Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 17

[Continuing the topic, "Must marriage services be conducted in church?" The previous excerpt pointed out, with scriptural support, that there is no indication in the Bible that marriage ceremonies were part of Jewish worship, or Christian worship.]

Does this mean that God is not interested in marriage? By no means. The Bible, from one end to the other, has a great deal about the marriage relationship, and the way it should be. God spoke to Adam and Eve about this, early in Genesis, and Christ is presented as the groom of the church in Revelation. Christ reiterated what Adam and Eve were told. As mentioned above, Paul wrote about the marriage relationship, and how it ought to work. There is a whole book of the Bible, the Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, which seems to be about matrimonial love, and another one, Ruth, about how a couple fall in love, get married, and have a child. There are examples presented which show God’s displeasure at wrong relationships, such as the story of David and Bathsheba, the book of Hosea, and Ezekiel 16.

Just because marriage ceremonies were not a function of the church or synagogue in Bible times does not mean that they should not be a church function now. Even if something is not explicitly in the Bible, Christians can believe it, or act on it, with God’s blessing. (Although we should be very careful about such beliefs and actions.) One example is opposition to slavery. There is no clear statement in the New Testament that slavery, in principle, is wrong. (There is a little about how to treat slaves.) But the abolitionist movement was led by Christians, who believed that there were principles in the New Testament that meant that no one should be a slave, and acted on these principles, and most Christians, and others, agree with this now.

In conclusion, a marriage should be between two people that God has drawn together, and it is important to make submission to God part of any marriage. Although the Bible doesn’t say that a marriage ceremony should be performed in church, it’s often a good idea to do it that way. God sees any marriage ceremony, wherever conducted, and God is concerned that we treat others, especially a marriage partner, in a loving manner. (See previous chapter.)

The above is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

The previous post in this series is here. God willing, the next excerpt will begin discussion of a new topic.

Thanks for reading!