Early Christian Beliefs About Marriage

Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Long Version) Direct teaching

...he Spirit of truth; and also one preaching, and one faith, and one baptism; and one Church that the holy apostles established from one end of the earth to the other by the blood of Christ, and by their own sweat and toil; you should also, therefore, as “a peculiar people, and a holy nation,” perform all things with harmony in Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands in the fear of God; and you virgins, to Christ in purity, not regarding marriage as an abomination, but desiring that which is better, not for the reproach of wedlock, but for the sake of meditating on the law. Children, obey your parents, and have affection for them, as workers together with God for your birth into the world. Servants, be subject to your masters in God, that you may be the freed-men of Christ. Husbands, love your wives, as fellow-servants of God, as your own body, as the partners of your life, and your co-workers in the procreation of children. Virgins, have Christ alone before your eyes, and His Father in your prayers, being enlightened by the Spirit. May I take pleasure in your purity, as that of Elijah, or as of Joshua the son of Nun, as of Melchizedek, or as of Elisha, as of Jeremiah, or as of

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

The marriage, then, that is consummated according to the word, is sanctified, if the union be under subjection to God, and be conducted with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and the body washed with pure water, and holding the confession of hope;

Matthew 19:5 Direct teaching

and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’ ?

Matthew 19:6 Direct teaching

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Genesis 2:24 Direct teaching

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Mark 10:8 Direct teaching

And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

Ephesians 5:31 Direct teaching

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Mark 10:7 Direct teaching

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

...ebt of marriage is the begetting of children. This he showed in what comes before, saying, "Let the husband render the debt to the wife, and likewise also the wife to the husband," 1 Corinthians 7:3. After this release, she is a helper in keeping the house, and in the faith that is in Christ. And still more clearly he says, "To those who are joined in marriage I command, not I, but the Lord, that a wife is not to be separated from her husband. But if she is separated, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to send away his wife. But to the rest I say, I, not the Lord," down to, "But now they are holy," 1 Corinthians 7:14. What then will those say who speak against the law and against marriage, as though it were permitted only by the law, and not also in the New Testament? What can those who shrink from sowing and generation say against these laws that have been laid down? For he also appoints as bishop one who rules his own household well, and is the husband of one wife. Therefore he says that all things are pure to the pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. Rather, both their mind and conscience are defiled, Titus

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

...iage. For according to human law, only the woman is an adulteress if she has another man, while the husband, even if he has several women, is freed from the charge of adultery. But the divine law joins the two in marriage with equal right, since it is one body, so that whoever has torn apart the union of that body in different directions is judged an adulterer. And for no other reason did God, although He made the other living creatures resist the males after conception, make woman alone among them all receptive to the man. This was clearly so that, if women resisted, lust would force men to desire something else, and by doing so they would not keep the glory of chastity. But neither would a woman gain the virtue of modesty if she were not able to sin. For who would call a dumb animal modest, when after conception it resists the male? It does this because it must come into pain and danger if it allows him. Therefore there is no praise in not doing what you cannot do. But chastity is praised in a human being because it is not natural, but voluntary. Therefore faithfulness must be kept by each toward the other. Indeed, by an example of self-control, a wife must be taught to conduc

Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Direct teaching

...d impure. But just as a woman is bound by the bonds of chastity not to desire any other man, so the husband must be bound by the same law, since God has joined the husband and wife together in the union of one body. For this reason, He has commanded that a wife must not be sent away unless she is found guilty of adultery, and that the bond of the marriage covenant must never be broken unless unfaithfulness has broken it. This also is added to complete chastity: there must be an absence not only of the sinful act, but even of the thought of it. For it is clear that the mind is polluted by desire, even when it is not carried out. So a just man ought neither to do, nor to want to do, what is unjust. Therefore the conscience must be cleansed, for God, who cannot be deceived, examines it. The heart must be cleared from every stain, so that it may be a temple of God, lit not by the shine of gold or ivory, but by the brightness of faith and purity.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching

