Did The 12 Apostles Have Wives?

Did The Twelve Apostles Have Wives?

Surprisingly, we do have some information on some of the Apostle's wives. Matthew tells us about Peter(or Simon)'s wife for example, "And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever," (Matthew 8:14 KJV). As we see, the mother of Peter's wife was ill.

Paul also significantly suggests that the other apostles had wives. "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas(or Peter John 1:42)?" (1 Corinthians 9:5 KJV). It is to be noted, however, he may have been speaking far more generally. An apostle or "ἀπόστολοι" can be very general, merely meaning followers of God as we seem to see in Revelations 18:20, "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her," (Revelations 18:20 KJV). To contrast this, the original Greek of 1 Corinthians is "οἱ λοιποὶ ἀπόστολοι" which means "the other apostles". Due to the definite article(a definite article is the word "the"), it seems like he may have been referring to the twelve apostles, but it is too vague to say for sure.