Following a Passion for Sports to IsraelIn Israel, a new five month scholarship program being offered to young aspiring athletes – one of them could be you.
tell a friendThe recurring uproar over the facts surrounding the life of Jesus now surrounds the discovery of an ancient papyrus bearing the words “Jesus said to them, my wife”.
The discovery of a 4th century Egyptian Coptic papyrus fragment was publicized at the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies in Rome on Tuesday by a professor of the Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Karen King, Hollis Professor of Divinity at the school, released a statement noting that Christian tradition “Has long held that Jesus was not married,” and stated that the new find – being called “The Gospel of Jesus’s wife” – suggests that his being dubbed unmarried was likely due to “vociferous debates about sexuality and marriage.”
An analysis by King of the fragment will be published in the Harvard Theological Review in January 2013.
tell a friendAbout the Author: Malkah Fleisher is a graduate of Cardozo Law School in New York City. She is an editor/staff writer at JewishPress.com and co-hosts a weekly Israeli FM radio show. Malkah lives with her husband and two children on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
You must log in to post a comment.
Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/the-gospel-of-jesuss-wife/2012/09/19/
Scan this QR code to visit this page online:
print
1
Loading ...
None of the 'gospels' that have come from this area have proven to be reliable. There were hundreds of documents produced all over the then known world. Many were attempts to reconcile other paganistic beliefs with belief in Jesus. They were rejected by the first generation of Jesus followers and it was only when these first generations died away that the paganization and the anti semitism began to overtake the 'christian' church. The Roman Empire did what it always did when it met an iunstoppable force, it 'embraced' it, the same Empirical force that had ethnically cleansed Israel of most of it's Jews adopted and mixed it with the other pagan beliefs that two thirds of the Empire adhered to. Many of the priests who came to be of influence simply changed gowns and altered their language but remained ostensibly believers in the same gods and practices they had before. They altered the calenders and saw to it that the church rejected the Biblical Feasts in favour of the pagan feasts and festivals and the very familiar history of persecution of the Jewish people rose. None of this was anything to do with either the Tanakh or what Jesus taught. It is intresting to note that many of the first Christian martyrs were executed for refusing to change from the Biblical sabbath to Sunday and for refusing to adopt the pagan feasts. In North Wales well over a thousand such believers were executed in the first millenium AD. It isn't any surprise therefore that a whole series of documents will keep turning up and be heralded as some new revelation. For whatever reason people may have for giving them creedence they should really be filed under the heading historical artefacts of passing academic interest only.
There are several authorities who are already labeling this a forgery. Let's consider possible academic motivations for announcing this "discovery."
THIS SO CALLED NEWLY DISCOVERED DOCUMENT IS JUST AN OLD WELL KNOWN FRAGMENT OF THE GNOSTIC WRITINGS. THE GNOSTICS LIVED IN THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES, ADOPTED NAMES OF BIBLICAL PERSONS, AND WROTE FANTASTIC, TOTALLY UNTRUE, WEIRD ACCOUNTS OF VISIONS THAT THEY SEEMED TO HAVE RECEIVED WHILE SMOKING THE WRONG KIND OF GRASS. THE GNOSTIC WRITINGS ARE TOTALLY DISGRACEFUL WILD IMAGININGS. I DID A REPORT ON THEM FOR A CABLE ACCESS TV SHOW. SO I HAD TO READ SOME OF THEM. AND SOME OF THEM CLAIMED TO BE STORIES OF JESUS CHILDHOOD, WHERE HE WAS REPORTED AS BEING AN UNCONTROLABLE BRAT WHO CAUSED ACCIDENTS TO HAPPEN TO HIS FRIENDS SO HE COULD HEAL THEIR INJURIES. THE MANUSCRIPTS WERE BURIED IN CLAY JARS IN THE FOURTH CENTURY AND DISCOVERED NEAR THE MIDDLE OF THE 20TH CENTURY. THEY ARE WORSE THAN WORTHLESS. THEY ARE CALLED THE "LOST GOSPELS" BUT THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY NOT GOSPELS AT ALL. THEY ARE NOT HISTORICAL WRITINGS. THEY ARE RAMBLINGS OF DERANGED MINDS
Jesus does have a "wife" and "bride" and it's the Church also reavealed in scripture as a beautiful woman. The "harlot" is the chuch that breaks the commands of God and is full of pagan rites, idols, etc. and profanes the holy sabbath. To think that Jesus is speaking of a flesh and blood wife is carnal minded and only those who are lost to salvation think that way. Jesus spoke of rebirth, not of flesh as we cannot return to our mothers womb, but of "spiritual birth." Yes that have eyes to see with and ears to hear with (opened to the things not of this world) shall see and hear. He also taught, "Do not love this world or anything in it for this world and all things in it will pass away." He always pointed and gave honor and glory to G-d, never himself. Love G-d with all your heart, mind and spirit for G-d is spirit. G-d is Love and we are to love him in spirit and in truth.
Also Reina, is that maybe they don't realise there are many men called Jesus, as there still are today. However, like you I believe what the bible tells me through eye witnesses. people have been trying to disprove the bible since inception, and I guess they will continue until the last person dies off the face of the earth, or until………….
Faithful followers of our Lord Jesus will understand that the earthshattering news has no real grounds to be considered true. It was reputedly written some 300 years after Jesus rose from the grave. No other contemporary history has ever been found indicating Jesus had a wife. It ialso appears to be incomplete and has no real context for interpretation. It could be that wife might be the "bride" which is better understood as the church which is made up of faithful followers who have a relationship with Him and not any one single Christian religious organisation.
In Jewish tradition only the wife and mother are allowed to view the mortal remains of a man. At Golgotha at the foot of the cross stood Mary-Magdalena and the Mary the mother of Jesus. This indicates that Mary-Magdalena was presumably in a relationship with Jesus.
Yeshua taught from the Torah as His primary source. This, sadly, often put Him at odds with many things that had become traditions over the years. He often was critical of how Torah was being interpreted and for this He was deeply scrutinized for any sign that He was attempting to break the words of scripture. In the end it was the question of Who He declared Himself to be that was the ultimate issue used against Him.
If He had been in a marriage with anyone it would have been common knowledge to everyone, especially His followers.He clearly called those who followed Him his family, brothers, sisters. As He was dying He is recorded as instructing His followers, in accordance with known practice, to take Miriam as their mother, He made no mention of provision for a wife, something which is of course clearly layed out in the Torah. At an earlier time He also answered a Sh'eilah put to Him on the question of marriage where a wife who has lost her husband then marries his brother. His response clearly shows Him to be aware of the Mitzvots concerning marriage. His views on what contemporary society euphamistically refers to as 'relationship' were very clearly spelled. He clearly considered 'relationships' outside marriage to be fornication. He would not have kept His reputation more than an hour in First Century Israel if He had been double minded in this respect.
It is good however to at least recognize that Jesus and His followers were concerned to be observant.