Was the Apostle Paul Married? (Knowing Greek, Accepting the Bible’s Teachings, and Bible Reference Works) Part Two

Was the Apostle Paul Married?

(Knowing Greek, Accepting the Bible’s Teachings, and Bible Reference Works)

Part Two

This discussion is continued from:
Was the Apostle Paul Married? (Knowing Greek, Accepting the Bible’s Teachings, and Bible Reference Works) Part One.

Part One began with the claim Paul was referring to his wife in Philippians 4:3. It was shown that the grammar of the verse precluded that idea. Claimed supporting verses were also shown to not be applicable nor supportive of the idea of Paul being married, while another verse negated the idea.

This Part Two will begin by looking at another possibly relevant verse. Then it will consider other issues related to the title question. Lastly, it will explain the reasons for the three items in the subtitle.

1Corinthians 9:5,15

⁵Do we never at all have a right to be taking along [or, traveling around with] a sister, a wife, as also the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? [cp. Mark 1:30; i.e., Simon Peter was married]

¹⁵But I have used none of these [things]. Now I did not write these [things] so that it should become in this way in my [case], for [it is] good for me rather to die than that anyone makes my [grounds for] boasting empty (1Cor 9:5,15; ALT3).

In Part One, 1Corinthians 9:5 was referenced by Jameson Faucet and Brown as indicating Paul was not married. They comment further on this verse:

Paul implies he did not exercise his undoubted right to marry and “lead about” a believer, for the sake of Christian expediency, as well to save the Church the expense of maintaining her in his wide circuits, as also that he might give himself more undistractedly to building up the Church of Christ (1 Cor. 7:26, 32, 35). (p. 4962).

Adding in verse 15, they do seem to indicate that Paul is saying here that he was not married. But it could be argued, as it was on the Facebook thread, that Paul was married but choose not to take his wife with him, as did the other apostles. That is possible, if it were not for 1Cor 7:8-9. Adding in those verses to these ones, and it is clear Paul did not “take along” a wife because he did not have one.

The importance of 1Cor 9:5 is that it shows Peter and the other apostles were married. That goes back to 1Cor 7:8-9 and Paul’s discussion in the following verses about being married versus single and ministry ability. That leads into the next section.

Married Between Epistles?

Since it is clear Paul was not married when he wrote 1Corinthians, those who contend he is referring to his wife in Phil 4:3 try to assert that Paul got married sometime between the time he wrote 1Corinthians and when he wrote Philippians. However, there are three problems with this idea.

First, in the following verses in 1Corinthians 7, Paul argues for being single being a superior state to being married. His reasoning is that those who are married have their attention divided between serving the Lord and pleasing their spouse, while those who are single can devote all of their energies to serving the Lord.

That opens up a whole other discussion that is outside the scope of this article but which I peruse in the chapter mentioned in part One of my God’s Sex Plan book. But here, it would be quite strange for Paul to have argued for singleness then to shortly thereafter to have gotten married.

Second, the quote from John Calvin in Part One comes not from his commentary on 1Cor 7:8 but on Phil 4:3. But he quotes 1Cor 7:8 to contradict the idea of Paul referring to his wife in Phil 4:3. He continues:

He [Paul] wrote that Epistle at Ephesus when he was prepared to leave it. Not long after, he proceeded to Jerusalem, where he was put in prison, and sent to Rome. Every one must perceive how unsuitable a period of time it would have been for marrying a wife, spent by him partly in journeying, and partly in prison. In addition to this, he was even at that time prepared to endure imprisonment and persecutions, as he himself testifies, according to Luke. (Acts 21:13).

I am, at the same time, well aware what objection is usually brought forward in opposition to this — that Paul, though married, refrained from conjugal intercourse. The words, however, convey another meaning, for he is desirous that unmarried persons may have it in their power to remain in the same condition with himself. Now, what is that condition but celibacy?

As to their bringing forward that passage — Is it not lawful for me to lead about a wife (1 Corinthians 9:5) for the purpose of proving he had a wife, it is too silly to require any refutation. But granting that Paul was married, how came his wife to be at Philippi — a city which we do not read of his entering on more than two occasions, and in which it is probable he never remained so much as two whole months? In fine, nothing is more unlikely than that he speaks here of his wife; and to me it does not seem probable that he speaks of any female. I leave it, however, to the judgment of my readers. The word which Paul makes use of here (sullaubavesthai) means, to take hold of a thing and embrace it along with another person, with the view of giving help (pp. 12491-12492).

Calvin's point is there simply is no place for in the recorded history for Paul to have gotten married between the time he wrote the two epistles.

That then leads to the third and most important point—nowhere in Paul’s epistles nor in the Book of Acts is this supposed marriage of Paul mentioned. Given that marriage is such a monumental event, you would think Luke or Paul himself would have mentioned it.