...to be used with more modesty than any other. For nature has allowed us to use food, and also lawful marriage, as much as is fitting and useful. And it has allowed us to desire the procreation of children. But whoever pursues these things beyond measure falls away even from what is according to nature, harming himself through relations that are against law. Above all, it is right that we should never use sexual intercourse with youths as with women. And so he who was made a philosopher by Moses says that seed must not be sown on rocks and stones, because it will never take root there or receive the generative power of seed. Therefore the Word through Moses most plainly commanded: "And with a male you shall not lie as with a woman. It is an abomination," Leviticus 18:22. In addition, the noble Plato, gathering from the divine Scriptures that one must also abstain from every female field except one's own, gave counsel from a law taken from there: "And you shall not give the intercourse of seed to your neighbor's wife, to be defiled with her," Leviticus 18:20. The seed spent with concubines is barren and adulterous. Do not sow seed where you do not want what is sown to be born for y

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

An husband, therefore, and a wife, when they company together in lawful marriage, and rise from one another, may pray without any observations, and without washing are clean.

Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp (Short Version) Direct teaching

But it becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

but if they be unmarried, let them learn not to commit fornication, but to enter into lawful marriage.

Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Direct teaching

Let him who has a wife seek nothing further, but, content with her alone, let him guard the mysteries of the marriage-bed chaste and undefiled.

Hebrews 13:4 Direct teaching

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

1 Corinthians 7:3 Direct teaching

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

Ephesians 5:28 Supporting witness

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

1 Corinthians 7:4 Direct teaching

The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.

Tertullian, On Monogamy Direct teaching

...od it is for a man not to touch a woman; but, on account of fornications, let each one have his own wife.” He shows that there were some who, having been apprehended by the faith while in marriage, were anxious whether it might not be lawful for them from then on to enjoy their marriage, because they had believed on the holy flesh of Christ. And yet it is by way of allowance that he makes the concession, not by way of command; that is, indulging, not commanding, the practice. On the other hand, he willed rather that all should be what he himself was. In the same way too, in sending a rescript on divorce, he shows that some had been thinking about that also, chiefly because they did not suppose that they were to continue, after faith, in heathen marriages. They sought counsel further concerning virgins—for there was no precept of the Lord—and were told that it is good for a man if he so remains permanently, of course as he may have been found by the faith. “You have been bound to a wife; seek not loosing. You have been loosed from a wife; seek not a wife.” But if you have taken a wife, you have not sinned. This is because, to one who before believing had been loosed from a wife,

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

...ry. And again, speaking about the law and using an allegory, he says, “For the woman who is under a husband is bound by law to the living husband,” Romans 7:2, and what follows. And again: “A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is free to marry, only in the Lord. But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my judgment,” 1 Corinthians 7:39-40. But in the first part, when he says, “You were made dead to the law,” he does not mean to marriage, but to the law, “so that you may become another’s, of Him who was raised from the dead,” Romans 7:4, namely, the bride and the Church. And she must be chaste: from the thoughts stirred up within, which are contrary to the truth; and from those who tempt from outside, that is, from those who follow heresies and persuade you to commit fornication away from the one husband, namely Almighty God. “Lest, as the serpent deceived Eve,” 2 Corinthians 11:3, she who is called Life, so we too, led on by the crafty attractions of heresies, may transgress the commandments. But the second part establishes monogamy. For we must not think, as some have thought, that it means the binding of a woman to a husband, as if i

Tertullian, To His Wife Direct teaching

...In the same way, let not a believing woman, married to an unbeliever, dismiss him, if she finds her husband agreeable to their continued union. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife by the believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean." It may be that by understanding this warning in a general way, as concerning believers who are married, they think that permission is thereby granted even to marry unbelievers. God forbid that one who interprets it this way should knowingly ensnare himself! But it is clear that this Scripture points to those believers who were found by the grace of God in the state of Gentile marriage, according to the very words themselves: "If any believer has an unbelieving wife." It does not say, "takes an unbelieving wife." It shows that it is the duty of one who was already living in marriage with an unbelieving woman, and has now been converted by the grace of God, to continue with his wife. This is so that no one, after coming to faith, should think that he must turn away from a woman who is now in some sense an alien and a stranger. Accordingly, he also adds a reason: that we are called in

