Why Did Jesus Not Marry?
Why didn’t Jesus get married?
This question was submitted by one of our young people. I think it is a good question that many people think about. Jesus was a man and walked on the earth for about 33 years. He interacted with both men and women while he was on the earth and was friends with both sexes. No doubt Jesus could have gotten married if he wanted to, but God had given Jesus a very specific job to do, to die on the cross for the sins of mankind, and it really would not have been fair to a woman to marry her with this task that the Father had given Jesus.
Now, spiritually, Christ is married to the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). This teaching is given to us in many places in the Bible. In the Old Testament, God represents Himself as being married to His people, the children of Israel (Jeremiah 3:14). Some have suggested that Jesus did not get married because His bride would be the church. That could very well be the case.
Paul gives some teaching on whether a Christian should marry in 1 Corinthians 7:32-35. Some of these teachings may also help us to understand why Jesus did not get married.
But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife. There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.
The long and short of it is that a married man who is a Christian has his attention divided between the Lord and his wife. Paul is not saying that it is sinful to get married. What he is saying is that it is easier to be a Christian without being married given the additional concerns that marriage brings to a person’s life. Moreover, Paul’s words here are also given in relationship to potential persecution that could come upon a Christian. He speaks of the “present distress” in verse 26, likely some kind of physical opposition to Christianity in Corinth. These issues also help us to understand why Jesus did not get married.
Jesus had a task to accomplish while on earth. In John 6:38-40, Jesus said: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Getting married (to an earthly woman) was not part of the task that the Father gave Jesus, and that is why Jesus never married.