Official Church Position
The belief that Christ was married has never been official church doctrine. It is neither sanctioned nor taught by the church. While it is true that a few church leaders in the mid-1800s expressed their opinions on the matter, it was not then, and is not now, church doctrine.
(Dale Bills, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
Bruce R. McConkie
In an address to CES faculty, Bruce R. McConkie referred to a July 1899 Solemn Assembly in the Salt Lake Temple, wherein statements were made that Christ was married:
Well, since we are quoting the brethren, let’s just say a little more — it’s not a bit uncommon. They had meetings where the brethren got up and spoke in the name of the Lord and said: “There are present in this congregation people who are the descendants of Christ.” Well sure! I know a man to whom a patriarch told this— not meaning adopted into the family of Christ. Now, George Q. Cannon was one of these who they announced, as I remember, was a man who was a literal descendant of Christ. Well, I know some others who are.
(Address to faculty of the Church Education System conducted during the first term of summer school, 15 June 1967 at Brigham Young University. This excerpt was transcribed from a tape of the lecture on file in the Recording Library of the Church Education System in Salt Lake City. Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 388.)
David O. McKay
On 10 October 1966 in a letter to a Sister Sharon Pokriots of Provo, the prophet David O. McKay gives a much less direct answer to her question. ‘Was Jesus married?” His secretary writes back on his behalf:
Dear Sister Pokriots,
President McKay, who is under a heavy schedule of duties and meetings associated with the general jurisdiction of the Church, in addition to doctor’s orders to curtail his activities as much as possible, has asked me to acknowledge from him your letter of September 29, 1966, wherein you ask if “Christ is Married.” I have been directed to tell you that there is no scripture or revelation on this subject. The wisest presumption upon this and related subjects mentioned in your letter is that the status of Christ, a member of the godhead, so far transcends the status of human beings and what they can attain in a lifetime of utter and complete faithfulness and perfection, that we should suspend and defer all concern about His [marital] status.
Secretary: Claire Middleness
(Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 387.)
Joseph Fielding Smith
In a letter written 17 March 1963 to the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Joseph Fielding Smith, J. Ricks Smith of Burbank, California, asked two questions. The first involves Isaiah 53:l0: “What is meant by “he shall see his seed?” On the original letter, near the quotation of the scripture, President Smith placed a single asterisk after the word “seed.” Then, below in the margin, in typical Joseph Fielding Smith fashion, he notes, “*Mosiah 15:10-12 Please read your Book of Mormon!” The letter continues: “Does this mean that Christ had children? In the temple ceremony we are told that only through temple marriage can we receive the highest degree of exaltation and dwell in the presence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Christ came here to set us the example and, therefore, we believe that he must have been married. Are we right?” This time President Smith uses two asterisks just after the word “married.” Then below he notes “**Yes! But do not preach it! The Lord advised us not to cast pearls before swine!” He then signed the original letter and sent it back to Brother J. Ricks Smith.
(J. Ricks Smith, “Letter to Joseph Fielding Smith, March 17, 1963, with Reply.” This letter is in the BYU Special Collections. Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 386.)
On 18 October 1963 a number of new missionaries were being endowed in the Salt Lake Temple before departing on their missions. One missionary recorded: At the end of the session we were escorted to a large upper room and told to wait. [We] did not know what was happening. In a few moments, Joseph Fielding Smith walked in and stood behind the pulpit. He explained that since this was the first time through the temple for each of us, he was there to answer any questions that we may have had. The first question came from an elder who asked, “President Smith, was Christ married?” I was appalled at the brazenness of that elder, but Brother Smith just paused for a few moments, and then replied; “Yes, Christ was married, To Mary Magdalene. But don’t teach it.” I wrote that in my journal that day, and have treasured it ever since.
(Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 387.)
Joseph F. Smith
Now, my little friends, I will repeat again in words as simple as I can and you talk to your parents about it, that God, the Eternal Father is literally the Father of Jesus Christ. Mary was married to Joseph for time. No man could take her for eternity because she belonged to the Father of her Divine Son.”
(Conference address, 22 September 1914; published in Box Elder News, 28 January 1915; also in Clark, Messages of the First Presidency, 4:330)
LDS president Joseph F. Smith spoke that the “patriarchal order of marriage” was “the same law that Our Heavenly Father” has kept. “The word of the Lord to us was that if we did not obey we could not go where our Heavenly Father dwells. A man obeying a lower law is not qualified to preside over those who keep a higher law.”
(Wilford Woodruff Journal, (14 October 1882), 8:126)
“Joseph F. Smith did not think that Jesus who descended through polygamous families from Abraham down and who fulfilled all the Law even baptism by immersion would have lived and died without being married.”
(Quoting Joseph F. Smith in Wilford Woodruff Journal, 8:187 (22 July 1883))
“Joseph F. Smith spoke one hour & 25 minutes. He spoke upon the marriage in Cana at Galilee. He thought Jesus was the bridegroom and Mary & Martha the brides. ... [He] spoke upon these passages to show that Mary & Martha manifested much closer relationship than merely a believer which looks consistent.”
(Quoting Joseph F. Smith in Wilford Woodruff Journal, 8:187-88 (22 July 1883))
George Q. Cannon
There are those in this audience who are descendants of the old Twelve Apostles—and shall I say it, yes, descendants of the Savior Himself. His seed is represented in this body of men.
(Journal of Rudger Clawson (2 July 189), 74-75 quoted in Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 372.)
Lorenzo Snow
Following Pres. Cannon, President Snow arose and said that what Bro. Cannon had stated respecting the literal descendants among this company of the old apostles and the Savior Himself is true—that the Savior’s seed is represented in this body of men.
