Which Apostles Were Married?

The short answer: Peter, "the Lord's brothers," and "the other Apostles." Due to his young age, it is believed that John was not married, and, likewise, it is is reported that James the Younger was not married.

This page contains the rather rough notes obtained in a quick bit of research. It is not, of course, an exhaustive report.

All three Gospels report that our Lord healed the Apostle Peter's mother-in-law, who suffered from a fever.

• Matthew 8:14-15 (New International Version). "When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him."

• Mark 1:29-31 (New International Version). "As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them."

• Luke 4:38-39 (New International Version). "Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them."

That Peter was married was also affirmed by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:5. In that verse, Paul wrote

"Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us [Paul and Barnabas], as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers [James, Joseph, Simon and Judas] and Cephas [footnote: that is, Peter]?" ¹

A larger quotation from 1 Corinthians 9 is at the foot of this document, putting this quotation in a fuller context.

The names of the brothers of Jesus are reported in the Gospels of both Matthew and Mark:

• Matthew 13:55 (New International Version). "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?"

• Mark 6:3 (New International Version). " 'Where did this man get these things?' they asked. 'What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph [a variant of Joseph], Judas and Simon?"

In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul also confirmed that James was the name of one of the brothers of our Lord:

Galatians 1:18-20 (New International Version). "Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter [that is, Cephas] and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord's brother."

Several web sites that I found commented on the issue of whether the Apostles, or some of them, were married. Many of the sites note that John was not married, due to his youth, when called to be an Apostle. Mary also did some research and found a web site that stated that James the Younger was also not married. Here are a couple of excerpts from other websites on this topic:

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With regards to the first apostles, early writings of the Church suggest that all of the Twelve apostles were married when called by our Lord, except the young beloved apostle, St. John. ... We do have mention of the mother-in-law of St. Peter in the Gospel, who was cured of a fever by our Lord. But strangely, we have no mention of spouses or families of the apostles, in the Gospels or Acts.

Fr. John Echert, EWTN.

http://www.ewtn.com/vexperts/showresult.asp?RecNum=489266&Forums=0&Experts=0&Days=2006&Author=&Keyword=apostles+were+married&pgnu=1&groupnum=0&record_bookmark=1&ORDER_BY_TXT=ORDER+BY+ReplyDate+DESC&start_at=

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According to Clement of Alexandria, Peter and Philip were married and had children, and Paul probably did, too. Their wives traveled with the apostles "not as wives, but as sisters, in order to minister to housewives" {19}. Clement also reports that Peter's wife was martyred before him, and the apostle encouraged her as she was led to her death {20}.

19. Ante-Nicene Fathers 2.390, 391 (c. 195).

20. Ante-Nicene Fathers 2.541 (c. 195).

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/history/apostles.htm

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Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed by many that like Peter, most of the Apostles were married and had families. Author Richard McBrien writes in Lives of the Popes that "from Paul's reference to the fact that Peter and the other apostles took their wives along on their apostolic journeys, (1 Corinthians 9:5) the apostles did not 'put away' their wives."

In the Vatican document, Priestly celibacy in patristics and in the history of the Church, Roman Cholij writes, "It is clear from the New Testament (Mk 1:29-31; Mt 8:14-15; Lk 4:38-39; 1 Tim 3:2, 12; Tit 1:6) that at least the Apostle Peter had been married, and that bishops, presbyters and deacons of the Primitive Church were often family men."

http://marriage.about.com/od/historyofmarriage/ss/marriedpopes.htm

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The following section is from a Mormon web site. I have interjected additional passages marked by square brackets, i.e., [text]. I have also added links to texts.

