applied to everything and to sexuality in particular. That androgyny, homosexuality, and the refusal of child-bearing and marriage have taken such a hold in our contemporary culture is linked to the rise of Gnostic spirituality. A generation ago, Americans would not have imagined the need for books with titles like Marriage Under Fire, 15 or that states would pass a Defense of Marriage Act or the existence of a political movement such as Alliance for Marriage, whose goal is to defend traditional marriage via the adoption of a Constitutional amendment. But the present cultural acceptance of abortion, homosexuality, and the discussion of the nature of marriage is related not so much to new theories of democracy and civil rights as to the great shifts taking place at the deep level of spirituality.” (Peter R. Jones, Stolen Identity: The Conspiracy to Reinvent Jesus, 1438-1466 (Kindle Edition); Colorado Springs; Cook Communications Ministries)
The gospel of Mary has this fictional fight between the Apostles and Mary to try and convince their followers that Christians were opposed to female disciples. It was an attempt to promote Gnostic philosophy, being nothing more than an elaborate power play to prejudice people away from the Savior. In truth, the Savior, the Apostles, and the early church elevated women. More to our point, there is nothing (in the New Testament Scriptures nor in the Gnostic texts themselves) that gives any indication that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were husband and wife.
In our next study, we will turn our attention to the infamous Council Of Nicaea, and the conspiratorial claims made about it.
What to take from all of this?
I want to emphasize to you that the Savior loves and honors men and women equally, and this is clearly shown throughout His Word.
Lord, guide us in our studies. Help us share these truths with others, that they may see Your love for them and turn to You. Amen.
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