A Short Presentation Of The Theory And Practice In The Course Of Human History

Complementary of relationship is basic element of human life. Shared the life of man and woman in
marriage appears at the very dawn of humanity as an expression of the basic constituent element of
human life. Cultures and societies have provided a multiplicity of ways in which this phenomenon has
been explained.We shall try to understand some of them. This will  enable us to situate our Christian
understanding of marriage in a correct perspective.


Marriage as an secular reality.Marriage is basically a secular reality, although throughout
history it has been surrounded by religious rites and ceremonies.Vatican II express the secular character of
marriage in this terms: " The intimate partnership of life and love which constitutes the married state has been
established by the creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws...All of this have a very important
bearing on the continuation of the human race, on the personal development and eternal destiny of every
member of the family and of the whole human race". We can distinguish the following elements in order to
highlight the secular character of marriage.


It is rooted in the creative act of God. The image of God in the human person is reflected in the partnership of love which constitutes marriage. The divine is made visible in the human at creation through the partnership of love lived in complementary.

In marriage human sexuality becomes a dynamic symbol of divine creative power.The divine becomes human persons in the loving self-gift of the human persons to each other. "This  is a far cry from mere erotic attraction which is pursued in selfishness and soon fades away into wretchedness ".


Through marriage the creative love of God becomes permanently active in human society.The growth of human society which God wants to effect takes place through human cooperation.The continuation of humanity is dependant on  the exercise of the participation of human beings in the creative act of God through the exercise of their sexual complementary. "Humanity as such does not exist. It exist only as man and woman. It is only in togetherness that human existence can be fulfilled in the fully human sense.


Marriage is the natural sacraments of divine love.Despite the fact that the Bible raises human sexuality and the relationship between man and woman to such a high level , it never deifies sex or erotic love in the way that it was deified in other religions of the ancient Near East. The finite and limited love between man and woman is rather the image of an unconditional limitless love which God has for human beings. We may say that marriage is an earthly reality which prepares human beings to enter into that perfect communion with God. " It is therefore possible to speak, in this sense,of a natural sacrament of marriage, as indeed the Church's tradition does.

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Marriage in the Old Testament

Here we deal with the practice and understanding of marriage in the life of Israelites beginning with Abraham.

Types of marriage.The marriage practice of the Israelites was very much influenced by the neighboring peoples. There are four types of marriage in ancient Israel: Polygamy (David and Solomon)
which seems to have been the privilege  of  the rich,bigamy (Leah and Rachel for Jacob) concubines
(Abraham,Sara and Hagar), which involved  a legal wife and a concubine, and monogamy which received
more existence mainly in the post exilic period.


Marriage celebration.  Marriage was a family affair which required actually no public or religiuos
ceremonies. It became effective by the mere act of bringing the bride into the house of the bridegroom.Though
as an institution it was never in the hands of the priest. It was still celebrated with some religious elements for it was  considered to be sacred.

Theology of Marriage. From the account of the creation it is clear that the essence of complementarity and equity is the way that God intended the relationship between man and woman to be from the beginning (Gen. 1,27). But the story of the fall clearly shows that the inequality of the sexes in the life of the Israelites was a punishment that resulted from the fall and was not intended by God from the very beginning. Obviously marriage was presented as God's plan to increase the human race (Gen. 1,28).
There is a deep sense of complementarity, sense of bonding, sense of unity in the narrative of the creation of Eve. This is manifested in marriage as is evident from Gen. 1,20-24. The genesis account clearly shows that God  intended marriage in terms of monogamy. The other trends entered into marriage practice through the influence of the people in the midst of whom the Israelites lived.In the later periods of the history of Israel,the
concept of fidelity to the covenant between God and Israel becomes a model for marital relationship (Is. 54, 6-70). Marriage  is relationship that should not be taken lightly. In the book of Deuteronomy the indissoluble character of marriage is presented with some exceptions which Jesus would explain as a concession for  human weakness (Deut. 24, 1-4)... But prophet Malachi speaks of a significant change in the matter of indissolubility: "For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel" (Mal. 2, 15-16).

Marriage in the New Testament

Jesus' attitude towards marriage. This is expected most clearly in Mark 10:2-9,  in a controversy with
the Pharisees. Jesus is confronted with the question of divorce. Jesus did not enter into the casuistry,
but raises the whole matter to a higher level. And points to the original order of God's creation. His
conclusion is " what God has joined together,let no man put asunder". It would be wrong to under-
stand the pronouncement of Jesus about marriage as a legal statement.It is above all a prophetic
and messianic proclamation, an affirmation of salvation and grace. In Jesus' proclamation, marriage
 is seen both as part of the original order of creation and as an aspect of the order of salvation of God
in his kingdom of love and faithfulness in future.

The Christological understanding of marriage.There is a change in the
understanding of marriage with the coming of Christ. Marriage which is closely linked to humanity,
as we have seen earlier,will have to be understand in a new way.Paul expresses it by saying that Christians
should marry "in the LORD" (1Cor.7,39). Through Baptism an ontological change or a deep personal transformation takes place in the Christians.They are united with Christ not merely on an ideological plane,
but on a personal level.In marriage the relationship between husband and wife is grafted into the personal
relationship between Christ and the Church established by Christ (Eph.5,25). When Christians enter into marriage relationship the following take place:

The key to unity between husband and wife is in the fact that both are integrated into the self-gift of Christ.
The subjection of the wife to husband should not be understood in a juridical sense,but in a personal and organic sense; in the same way the self-gift of husband to the wife should also be understood. their roles as
husband and wife acquire a mystical dimension through Christian marriage.There is no superiority or inferiority,but only only complementary of function. This expressed very beautifully in 1 Cor. 7,4. "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 has". thus a new kind of marriage takes place when Christian enter into marriage in Christ. It is not merely a marriage of creation, but a marriage of the new creation which integrates them into the self-giving of Christ.