– It is instituted by God from the terrestrial paradise:
Gen 1,27-28 : God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him, male and female he created.
Gen 2,18-22 : The Lord God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will give you a helper suitable for you.”
Mt 19,5-6 : Therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife; and the two will become one flesh.
– Marriage is a sacred covenant:
Pr 2,16-18 : She will preserve you from the strange woman, from the stranger who uses flattering words.
Mt 2:14 : Joseph got up during the night, took the child and his mother and left for Egypt.
– As a stable union between a man and a woman:
Eclo 36,22-23 : A woman can marry all kinds of men, but among girls one is better than the other.
Mal 2,14-15 : You were unfaithful to her, she being your companion and the wife of your covenant.
– Is corrupted by polygamy:
Gen 4:19 : Lamech took two wives, one named Adah and the other Sela.
Gen 26:34 : Esau, at the age of forty years old, took Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, as wives.
Gen 28 :9 : He went to Ishmael’s house and took Maelet, Ishmael’s daughter, as a wife, in addition to those he already had.
Gn 30,3 : Behold my servant Bala: take her. May she give birth on my knees and so, through her, I will also have children.
– It is also corrupted by the permission of divorce:
Deut 24,1-4 : If a man, having chosen a woman, marries her, and comes to hate her.
– The Bible testifies to the gradual maturation of conscience: passing from tolerance to divorce:
Deut 21:15 : If a man has two wives, one he loves, the other he disdains, and they bear him children.
Deut 24,1 : If a man, having chosen a woman, marries her, and comes to hate her.
Mt 19,8 : It is because of the hardness of your heart that Moses had tolerated the repudiation of women.
– And for polygamy:
Ex 21,7-8 : If a man has sold his daughter to be a slave.
Judg 19,1 : It so happened that a Levite, coming to settle at the bottom of the mountains of Ephraim, took a young woman there as a concubine.
1Sm 1,2 : He had two wives, one named Anna and the other Fenena.
2Sm 5,13 : David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, after he left Hebron and had sons and daughters by them.
1Kings 11 : 3 : Solomon was united to these nations by his love. He had seven hundred wives […] and three hundred concubines.
2Ch 13:21 : Abijah took fourteen women as wives; he begat twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
– Up to faithful monogamy:
Gen 25,19-28 : Abraham spawned Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah.
Gen 41:50 : Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, who Asenet bore him.
Tb 11,5-15 : Anna, for her part, went every day to sit by the road, on top of a hill.
Jt 8,1-8 : All this reached the ears of Judith, widow, daughter of Merari, son of Ox, son of Joseph.
Job 2,9 : His wife said to him: Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die!
Ez 24,15-16 : Son of man, I will suddenly take away from you the one who delights your eyes.
– Celebrated in some passages:
Pr 18:22 : He who finds a woman finds happiness: it is a gift from the Lord.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 : Many have perished because of female beauty, and because of her the fire of desire ignites.
Eclo 26,18 : It is a gift of God a sensible and silent woman, and nothing compares to a well-educated woman.
Eclo 36,22-23 : A perverse heart is the cause of sadness, but the experienced man will resist it.
– According to Jesus Christ, marriage should not be dissolved except by the death of one of the spouses:
Gen 2,21-24 : Then the Lord God sent the man into a deep sleep; and while he slept, he took a rib.
Mt 19,3-9 : Is it permissible for a man to reject his wife for any reason?
Mk 10,2-12 : The Pharisees came and asked him, to test him, whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife.
Luke 16:18 : Anyone who leaves his wife and marries another commits adultery.
Rom 7:2-3 : Thus, a married woman is subject to her husband by the Law as long as he lives.
1Cor 7,1-11.39 : It would be good for a man not to touch any woman. However […] each man has his wife.
– Jesus affirms monogamy as a natural norm:
Mt 19,3-4 : Is it permissible for a man to reject his wife for any reason?
Mk 10,1-12 : The Pharisees came and asked him, to test him, whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife.
– Perfecting the ancient Law:
Mt 5:32 : Everyone who rejects his wife makes her become an adulteress, unless it is a false marriage.
– And condemning every breach of indissolubility:
Luke 16:18 : Anyone who leaves his wife and marries another commits adultery.
– Marriage is a gift from God:
1Cor 7,7 : For I would like everyone to be like me; but each one has a particular gift from God: some this, others that.
– Main purpose of marriage:
Gen 1:28 : God blessed them: “Be fruitful”, he said, “and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it”.
