Please provide biblical scriptures supporting eternal marriage.

[nimrod]

Please provide Biblical scriptures supporting eternal marriage.

(I would appreciate responses to the question, as opposed to opposition to the idea...but if you feel you can't resist, type away)

I'm trying to help a friend understand that marriage is meant to last into the eternities.

Thanks!

[livy111us]

1 Peter 3:7--"Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered."

This speaks about being "heirs together" with our husbands and wives. That would have to mean that they will not be separated at death.

Isaiah:-65-19-25---It is speaking of conditions on the earth during paradisiacal glory. "And they shall build house and inhabit them {us} They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble for they {us} are the seed of the blessed of the lord, and "their offspring with them".

1 Cor. 11:11-- "Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord."

Mat. 19:4-6-- What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.

Also there is found in the Gospel of Philip, which is in the Nag Hammadi, an account of this. It talks about a "mirrored bridal chamber", which is the highest form of a saving ordinance, and to "those who have united in the bridal chamber will no longer be separated". And will be sealed "in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost". This is obviously a sealing in the temple. And was written sometime between 100-400 A.D.

This should also help:

Mormon Answers: Love, Dating, and Marriage for Mormons (Latter-day Saints)

Mormon Answers: Love, Dating, and Marriage for Mormons (Latter-day Saints)

[Dr T]

"heirs together of the grace" is important in that verse. That's all I wanted to say.

[Hemidakota]

Jesus Teaches Law of Eternal Marriage

This colloquy between Jesus and his Sadducean detractors does not question or throw doubt, in proper cases, on the eternal verity that the family unit continues in the resurrection. Jesus had previously taught the eternal nature of the marriage union. "What therefore God [not man!] hath joined together, let not man put asunder." That is, when a marriage is performed by God's authority—not man's!—it is eternal. See Matt. 19:1-12. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." (Eccles. 3:14.)

Indeed, almost the whole Jewish nation believed that marriage was eternal, and that parents would beget children in the resurrection. Those few who did not believe that marriage continued after death and among such were the Sadducees, who could not so believe because they denied the resurrection itself—were nonetheless fully aware that such was the prevailing religious view of the people generally. Without doubt Jesus, the apostles, the seventies, and the disciples generally had discussed this doctrine.

The Sadducean effort here is based on the assumption that Jesus and the Jews generally believe in marriage in heaven. They are using this commonly accepted concept to ridicule and belittle the fact of the resurrection itself. They are saying: 'How absurd to believe in a resurrection (and therefore in the fact that there is marriage in heaven) when everybody knows that a woman who has had seven husbands could not have them all at once in the life to come.'

A most instructive passage showing that the Jews believed there should be marriage in heaven is found in Dummelow. "There was some division of opinion among the rabbis as to whether resurrection would be to a natural or to a supernatural (spiritual) life," he says. "A few took the spiritual view, e.g. Rabbi Raf is reported to have often said, 'In the world to come they shall neither eat, nor drink, nor beget children, nor trade. There is neither envy nor strife, but the just shall sit with crowns on their heads, and shall enjoy the splendor of the Divine Majesty.' But the majority inclined to a materialistic view of the resurrection. The pre-Christian book of Enoch says that the righteous after the resurrection shall live so long that they shall beget thousands. The received doctrine is laid down by Rabbi Saadia, who says, 'As the son of the widow of Sarepton, and the son of the Shunamite, ate and drank, and doubtless married wives, so shall it be in the resurrection'; and by Maimonides, who says, 'Men after the resurrection will use meat and drink, and will beget children, because since the Wise Architect makes nothing in vain, it follows of necessity that the members of the body are not useless, but fulfill their functions.' The point raised by the Sadducees was often debated by the Jewish doctors, who decided that 'a woman who married two husbands in this world is restored to the first in the next.'" (Dummelow, p. 698.)

How much nearer the truth were these Jews, on this point, than are the modern professors of religion who suppose that family love, felicity, and unity cease simply because the spirit steps out of the body in what men call death!

What then is the Master Teacher affirming by saying, "in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven"?