Tertullian, Against Marcion Direct teaching

...woman unlawfully put away is just as much an adulterer as the man who marries a woman not divorced. Marriage is permanent when it is not rightly dissolved. Therefore, to marry while matrimony is undissolved is to commit adultery. Since, therefore, His prohibition of divorce was conditional, He did not prohibit it absolutely. And what He did not absolutely forbid, He permitted on some occasions, when the cause for which He gave His prohibition is absent. In truth, His teaching is not contrary to Moses, whose precept He partly defends, I will not say confirms. If, however, you deny that divorce is in any way permitted by Christ, how is it that you on your side destroy marriage, neither uniting man and woman, nor admitting to the sacrament of baptism and of the eucharist those who have been united in marriage anywhere else, unless they agree together to repudiate the fruit of their marriage, and so the Creator Himself? Well then, what is a husband in your sect to do if his wife commits adultery? Shall he keep her? But your own apostle, you know, does not allow the members of Christ to be joined to a harlot. 1 Corinthians 6:15 Divorce, therefore, when it is justly deserved, has even

Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching

... he continues to live with her?" And he said to me, "As long as he remains ignorant of her sin, the husband commits no transgression in living with her. But if the husband knows that his wife has gone astray, and if the woman does not repent, but persists in her fornication, and yet the husband continues to live with her, he also is guilty of her crime, and a sharer in her adultery." And I said to him, "What then, sir, is the husband to do, if his wife continues in her vicious practices?" And he said, "The husband should put her away, and remain by himself. But if he puts his wife away and marries another, he also commits adultery." And I said to him, "What if the woman who was put away should repent, and wish to return to her husband? Shall she not be taken back by her husband?" And he said to me, "Assuredly. If the husband does not take her back, he sins, and brings a great sin upon himself. For he ought to take back the sinner who has repented. But not frequently. For there is but one repentance for the servants of God. In case, therefore, that the divorced wife may repent, the husband ought not to marry another, when his wife has been put away. In this matter man and woman a

Tertullian, On Monogamy Direct teaching

We also read that he writes to the Romans: “But the woman who is under a husband is bound to her husband while he is living. But if he has died, she has been set free from the law of the husband.” No doubt, then, while the husband is living, she will be thought to commit adultery if she is joined to a second husband. If, however, the husband has died, she has been freed from his law, so that she is not an adulteress if made the wife of another husband. But read what follows as well, so that this meaning, which flatters you, may evade your grasp. “And so, my brothers, be also made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be made subject to a second, namely, to Him who has risen from the dead, that we may bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin, which used to be efficiently caused through the law, worked in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been set free from the law, being dead to that in which we used to be held, to the serving of God in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.” Therefore, if he bids us be made dead to the law through the body of Christ, which is the Church, which consists in the spirit of newn

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching

...ness, "But because of fornications, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband," 1 Corinthians 7:2; and this, "Let the husband render to the wife what is due to her, and likewise also the wife to the husband," 1 Corinthians 7:3. To these sayings this is added: "But this I say by way of permission, not of commandment," 1 Corinthians 7:6. And this also, "A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord," 1 Corinthians 7:39, was said by Paul because of our hardness of heart and weakness, to those who do not want to desire earnestly the greater gifts, 1 Corinthians 12:31, and become more blessed. But now, contrary to what was written, some even of the rulers of the church have allowed a woman to marry even while her husband was still living. In doing this, they act contrary to what was written, where it says, "A wife is bound as long as her husband lives," and, "So then if, while her husband lives, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress," Romans 7:3. Yet not altogether without reason, for it is probable that this concession was allowed in comp

