It was now possible to be spiritual and holy while engaging in sex within the boundaries of marriage without guilt. Today, marriage has fallen on hard times. In America, it is at an historic low. Americans are losing confidence in marriage, and are resorting to other living arrangements. Cohabitation is on the rise; single parenting is increasing; remaining unmarried, for whatever reason, is becoming more attractive to many.
Some are even questioning the necessity and relevance of marriage. Marriage, for some, is considered a trifling matter to be entered into without any preparation, and to exit with the least annoyance. Luther called marriage an order of creation—a God-appointed, legitimate union of man and woman, necessary for the human race. He affirmed the permanency, relevancy, and necessity of marriage. Marriage is never out of style or old-fashioned, as long as there are humans living on the earth.
Luther described it as the most serious and important matter in the whole world, because it is the source of human society and of the human race. Nothing in life excels it in worth.
The excessive demands of work, church, clubs, organizations, schools, and a myriad of other responsibilities have squeezed marriage. There is never enough time for all the pressing demands of life. Invariably, marriages and families suffer because many people do not see them as a priority. If we see marriage and family as a vocation, as worthwhile in value as any career, perhaps we would invest the time and energy needed to ensure its success.
Luther attempted to balance his counsels by staying away from the rigid legalism of no divorce, while not succumbing to the equally pernicious extreme of easy divorce.
Using common-sense reasoning and biblical counsel, as well as the extenuating circumstances of each case, he attempted to forge a path that would not be too burdensome for the parties involved, without compromising the word of God. However, because it gives a negative reason for marriage, it is inadequate and must therefore be supplemented by more positive reasons.
There are more positive reasons that must be emphasized: affection, companionship, friendship, having and rearing godly children, giving and receiving love. His counsels are not merely the theological musings of a former monk-turned-reformer, but are counsels deeply rooted in the word of God, undergirded by a rich and rewarding marital experience, where Luther was always seeking to learn, and to share that knowledge with his followers.
He elevated marriage and the family to a place of honor and respectability at a time when the single life and celibacy were celebrated as a higher state of spirituality. He denounced celibacy as a cause of lust, rather than an aid to chastity. He advocated a moderate view on divorce at a time when divorce was almost impossible. He provided counsel to couples and those contemplating marriage.
He encouraged priests to marry, and followed his own advice by getting married. Just as he had done with the doctrine of grace that had been perverted and corrupted by the church, Luther devotes no less energy to the restoration of marriage and family to its biblical foundations. Luther recognized that not only was the theology of Catholicism in need of serious reform, but also the institution of marriage and the family; in his irascible and earthy style, he went about that reform with a passionate intensity revealed in the power of his pen and the courage of his life.
Accessed November 21, For all were convinced that if anyone wished to live a life holy and acceptable to God, he must never become a spouse but must live a celibate and take the vow of celibacy.
This is why many men who had married became monks or contemptible priests sacrificuli after the death of their wives. See also Michael M. Sheehan, James K. Grand Rapids: Baker books , pg. Pyper Oxford: Oxford University Press, , pg. New York: Routledge, , 1 : pg. Prior to serving in that capacity, he pastored for 15 years in Panama, New York, Michigan, and Chicago.
He has been married for 32 years and is the father of three adult children. How Martin Luther Transformed Marriage. November 22, Blog , Religion in Society. In the third part, in order that we may say something about the estate of marriage which will be conducive toward the soul's salvation, we shall now consider how to live a Christian and godly life in that estate.
There are many pagan books which treat of nothing but the depravity of womankind and the unhappiness of the estate of marriage, such that some have thought that even if Wisdom itself were a woman one should not marry [ Every day one encounters parents who forget their former misery because, like the mouse, they have now had their fill.
They deter their children from marriage but entice them into priesthood and nunnery, citing the trials and troubles of married life. Thus do they bring their own children home to the devil, as we daily observe; they provide them with ease for the body and hell for the soul. Since God had to suffer such disdain of his work from the pagans, he therefore also gave them their reward, of which Paul writes in Romans 1 [], and allowed them to fall into immorality and a stream of uncleanness until they henceforth carnally abused not women but boys and dumb beasts.
