How does the bible define marriage.

[A greater Hope]

So what was marriage in the bible if it wasn't papers?

I agree that according to mans commandments we follow after through the law of the land even filing for divorce but as Christ declared in the beginning it was not so,but because of the hardness of heart Moses allowed the Israelites to file a bill of divorcement,Marriage is a covenant just even as we believers are in covenant with God even Jesus.marriage starts with the heart and always been,not necessarily written on paper but written in the heart with love.

 

[Xalith]

I agree that according to mans commandments we follow after through the law of the land even filing for divorce but as Christ declared in the beginning it was not so,but because of the hardness of heart Moses allowed the Israelites to file a bill of divorcement,Marriage is a covenant just even as we believers are in covenant with God even Jesus.marriage starts with the heart and always been,not necessarily written on paper but written in the heart with love.

^^
This.

Marriage is a man and a woman who stand before God and tell Him that they want to be together for the rest of their lives, together to start a family.

Papers not required, lol. Papers are only to prove to other men/women that they are married... God needs no such papers, He knows who He married and who He did not.

 

[A greater Hope]

^^
This.

Marriage is a man and a woman who stand before God and tell Him that they want to be together for the rest of their lives, together to start a family.

Papers not required, lol. Papers are only to prove to other men/women that they are married... God needs no such papers, He knows who He married and who He did not.

I'm hoping your in agreement of what I posted because I mentioned the same things as u did that's if u carefully reed my entire post.

 

[Steve Petersen]

Biblical marriage? All the patriarchs married half-sisters or cousins and still had relations with the wive's concubine. Adam and Eve's children married sisters and brothers. David and Solomon had multiple wives.

 

[Xalith]

I'm hoping your in agreement of what I posted because I mentioned the same things as u did that's if u carefully reed my entire post.

Hence, the "This" in the first line of my post, which is basically saying "I'd like to say this quoted block, plus...."

It's a common forum thing that you see in other forums on the internet, to quote someone and go "^^ This" and then add your own words to it to continue building upon (or re-affirm) what they said.

 

[A greater Hope]

Hence, the "This" in the first line of my post, which is basically saying "I'd like to say this quoted block, plus...."

It's a common forum thing that you see in other forums on the internet, to quote someone and go "^^ This" and then add your own words to it to continue building upon (or re-affirm) what they said.

Ok nevertheless I'm asking if you saw that I agreed with you from my post earlier and I agree with what u said in yur post

 

[ToBeLoved]

But doesn't the religious ceremony make it holy matrimony, which gives the marriage a sacred and religious context and meaning?

I do see a religious ceremony as being a covenant that the two people are making before God. If God is specifically mentioned, then I consider it a covenant.

I should also add that if the person is born-again with the indwelling Holy Spirit, then I also consider it is a covenant with God.

 

[Winken]

Marriage existed before Judaism and Christianity. That confuses me, because Judaism and Christianity were how God first revealed through prophets how he wanted people to live. In indigenous cultures, and even in different cultures around the world, what defines it is different.

What is the bibical definition, exactly? I'm confused. I was always interested in analyzing every detail of the Bible, but this is one topic that I find somewhat enigmatic.

I've heard people say the legal institution of marriage is different (but yet closely connected) to the religious sacrament of matrimony. Is that true or false?

Folks love to spend their time uniting the Hebrew Bible with the Christian Covenant presented to Saul (Apostle Paul). Examples are Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and Jeremiah 3:1. These are merged with Matthew 5:32, Matthew 19:4, and others. One can journey throughout this thread for other examples.

This insight is one that every Christian needs to read and understand, Spiritually:

To whom were these scriptures written? Who was the audience? The answer leaps off the pages! These are Hebrew Bible (or "Old Testament") scriptures that have zero to do with marriage today. They have everything to do with what God was teaching the Hebrew folk, not Christians. The entire book of Matthew was written to Jews concerning Jesus as their promised Messiah (Greek: Christ).

Read the letters of the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 7:1-17) for advice. Notice I said "advice." Paul is not writing commandments. He is attempting to "structurally" resolve the marital relationships between men and women in the applicable passages of scripture. Skip that portion that deals with virgins unless a virgin is directly involved.

Every person who has confessed Jesus as Savior is to follow Him as Lord. HE answers these questions in the awesome power of the Holy Spirit. One yields one's own understanding to Him, not to mandatory instructions given to the Hebrew Nation, National Israel, or to the Jewish folk prior to Paul. The person who confesses Jesus as Savior Spiritually believes that God raised Him from the dead. Looking to the Hebrew Bible or to Matthew for instructions in marriage today is straying from what God desires for each of us, a 2,000 year-old journey into "fruitlessness."

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

But doesn't the religious ceremony make it holy matrimony, which gives the marriage a sacred and religious context and meaning?

I would look at the example of the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. They did not have a ceremony. They did not have a wedding. All they did was go into his mother's tent and came out as husband and wife. Obviously 1 Corinthians 7 says that sexual Intercourse does not cause a man and a woman to be married. But whatever is necessary only required the man, the woman, and God.

God will judge people by their heart. Perhaps Issac and Rebekah made a marriage covenant before God and they were sincere in their hearts that they were bound to that covenant. I believe at that point it is when a man and a woman are officially married in the eyes of God. Sexual Intercourse after marriage is to celebrate the marriage.

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

But then you run into the problem of someone being punished for nothing, and does God really punish someone for the rest of their life for something they didn't even do?

Consider a kindly and faithful woman who meets a man and falls in love with him, only she doesn't know that this man has a hidden violent side to him. They date, and this violent side of him never arises because she's not around him enough during dating.

