Biblical Marriage — Relational and Legal
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Why is there both a relational and legal aspect to marriage, and how does earthly marriage help us understand the believer’s union with Christ?
Biblical marriage has always had a legal aspect.
Some people wonder why a man and woman have to sign a document in order to be married. In the Ancient Near East, in which biblical history took place, a written document was commonly associated with covenants. According to Ligonier Ministries,
The signing of a piece of paper is not a matter of affixing one’s signature in ink to a meaningless document. The signing of a marriage certificate is an integral part of what the Bible calls a covenant. Biblically, there is no such thing as a private marriage contract between two people. A covenant is done publicly before witnesses and with formal legal commitments that are taken seriously by the community. The protection of both partners is at stake; there is legal recourse should one of the partners act in a way that is destructive to the other. (“God’s Will and Your Marriage,” part 1)
Nowhere in the Bible does it state that a true marriage exists where people agree in their hearts that they are husband and wife. In the Bible there is always a legal aspect to marriage. This is why a certificate of divorce had to be issued if the marriage was dissolved under the Mosaic covenant (Deut. 24:1-4; Matt. 19:7-8) and why Joseph was going to quietly divorce Mary after he learned she was pregnant, as there was a marriage contract in force even though their marriage had not been consummated yet (Matt. 1:18-19).
Christians are called to obey governing authorities as long as they are not disobeying God in doing so.
The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Roman church:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Rom. 13:1-2)
Christians are called to obey governing authorities. If there are laws regarding marriage in the country where a Christian man and woman reside who are seeking to marry, they need to obey them as long as they are not disobeying God in doing so. In his book God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life, author Gene Edward Veith writes,
“Marriage is a natural state, common to the whole human race, instituted by God at creation. It has to do with God’s earthly kingdom and thus is licensed and regulated by civil laws. Marriage is not a sacrament but a vocation. Nevertheless, marriage is a tangible manifestation of the relationship between Christ and the Church, though only Christian couples, through the eyes of faith, will be able to glimpse how this is so.” (pp. 79-80)
In order to justify getting “married in their hearts,” some people try to claim that Adam and Eve didn’t have a marriage license.
The marriage of Adam and Eve was unique because they were the only two living people at the time. Marriage ceremonies became necessary once there was a community of people. God was both the officiant and the witness in the marriage of Adam and Eve:
And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Gen. 2:22-25)
There now exists a civil realm in which God has appointed leaders, and the civil realm usually enacts laws regarding marriage, which Christians are called to obey.
The legal and relational nature of earthly marriage points us to our security in Christ.
The special union a married couple has with each other is an earthly, temporal representation of the surpassing intimacy and love all believers have in their eternal union with Christ. In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul writes:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:31-32)
The legal and relational nature of earthly marriage points us to our security in Christ, as he will will always love his bride, the church, with a steadfast love. The union between Christ and the church is indissoluble—believers are beloved by Christ and forever belong to him.
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The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God by Timothy Keller