Marriage and Family
Marriage and family are the foundation to society.
From the very beginning God desired societies to be established all throughout the created world (Gen. 1:28). Yet His desire for societies to be spread throughout the world, having dominion over His creation, was to be in context of established, sanctioned marriages and their corresponding families (Gen. 2:23-24; Ex. 20:12).
So if marriage and family are so foundational to society, it must of necessity be important to understand what defines both marriage and family.
Marriage is traditionally defined as the civil union of one man to one woman. And I would maintain that that is the Biblical definition of marriage (Mt. 19:3-9). But let us notice two things about this definition:
With the exception of a few other revealed restrictions or allowances, anything beyond this is not a lawful, Biblical marriage.
Family is typically understood as the product that follows from a marriage. Whether this is the family that occurs when a husband and wife produce children, or when a husband and wife marry one another and so combine two other families, a family by nature has at its very root and foundation the union of a marriage.
Obviously this doesn't hold as well in modern America where there are so many unwed couples with children, multiple divorces with various step-relatives, or otherwise "broken homes." Though, these relationships are still familial to one extent or another. However, this is not the norm (or standard) of the Biblical view of family. As far as the Bible is concerned, God's intention of the family is to be based in a legal marriage (from which it is very difficult to get divorced) and be built from there through the procreation of having children with the end that those children be wed and have their own children as well (Gen. 1:28).
From the very beginning God desired societies to be established all throughout the created world (Gen. 1:28). Yet His desire for societies to be spread throughout the world, having dominion over His creation, was to be in context of established, sanctioned marriages and their corresponding families (Gen. 2:23-24; Ex. 20:12).
So if marriage and family are so foundational to society, it must of necessity be important to understand what defines both marriage and family.
Marriage is traditionally defined as the civil union of one man to one woman. And I would maintain that that is the Biblical definition of marriage (Mt. 19:3-9). But let us notice two things about this definition:
- It is a civil union
Although ecclesiastical ministers in churches have the authority to solemnize marriages, it is a civil authority they are exercising when they do so. This is not to say that when a civil servant who is not an ecclesiastical minister is solemnizing the marriage that it is apart from any spiritual matter. To the contrary, civil servants just as ecclesiastical servants are both ministers of God (Rom. 13:6; 15:15-16). But the Biblical view of marriage is that even though it is spiritual in nature, it is also civil in character (Gen. 2:23-24; cf. Mt. 19:3-9).(1) - It is between one man and one woman
Regardless of what political outcry is being claimed at the time, marriage will always require one man and one woman. It is not something that can be done between a man and a goat, a woman and a horse, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. The Biblical (which is to say the just and only acceptable) form of marriage is to be between a man and a woman, period.
With the exception of a few other revealed restrictions or allowances, anything beyond this is not a lawful, Biblical marriage.
Family is typically understood as the product that follows from a marriage. Whether this is the family that occurs when a husband and wife produce children, or when a husband and wife marry one another and so combine two other families, a family by nature has at its very root and foundation the union of a marriage.
Obviously this doesn't hold as well in modern America where there are so many unwed couples with children, multiple divorces with various step-relatives, or otherwise "broken homes." Though, these relationships are still familial to one extent or another. However, this is not the norm (or standard) of the Biblical view of family. As far as the Bible is concerned, God's intention of the family is to be based in a legal marriage (from which it is very difficult to get divorced) and be built from there through the procreation of having children with the end that those children be wed and have their own children as well (Gen. 1:28).
(1) We're not here saying that the state ought to be the one issuing marriage certificates, nor are we saying the state should be involved in issuing licenses for individuals to get married. That's a separate discussion into which we am not entering at this point.
Nonetheless, it is clear from the Old Testament Law that there was some type of legal contract binding man and woman together - to the point that the state had the right and duty to enforce the contract (capital offense for committing adultery - Deut. 22:22). At the same time the state also had the right and duty to forbid certain marriages or even certain sexual activities (including incest, homosexuality, bestiality, etc. - Lev. 18:1-30, 20:10-21).
The legality of marriage as a civil union (even though spiritual in nature it was also civil in character), is further attested to in the New Testament. When Jesus was asked about whether or not it was lawful to divorce one's wife (Mt. 19:1-9), He did not question whether or not it was a civil or legal matter; He instead interpreted for them the lawful (again, civil), moral reasons for divorce according to God's Word. Further, Paul upholds the legal nature of marriage as a civil union in his discourse in the book of Romans (Rom. 7:1-3).
Nonetheless, it is clear from the Old Testament Law that there was some type of legal contract binding man and woman together - to the point that the state had the right and duty to enforce the contract (capital offense for committing adultery - Deut. 22:22). At the same time the state also had the right and duty to forbid certain marriages or even certain sexual activities (including incest, homosexuality, bestiality, etc. - Lev. 18:1-30, 20:10-21).
The legality of marriage as a civil union (even though spiritual in nature it was also civil in character), is further attested to in the New Testament. When Jesus was asked about whether or not it was lawful to divorce one's wife (Mt. 19:1-9), He did not question whether or not it was a civil or legal matter; He instead interpreted for them the lawful (again, civil), moral reasons for divorce according to God's Word. Further, Paul upholds the legal nature of marriage as a civil union in his discourse in the book of Romans (Rom. 7:1-3).