However, given the complete lack of such a mention, those who content he did get married are just making up the idea and inserting it into the history, with no basis in the text itself for doing so. In other words, it is a case of eisegesis, or reading something into a text that is not there. That is opposed to exegesis, getting an idea out of a text that is there.

Must Be Married to Be in the Sanhedrin?

Otherwise, the claim was made in the Facebook thread that Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, and they had to be married. It is true Paul was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6; 26:5; Phil 3:5), but he never says he was one of the 71 members of the Sanhedrin. In fact, the word “Sanhedrin” does not occur in the New Testament.

It is difficult, however, to substantiate that he had been married on the basis he was a member of the Sanhedrin (Acts 26:10). It is uncertain that he was a member and also uncertain that members had to be married in the period before A.D. 70 (Ryrie Study Bible, p. 1735).

The mention of Paul “voting” with the “chief priests” in Acts 26:10 could indicate Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, but as Charles Ryrie indicates, that is not certain.

However, Paul was a Pharisee. But I am not sure if you had to be married to be a Pharisee, but I doubt it. There is no mention of such a requirement in the article on “Pharisees” on the Jewish Virtual Library or the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Conclusion on Title Question

Was Paul the apostle married? All of the evidence points to Paul being single during the time of his missionary journeys. And there is no actual evidence he was married at that time. However, it is possible Paul was married but that his wife died before he set out on his travels.

However, whether Paul was married or not is rather inconsequential. It changes nothing about his teachings. But there are three important points to be drawn from this article.

Knowing Greek

Most of the time, a person can come to a proper understand of a verse or passage of Scripture from reading a quality English translation. However, this two-part article should demonstrate that there are times it is vital to know Greek for proper interpretation of the New Testament.

Of course, not every Christian has the time or ability to learn Greek. But you can put yourself under the tutelage of someone who does. That is done first and foremost by attending church regularly. In saying that, I am assuming the pastor/ preacher/ priest knows Greek. In fact, I would say a prerequisite for being such should be to know Greek. And that takes us back to my article Churches Are Essential Revisited that I ran in Volume 22, Number 1 of this newsletter.

You can also listen to preachers and Bible teachers who know Greek via podcasts found on the Bott Radio Network or similar apps. That takes us back to my two-part article Uplifting Apps and Podcasts that I ran in Volume 21, Number 2 and Volume 21, Number 3 of this newsletter.

In addition, you can avail yourself of the myriad of Bible study aids available that are written by those who know Greek, such as The Expositors Bible Commentary I quoted from in this article. I am quoting from the original 12-volume set. But a revised set is now available. The full set for both the Old and New Testaments consists of 13 volumes. But it is also available in a two-volume abridged set.

Any of the other Bible commentaries and other study aids mentioned in this article would also be worthwhile. There are of course many other commentaries, study Bibles, Bible dictionaries, and other Scripture studies aids available. Among these are my various books, including my Analytical-Literal Translation of the Bible. The Preface for the ALT New Testament states, “The purpose of ALT3 is to provide a translation of the Greek New Testament that will enable the reader to come as close to the Greek text as possible without having to be proficient in Greek.”

The current text of In Phil 4:3 does not indicate that “fellow-worker” is masculine, but if I ever come out with a new edition, I will add a note indicating the Greek word is masculine, so a man is being indicated. That then leads to another issue in regard to Phil 4:3 that needs to be addressed before getting to the second important point to be drawn from article.

Reconciliation Not Mentoring

In posting some of what I have presented in this two-part article on the Facebook thread, one person changed his view and accepted that Paul was not married and that he sent a man to mentor the women at Philippi. But the person who posted the original Bible verse with his addition of “Paul’s wife” said he could not accept that Paul would send a man to mentor a group of women, so he clung to his view that Paul was referring to a woman, his wife, in the verse.

The first person stated that he could see that Paul would send a trusted godly man to instruct a group of women in an honorable way. And that is true. In fact, that is done every Sunday when women attend a church with a male pastor or a Bible study during the week led by a man. However, there is more to it than that.

Walvoord and Zuck write in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on this verse:

The exact identity of Paul’s loyal yokefellow is not known. Some say “yokefellow” is a proper name. Paul knew he could count on him to work with the women and bring them back to fellowship with each other and the Lord (Volume Two, p.663).

Jameson Faucet and Brown write similarly,

help those women — rather, as Greek, “help them,” namely, Euodia and Syntyche. “Co-operate with them” [BIRKS]; or as ALFORD, “Help in the work of their reconciliation” (p. 5380).

The issue in Philippi was not the need to mentor a group of women but to reconcile two disputing women. That problem is seen in the preceding verse, “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be thinking the same [thing] [fig., to be in agreement] in [the] Lord” (Phil 4:2; ALT3).

