Origin Of Marriage

Origin of Marriage

One Origin via two sources: Divine Law and Natural Development

We can discern nature and its laws because God has given us the ability to reason, think, observe, learn and understand.  “. . . the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law.  They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them . . .” (Romans 2:14-15)  One knows right or wrong even without the Ten Commandments, since God has given us a conscience but also to deduce what is right or wrong through observing nature – natural law.

What is natural law?

Natural Law is a philosophy of law that is determined by nature, and so is universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature — both social and personal — and deduce binding rules of moral behavior from it.

For instance when I observe nature working I can learn from it.  I can learn the difference between hot, cold, warm, etc.  But we can go further I can also observe things like virtue and vice, i.e. physical harm as opposed to assistance or lying as opposed to telling the truth.

I can also learn the nature of things, i.e. what is a chair and its purpose as well as if it is a good or a poor one, whether it is comfortable or not.  So we learn two things, one) the nature of things and also two) their moral significance should there be one.

The question then becomes can I deduce what marriage is through the natural law?  Of course you can and this takes us back to the beginning.  It is quite clear that marriage and its understanding have developed since the beginning of time.

Actually, marriage has been in a process of constant change (evolution). Since the Stone Age as a way of organizing and controlling sexual conduct and providing a stable structure for child-rearing and the tasks of daily life marriage was more functional then anything else.  Marriage has taken many forms across different cultures and throughout the centuries. "Whenever people talk about traditional marriage or traditional families, historians throw up their hands," said Steven Mintz, a history professor at Columbia University. "We say, 'When and where?'" The ancient Hebrews, for instance, engaged in polygamy — according to the Bible, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines — and men have taken multiple wives in cultures throughout the world . . .

The first recorded evidence of marriage contracts and ceremonies dates to 4,000 years ago, in Mesopotamia. In the ancient world, marriage served primarily as a means of preserving power, with kings and other members of the ruling class marrying off daughters to forge alliances, acquire land, and produce legitimate heirs. Even in the lower classes, women had little say over whom they married. The purpose of marriage was the production of heirs, as implied by the Latin word matrimonium, which is derived from mater (mother).

You can see that people are developing themselves, societies are being built, political structures, people are discerning their purpose, their value, what is good, what is useful, what makes them happy.  I would not use the word evolution as does this author but more like, “maturing,” growing up.  Even though cultures and societies in the ancient world varied in their practice of marriage, some things always remain the same, i.e. procreation and unity (within that unity was the desire to become stronger in one’s tribe, village, to make alliances and I would not rule out that love had no part in it)  Some authors believe that marriage in ancient times and for quite a while was simply functional, but this would mean that people had no feelings, we were just like workers bees, which is not true, true marriage may have looked different because its focal points varied due to time, place, and circumstance, but I still believe it was what it always was in its nature it just took time for us to mature and discern the fullness of its meaning, no different than humans discerning the value of law, right and wrong.

Regardless of the actual historical development one constant remains be it 10,000 BC or 2015 AD people by nature are social animals and have always sought unions, be they marriage unions, tribes forming, all the way to Empires being forged, man’s desire is to be with others, and marriage is one of the foundational aspects of building community and family, please remember that.

In Divine Law

What is Divine Law, God’s Law (Word) revealed to us through Sacred Scripture.

The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.  So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name.  The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man.  So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman. When he brought her to the man, the man said:  “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man this one has been taken.”  That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.  The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.  Genesis 2:18-25

And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ... (Mt. 19:2-9)

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Eph 5:31

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ... 1 Cor 7:1-40

Questions for consideration

1.    Has the institution of marriage changed – evolved throughout human history or has it always been the same but that it took time for us to grasp its meaning or did God allow the differences for a while, for whatever reasons but in recent times as Paul argues with the Athenians, “God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent.” Acts 17:30

2.    What is the purpose of marriage?

3.    The Church believes that marriage is for unity\happiness and for procreation

4.    Two rallying cries for same sex marriage, i.e. “love is love and live and let live.” 

5.     Can homosexual couples fulfill the criteria of marriage and if so, then how?

6.    Does the Church recognize Civil marriage?