He is not denying but limiting the prevailing concept that there will be marrying and giving in marriage in heaven. He is saying that as far as "they" (the Sadducees) are concerned, that as far as "they" ("the children of this world") are concerned, the family unit does not and will not continue in the resurrection. Because he does not choose to cast his pearls before swine, and because the point at issue is not marriage but resurrection anyway, Jesus does not here amplify his teaching to explain that there is marrying and giving of marriage in heaven only for those who live the fulness of gospel law—a requirement which excludes worldly people.

In his reply Jesus is approaching the problem much as he did in revealing the same eternal principles to Joseph Smith in modern times. He first told the Prophet that all blessings come to men as a result of obedience; that all eternal covenants, marriage included, must be performed with his authority and approved by his Spirit; and that only those things continue "after the resurrection" which conform to his law.

"Therefore," that is, in the light of these principles, he said, "if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world."

What is this but marriage until death do us part? And who are the participating parties but the Sadducees, "the children of this world," the people who do not overcome the world by accepting and living the gospel?

"Therefore, when they [those who will not, do not, or cannot live the law of eternal marriage] are out of the world they neither marry nor or given in marriage."

That is, there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage in heaven for those to whom Jesus was speaking; for those who do not even believe in a resurrection, let alone all the other saving truths; for those who are unrighteous and ungodly; for those who live after the manner of the world; for the great masses of unrepentant mankind. All of these will fall short of gaining the fulness of reward hereafter.

What then is their state? They will not be "gods" and thus have exaltation; their inheritance will be in a lesser degree of glory. As Jesus said to the Sadducees, they "are as the angels of God in heaven," "for they are equal unto the angels." As he said, in more detail and with greater plainness to Joseph Smith, they "are appointed angels in heaven; which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever." (D. & C. 132:5-17.)

Thus, in the resurrection, the unmarried remain everlastingly as angels or servants, but the married gain exaltation and godhood. This latter group consists of those who enter into that "order of the priesthood" named "the new and everlasting covenant of marriage," and who then keep the terms and conditions of that eternal covenant. (D. & C. 131:1-4.) It consists also of those who lived on earth under circumstances which prevented them from making the covenant for themselves personally, but who would have done so had the opportunity been afforded. For all such, on the just and equitable principles of salvation and exaltation for the dead, the ordinances will be performed vicariously in the temples of God, so that no blessing will ever be denied to any worthy person. And for that matter, there is no revelation, either ancient or modern, which says there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage in heaven itself for righteous people. All that the revelations set forth is that such is denied to the Sadducees and other worldly and ungodly people.

Matt. 22:23. Sadducees] See Matt. 3:7.

24. In ancient Israel a man was obliged to marry his brother's widow if she was childless. The "firstborn" then succeeded "in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel." Such a law could operate only in a period when plural marriage was authorized by Deity. Provision was made in the law for someone else to marry the widow in certain circumstances. (Deut. 5:4-10.) Interestingly, it was this law of marriage that enabled Boaz and Ruth, progenitors of our Lord, to become man and wife. (Ruth 4.)

29. "They did not understand the principle of sealing for time and for all eternity; that what God hath joined together neither man nor death can put asunder. (Matt. 19:6.) They had wandered from that principle. It had fallen into disuse among them; they had ceased to understand it; and consequently they did not comprehend the truth; but Christ did. She could only be the wife in eternity of the man to whom she was united by the power of God for eternity, as well as for time; and Christ understood the principle, but he did not cast his pearls before the swine that tempted him." (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., p. 280.)

31-32. 'You say Jehovah is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and at the same time claim there is no resurrection. But you know that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob live and will rise in the resurrection; hence, your doctrine that life ceases with death is false.' Or: 'You believe there is a God; you deny there is a resurrection. Is God the God only of the dead? Is he a failure? Is there no purpose in creation? Or could it be that you have erred and that there is in reality a resurrection?'

I. V. Mark 12:32. For he raiseth them up out of their graves] Luke 20:38. For all live unto him] How can there be a God unless there is a resurrection? Why would God create men and then let them vanish into nothingness? To be God he must be the God of something, and the dead are nothing; hence, there are no dead, "for all live unto him," "for he raiseth them up out of their graves."

