What is Marriage according to:

1. Jesus in the Gospel

2. St. Paul in his letters

Marriage in the New Testament

Marriage in the New Testament

Jesus The New Covenant

 Marriage is symbolic of his faithful relationship
with the Church his Bride for whom out of his
redemptive love, he offered his life and shed his
blood.
 Love demands fidelity to the covenant.
 Marriage is an efficacious sign of Christ’s
presence as he is present in the wedding at Cana.
 Marriage is a Call from God – a Vocation “Love one another as I have love you. No greater love
does one have than this that he lay down his life for his
friend.” Jn15:12-14
 Marriage in the New Testament

Gospel
Mt.19:3-11
1When Jesus* finished these words,* he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
The New Covenant
2Great crowds followed him, and he cured them there.
3a Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, * saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for
any cause whatever?”
4* b He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and
female’ 5c and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore,
what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”
7* d They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and
dismiss [her]?”
8He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce
your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 e I say to you,* whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” “Love one another as I have love you. No
10[His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
11He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, * but only those to whom that is granted.
greater love does one have than this that he lay
12Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were down his life for his friend.” Jn15:12-14
made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage * for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
 Features from the Gospel

Properties of Marriage
The New Covenant
 1. Unity- excludes extra marital relationships
or any form of polygamy.

 2. Indissolubility – No to divorce and re-

marriage

Formed in His own blood by which He became

the spouse of the Church whom He deeply
loves.
 Marriage in St. Paul: Marriage as a Gift from God

Context: Principles of Marriage

 The value of sexual Act in
marriage – the “right” of both
the husband and wife. In
1Cor.7:3-4, “3The husband should fulfill
his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the
wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have
authority over her own body but yields it to
her husband. In the same way, the husband
does not have authority over his own body but
yields it to his wife.”
 The sexual ac t as “marital debt”
15Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and
for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then
come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through
your lack of self-control. 1Co.7:5:
 The act serves as a unique locus whereby the
husband and wife experience belonging to one
another in mutual dependence. 1cor.7:4
5
 Theology of Marriage in the NT:
Meaning of Christian Marriage
Eph.5:21-25,28-32
 28 So husbands ought also to love their own
 21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
 22
Wives, submit yourselves to your own
husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband
is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of
the church, He Himself being the Savior of the
body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so
also the wives ought to be to their husbands in
everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up
for her; (26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by
the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to
Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or
any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. )
wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own
wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his
own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as
Christ also does the church, 30 because we are
members of His body. 31 For this cause a man
shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave
to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh.
32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with
reference to Christ and the church. 33
Nevertheless let each individual among you also
love his own wife even as himself; and let the
wife see to it that she respect her husband.
 Marriage = Christ-Church relationship
Striking Key Points
“Submission”
 Submit to one another out of reverence for
“21
Christ.
 Wives, submit yourselves to your own
22
husbands as you do to the Lord”.
Meaning...
 Our submission to Christ is not slavish, but a
submission in love commensurate to the kind
of love that he lavished on us.
 -As Christ as our head
 Christ’s headship is not authoritarian.
 As a Leader, He loved us and gave himself to us as he
said “The Son of man has come not to be served but to
serve” Mt.20:28
Meaning...
 Husbands’ headship is that of loving service. (refer to
Vv25-27)
 The greater weight lies not on the obligation of the wife
to submit herself to her husband but on the duty of the
husband to love his wife.
“Headship or Leadership”
 -As Christ as our head
 Christ’s headship is not authoritarian.
 As a Leader, He loved us and gave
himself to us as he said “The Son of man
has come not to be served but to serve”
Mt.20:28
Meaning...
 Husbands’ headship is that of loving
service. (refer to Vv25-27)
 The greater weight lies not on the
obligation of the wife to submit herself to
her husband but on the duty of the
husband to love his wife.
 In Focus
 Paul’s statement is not the natural submission of the wife
to the husband but the “link between Christ and the
church and how this link should pose as a model for the  Paul said a little of the procreative element of
husband and wife relationship.” marriage. It is because Paul is concerned with the
imminent return of the Lord and so the question of
 the covenantal ideal of Marriage as symbolizing the love
begetting children might not matter anymore.
between God and his people, by drawing a parallel
between human marriage and the nuptial union of Christ
and the Church.
 This strengthened the unitive or love-element of the
marital relationship which was originally expressed in
Genesis and confirmed by Christ as the unity of the flesh
or the body.