They marry after, say, a couple years of dating and things go well the first year or two and they have a child. Things start falling apart fast; the man starts getting frustrated, perhaps he starts drinking or what-not and becomes violent towards her and their child. She tries for years to make it work, she tries prayer, she tries calming him down, she tries counseling, but she inevitably ends up divorcing him because of his violent behavior. Maybe he even spends a stint in jail because of domestic abuse.

So now she's divorced. If we take adultery as the only reason someone can divorce and re-marry, this poor woman who did nothing wrong in the matter is now punished the rest of her life. She can't re-marry (assuming we're only allowing for divorce because of adultery), and she's now forced to live on her own. Let's say she married at a young age and was a housewife. She's supposed to somehow get a job and support a child on her own?

Does God punish people who did nothing wrong?

This is why pastors say that domestic abuse could (but we have no proof of) be another "valid" reason for divorce. Perhaps domestic abuse didn't exist much back then, and that's why it wasn't mentioned. I don't know. It just doesn't seem like the character of God to punish someone in this situation by forcing them to remain single the rest of their lives. Even widows are allowed to re-marry (I've not read anything in the Bible that says a widow can't marry again).

Jesus made it absolutely clear that the only acceptable reason for divorce is sexual immorality. It is not biblical to divorce because of physical abuse. However, the spouse should separate to a safe place and pray for the other spouse and trust that the Holy Spirit will change the abusive heart.

 

[Sammy-San]

Marriage was practiced since Adam and Eve.

And no, it isn't defined by paper. True Marriage is a union between a man and a woman by God with witness(es) present (usually a preacher/pastor/minister).

Now, in the USA, marriage by law requires papers, and all sorts of stuff that God probably doesn't really care about so much (though He would have you do it so that you stay within the laws of man as He commanded us to in the Bible).

So you're saying marriages done without papers are crimes? I'm not an expert on the subject, and I'm kind of confused at this discussion.

 

[Xalith]

So you're saying marriages done without papers are crimes? I'm not an expert on the subject, and I'm kind of confused at this discussion.

I'm not a lawyer, but AFAIK, to claim marriage on your income tax return in the USA, you need to actually be married under USA Law, which includes a Marriage License, and all that jazz.

Now, you could get married under God's Law (go to a preacher and have him pronounce you man and wife in God's name), and that probably constitutes marriage in the eyes of God, but yet... you can't file jointly as a married couple without committing tax fraud.

And I'm sure there are other places in USA Law that has to do with marriage, such as legal guardianship of children and so on and so forth.

The Bible says that we are to submit ourselves to any government(s) that have authority over us (unless they conflict with God's laws), which would include the marriage license laws, so to get married without the papers would actually be a type of sin, because it'd be going against the laws of God-ordained government.

 

[Hank77]

I'm not a lawyer, but AFAIK, to claim marriage on your income tax return in the USA, you need to actually be married under USA Law, which includes a Marriage License, and all that jazz.

You are correct that a couple needs to be legally married. However, not all states require a marriage license issued by the state to be legally married, it's call LEGAL Marriage under Common Law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage_in_the_United_States

Also people who have immigrated to the US do not all come from countries that issue marriage licenses.

 

[actionsub]

Biblical marriage? All the patriarchs married half-sisters or cousins and still had relations with the wive's concubine. Adam and Eve's children married sisters and brothers. David and Solomon had multiple wives.

And then there was that "Levirate" marriage thing, where a guy would have to marry his brother's widow to continue the brother's lineage.

 

[tturt]

Just because some had wives and concubines in Scripture, it doesn't mean it had Yahweh's seal of approval.

 

[tulipbee]

Why does the bible make marriage a requirement for elders.

 

[Sammy-San]

Marriage was practiced since Adam and Eve.

And no, it isn't defined by paper. True Marriage is a union between a man and a woman by God with witness(es) present (usually a preacher/pastor/minister).

Now, in the USA, marriage by law requires papers, and all sorts of stuff that God probably doesn't really care about so much (though He would have you do it so that you stay within the laws of man as He commanded us to in the Bible).

But what was the equivalent of that in bibical times?
http://www.gotquestions.org/marriage-constitutes.html

This is an interesting topic, but it's hard to find a clear answer on it.

 

[Xalith]

But what was the equivalent of that in bibical times?
http://www.gotquestions.org/marriage-constitutes.html

This is an interesting topic, but it's hard to find a clear answer on it.

Biblical Weddings were Jewish weddings, and the Jews did something quite a bit different.

 

[Hank77]

Biblical Weddings were Jewish weddings, and the Jews did something quite a bit different.

Doesn't that depend on the Biblical period that is being considered?

 

[Xalith]

Doesn't that depend on the Biblical period that is being considered?

There are very few marriages actually mentioned in the Bible. There's the ones that happened before Jacob, there's a few that happened after Jacob, and then there's Ruth/Boaz, and the Wedding in Cana.

Every single one of these were either Jewish, or Pre-Jewish weddings.

The ones before the Exodus (Isaac/Rebekah, for example) seemed to be a bit more "meet girl, say prayer, lay with her that night to seal the deal" type thing, but then again, there could have been more to it that the Bible doesn't actually mention because it isn't important. However, Jacob being tricked into laying with Leah instead of Rachel seems to lead some evidence towards marriage as being a quick "say a prayer and lie with her that night", because he didn't notice the switch until the morning.

EDIT: Okay, there's one other union mentioned, Esther and Ahasuerus, but that wasn't a Jewish wedding, but rather it was likely done in the pagan style because of who Ahasuerus (aka, Xarxes) was.