Reference: Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, vol. 1, by Bruce R. McConkie

[Hemidakota]

"Restoration of All Things", by Joseph Fielding Smith

The Man and Wife—One Flesh

The word of the Lord is definite that when a man and a woman marry they become "one flesh," and therefore, they should never separate except where the most serious offenses in violation of that covenant warrant its being broken. Divorce is not a part of the gospel plan and there never would be any occasion for it if the man and his wife were sincerely, humbly, living in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It never could happen if the man and wife had in their hearts the pure love which they should hold for each other. No divorce ever comes where there is in the hearts of husband and wife, the pure love of Christ, for that love is based in righteousness, and righteousness is an enemy of sin. Our Lord condemned divorce when the Pharisees came tempting him, saying:

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.—Matt. 19:3-6.

Marriage A Divine Command

When they inquired why it was that Moses permitted divorce, Jesus answered them:

Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.—Matt. 19:8.

Here we have reaffirmation that marriage in the beginning was instituted by divine command, and wherever a man and his wife were united by the authority of the Lord, they should not be put asunder. Unfortunately today, and so it has been generally among all nations from ancient times, husbands and wives are not and were not "joined together" by our Heavenly Father. Today in the churches as well as in ceremonies performed by civil authority, the marriage is limited to this mortal life only. It is a common expression for ministers as well as justices to conclude the ceremony with this decree—"Until death doth you part." Outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I know of no people who believe that marriage is intended to continue beyond this mortal life. I talked with many ministers of religion who declare that in the life to come there are neither male or female in heaven. This seems to be the generally accepted view. This view is based upon the misinterpretation of the words of our Lord to the Sadducees, when they came with their catch-question regarding the woman who had had seven husbands. The Lord's answer to them was:

The Children of This World The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:

But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.—Luke 20:34-36.

This answer is correct. These Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, therefore, in their marriages the ceremony was only for this world and not for the world to come. Therefore, in the resurrection they were to come forth to dwell singly, and those among them who were worthy to enter heaven will remain single, for there was no marriage for them in heaven. The Lord was speaking of their world, not the world to which he and his disciples belonged. I call your attention to his words in his prayer where he is speaking of his disciples, he said: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." In a revelation to Joseph Smith, the Lord said in speaking of this same class of people to which the Sadducees belonged:

For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.—D. & C. 132:17.

The Bible teaches us that those who accept Jesus Christ and are true to the covenants of the gospel, do not become angels in heaven, but are sons of God. The Savior answered the Jews when they accused him of blasphemy because he said he was the Son of God:

Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods?

If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?—John 10:34-36.

Paul said to the Roman Saints:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

And John was told by the Lord on the Isle of Patmos:

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and heshall be my son.

The First Marriage Was Before Death Came

It seems to be a matter forgotten, or ignored, that the first marriage was before there was any death in the world. When Eve was given to Adam, it was not "until death doth you part," but it was a perpetual union. On this point I quote from President Joseph F. Smith:

Many people imagine that there is something sinful in marriage; there is an apostate tradition to that effect. This is a false and a very harmful idea. On the contrary, God not only commands but he commends marriage. While man was yet immortal, before sin had entered the world, our Heavenly Father himself performed the first marriage. He united our first parents in the bonds of matrimony, and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. This command he has never changed, abrogated or annulled; but it has continued in force throughout all the generations of mankind.

Without marriage the purposes of God would be frustrated so far as this world is concerned, for there would be none to obey his other commandments.

There appears to be something beyond and above the reason apparent to the human mind why chastity brings strength and power to the peoples of the earth, but it is so.

Today a flood of iniquity is overwhelming the civilized world. One great reason therefor is the neglect of marriage; it has lost its sanctity in the eyes of the great majority. It is at best a civil contract, but more often an accident or a whim, or a means of gratifying the passions. And when the sacredness of the covenant is ignored or lost sight of, then a disregard of the marriage vows, under the present moral training of the masses, is a mere triviality, a trifling indiscretion.

Marriage An Institution of Heaven

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that "marriage is an institution of heaven, instituted in the garden of Eden, and that it should be solemnized by the authority of the everlasting priesthood." Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, "they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory."

