The notion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married is one that has received a great deal of attention in popular culture. For instance, the idea of a conjugal union between Jesus and Mary Magdalene was a central plot point of the 2003 mystery thriller novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Meanwhile, you can find all kinds of articles online, many of them influenced by The Da Vinci Code, contending that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. It seems to be a very popular idea.
I have debunked claims from The Da Vinci Code before; for instance, in this article I published in August 2019, I debunk the misconception popularized by The Da Vinci Code that the books of the New Testament were chosen by Constantine I, when, in reality, the New Testament canon was mostly agreed upon long before Constantine I was born and what issues there were with the canon in Constantine I’s day were not resolved until long after his death. In this article, however, I will be tackling the most fundamental contention of the novel: the contention that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had offspring.
Historically speaking, it is highly, highly improbable that Jesus ever married or ever had any offspring. None of the canonical gospels ever even remotely imply that Jesus had a sexual relationship with anyone or that he ever had any offspring, nor do even the later apocryphal gospels imply either of these things. Furthermore, there are some very good reasons to believe that Jesus did not marry or have a sexual partner and that he did not have any offspring.
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