Marriage essay

In the Roman Catholic Church, the belief that marriage is a sacrament has developed over time with
a focus on various key features changing throughout different periods of time under the influence of
various key individuals. The belief that marriage is a sacrament has three key features of
indissolubility, fidelity and procreation as an expression of a visible sign of God’s invisible grace. In
the Old Testament the idea that marriage was a covenant was developed and this was furthered by
Jesus in the New Testament with influences from cultures such as the Romans and the Jewish, as well
as Early Church Fathers such as St Paul and St Augustine developing ideas relating to the sanctity of
marriage, emphasizing fidelity and later indissolubility as the main key feature. The council of Trent
established Marriage as a sacrament, further developing marriage’s key features through time,
continuing to modern times, most notably with Vatican II, before Pope Francis revised the features to
what they are expressed in our modern context with an emphasis on procreation as the ultimate gift
of the sacrament. The belief that marriage is a sacrament within the Roman Catholic Church has
developed over time to its meaning today being a “matrimonial covenant…” being a…” a partnership
for life and natured by procreation” (CCC#1601) expressing the changing focus on the three key
features of marriage being its indissolubility, fidelity and procreation over different time periods.

Within Roman Catholicism, beliefs, such as marriage as a sacrament, develop over time from its
establishment as its key features are developed with the cultural influences of the time. Marriage as
a religious belief is between a man and woman and is seen as the expression of a visible sign of God’s
invisible grace as the love between spouses and within the family unit as a visible sign of God’s love
for the church and humanity, creating marriage to reflect the creators love in humans as the union
between body and spirit that is indissoluble, full of fidelity and fecund and life-giving resulting in
procreation. Marriage is therefore viewed as contractual, being legally binding to assert these key
features but also a covenant, being a sacred promise that is faithful, permanent and life-giving. This
is evident in the Old Testament as “a man leave his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and
they become one flesh.’ (Genesis 2:24) meaning that …”they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore what god has joined together, let no one separate’ (Matthew 19:6), this shows that
marriage was interpreted as a sign of the relationship between Jesus and the church, that they are
intertwined with one another and that Jesus raised it to a sacramental level as god intended it to be
as a union of body and spirit. This was translated to early church influences of the romans and the
Jewish cultural customs. Marriage as a belief was influenced by Jewish cultural influences as there
was an understanding the infidelity to god was punishable by exile which was transferred to marriage
where is was expected that men were to be faithful to their wives as a sign of all-round faithfulness
to God, originating from proverbs 5:15-20, with prophets urging faithfulness and denouncing divorce
as it is hateful towards marriage which is a covenant witnessed by God but was tolerated only if a
husband finds his wife something indecent as stated in Deuteronomy 24:1. Jewish Cultural influences
focused on marriage as a covenant with God and emphasized the key feature on fidelity, whilst
Roman cultural influences focused on the legality aspects of the covenant, developing verification of
marriage for legal reasons and proper transfer of wealth and property around the 6 th century
alongside the equal right of man and woman to marry by mutual consent only, however this was not
binding for life and the marriage solely by mutual consent increased clandestine marriages which
were unofficial secret marriages, with no way of verifying marriages. Romans were also known for
their attitudes on sexuality, being promiscuous in nature and their attitudes towards infidelity and
divorce encouraged St Paul to write Ephesians in 60-62AD addressing marriage as a means for
preventing the sin of lust on the grounds of immorality and as a covenant which compares the
spousal love with that of Christ for the church, beings the outward sign of the loving union of Jesus
and his bride the church, beginning the understanding of marriage as a sacrament as evident in the
line, “husbands, love your wives, just as Christ have the church and gave himself up for her.” (6:21-
22) In response to the cultural demands of the early church, significant church leaders such as St Paul
established the beginnings of the understanding of marriage as a sacrament which key features
began developing focusing on fidelity as a key feature of the belief.

