UNIT II:

CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES
OF MARRIAGE

LESSON A: MARRIAGE IN
THE SCRIPTURES
1. Old Testament
2. New Testament
3. Marriage as Covenant
When Fred married Malou fifteen years ago, he whispered a promise to God that he would do everything to make his
wife happy, which means giving her and their children what they need in life. Presently, Fred’s income is just enough
for their necessities, and so to make ends meet, Malou needs to work just as hard, and their children are satisfied with
what they have. Special occasions such as birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas Day makes Fred
anxious and excited at the same time. It means that he will have to set aside some personal pleasures like
eating merienda and taking the jeepney on his way home so that he can save up a few hundred pesos for red roses and
small gifts. Fred never feels disheartened because whenever such feeling creeps up, he always reminisces about his
wedding day. This memory never fails to lift his spirit because it reminds him of how blessed he is as God gave him a
loving wife and a best friend for life. Not only that, their kids, Andrew and Mariel, are indeed bundles of joy.
Today is Fred’s birthday. A few days ago, his wife asked him what he wants as a gift, and to this, he replied: just a
kiss and a hug from his beautiful wife and kids would be more than enough. He doesn’t want any gift because he
would prefer to use the money to pay the bills and give the kids an extra allowance. That is what he wants, but Malou
and the kids will always have their way on this day. After all, it was not just Fred who saves up for special occasions
because his wife and kids also mark this day on their calendar as Dad’s Day. Today, on his 50th birthday, his family
fetched him from work. Their celebration started by hearing the Mass, and after that, they headed for their favorite
Korean restaurant. Before dinner was over, Fred opened his box of classic Jordan shoes as gift from his family, and of
course, he got his highly anticipated kiss and hugs from everybody. Fred’s happiness is immense, not just because of
this day but because for the past 15 years, through thick and thin, his family is as strong as ever.
Why is marriage a
Covenant?
 Video 1
After Skool. “The Pros and Cons of Marriage.” August 15, 2017,
Video, 10:55. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NSD2WW8xieY&t=10s

Video 2
Jordan Peterson Fan Channel. The Real Reason for Marriage –
Prof. Jordan Peterson. July 21, 2017. Video, 5:53.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc_NNjV0s1o&t=29s
BREAKOUT SESSION:
Groups 1 and 2: Video 1
Groups 2 and 4: Video 2

Guide Questions for Breakout Sessions (15 minutes):

1. What are the descriptions of marriage that you find striking.
2. Do you agree with these descriptions? Why? Why not?
3. Is your view of marriage affirmed or not? Why?

Plenary Session:
Sharing with the whole class (Mechanics):
4. Make a summary of your classmates’ sharing.
5. Choose a presenter who will share the output of the group.
6. Limit your presentation to 10 minutes (maximum or less).
The vocation to marriage
is written in the very
nature of man and woman
as they came from the
hand of the Creator.

Marriage is not a purely

human institution despite
the many variations it may
have undergone through the
centuries in different
cultures, social structures,
and spiritual attitudes. CCC,
1603
1. OLD TESTAMENT

MARRIAGE IS ROOTED
IN CREATION

❖ In the Original Plan of God

"The intimate community of life
and love which consti­tutes the
married state has been established
by the Creator and endowed by
him with its own proper laws. . . .
GS48§1., CCC, 1603
 ❖ God Himself is the Author of
Marriage.GS48§1., CCC, 1603
Since God created him man and
woman, their mutual love becomes an
image of the absolute and unfailing
love with which God loves man. It is
good, very good, in the Creator's eyes.

And this love which God blesses is

intended to be fruitful and to be
realized in the common work of
watching over creation:
"And God blessed them, and God
said to them: 'Be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth and
subdue it.” Gen 1:28; cf. 1:31.
❖ The Holy Scripture affirms that man
and woman were created for one
another (CCC, 1605)

