Biblical Marriage

As Christians, we typically define marriage as a man and a woman who gets a marriage license from the county clerk's office, and has a wedding ceremony, likely followed by a wedding reception. If a couple does these things, we take no issue with them being married, and then apply the Biblical teachings about marriage to them. But, where does the Bible teach that marriage must be authorized by the government, and that a couple is only "legally married" if they obtain a marriage certificate and the wedding is officiated by someone who is "ordained" to do so? 

The fact is, it doesn't. There is nothing in the Bible that teaches that a Christian is required to get authorization from the governing authority in order to get married. Nor does it teach that a marriage can only take place if it is officiated by ordained personnel. This is just how people are traditionally married within our culture, and the church has adopted it. It is not necessarily Biblical marriage.

With this kind of marriage, a couple can consist of any gender, and if it doesn't work out, they can easily break their covenant with each other and get a divorce for any reason after they get authorization from the governing authority to do so. When it's all said and done, the couple is no longer married according to the governing authority. They can legally find someone, or something, else to marry and spend their life with. 

However, according to Jesus, this is not how it works in God's sight, and since God is the creator of marriage, only He has the ability to define it. The governing authorities can claim to change it however they like, but in reality, they have no authority, nor the ability, to do so. Marriage is only what God said it is.

According to Jesus, marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman. Governing authorities can legislate laws saying that two men, or two women, or a man and his dog, can get married, but they cannot change what God has created and defined. They may be recognized as being married in the sight of the state, but not in the sight of God. He recognizes them as being fornicators and adulterers who have perverted what He has made good. 

Biblical marriage occurs when a man and a woman make a covenant before God,  by promising each other to remain faithful to one another until death. Witnesses should be present to verify their oath to each other, and to hold them accountable. However, authorization by the governing authority by way of a marriage certificate is not required. "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." Marriage for a Christian belongs to God, not to the government. The government offers benefits for being married, but they have perverted and tried to change what God has defined, and they cannot even decipher the difference between a man and a woman, so why would we accept their benefits and allow them to have authority over our marriages?

According to Jesus, once a man and a woman are married in His sight, they are married for life, unless one of them dies, or one of them commits fornication with someone else. Paul said that an unbelieving spouse can leave a believing spouse, thereby causing the marriage to end in God's sight. If the marriage ends for any other reason than these, the couple is still married in God's sight, and if one of them remarries or has sex with someone else, they are committing adultery. 

According to the governing authority however, a marriage can end for any reason, but only they can authorize it, and they need to be involved to settle the details of the divorce. So, according to the kind of marriage which Christians typically recognize as marriage, the governing authorities:

• must authorize the marriage by providing a marriage certificate; 

• allow for anyone or anything to marry one another;

• allow any reason for divorce;

• must authorize divorce and settle the details of the divorce. 

This is far from what God defined, and Christians should not support it. In Biblical marriage, Christians recognize that God has all authority, and not the government. Only He can authorize marriage, who marriage is between, what divorce is, and who is allowed to divorce. The church has authorized the government to do things that only God has authority to do. We cannot allow their ways to trump God's ways.