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching

...:1, mean the same as fornication, and that for this reason a wife could rightly be cast away by her husband. But it must be said to him that, if a woman who committed adultery was to be stoned according to the law, then clearly the "unseemly thing" must not be understood in that sense. For in the case of adultery, or any such great indecency, there is no need to write a bill of divorce and put it into the wife's hands. But perhaps Moses called every sin an unseemly thing. When the husband discovered it in his wife, and she no longer found favor in his eyes, the bill of divorce was written and the wife was sent away from her husband's house. But from the beginning it was not so, as Matthew 19:8 says. After this, our Savior speaks in a way that does not permit the breaking of marriages for any sin except fornication alone, when it is found in the wife: "Whoever puts away his own wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her an adulteress," Matthew 5:32. But it could be asked whether, for this reason, He forbids a man to put away his wife for any cause other than fornication, even for poisoning, or for killing an infant born to them while her husband is away from home, or fo

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Typology

...weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.” By these words, the Lord clearly shows that there is one King and Lord, the Father of all, about whom He previously said, “Do not swear by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King;” and that He prepared the wedding for His Son from the beginning and kindly called, through His servants, the people of the former covenant to the feast; and when they wouldn't obey, He still invited them by sending other servants. Yet even then they didn't obey Him but instead stoned and killed those who brought the invitation. He then sent out His armies to destroy them and burn their city; but He called together guests from all highways, that is, from all nations, to the marriage feast of His Son, as He says through Jeremiah: “I have also sent my servants the prophets to say, Turn now, everyone, from his evil way, and amend your doings.” And again He says through the same prophet: “I have also sent my servants the prophets early and continually; yet they did not obey me or listen to me. And you shall say to them: This is a people that does not listen to the voice of the Lord, nor receives correction; faith has perished

1 Corinthians 7:38 Direct teaching

So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

1 Corinthians 7:36 Supporting witness

If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin.

Luke 20:34 Background

Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...idows, lest, claiming they cannot control themselves in the prime of their age, they enter a second marriage and become open to accusation. Instead, let them be helped and supported, so that they do not, under the excuse of being abandoned, enter a second marriage and so be caught in a shameful accusation. For you ought to know this: to marry once according to the law is righteous, because it is according to the will of God. But second marriages, after the promise, are wicked, not because of the marriage itself, but because of the falsehood. Third marriages are signs of lack of self-control. But marriages beyond the third are obvious fornication and unquestionable uncleanness. For in creation God gave one woman to one man, for "the two shall be one flesh," Genesis 2:24. But for the younger women, let a second marriage be allowed after the death of their first husband, lest they fall into the condemnation of the devil, and into many snares and foolish lusts that are harmful to souls and bring punishment on them rather than rest.

Tertullian, To His Wife Direct teaching

But to Christians, after their departure from the world, no restoration of marriage is promised in the day of the resurrection, translated as they will be into the condition and sanctity of angels.

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Direct teaching

For he who deprives himself of his first wife, even though she be dead, is a cloaked adulterer, resisting the hand of God, because in the beginning God made one man and one woman, and dissolving the strictest union of flesh with flesh, formed for the intercourse of the race.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

Marriage is the first conjunction of man and woman for the procreation of legitimate children. Accordingly Menander the comic poet says:—

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Direct teaching

Therefore, having the hope of eternal life, we despise the things of this life, even to the pleasures of the soul, each of us reckoning her his wife whom he has married according to the laws laid down by us, and that only for the purpose of having children.

Malachi 2:15 Supporting witness

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

Tobit 8:20 Background

For before the days of the marriage were finished, Raguel had said unto him by an oath, that he should not depart till the fourteen days of the marriage were expired;

Tobit 6:12 Background

And the maid is fair and wise: now therefore hear me, and I will speak to her father; and when we return from Rages we will celebrate the marriage: for I know that Raguel cannot marry her to another according to the law of Moses, but he shall be guilty of death, because the right of inheritance doth rather appertain to thee than to any other.

Tobit 6:15 Supporting witness

Then the angel said to him, Dost thou not remember the precepts that thy father gave thee, that thou shouldest marry a wife of thine own kindred? wherefore hear me, O my brother; for she shall be given thee to wife; and make thou no reckoning of the evil spirit; for this same night shall she be given thee in marriage.