Bible & Theology Course for the Laity, DVK, Bangalore

Full Reports on the Bible & Theology Course - 2004

God as the Foundation of Marriage and Family Life

God is Life, God is Love

• God is love
  • In loving, we resemble God who is love (1 Jn 4:8-16)
  • Love for the children and mutual love
• God is the source of life
  • The first likeness between God the creator AND human being is procreation (Gen 1:28)
  • God shares this power with his creatures to fill the land
• God is Father/Mother (PARENT)
  More than mere caring and rearing of the offspring

How marriage becomes a sacrament

God is love, but the love of God is, in literal sense, invisible to human eyes. However, in a family, God's love is made visible in the love of husband and wife.

God is the source of life, but it is not easily perceptible to human intellect. However, because husband and wife can take part in procreation, the life-giving power of God is manifest in married life.

Thus, the love of God and the life of God are made visible and clear in married life (family life). Marriage thus becomes an external sign of God's grace to us. Marriage has therefore a sacramental meaning.

Also, according to teachings of Christianity, for a sacrament to be valid, there are two requirements: It should have matter and form. In marriage, the matter is the wedding knot or "thali" that the bridegroom adorns the bride. The form is the blessing of the priest: "I unite you in wedlock in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Therefore, marriage is a sacrament. It was Jesus Christ who conferred marriage with the sacramental meaning.

Consequently, marriage outside the church loses its sacramental meaning.

Bible on marriage   Jesus on marriage   God as foundation
Sexuality&Marriage   Church's teachings on sexuality
Marriage & Family Index

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