❑ "It is not good that the man should be

alone.” Gen 2:18.
❑ The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his
equal, his nearest in all things, is given
to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus
represents God from whom comes our
help.” Cf. Gen 2:18-25.
❑ Therefore, a man leaves his father and
his mother and cleaves to his wife, and
they become one flesh.” Gen 2:24.
❖ The Consequence
of Sin CCC, 1606
❑ Every man
experience evil
around him and
within him­self. This
experience makes
itself felt in the
relationships between
man and woman.
❑ According to faith, the
disorder we notice so
painfully does not stem
from the nature of man
and woman, nor from
the nature of their
relations, but from
SIN.
As a break with God, the first sin
had for its first consequence…
❑ The rupture of the original
communion between man and
woman.
❑ Their relations were distorted
by mutual recriminations; Gen
3:12.
❑ Their mutual attraction, the
Creator's own gift, changed
into a relationship of
domination and lust; Gen
2:22; 3:16b.
❑ The beautiful vocation of man
and woman to be fruitful,
multiply, and subdue the earth
was burdened by the pain of
childbirth and the toil of work.
GOD’S MERCY

❖ In his mercy God has not forsaken

sinful man.

❑ After the fall, marriage helps to

overcome self-absorption, egoism,
pursuit of one's own pleasure, and to
open oneself to the other, to mutual aid
and to self-giving. CCC, 1609
MARRIAGE IS ROOTED IN THE
COVENANT
❖ Moral conscience concerning the unity and
indissolubility of marriage developed
under the pedagogy of the old law.

❑ In the Old Testament the polygamy of

patriarchs and kings is not yet explicitly
rejected. Nevertheless, the law given to
Moses aims at protecting the wife from
arbitrary domination by the husband, even
though according to the Lord's words it still
carries traces of man's "hardness of heart"
which was the reason Moses permitted men
to divorce their wives. CCC, 1610
❑ Seeing God's covenant with Israel in the image
of exclusive and faithful married love, the
prophets prepared the Chosen People's
conscience for a deepened understanding of
the unity and indissolubility of marriage.
CCC,1611; Hos 1-3; Isa 54; 62; fer 2-3; 31; Ezek 16; 23; Ma/ 2:13-17.
The books of Ruth and Tobit bear moving
witness to an elevated sense of marriage The Excellence of
and to the fidelity and tenderness of Marriage, Tobit 8:4b-9
spouses.
❑ The elevation of
the spiritual life
❑ The placement of
nobility above lust
❑ The recollection of
tradition
❑ The role of the
family
❑ Tradition has
always seen in
the Song of
Solomon a
unique expression
of human love,
insofar as it
reflects God's
love - a love
strong as death
that many
waters cannot
quench. Song 8:6-7
2. NEW TESTAMENT
FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL
❑ The nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared the way for the
new and everlasting covenant in which the Son of God, by becoming incarnate and
giving his life, has united to himself in a certain way all mankind saved by him, thus
preparing for "the wedding-feast of the Lamb.” Cf. Rev. 19:7, 9; cf. GS 22. CCC, 1612
On the threshold of his
public life, Jesus
performs his first sign, at
his mother's request,
during a wedding feast. Cf.
Jn 2:1-11.
❑ The Church attaches great importance to Jesus'
presence at the wed­ding at Cana. She sees in it the
confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the
proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an
efficacious sign of Christ's presence. CCC 1613
❑ In his preaching, Jesus
unequivocally taught the original
meaning of the union of man and
woman as the Creator willed it from
the beginning: permission given by
Moses to divorce one's wife was a
concession to the hardness of hearts.
CCC 1614; Cf. Mt 19:8.

❑ The matrimonial union of man and

woman is indissoluble: God himself
has determined it "what therefore
God has joined together, let no man
put asunder.” CCC 1614; Mt 19:6.
From the Letters of the St. Eph. 5:25-26, 31-32.
Paul
❑ UNITY "For this reason, a man
shall leave his father
and mother and be
joined to his wife, and
the two shall become
one. This is a great
mystery, and I mean in
reference to Christ and
the Church.” Cf. Gen 2:24; CCC,
1616
By coming to restore the original order of
creation disturbed by sin, Jesus gives the
strength and grace to live marriage in the new
dimension of the Reign of God. CCC 1 6 1 5

❑ It is by following Christ,
renouncing themselves, and
taking up their crosses that
spouses will be able to
"receive" the original meaning
of marriage and live it with the
help of Christ. CCC 1 6 1 5 ; Mt 19:11
 1 Cor 7:10-11. “To the married I give
❑ INDISSOLUBILITY charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife
should not separate from her husband,
Exclusive and Permanent but if she does, let her remain single or
else be reconciled to her husband – and
that the husband should not divorce his
wife”.