Under the conditions in which we find ourselves, with divers governments controlled by men without divine authority, it becomes necessary that marriage be regulated by civil law. The state must have power to form the laws governing marriage because of their close connection with the social structure of the state. When the kingdom of God is set up on the earth in its fulness, and Christ comes to reign, marriage, and all other ordinances, will be controlled by the laws of God. When that day comes marriages will not be performed "only until death," but for eternity. Under present conditions "the powers that be" have jurisdiction in the earth, and all men, no matter what their religious beliefs or lack of them, must and should be subject to the governments which exist. When Christ comes he will bring the perfect law of liberty, and in it all the faithful will be made free and happy in the exercise of correct principles.

Man Not Without the Woman in the Lord

The notion that is almost universal that marriage is a contract which ends at death did not originate in the gospel. It was introduced by the enemy of truth who has sworn to overthrow the kingdom of God if he can. Paul declared that "Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord," and the Lord said he would give to man a help meet for him. That is a help that would answer all the necessary requirements, not only of companionship, but to help him to fill the measure of creation, which neither the man nor the woman, alone, could accomplish. Orson Pratt commenting on this need, has said:

The Lord ordained marriage between male and female as a law through which spirits should come here and take tabernacles, and enter into the second state of existence. The Lord himself solemnized the first marriage was celebrated, no mortality was here. The first marriage that we have any account of, was between two immortal beings; ... they were immortal beings; death had not dominion, no power over them. pertaining to this globe, and pertaining to flesh and bones here upon this earth. I do not say pertaining to mortality; for when the first

Notwithstanding the universal doctrine that death automatically brings the separation of husband and wife, and places the children without parents, when and where did a husband ever lay away his wife in the grave, or a wife her husband, where love had dominated their union, that there was not the longing hope that this miserable doctrine of separation is not true? Where is there the mother or the father, who truly loved each other and their children, who were ever called upon to lay away a child in the grave whom they dearly loved, who did not hope in the anguish of their souls, that this terrible doctrine of separation is not true? You who love each other and the children that have come to you, do you wish the time to come, in the resurrection of the dead, that all family associations and unity shall cease? When the loved ones you have claimed here, shall be no more to you than strangers? Well, there is but one means of escape from this awful condition, and that is the acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been restored and the partaking of the sealing blessings in the house of the Lord by one who is duly authorized by divine authority by which husbands and wives, and children to parents become united forever. This was the great work which the Prophet Elijah revealed, that families might not be destroyed, and that the earth might not be smitten with a curse when the great and dreadful day of the Lord shall come. Edited January 12, 2009 by Hemidakota

[Hemidakota]

Jesus, recorded in Mark

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

7. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

8. And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

9. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Jesus answers the Pharisees, teaching the higher law of marriage) Mark 10:6-9

Paul

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (Paul writes to the Saints at Ephesus in Asia Minor, about A.D. 62) Eph.5:31

Moses

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. . . .

24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Revelation to Moses with respect to the Creation; woman is created) Gen.2:18,24

Paul

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: (Letter to the Church at Corinth, Greece, about A.D. 55) 1Cor.7:10

Paul

Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

12. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. (Letter to the Church at Corinth, Greece, about A.D. 55) 1Cor.11:11-12

Jesus,

recorded in Matthew

And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Jesus answers the Pharisees and teaches about marriage and divorce) Matt.19:5-6

Recorded in Ecclesiastes

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

10. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. (Reflections of a son of David the king) Eccl.4:9-10

Paul

Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

12. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. (Letter to the Church at Corinth, Greece, about A.D. 55) 1Cor.11:11-12

Jesus,

recorded in Matthew

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: . . . (Jesus instructs his disciples, he addresses Peter) Matt.16:19

Paul

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

30. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

33. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. (Paul writes to the Saints at Ephesus in Asia Minor, about A.D. 62) Eph.5:25-33

Paul

Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. (Letter from prison to the Church in Colossae, Asia Minor, about A.D. 60) Col.3:19

Recorded in Ecclesiastes

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun. . . . (Reflections of a son of David the king) Eccl.9:9

Paul

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (Letter to the Saints at Ephesus in Asia Minor, about A.D. 62) Eph.5:22-24

Paul

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. (Letter from prison to the Church in Colossae, Asia Minor, about A.D. 60) Col.3:18

Paul

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. (Paul writes to the Saints at Ephesus in Asia Minor, about A.D. 62) Eph.5:33

Reference: "We Believe" by Rulon T. Burton