03.02. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE SOLEMNISATION OF MARRIAGE AND THE MARRIAGE FORM

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE SOLEMNISATION OF MARRIAGE AND THE MARRIAGE FORM In the course of the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church saw fit to declare that marriage was a sacrament. It picked up this notion from Ephesians 5:32 where the apostle Paul, writing about marriage in the preceding verses states, “This is a great mystery……” In Greek, the language in which the New Testament was written, one also finds the word ‘mystery’ used here. However, in the Latin translation of the Bible, the word ‘mystery’ is here translated as ‘sacrament.’ The Roman Catholic Church used the Latin translation of the Bible, ‘The Vulgate,’ and hence found room in this text to declare the institution of marriage as a sacrament. As such, the Roman Catholic Church believes sacraments to be a means of grace - a means by which God confers grace to particular persons. Hence the Roman Catholic Church laid claim to every marriage ceremony for, being a sacrament, marriage required the involvement and blessing of the priest.

However, there were also who, for whatever reason, did not have their marriage solemnised by the church. The church responded that it was not solemnisation that made marriage a real marriage but rather its consummation (i.e. sexual intercourse). The essence of a real marriage was ‘carnal knowledge,’ said the Roman Catholic Church. A logical extension of such reasoning was that all who had ‘carnal knowledge’ with another were in fact considered married - never mind the blessing of the church. So, in the centuries before the Great Reformation, there were numerous de facto relationships in Europe….. In that regard, there was abundant overlap with the patterns of our day.

Reformers as Luther and Calvin opposed the Roman Catholic notion of marriage being a sacrament, their argument being that God does not use the word ‘sacrament’ in relation to marriage in the original Greek translation. More importantly, nowhere does the Bible say that marriage is a means of grace. They also discarded the notion that ‘carnal knowledge’ is the equivalent of marriage. The reformers realised that they had to instruct the people in what God teaches in His Word concerning marriage: what marriage is, mid who may marry. The first Marriage Form was written in the 1560s. Notice: this is the same decade as when the Belgic Confession (1561) and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) were written. During a time of persecution by a Roman Catholic government our fathers put their Reformed faith on paper in the Confessions. To be Reformed at that time meant a real threat of persecution for young couples too who, in confessing the Reformed faith, also embraced Reformed beliefs and practices in relation to marriage. Writing a Marriage Form in such circumstances shows the importance the fathers attached to a scriptural understanding of marriage: As it turns out, the Marriage Form we use today is essentially the same Form as compiled in the time of the Reformation. At the time of the Reformation the Roman Catholic Church solemnised all marriages. However, the reformers taught that since marriage was not a sacrament instituted by the church, the government should be responsible for the solemnisation of marriages. The government of the Netherlands didn’t take this on board until 1809. The English government did recognise its responsibility in relation to solemnising marriages, but delegated this authority to the churches. The Australian government has continued this English practice, and therefore every church within the bond of the FRCA is allowed to nominate a person from its leadership to solemnise marriages. These persons may only officiate at weddings if they use the Marriage Form adopted by the FRCA, as it is printed in the Book of Praise. It is indeed reason for gratitude that the Lord gives governing authorities that allow the churches to be involved in the solemnisation of marriages and that our churches may use a Marriage Form based on the Bible.

Although each federation of churches in Australia will have their own marriage form, these all need to be approved by the governing authorities of our land to ensure that they meet the four criteria of marriage as adopted in the Marriage Acts 1961, According to Australian law, “Marriage….. is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.” The four criteria stipulated here are:

1. the union of a man and a woman 2. to the exclusion of all others 3. voluntarily entered into, and

4. for life.

It is a gift of God’s grace that the government, in allowing churches to be involved in marriages, gives space for Christians to act publicly in the name of the Lord. This is a gift we must treasure. At a marriage ceremony Christians may call upon God, publicly recognising that marriage is from Him and thanking Him for this great gift. What influence our marriage ceremonies actually do have on the (secular) public is of secondary importance. At the same time: each marriage ‘in the Lord’ is a marriage ‘in the Lord’. Fixed in our minds must be this: marriage does involve God and therefore it is imperative that a man and a woman marry in the name of the Lord.