Why shall the wedding be officiated in the church? (5 reasons)

This is the question received today:

Is it enough to officiate the civil marriage? What is it important the marriage in the church? What does the Bible say about this subject?

Reason 1 – Marriage is a divine institution

The whole second chapter of the book of Genesis relates us about the creation of man and woman and celebration of the first marriage in the history of mankind. God is the author of marriage and He officiated the first marriage so:

 

The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:22-24)(NASB)

So, marriage is a divine institution, that’s why, it is right to be officiated with all solemnity before God.

Reason 2 – Marriage is a covenant before God

At a certain period of apostasy of the people of Israel, men were not faithful to their wives and God interfered and spoke to them through the prophet Malachi as it follows:

Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.(Malachi 2:14)(NASB)

Every marriage is a covenant and God is the witness. It is right and good that this covenant be officiated before the main Witness, who always watches and will watch on the couple who entered that covenant.

Reason 3 – God brings together the two in marriage

The evangelist Matthew relates us the following event from the life of Jesus on this earth:

 

Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 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’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” (Gospel of Matthew 19:3-6)(NASB)

Because God is the one who brings together the two, it is right and good that they officiate this unity, that is their marriage, before the One who has brought them together.

Reason 4 – God is the Creator of the bride and the groom

How will we find it, if anyone questions if it is necessary to officiate the wedding before the parents who gave birth to them, or to think whether to invite them or not at the wedding. We don’t even want to think that somebody could think that way. Then how can you officiate your wedding and not to come before the One who created you and created your bride or groom?How can you rejoice without Him, the main reason of your joy?

Reason 5 – The bride and the groom need the blessing of God in marriage

After creating the first people, God blessed them at their marriage, as it is written in the Bible

 

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28)(NASB)

I am sure these are sufficient reasons for any bride and groom to wish to officiate their marriage in a solemn and holy atmosphere before God.

Translated by Felicia Djugostran