Individual Christ Dependence and Marriage Health
The health of a marriage, within Christian thought, is often understood as deeply connected to the individual spouses' relationship with Christ. This connection is frequently articulated through the analogy of Christ and the Church, where the Church's submission to Christ serves as a model for a wife's relationship to her husband [6]. The Church is depicted as "wholly dependent upon him, and entirely resigned to him, and receiving all from him," which informs the expectation for a wife's respect and obedience within marriage [6].
The Apostle Paul's teachings, particularly in 1 Corinthians, acknowledge marriage as a divine institution and the normal state for men and women, yet also recognize that it brings "many cares and distractions" [1]. This perspective suggests that while marriage is good, it introduces responsibilities that can divert focus from singular devotion to God. Adam Clarke notes that a married person has a family to provide for and a spouse to please, in addition to their duties to God and their own soul, contrasting this with the single person who primarily attends to their own salvation [2]. This implies that a strong individual walk with Christ can provide the spiritual resources necessary to navigate the added complexities of married life.
Early Christian writers also emphasized chastity and the purpose of marriage primarily for procreation, viewing indulgence in appetite as measured by the desire for children [4]. Tertullian, for instance, argued for monogamy as foundational, extending from laity to the ecclesiastical order [5]. This historical emphasis on the spiritual discipline within marriage underscores the idea that individual commitment to Christian principles directly impacts marital conduct.
Furthermore, the concept of "first faith" pledged to Christ and the Church is seen as paramount. Widows who "cast off their first faith" by desiring remarriage, even if not remarrying, were considered to incur condemnation, highlighting the enduring commitment expected towards Christ [3, 8]. This suggests that a primary allegiance to Christ is a foundational element that shapes all other relationships, including marriage. The spiritual union between Christ and the Church is even presented as the ultimate foundation for natural marriage itself [7].
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 49: Lord teaches ( Matt. xix. 10 ), are not only those who by their natural constitution are unfit for the marriage state, but those whom God calls to special service in his Church and whom He fits for that work. The doctrine which Paul teaches on this subject is perfectly coincident with the teachings of our Lord. He recognizes marriage as a divine institution; as in itself good; as the normal and proper state in which men and women should live; but as it is necessarily attended by many cares and distractions, it was expedient in times of tr”
- 1 Corinthians (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 7:33: But he that is married - He has a family to provide for, and his wife to please, as well as to fulfill his duty to God, and attend to the concerns of his own soul. The single man has nothing to attend to but what concerns his own salvation: the married man has all this to attend to, and besides to provide for his wife and family, and take care of their eternal interests also. The single man has very little trouble comparatively; the married man has a great deal. The single man is an atom in society; the married man is a small community in himself. The former ”
- 1 Timothy (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Timothy 5:12: Having--Bringing on themselves, and so having to bear as a burden (Gal 5:10) judgment from God (compare Ti1 3:6), weighing like a load on them. cast off their first faith--namely, pledged to Christ and the service of the Church. There could be no hardship at the age of sixty or upwards in not marrying again (end of Ti1 5:9), for the sake of serving better the cause of Christ as presbyteresses; though, to ordinary widows, no barrier existed against remarriage (Co1 7:39). This is altogether distinct from Rome's unnatural vows of celibacy in the case”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — CHAP. XXXIII.--CHASTITY OF THE CHRISTIANS WITH RESPECT TO MARRIAGE.: 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. For as the husbandman throwing the seed into the ground awaits the harvest, not sowing more upon it, so to us the procreation of children is the measure of our indulgence in appetite. Nay, you woul”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. XI.--FURTHER REMARKS UPON ST. PAUL'S (part 2): to the beginning in Christ?[2] If he wills us to iterate conjugal connections, how does he maintain that "our seed is called" in the but once married Isaac as its author? How does he make monogamy the base of his disposition of the whole Ecclesiastical Order, if this rule does not antecedently hold good in the case of laics, from whose ranks the Ecclesiastical Order proceeds? [3] How does he call away from the enjoyment of marriage such as are still in the married position, saying”
- Ephesians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Ephesians 5:22: Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ,.... Her head, being wholly dependent upon him, and entirely resigned to him, and receiving all from him; from whom alone is all her expectation of provision, protection, comfort, and happiness; wherefore she has respect to all his commands, and esteems all his precepts concerning all things to be right; and yields a cheerful, voluntary, sincere, and hearty obedience to them; arising from a principle of love to him, and joined with honour, fear, and reverence of him: so let the wives be to their own husbands in every”
- Ephesians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ephesians 5:31: For--The propagation of the Church from Christ, as that of Eve from Adam, is the foundation of the spiritual marriage. The natural marriage, wherein "a man leaves father and mother (the oldest manuscripts omit 'his') and is joined unto his wife," is not the principal thing meant here, but the spiritual marriage represented by it, and on which it rests, whereby Christ left the Father's bosom to woo to Himself the Church out of a lost world: Eph 5:32 proves this: His earthly mother as such, also, He holds in secondary account as compared with His spir”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — THE GOOD OF WIDOWHOOD (part 11): by debt of vow offered, from this time not only to enter upon marriage, but, although one be not married, to wish to marry is matter of condemnation. For, in order to show this, the Apostle saith not, "When they shall have lived in delights, in Christ" they marry;(8) but "they wish to marry; having," saith he, "condemnation, in that they have made of none effect their first faith," although not by marrying, yet by wishing; not that the marriages even of such are judged matter of condemnation; but there is condemned”