5 reasons why the Gospel of Jesus' Wife is a fake

CHRISTIANITY TODAY
By Simon J. Gathercole
Image: "Gospel of Jesus's Wife" - Harvard Divinity School
Left undetected, some forgeries of biblical or early Christian manuscripts could severely distort our understanding of the biblical text and of Christian history. Enter the much-discussed Gospel of Jesus’ Wife manuscript. Over the past three years, since Harvard Divinity School historian Karen King unveiled it, opinion has differed wildly over whether it is truly ancient. But now the controversy is being put to bed: A team of scholars gathered by Francis Watson (Durham University, UK) has produced a series of articles in the journal New Testament Studies (issue 61.3, July 2015) that establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife manuscript is a modern fake. [link]
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Here, I will boil the reasons down to three key points and two circumstantial ones, many of which have played a part in detecting other fake manuscripts:
  1. Guilt by association
  2. Scientific testing
  3. Copying from other texts
  4. Dubious origins
  5. The Da Vinci Code Effect