Even their women carnally abused themselves and each other. Because they blasphemed the work of God, he gave them up to a base mind, of which the books of the pagans are full, most shamelessly crammed full. In order that we may not proceed as blindly, but rather conduct ourselves in a Christian manner, hold fast first of all to this, that man and woman are the work of God. Keep a tight rein on your heart and your lips; do not criticise his work, or call that evil which he himself has called good.
If you deem it otherwise, it is certainly your own fault, you neither understand nor believe God's word and work. See, with this statement of God one stops the mouths of all those who criticise and censure marriage. For this reason young men should be on their guard when they read pagan books and hear the common complaints about marriage, lest they inhale poison. For the estate of marriage does not set well with the devil, because it is God's good will and work.
The kind of joy and pleasure they have outside of wedlock they will be most acutely aware of, I suspect, in their consciences. Now the ones who recognise the estate of marriage are those who firmly believe that God himself instituted it, brought husband and wife together, and ordained that they should beget children and care for them. For this they have God's word, Genesis 1 [], and they can be certain that he does not lie. They can therefore also be certain that the estate of marriage and everything that goes with it in the way of conduct, works, and suffering is pleasing to God.
Now tell me, how can the heart have greater good, joy, and delight than in God, when one is certain that his estate, conduct, and work is pleasing to God? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? O you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful. What then does Christian faith say to this?
It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised.
Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.
Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil's fools.
I say these things in order that we may learn how honorable a thing it is to live in that estate which God has ordained. Observe that thus far I have told you nothing of the estate of marriage except that which the world and reason in their blindness shrink from and sneer at as a mean, unhappy, troublesome mode of life. We have seen how all these shortcomings in fact comprise noble virtues and true delight if one but looks at God's word and will, and thereby recognises its true nature.
I will not mention the other advantages and delights implicit in a marriage that goes well that husband and wife cherish one another, become one, serve one another, and other attendant blessings lest somebody shut me up by saying that I am speaking about something I have not experienced and that there is more gall than honey in marriage. I base my remarks on Scripture, which to me is surer than all experience and cannot lie to me. He who finds still other good things in marriage profits all the more, and should give thanks to God.
Whatever God calls good must of necessity always be good, unless men do not recognise it or perversely misuse it. I therefore pass over the good or evil which experience offers, and confine myself to such good as Scripture and truth ascribe to marriage.
It is no slight boon that in wedlock fornication and unchastity are checked and eliminated. This in itself is so great a good that it alone should be enough to induce men to marry forthwith, and for many reasons. The first reason is that fornication destroys not only the soul but also body, property, honor, and family as well. For we see how a licentious and wicked life not only brings great disgrace but is also a spendthrift life, more costly than wedlock, and that illicit partners necessarily occasion greater suffering for one another than do married folk.
Beyond that it consumes the body, corrupts flesh and blood, nature, and physical constitution. Through such a variety of evil consequences God takes a rigid position, as though he would actually drive people away from fornication and into marriage.
However, few are thereby convinced or converted. Well because from that there come people who retain a sound body, a good conscience, property, and honor and family, all of which are so ruined and dissipated by fornication, that, once lost, it is well-nigh impossible to regain them scarcely one in a hundred succeeds. The estate of marriage, however, redounds to the benefit not alone of the body, property, honor, and soul of an individual, but also to the benefit of whole cities and countries, in that they remain exempt from the plagues imposed by God.
We know only too well that the most terrible plagues have befallen lands and people because of fornication. This was the sin cited as the reason why the world was drowned in the Deluge, Genesis 6 [], and Sodom and Gomorrah were buried in flames, Genesis 19 [].
We see before our very eyes that God even now sends more new plagues. Many think they can evade marriage by having their fling [auss bubenn] for a time, and then becoming righteous.
My dear fellow, if one in a thousand succeeds in this, that would be doing very well. He who intends to lead a chaste life had better begin early, and attain it not with but without fornication, either by the grace of God or through marriage. We see only too well how they make out every day. It might well be called plunging into immorality rather than growing to maturity. This is heathenish; they speak like heathens, yea, like devils.
It is certainly a fact that he who refuses to marry must fall into immorality. How could it be otherwise, since God has created man and woman to produce seed and to multiply? Why should one not forestall immorality by means of marriage? For if special grace does not exempt a person, his nature must and will compel him to produce seed and to multiply. If this does not occur within marriage, how else can it occur except in fornication or secret sins? But, they say, suppose I am neither married nor immoral, and force myself to remain continent?