In the early Church, it was known that the Apostles were married. Ignatius, who sat at the feet of the Apostle John as he taught for many years, also taught they were married. He said: "For I pray that, being found worthy of God, I may be found at their feet in the kingdom, as at the feet of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; as of Joseph, and Isaiah, and the rest of the prophets; as of Peter, and Paul, and the rest of the apostles, that were married men. For they entered into these marriages not for the sake of appetite, but out of regard for the propagation of mankind. Fathers, “bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;” (Eph. 6:4 and teach them the holy Scriptures, and also trades, that they may not indulge in idleness." ([Anti-Nicene Fathers,] 1:81, chap. 4, Ignatius to the Philadelphians)

Clement of Alexandria wrote “Peter and Philip fathered children, and Philip gave his daughters in marriage. Furthermore, Paul did not hesitate to mention his ‘companion’ in one of his epistles...He says in his epistle, ‘Do I not have the right to take along a sister-wife, as do the other apostles?’ [1 Cor. 9:5] However the other apostles, in harmony with their particular ministry, devoted themselves to preaching without any distraction. Their spouses went with them, not as wives, but as sisters, in order to minister to housewives” (Clement of Alexandria 195 ad, Ante-Nicene Fathers 2:390-391 E) [Stromata, Book III, Chapter VI. This chapter is in Latin, not English. The Latin is below for those who have a much better education than I.]

[The Latin passage is: “Petrus enim et Philippu filios procrearunt: Philippus autem filias quoque suas viris locavit. Et Paulus quidem certe non veretur in quadam epistola suam appellare “conjugem,” quam non circumferebat, quod non magno ei esset opus ministerio. Dicit itaque in quadam epistola: “Non habemus potestatem sororem uxorem circumducendi, sicut et reliqui apostoli? Sed hi quidem, ut erat consentaneum, ministerio, quod divelli non poterat, prædicationi scilicet, attendentes, non ut uxores, [page 391] sed ut sorores circumducebant mulieres, quæ una ministraturæ essent apud mulieres quæ domos custodiebant: per quas etiam in gynæceum, absque ulla reprehensione malave suspicione, ingredi posset doctrina Domini. Scimus enim quæ cunque de feminis diaconis in altera ad Timotheum præstantissimus docet Paulus.”]

[This English translation from the Early Christian Writings web site,
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-stromata-book3-english.html

The cited source is The Library of Christian Classics: Volume II, Alexandrian Christianity: Selected Translations of Clement and Origine with Introduction and Notes by John Ernest Leonard Oulton, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Dublin; Chancellor of St. Patrick’s and Henry Chadwick, B.D., Fellow and Dean of Queens’ College Cambridge, Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1954.

“52... “Or do they also scorn the apostles? Peter and Philip had children, and Philip gave his daughters in marriage. 53. Even Paul did not hesitate in one letter to address his consort. The only reason why he did not take her about with him was that it would have been an inconvenience for his ministry. Accordingly he says in a letter: "Have we not a right to take about with us a wife that is a sister like the other apostles?" But the latter, in accordance with their particular ministry, devoted themselves to preaching without any distraction, and took their wives with them not as women with whom they had marriage relations, but as sisters, that they might be their fellow-ministers in dealing with housewives. It was through them that the Lord's teaching penetrated also the women's quarters without any scandal being aroused.”

[Following a translation of Tertullian's epistle “To His Wife” was an Elucidation that contained the following passage which is similar in import:

The touching story, borrowed from Clement of Alexandria, is related by Eusebius. “And will they, “ says Clement, “reject even the apostles? Peter and Philip, indeed, had children; Philip also gave his daughters in marriage to husbands; and Paul does not demur, in a certain Epistle, to mention his own wife, whom he did not take about with him, in order to expedite his ministry the better.” Of St. Peter and his wife, Eusebius subjoins, “Such as the marriage of these blessed ones, and such was their perfect affection.”

The citation was to Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter XXX. This excerpt was found in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, p. 49. See below for the full text of Chapter XXX.

He [Clement] also wrote “The man of God eats, drinks, and marries, not as the primary things of life, but as things that are necessary. I even mention marriage...for having become perfect, he has the apostles for examples.” (Clement of Alexandria 195 ad, Ante-Nicene Fathers 2:543 E) [Stromata, Book VII, Chapter XII.]

[Note: Clement of Alexandria also reports that the wife of Peter was also martyred for the faith. Stromata, Book VII, Chapter XI, p. 451 Edinburgh Edition.: “They say … that the blessed Peter, on seeing his wife led to death, rejoiced on account of her call and conveyance home, and called very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, "Remember thou the Lord." Such was the marriage of the blessed and their perfect disposition towards those dearest to them.”]

