Defending classic marriage
Posted on June 29, 2016
Filed under Culture wars, Theology
“God is the ultimate marriage celebrant. Our Prayer Book marriage services – the only services by which Anglican clergy are authorised to conduct marriages – says, ‘What God has joined together, let no-one put asunder’.
These words are repeated after the couple’s vows as part of the minister’s declaration of marriage: ‘Those whom God has joined together let not man put asunder’. Indeed, if the couple chooses either the Gospel of Matthew or the Gospel of Mark as their Bible reading, you will hear those words for a third time!
God is the ultimate marriage celebrant. The union is not just a secular legal status; marriage existed before nation states and their laws. With marriage, we are talking about an absolute reality: it’s God who joins people together in marriage. A society can redefine marriage in its rhetoric and laws. But we cannot redefine the ultimate deep reality of marriage.
But what is biblical marriage?…”
– In an article adapted from a speech he gave at Sydney Synod in October year, Sandy Grant reminds us why the ‘classic view’ of marriage is worth defending. At GoThereFor.com.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…