Rom 7:2-3. “Thus, a married woman is

bound by law to her husband as long as
he lives; but if her husband dies, she is
discharged from the law concerning the
husband. Accordingly, she will be called
an adulteress if she lives with another
man while her husband is alive. But if
her husband dies, she is free from that
law, and if she remarries another, she is
not an adulteress”.
 Eph. 5:25-27 "Husbands,
❑ Authentic Love love your wives, as Christ
loved the church and gave
Self-Sacrifice and himself up for her, that he
might sanctify her,"
Commitment
Eph 5:22-24. “Wives, be
subject to your husbands, as
to the Lord. For the
husband is the head of the
wife as Christ is the head of
the church, his body, and is
himself its Savior. As the
church is subject to Christ,
so let wives also be subject
in everything to their
husbands.”
3. COVENANT

Christian marriage is an efficacious

sign, the sacrament of the covenant
of Christ and the Church.

❑ Since it signifies and com­

municates grace, marriage
between baptized persons is a
true sacrament of the New
Covenant. Cf. DS 1800; CIC, can. 1055 § 2; CCC,
1617
 Bible Projects. “Covenant.” January 19, 2015. Video, 5:45.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ferLIsvlmI

HEBREW GREEK LATIN

‫( ברית‬berith διαθηκη (diatheke) •Convenire
•Testamentum
❑ Describes a ❑ Used in the Greco- ❑ means to "come
Etymology compact made Roman law to together, unite; be
suitable, agree.
of the word by passing describe the
between pieces settlement of an ❑ To witness or
COVENAN of flesh. inheritance and testify
T used in the NT to
describe the self-
commitment,
promises, and
conditions by
which God entered
into relationship
with man.
 COVENANT
❑ Motivated by sacrifice and love (I am
yours and you are mine).
❑ There is exchange of persons in
communion.
❑ In marital covenant, one sacrifices
his/her rights and assumes
responsibility. In the marital covenant,
both are asked to sacrificially love one
another till the day they die.
CONTRACT
❑ Motivated by self-interest (This is
yours and this is mine).
❑ There is the exchange of goods and
services.
❑ In a marital contract, one’s rights are
protected and limits responsibilities.
The matrimonial covenant…
❑ by which a man and a woman
establish between themselves a
partnership of the whole of life,
❑ is by its nature ordered toward
the good of the spouses and the
procreation and education of
offspring;
❑ this covenant between baptized
persons has been raised by
Christ the Lord to the dignity of
a sacrament.” CCC, 1601; Can.1055§1;
cf.GS48§1.
It is an image and living sign of the
covenant relationship between God and
his people.
The Old Testament In the New
uses the image of Testament the
marital love to sacramental
reveal the marriage of
relationship binding Christians signifies
God and his people. the love uniting
Christ and his
Church.
 The primordial
model of the
family is to be
sought in God
Himself, in the
Trinitarian mystery
of His life. . . The
divine We is the
eternal pattern of
the human WE.
JPII, Letter to Families
Creatively, write your parent’s love story in your journal (or make a video of it). As you
see it from your point of view as their child, highlight the following items: what made
them fall in love with each other? How did this love lead to marriage? What are those
moments that put their marriage to the test, and how did they overcome these challenges?
What are the sacrifices that have they made for the sake of their spouse and children?
What keeps them in love with each other?
If you come from a family living in a different situation, write the story that tells how
love prevails in your family. How does your parent make you feel love, and how do you
show your love for your parent in return? What sacrifices does your parent make for you
and your siblings, and what sacrifices have you made for them? What keeps you in love
with your family?
At the end of this journal entry, make a brief reflection on the crucial lessons you have
learned from the love story of your parent/s. Highlight how these lessons could
potentially help you in your marriage and family when the time comes. Finally, write in a
prayerful way how God is present in your family as the Love that conquers all.
N.B. No submission of output is required.

Assoc. Prof. Allan A. Basas, SThD, Course