This understanding of Marriage as a sacrament in the catholic church continued to develop

throughout time, particularly within the post-Constantinian church and the role of St Augustine in
developing the understandings of the key features of the belief. Within this time period, there was an
increase in philosophical thought and debates analyzing aspects of what was evil and good.
Manicheism was a school of philosophy thought that suggested that marriage was not good due to
the involvement of sexual intercourse that was seen to epitomise lust which was a sin. This school of
thought created the necessity to clarify that marriage was indeed a good due to procreation which
was the end of the sexual union, not the sexual union itself, causing St Augustine to write about the
three goods of marriage which developed the theology of Marriage as a sacrament from the
influence of the pair of treatises written in 401 AD that discussed the three goods as indissolubility.
Fidelity and procreation. ST Augustine asserted that marriage was a sacrament as it signified the
relationship between Christ and the church, with marriage being forged by God and therefore
indissoluble and a symbol of eternal union which is sustained by the mutual fidelity of the marital
bond between husband and wife. This developed the idea of conjugal chastity which was not simply
a prohibition on adultery but rather a mutual submission in the bedroom and that the conjugal duty
was not a sin and rather marital sex is good as it prevents sexual promiscuity, procreation outside of
marriage and provided the optimal opportunity for children to be raised and nurtured within the
bonds of marriage which was not only a good of marriage but a social good as set Augustine asserts
that in itself ‘sensuality has the unbridled weakness of the flesh but from marriage it has permanent
union of fidelity. ‘this permanent union supported the belief that god didn’t not create humans as
separate individuals but that they were created one from the other and that the “first natural bond
of society is that of husband and wife” and that sexual union was not an end itself, its procreation as
children are the fruits of sexual union and therefore cant be viewed as evil as within Gen 1:28 god
commands to “be fruitful and multiply.” Concluding that the union of male and female for the sake of
having children is then the natural good of marriage. St Augustine’s writing influenced the
understanding of marriage as a sacrament as it began to be understood as having eternal significance
because it was a symbol of eternal union of Christ and his bride the church but presented it by
highlighting its goodness for the couple and society. In response to the cultural demands of the post-
Constantinian church significant church leaders such as St Augustine developed the understanding of
marriage as a sacrament by developing the key features of the belief, emphasizing its sacramentality
within its interpretation of indissolubility which becomes a symbol of the eternal union of Christ and
his bride, the church.

Whilst the understanding of Marriage as a sacrament was developed, it was the context of the
reformation that became the leading factor into its establishment of its sacramentality in the Council
of Trent. Within the 12th century, the church began taking control over marriage as they become
more prevalent within the legal system. This introduced civil marriage in the church which was
constituted only by mutual consent, becoming a contract; an exchange of rights to each other’s
bodies for procreation as marital sex had no other function, creating no room for covenant love,
community and sharing of affection as marriage began being described in legalistic and ritualistic
terms, losing the concept of covenant. Additionally, between the 4-13 th century, clandestine marriage
where no civil or religious ceremony occurred to be married had grown popular causing the want for
the church to extend control and place emphasis on contract rather then covenantal nature of
marriage to deter the growing problem evident in the Fourth Lateran council in 1215 that stated that
clandestine marriages should not be allowed and that when “marriages are to be contracted they
shall be publicly announced in the churches by the priests.” Strengthening the development that
marriage is contractual. This was addressed in response to the reformation which brought forward
specific rituals and requirements for a valid marriage however the concept of the sacrament was not
fully understood nor practiced in the council of Trent in 1545-63 that affirmed marriage as a
sacrament. The council defended the right of the church to legislate marriage but also expressed the
conventual nature of marriage as the husband and wife are the sacrament as the love, they express is
the visible sign of god’s invisible grace, which is further expressed through children which are the
outward sign of that love. This grace of the sacrament allows the couple to live their marital duties
and reaffirms the three key features of marriage as its indissolubility, fidelity and procreation. The
council of Trent referred to the prior teachings of early church fathers, including set Paul and
Augustine, issuing their decree on marriage in their 24 th session on the 11th of November in 1563 that
as God instituted marriage, by extension, instituted the indissoluble bond in the garden of Eden
which Christ himself confirmed “what god has joined together, let no man put as under,; which
merited and confirmed the natural love of Christian spouses and seal their indissoluble union
therefore making it a sacrament. The session asserted that clandestine marriages were illegitimate
and decreed that marriages were only valid in a Christian exchange of marital consent with witness
of an authorized bishop. The council of Trent was a major factor in the development in the belief of
marriage as a sacrament as it responded to the growing issues of clandestine marriage and the
contractual nature of marriage by affirming its key features to reason its sacramentality.

