12. Of the State of Matrimony

We confess that in the church of God there is an honorable state of matrimony, between two free, believing persons, according to the way in which God originally ordained it in Paradise, and instituted it Himself with Adam and Eve; and that the Lord Christ did away with and set aside all the abuses of marriage which had crept in meanwhile, and referred everything back to the original order, and so left it. Genesis 1, verse 27; Mark 10, verse 4.

In this way the apostle Paul also taught and permitted matrimony in the church, and left it free for everyone to be married, according to the original order, in the Lord, to whomever one can get to consent. [n57-1] By these words, in the Lord, we think this is to be understood, that just as the patriarchs had to marry among their kindred or generation, so the believers of the New Testament likewise have no other liberty than to marry among the chosen generation and spiritual kindred of Christ, namely such persons, and no others, who have previously become united with the church as one heart and soul, have received one baptism, and stand in one communion, faith, doctrine and practice, before they may unite with one another by marriage. Such are then joined by God in His church according to the original order; and this is called marrying in the Lord. Second Corinthians 7, verse 2; First Corinthians 9, verse 5; Genesis 24, verse 4; Genesis 28, verse 2; First Corinthians 7, verse 39.