Was the Apostle Paul Married

Was the Apostle Paul Married?

It is generally agreed that the apostle Paul was an unmarried man for the duration of his ministry. Not only does Acts omit any mention of Paul having a wife, but also Paul’s own letters seem to indicate the same. Nevertheless, there is some disagreement over whether or not Paul had been married at an earlier point in his life. In this paper I will argue that Paul was in fact a widower at the time of his writing.

Paul puts himself in the category of being “unmarried” in 1 Corinthians 7:8.

1 Corinthians 7:8 “I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I.”

A few things are clear from this verse. First, Paul addresses a group of persons who are unmarried at the time of his writing—the “unmarried” and “widows.” Second, he instructs them to remain in their unmarried state if at all possible. Third, he sets himself forth as the exemplar of remaining unmarried. The phrase “even as I am,” therefore, communicates in no uncertain terms that Paul himself was unmarried at the time of his writing.

1 Corinthians 9:5 “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?”

In context, Paul is telling the Corinthians about privileges that he has forgone for the greater progress of the gospel. He has a “right” to be paid for his ministry and to take a wife for himself as other apostles have done, but he renounces those rights: “I have used none of these things” (1 Cor 9:15). He indicates again, therefore, that he was unmarried.

The word “unmarried” translates the Greek word agamos.

In wider Greek literature, agamos refers specifically to an unmarried male, whether a bachelor or a widower (see LSJ, p. 5). The term agamos only appears four times in all of the New Testament. All four uses are from Paul, and all four appear in the seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 7:8, 11, 32, 34.

Paul uses the term agamos to refer to those who have been married but now are no longer married.

1 Corinthians 7:11 “If she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband.”

1 Corinthians 7:34 “An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.”

Notice that 7:11 refers to a woman who has been separated from her husband. Notice also that 7:34 contrasts an “unmarried” woman with a “virgin”—thereby contrasting someone who was formerly married with someone who was not. In both cases, the “unmarried” refers to the once-married not the never-been-married.

Since Paul identifies himself as agamos, this suggests that he too was once married.

In 1 Corinthians 7:8, agamos is parallel with “widows,” which strongly suggests that Paul is addressing both the men and the women who have suffered the loss of a spouse. Paul is saying to widows and widowers that it is good for them to stay unmarried just as he does. If they do not have self-control, however, he tells them it would be better for them to marry.

As a good Pharisee, it is highly unlikely that Paul would have been single his entire life.

Elsewhere, Paul says that he was a Pharisee, a “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5), and “extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions” (Galatians 1:14; cf. Acts 22:3). Marriage was the norm for Pharisees, and it was required for rabbis (Paul was likely considered a rabbi). Paul could hardly have set himself forth as an exemplar of Pharisaical piety had he not been married.

In keeping every aspect of the Jewish law, since the rabbis had included in their traditions that a person had to be married to be right with God, Paul would have been married. Furthermore, Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin court. We see this in the book of Acts where “Saul was consenting unto Stephen’s death,” (Acts 8:1) and when “When the saints were put to death, Paul casted his vote against them.” (Acts 26:10) The only way Paul could have voted for Stephen’s death, and the arrest of the saints, was to have been part of the Sanhedrin. And since you couldn’t be a member of the Sanhedrin court without being married, Paul would have been married.

The cumulative case, therefore, strongly suggests that Paul was a widower. He was once married. But in calling him to Christ, God gave Paul the gift of celibacy (“a genuine gift of freedom from sexual need”).