“Know therefore that marriage is an outward, bodily thing, like any other worldly undertaking. Just as I may eat, drink, sleep, walk, ride with, buy from, speak to, and deal with a heathen Jew, Turk, or heretic, so I may also marry and continue in wedlock with him.” Martin Luther, Estate of Marriage, LW, AE, 45:25
Out of context, it seems like Luther is saying that marrying a Christian is unimportant. Is that really what he's saying?
ReplyDeleteThe context, in particular, is Luther commenting on the papacy's 18 impediments to marriage, "nearly all of which I reject and condemn." The Pope had said that Christians were not allowed to marry unbelievers, which Luther rejected (1) on the basis of the secular nature of marriage, (2) 1 Corinthians 7 'acceptance' of marriage to a heathen, and (3) the historical example of Monica converting her husband and son. In this particular place, Luther is not talking about who might be the best for a Christian to marry, but whether or not Christians were forbidden from marrying outside the religion.
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