Gen 9:1 : God blessed Noah and his sons: “Be fruitful”, he told them, “multiply and replenish the earth”.
Tb 6,22 : You will approach the young woman in the fear of the Lord, more with the desire to have children than the impetus of passion.
Tb 8,9 : You know, O Lord, that it is not to satisfy my passion that I take my cousin as wife.
– Secondary purposes of marriage:
1Cor 7,1-2.5.9 : Now concerning the things you wrote to me. I think it would be good for a man not to touch any woman.
1Tm 5,14 : I therefore want young widows to marry, to fulfill the duties of a mother.
– Must be respected:
Heb 13:4 : All of you, consider marriage with respect and keep the marriage bed immaculate.
– Recognizing reciprocal rights:
1Cor 7,3-6 : The husband should do his duty to his wife, and likewise the wife should do her duty to her husband.
– Women are submissive:
Eph 5,22-23 : Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.
Tit 2,4-5 : That they know how to teach young women to love their husbands, to love their children.
1Pt 3,1-6 : You too, O wives, be submissive to your husbands.
– Husbands must love them:
Eph 5:23-30 : For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Col 3:19 : Husbands, love your wives and do not treat them harshly.
1Pt 3:7: In the same way, you husbands, behave wisely in your relationship with your wives.
– Parents must provide for their children:
2Cor 12,14 : Indeed, it is not the children who should lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
– And the children must support their parents:
Eph 6,2-3 : The first commandment accompanied by a promise is: Honor your father and mother.
1Th 5,12-13 : We implore you […] to recognize those who work hard among you to direct you in the Lord.
1Tm 6,1 : All who live under the yoke of servitude consider their lords worthy of all honor.
– Marriage is an image of the relationship between God and the people. God is therefore the Bridegroom of Israel:
Hos 2:18 : On that day – says the Lord – you will call me: “My husband”, and no longer: “My Baal”.
Hos 3 :1 : The Lord said to me: “Love again the woman who was loved by his friend, and who was an adulteress”.
Ez 23 : Son of man, there were once two women, daughters of the same mother.
– Who loves with a strong love:
Os 2,3-15 : Your brothers will be called Ami and your sisters Ruhama.
Hos 5:3-15 : I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me. Now Ephraim has gone astray, and Israel has become defiled.
Ez 16:38 : I will inflict punishment on adulteresses and criminals, and against you I will unleash my fury and my jealousy.
Zec 8,2 : I am consumed with ardent love for Zion; I am excited on her behalf from a violent cholera.
Mt 25,6-10 : In the middle of the night, however, a cry was heard: Behold the bridegroom, go to meet him.
– And very soft:
Hos 2,16-25 : So I will draw her, I will lead her into the desert and I will speak to her heart.
Song 2:7 : O daughters of Jerusalem, for the gazelles and the deer of the field, do not awaken or disturb love.
Song 4,8-9 : Come with me from Lebanon, my wife, come with me from Lebanon! Look from the tops of Amaná.
Is 54,5-6 : For your husband is your Creator: he is called the Lord of hosts; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Is 62,5 : As a young man marries a young woman, he who built you will marry you.
Ez 16,8 : As I passed by you, I saw that your time, the time of love, had arrived.
Mt 9,14-15 : John’s disciples […] asked: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, and your disciples not?
Mt 25,10 : While they were shopping, the bridegroom came. Those who were prepared went with him into the wedding hall.
Rev 21:2 : I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, come down out of heaven from God, like a bride adorned for her husband.
– Christ is Spouse of the Church:
Mt 22,1-14 : The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a king celebrating his son’s wedding.
Mt 25,10 : While they were shopping, the bridegroom came. Those who were prepared went with him into the wedding hall.
Jn 3,28-29 : I am not the Christ, but I was sent before him. He who has the wife is the husband.
Eph 5,22-32 : Wives, be submissive to your husbands, as to the Lord.
Rev 19 : 7: Let us rejoice and give glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is at hand. His wife is prepared.
Rev 21,2-9 : I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, come down out of heaven from God, like a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 22,17-20 : The Spirit and the Bride say: “Come!”. May the one who hears also say: “Come!”.
– And from the soul:
2Cor 11,2 : I consecrate to you affection and holy love, because I betrothed you to one husband and presented you to Christ.
See ADULTERY, CHASTITY, CELIBACY, DIVORCE, VIRGINITY.