. . . .
There are men in this congregation who are descendants of the ancient Twelve Apostles and shall I say it, of the Son of God Himself, for He had seed, and in the right time they shall be known.
(Anthony Ivins Journal (2 July 189), LDS Archives; quoted in Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 372.)
Brigham Young
The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband. (Journal of Discourses, 19 August 1866, 11:268) “Also, the bridal feast at Cana of Galilee, where Jesus turned the water into wine, was on the occasion of one of his own marriages.”
(Young (Denning), Wife No. 19, 307. Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 81.)
Brigham Young’s nineteenth wife wrote, “Jesus Christ was a practical polygamist; Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, were his plural wives, and Mary Magdalene was another.”
(Young (Denning), Wife No 19, 307. Dynasty of the Holy Grail, Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline, Vern G. Swanson, Page 85.)
The scripture says that He, the Lord, came walking in the temple, with His train; I do not know who they were unless His wives and children.
(Journal of Discourses (13 November 1870) 13:309.)
Orson Hyde
It will be borne in mind that once upon a time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that no less a person than Jesus Christ was married on that occasion.
(Journal of Discourses, 4:259.)
Then you really mean to hold to the doctrine that the Savior of the world was married; do you mean to be understood so? And if so, do you mean to be understood that he had more than one wife? . . . For I tell you it is the chosen of God, the seed of the blessed, that shall be gathered. I do not despise to be called a son of Abraham, if he had a dozen wives; or to be called a brother, a son, a child of the Savior, if he had Mary, and Martha, and several others as wives: and though he did cast seven devils out of one of them, it is all the same to me.
(Journal of Discourses (6 October 1854) 2:80-83.)
How was it with Mary and Martha, and other women that followed him [Christ]? In old times, and it is common in this day, the women, even as Sarah, called their husbands Lord; the word Lord is tantamount to husband in some languages, master, lord, husband, are about synonymous. In England we frequently hear the wife say, “Where is my master?” She does not mean a tyrant, but as Sarah called her husband Lord, she designates hers by the word master.’
(Journal of Discourses (6 October 1854) 2:81-82.)
Orson Pratt
Indeed, the Psalmist, David, prophesies in particular concerning the Wives of the Son of God. We quote from the English version of the Bible, translated about three hundred and fifty years ago: All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia: when thou comest out of the ivory palaces, where they have made thee glad, Kings’ daughters were among thine honorable wives: upon thy Right hand did stand the Queen in a vesture of gold of Ophir.
(Orson Pratt, The Seer 1, 11 (November 1853): 170.)
Next let us enquire whether there are any intimations in Scripture concerning the wives of Jesus. We have already, in the 9th no. of this volume, spoken of the endless increase of Christ’s government. Now, we have no reason to suppose that this increase would continue, unless through the laws of generation, whereby Jesus, like His Father, should become the Father of spirits; and, in order to become the Father of spirits, or, as Isaiah says, “The Everlasting Father,” it is necessary that He should have one or more wives by whom He could multiply His seed, not for any limited period of time, but forever and ever: thus He truly would be a Father Everlastingly, according to the name which was to be given Him.
The Evangelists do not particularly speak of the marriage of Jesus; but this is not to be wondered at, for St. John says:
There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. (John 21:25)
One thing is certain, that there were several holy women that greatly loved Jesus—such as Mary, and Martha her sister, and Mary Magdalene; and Jesus greatly loved them, and associated with them much; and when He arose from the dead, instead of first showing Himself to His chosen witnesses, the Apostles, He appeared first to these women, or at least to one of them—namely, Mary Magdalene. Now, it would be very natural for a husband in the resurrection to appear first to his own dear wives, and afterwards show himself to his other friends. If all the acts of Jesus were written, we no doubt should learn that these beloved women were us wives.
(Orson Pratt, The Seer 1 (October 1853): 159-60.)
From the passage in the forty-fifth Psalm, it will be seen that the great Messiah who was the founder of the Christian religion, was a polygamist, as well as the Patriarch Jacob and the prophet David from whom He descended according to the flesh. Paul says concerning Jesus, Verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Abraham the polygamist, being a friend of God, the Messiah chose to take upon himself his seed; and by marrying many honorable wives himself, show to all future generations that he approbated the plurality of wives under the Christian dispensation, as well as under the dispensations in which His polygamist ancestors lived.
(Orson Pratt, The Seer 1, 11 (November 1853): 172.)
We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity, by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His First Born, and another being upon the earth by whom He begat the tabernacle of Jesus. . . . We have also proved that both God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as in time; and that God the Father has already begotten many thousand millions of sons and daughters. ... it being expressly declared that the children of one of His Queens should be made Princes in all the earth.
(Orson Pratt, The Seer 1 (1853): 172.)
Jedediah M. Grant
He [Celsus] says, “The grand reason why the Gentiles and philosophers of his school persecuted Jesus Christ, was because he had so many wives; there were Elizabeth, and Mary, and a host of others that followed him.” . . . tie grand reason of the burst of public sentiment in anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing his crucifixion, was evidently based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of the philosophers who rose in that age. A belief in the doctrine of a plurality of wives caused the persecution of Jesus and his followers. We might almost think they were “Mormons.”
(Journal of Discourses (7 August 1853), 1:345-46.)
Heber C. Kimball
In his biography on Heber C. Kimball, Stanley Kimball quoted the Apostle as saying “that Christ was married—indeed that Christ was married to both Mary and Martha and that the famous wedding of Cana was in reality Christ’s own wedding.”
(Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, 274 (citing Mary Ellen Kimball Journal, 54.))