Papias, who travelled the countryside writing down what the Apostles had previously said, wrote "The residence of the Apostle Philip with his daughters in Hierapolis has been mentioned above." (Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:154, Fragments of Papias)

Early Church leaders also spoke out against those who preached against marriage. In speaking about heretics, Irenaeus says that “They declare also, that marriage and generation are from Satan.” (Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:349, Irenaeus Against Heresies, chap. 24) “those who are called Encratites (self-controlled) preached against marriage, thus setting aside the original creation of God... he declared that marriage was nothing else than corruption and fornication.” (Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:353, Irenaeus Against Heresies, [Book I,] Chap. 28, [writing against Tatian])

“The apostles had permission to marry and lead wives about. They also had permission to ‘live by the means of the Gospel.’” (Ante-Nicene Fathers 4:55, Tertullian, 212 AD, W) [V. On Exhortation to Chastity, Chapter VIII. Note that at this web site, all of Tertullian's writings are included under the heading of “Volume 3” of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, although this Exhortation actually is included at the beginning of Volume 4 of the Edinburgh Edition.]

http://en.fairmormon.org/Marriage/Were_the_early_apostles_married

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Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm .

Chapter 30. The Apostles that were Married.

“1. Clement, indeed, whose words we have just quoted, after the above-mentioned facts gives a statement, on account of those who rejected marriage, of the apostles that had wives. Or will they, says he, reject even the apostles? For Peter and Philip begot children; and Philip also gave his daughters in marriage. And Paul does not hesitate, in one of his epistles, to greet his wife, whom he did not take about with him, that he might not be inconvenienced in his ministry.

“2. And since we have mentioned this subject it is not improper to subjoin another account which is given by the same author and which is worth reading. In the seventh book of his Stromata he writes as follows: They say, accordingly, that when the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them. This account being in keeping with the subject in hand, I have related here in its proper place.”

This is from the New Advent web site, www.newadvent.org

This same Chapter is also reproduced at the CCEL web site, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.viii.xxx.html

There are two additional notes at that site that bear reproducing:

Note 850.

It is probable that Clement here confounds Philip the evangelist with Philip the apostle. See the next chapter, note 6.
   Philip the evangelist, according to Acts xxi. 9, had four daughters who were virgins. Clement (assuming that he is speaking of the same Philip) is the only one to tell us that they afterward married, and he tells us nothing about their husbands. Polycrates in the next chapter states that two of them at least remained virgins. If so, Clement’s statement can apply at most only to the other two. Whether his report is correct as respects them we cannot tell.

Note 851.

The passage to which Clement here refers and which he quotes in this connection is 1 Cor. ix. 5; but this by no means proves that Paul was married, and 1 Cor. vii. 8 seems to imply the opposite, though the words might be used if he were a widower. The words of Philip. iv. 3 are often quoted as addressed to his wife, but there is no authority for such a reference. Clement is the only Father who reports that Paul was married; many of them expressly deny it; e.g. Tertullian, Hilary, Epiphanius, Jerome, &c. The authority of these later Fathers is of course of little account. But Clement’s conclusion is based solely upon exegetical grounds, and therefore is no argument for the truth of the report.

The source used by CCEL is Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 1. It is available at CCEL in HTML and Text formats, without charge, and as a PDF download for $2.95. PDF scans of this series are available from Google Books, the Internet Archive, and elsewhere on the World Wide Web.

See http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201

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The nine volumes of the Anti-Nicene Fathers can be viewed at http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/early-church-fathers/ante-nicene/. This site also has the Nicene Fathers collection and the Post Nicene Fathers collection (First Series). There is also a Second Series of the Post Nicene Fathers.

Scans of the American reprint of the Edinburgh Edition can be obtained from Google Books and the Internet Archive (which also has other electronic formats for the Kindle, etc.,).

An interesting quotation, also from p. 49 of Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 4, paraphrasing Tertullian:

“... we must not be wiser than God, even in our zeal for His service.”

There was no citation.

Footnote