Do you not hear that restraint is impossible without the special grace? You can neither escape nor restrain yourself from being fruitful and multiplying; it is God's ordinance and takes its course [ But the greatest good in married life, that which makes all suffering and labor worth while, is that God grants offspring and commands that they be brought up to worship and serve him.
In all the world this is the noblest and most precious work, because to God there can be nothing dearer than the salvation of souls. Now since we are all duty bound to suffer death, if need be, that we might bring a single soul to God, you can see how rich the estate of marriage is in good works. God has entrusted to its bosom souls begotten of its own body, on whom it can lavish all manner of Christian works. Most certainly father and mother are apostles, bishops, and priests to their children, for it is they who make them acquainted with the gospel.
In short, there is no greater or nobler authority on earth than that of parents over their children, for this authority is both spiritual and temporal. Mitre and staff and great estates indeed produce idols, but teaching the gospel produces apostles and bishops. See therefore how good and great is God's work and ordinance! Finally, we have before us one big, strong objection to answer.
Yes, they say, it would be a fine thing to be married, but how will I support myself? I have nothing; take a wife and live on that, etc.
Undoubtedly, this is the greatest obstacle to marriage; it is this above all which prevents and breaks up marriage and is the chief excuse for fornication. What shall I say to this objection? It shows lack of faith and doubt of God's goodness and truth. It is therefore no wonder that where faith is lacking, nothing but fornication and all manner of misfortune follow.
They are lacking in this, that they want to be sure first of their material resources, where they are to get their food, drink, and clothing [Matt. Therefore, they will get married only if they can get wives who are rich, beautiful, pious, kind, indeed, wait, we'll have a picture of them drawn for you. Let such heathen go their way; we will not argue with them. If they should be lucky enough to obtain such wives the marriages would still be un-Christian and without faith.
They trust in God as long as they know that they do not need him, and that they are well supplied. He who would enter into wedlock as a Christian must not be ashamed of being poor and despised, and doing insignificant work. He should take satisfaction in this: first, that his status and occupation are pleasing to God; second, that God will most certainly provide for him if only he does his job to the best of his ability, and that, if he cannot be a squire or a prince, he is a manservant or a maidservant.
Indeed, God has shown sufficiently in the first chapter of Genesis how he provides for us. He first created and prepared all things in heaven and on earth, together with the beasts and all growing things, before he created man.
Thereby he demonstrated how he has laid up for us at all times a sufficient store of food and clothing, even before we ask him for it. All we need to do is to work and avoid idleness; then we shall certainly be fed and clothed. But a pitiful unbelief refuses to admit this. The unbeliever sees, comprehends, and feels all the same that even if he worries himself to death over it, he can neither produce nor maintain a single grain of wheat in the field.
He knows too that even though all his storehouses were full to overflowing, he could not make use of a single morsel or thread unless God sustains him in life and health and preserves to him his possessions. Yet this has no effect upon him. To sum the matter up: whoever finds himself unsuited to the celibate life should see to it right away that he has something to do and to work at; then let him strike out in God's name and get married. A young man should marry at the age of twenty at the latest, a young woman at fifteen to eighteen; that's when they are still in good health and best suited for marriage.
Let God worry about how they and their children are to be fed. God makes children; he will surely also feed them. Should he fail to exalt you and them here on earth, then take satisfaction in the fact that he has granted you a Christian marriage, and know that he will exalt you there; and be thankful to him for his gifts and favors. With all this extolling of married life, however, I have not meant to ascribe to nature a condition of sinlessness.
On the contrary, I say that flesh and blood, corrupted through Adam, is conceived and born in sin, as Psalm 51 [:5] says. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city Caracals have learned to hunt around the urban edges of Cape Town, though the predator faces many threats, such as getting hit by cars.
India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big Grassroots efforts are bringing solar panels to rural villages without electricity, while massive solar arrays are being built across the country.
Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals This frog mysteriously re-evolved a full set of teeth. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Morocco has 3 million stray dogs. Meet the people trying to help. Animals Whales eat three times more than previously thought.
Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment As the EU targets emissions cuts, this country has a coal problem.
Paid Content How Hong Kong protects its sea sanctuaries. History Magazine These 3,year-old giants watched over the cemeteries of Sardinia. Magazine How one image captures 21 hours of a volcanic eruption. Science Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants.
0コメント