That reconciliation a man could help bring about. In fact, I would say, in the patriarchal society of the first century, a man would be more suited for the job than a woman. Two disputing women would be more likely to accept the authority of a man over them than that of another woman.

As for the identity of that man, Charles Ryrie puts it best when he writes in his Ryrie Study Bible, “The identity of the true comrade is not revealed” (Ryrie, p. 1795; Note that “true comrade” is how the original NASB renders the adjective and noun in Phil 4:3).

Many guesses have been made as to who this man was, as seen in some of the quotes in this two-part article. But one thing is certain—he was not Paul’s wife. And that leads to the next section.

Accepting the Bible’s Teachings

How do we know Paul sent a man? Because that is what the Greek text says he did! However, some Christians still cling to the idea Paul is referring to his wife, even though they are probably wrong in every assumption underlying that false preconception.

That leads to the second important point. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, which it is, then if your preconceived notions disagree with what the Bible teaches, then you need to change your ideas to fit with the Biblical teaching. To cling to your preconceived notions and to twist the Scripture to fit them and to make up ideas and insert them into the Bible to support your preconceived notions is a denial of the authority and inspiration of the Bible.

Bible Reference Works

I have all of the books quoted in this two-part article and listed in the following References in hardcopy format, However, due to my multiple chemical sensitivities, I have difficulties reading hardcopy books, so I rarely refer to them and the many other books I have in my library. But I was pleased to find I could repurchase many of them very inexpressibly in Kindle format.

For instance, decades ago, I purchased all 22 volumes of Calvin’s commentaries on sale for I believe about $200. But I just repurchased the entire set for three bucks! The other cited older reference works in this article can also be purchased at such low prices. That is due to them now being in the public domain, so the cost is just for formatting them for the Kindle app or reader.

Newer reference works are not in the public domain, so they are more expensive. But they are helpful when modern-day issues are raised that are not addressed in older reference works. And even with them, the Kindles are much less expensive than the hardcopy versions, so they are still very affordable. That holds true for my books.

That leads to the third important point to be drawn from this article. There is no excuse for Christians today to not have a “library” of Bible reference works on your phone, tablet, computer, or Kindle reader. Having such to check can be very helpful when a questionable Biblical claim like “Paul was married” comes up on social media or elsewhere, with a supposed supporting verse or verses.

Look up the verse or verses in a Bible commentary or other reference work, and you might find the poster is missing some important points. The sheer length of this two-part article should show that sometimes things are not as simple as they initially appear to be. Many relevant issues might be missed in a simple social media post, but which need to be considered before deciding on an issue.

References:

All Scripture references in this article are from Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition. Copyright © 2023 by Gary F. Zeolla of Darkness to Light ministry (www.zeolla.org/christian). Previously copyrighted © 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2012 by Gary F. Zeolla.

In the following References, details are for the hardcopy formats that I own. But I am linking to the Kindle editions, when possible, as they are much less expensive. Also, I quoted from the Kindles when I had both due to the increased ease of doing so, so the page numbers are from the Kindles. Bolding and italics in quotes are in the originals.

Britannica. Pharisee. Sanhedrin

Calvin, John. Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible. Volume 21. Zondervan Corporation. Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted 1979.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary. Baker Book House. Reprinted 1971.

Expositors Bible Commentary. Volume 10 (now 11). Zondervan Corporation. Grand Rapids, MI. 1978.

Jameson Faucet and Brown. Zondervan Corporation. Grand Rapids, MI, reprinted 1999.

Jewish Virtual Library. Ancient Jewish History: The Sanhedrin. by Shira Schoenberg.

Jewish Virtual Library. Ancient Jewish History: Pharisees, Sadducees & Essenes.

MacArthur Study Bible (NKJV). Second Edition. Thomas Nelson. 2020.

Reinecker, Fritz and Cleon Rogers. Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament. Zondervan Corporation. Grand Rapids, MI. 1980

Ryrie, Charles. Ryrie Study Bible. NASB. Moodey Press. Chicago, 1978.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible. Volume 3. Thomas Nelson, reprinted 1979.

Walvoord and Zuck. Bible Knowledge Commentary. Victor Books, 1983

Zeolla, Gary F. God’s Sex Plan: Volume Two: What the New Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality. Copyright Gary F. Zeolla, 2018.

The preceding links to Amazon are advertising links, for which I receive a commission if a product is purchased after following the link.

Was the Apostle Paul Married? (Knowing Greek, Accepting the Bible’s Teachings, and Bible Reference Works) Part Two. Copyright © 2024 by Gary F. Zeolla of Darkness to Light ministry (www.zeolla.org/christian).

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