Despite marriage being asserted as a sacramental belief, the tumultuous context of the 20 th and 21st
century has called for developments within catholic church to reaffirm the key features of marriage
as a belief as the catholic church addressed religion’s role in a more liberal society. The 20 th century
gave rise to an increase of divorce due to the changes in social and economic conditions driven by
the two world wars, the rise of individualism, the increase in women’s education and employment
options, with divorce in the US increasing from less than 1 per 1000 married couples in 1900 to 5 per
1000 married couples in 1950. There was a decline in religious stigmas surrounding divorce as
religious attitudes changed, shifting towards more liberal interpretations of religious texts and a
recognition that divorce can be a necessary and compassionate option for people in difficult and
abusive marriages. This was evident in the 21 st ecumenical council, Vatican II which focused on the
catholic church’s role in a modern society and reaffirmed marriages sacramentality by gaining new
understandings on how marriage is equal in vocation to celibacy within Gaudium Et Spes 1965 as
there was a shift in understanding on the emphasis on the key features of marriage as a sacrament.
The second Vatican council concluded that procreation was seen as the primary key feature as it
grounded the pairing in marital love and orientated the marriage itself as it is viewed as the supreme
gift (GES 50), and the essential end among many. This notion combated the ideas of divorce as
marriage was reaffirmed as an unbreakable covenant between persons and for the good of children,
demanding the mutual love of the spouses to grow and mature in a rightly order so the children’s
welfare may “grow and ripen.” (GES 50) Vatican II responded to the growing cultural emphasis on
divorce by focusing on the key feature of procreation as a gift given from the sacramental nature of
marriage which has transferred to modern times within the context of the 21 st century as despite the
minimal development of theology, pastoral applications such as Pope Francis writing Amoris Laetitia
published on the 19 of march 2016 which acknowledges the sensitivity to divorced and remarried
couples awareness through the prevailing culture of the 21 st century makes it difficult for couples to
live the church’s teachings and that rather “love which coexists with imperfection helps bear all
things and can hold its peace before the limitations of the loved one.” Highlighting the church’s
shifted attitude to more liberal interpretations to marriage as a sacrament and its implementation to
modern society.In response to the cultural demands of the 20-21st century, significant church
councils and leaders such as Vatican II and Pope Francis developed the understanding of marriage as
a sacrament by developing the key features of the belief, emphasizing its sacramentality within its
interpretation of procreation and how the love that produces and nurtures the children is the
ultimate gift of the sacrament.

The belief that marriage is a sacrament within the Roman Catholic Church has developed over time
to its meaning today being a “matrimonial covenant…” being a…” a partnership for life and natured
by procreation” (CCC#1601) expressing the changing focus on the three key features of marriage
being its indissolubility, fidelity and procreation over different time periods. With its establishment in
the Bible, the contexts of the early church with its cultural influences of the Jewish and Roman
community and significant church fathers such as St Paul and St Augustine within their respective
times who began focusing on establishing and developing key features, emphasizing fidelity and
indissolubility as the sacramental feature. Marriage was formally established as a sacrament at the
Council of Trent, with its Key Features continuing to be developed till modern times, in particular
with Vatican II, before Pope Francis revised the features to what they are expressed in our modern
context today shifting to procreation as an ultimate gift of the sacrament. Through this, we can
understand that beliefs and their key features are changed, reinterpreted and emphasized based on
the cultural influences of their time period which the Catholic Church responds to and will continue
to do so as society persists.