About "The DaVinci Code"

Fiction, in my opinion, is for entertainment. Though it is useful for spreading truth, a message is not necessarily the purpose of fiction. I suppose that someday I will read “The DaVinci Code,” and will likely watch the movie; it will be for entertainment sake rather then for theological insight.

I consume a lot of heresy. I guess I am grounded enough in my faith to realize when something is completely out of line. However, one area I am not grounded in is how to argue against heresy in a logical line using fundamental truths of my Christian faith. The denomination I grew up in would say, “Well, the Bible doesn’t SAY Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene; therefore he wasn’t.” Unfortunately, the quick and easy argument against that statement is, “Well, it doesn’t SAY he wasn’t, either.”

I was listening to Relevant Radio a couple of weeks ago, and was given a foundational argument why Jesus could not have been married to Mary. I was in my car, so I wasn’t able to write it down, and I may have some holes in it, however, it is the manner in which I wish to eventually be able to defend my faith.

It is a foundational truth of the Christian faith that Jesus is truly and fully divine. Because he is divine, he must make covenants in the same manner God does; for he and the father are one (John 1). How does God make covenants with man? The covenant with Noah was a family covenant. The covenant with Abraham was a tribal covenant. The covenants with Moses and David were national covenants. And the covenant of the forgiveness of sins is a universal covenant. The point is, God makes covenants with people plural not singular, for the good of man plural not singular.

Marriage, in the Christian and Jewish faiths, is a covenant relationship in which people are joined together by God. It is the Judeo-Christian understanding of this covenant relationship that the couple is joined together to be one flesh, giving up ones own needs, desires, ambitions, etc., for that of the spouse and the couple.

Jesus, in his divine nature, which cannot be separated from his human nature, is incapable of making such an earthly marriage covenant, for it would be in conflict with the covenant of the forgiveness of sins.

How would an earthly marriage covenant be in conflict with the covenant of the forgiveness of sins? Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead is an action in which he gives up his own self for the needs of the world, the need of salvation from sin. Those who repent of their sins and live a life in obedience to God are called by scripture the bride of Christ. As the bride of Christ, we are also joined in one flesh with Him through Holy Communion. Jesus could not keep both covenants, an earthly marriage with Mary and the spiritual needs of mankind at the same time. In the culture of the day when Jesus lived on Earth, becoming the sacrifice for our sins would be in direct conflict with the needs of Mary as his wife, who would need him to be alive and providing for her in a material fashion.

Though the Bible does not explicitly say, “Mary Magdalene and Jesus were not married,” it does lay the foundational theology why they could not be married. This theology is foreign to the nature of man. It is preached in our culture that we should not give up our fleshly desires for righteousness sake but we should fulfill them and be true to ourselves. In a culture that worships fleshly desires as we do, it should not be surprising that we separate the divine Jesus from Jesus the man.