Question
Which is the correct biblical type of marriage? Which Type of Marriage is Right?
All over the world, different societies and religions adopt different types of marriages based on their traditions, customs, beliefs, culture and ways of life. Of all these, which type of marriage is scripturally right?
First, let us itemize a few of the types of marriages:
1
Monogamy: This is a practice where a man marries one woman until the death of either spouse
2
Deuterogamy: This is a second marriage to another man or woman after the death of either of the spouses.
3
Bigamy: This is marrying another person while still legally married to someone who is still alive.
4
Polygamy: This is the practice of a man having many wives at the same time.
5
Monandry: This is a practice whereby a woman marries only one husband until death separates them. She is the one that pays the “bride price” in order to marry her husband.
6
Polyandry: This is a practice whereby a woman marries many husbands at the same time. She possesses all the men at the same time by paying their “bride prices”
7
Monogyny: This is a situation where a man marries only one wife. A monogenist is a monogamous person.
8
Polygyny: This is a state of having many wives at the same time. A polygynist is a polygamist.
9
Endogamy: This is a marriage custom whereby a man must marry from his own tribe. It is the same thing as inmarriage or inmarry.
10
Exogamy: This is the opposite of endogamy. It is a marriage custom whereby a man must not marry from his own tribe. It’s also called intermarriage or intermarry.
11
Interfaith Marriage: This is a marriage between two people of different religions.
12
Marital conversion: This happens when one of the spouses renounces his or her religion and accept the religion of the other party in order to satisfy some customary or religious requirements in marriage.
13
Same-Sex Marriage: This is where a man marries another man (homosexuality) or a woman marries another woman (lesbianism).
14
Group Marriage: This is when more than two people of both sexes live together sharing marital and household responsibilities without any of them laying sole marital right on a partner amongst themselves.
15
Polyfidelity Marriage: This is a form of group marriage where each member of the group of both sexes is considered equal to others and is to have ongoing sexual intimacies with all other members of the group. None of the members of the group must have sexual relationships outside the group. Intakes of new members are usually by consensus of all the group members.
16
Swinging: This is also known as husband swapping, wife swapping, partner swapping, wife sharing, wife lending, or community of women. It happens where both singles and married couples freely have sexual relationships so as to experience “varieties” within their community instead of the boredom of sticking to one partner.
17
Concubinage: This is also called mistress or illegitimate wife. It is a sexual relationship in which the partners cannot be legally married whether because of existing marriage, social status or religious inhibitions.
18
Co-habitation: This is where two people of opposite sexes live together and having sexual intimacy without being married.
19
Arranged Marriage: This is where a man and his proposed wife are selected either by matchmakers, go-between, parents or relatives with little or no recourse to the spouses; yet both of them consent to the arrangement.
20
Forced Marriage: This happens when either or both of the spouses is/are coerced into the marriage relationship either through psychological pressure or physical violence; that is, either or both of them did not consent or the marital union is against his or her will.
21
Child Marriage: This is a marital union where both or one of the parties is legally underaged. In most countries a girl or boy is not legally ripe for marriage until the age of eighteen.
22
Conjugal Slavery: This is a sort of forced marriage where slaves, prisoners of war, housemaids or house-helps are forced or lured into marital union. In some societies, daughters of a deceased debtor can be sold to his creditors as wives in order to offset the debts.
23
Betrothed Marriage: This is a marital union whereby the spouses have initiated customary rites or processes of marriage but have not concluded. Some societies deem couples of sorts to have legally married such that a sexual affair with someone else is deemed as adultery.
24
Ghost-Marriage: This is a practice where a younger brother stands for his deceased brother who was a groom to a suitor but died before his wedding ceremony. It is also called “spirit marriage.” Children born out of this union are considered the deceased’s.
25
Necrogamy: This is a posthumous marriage whereby one party is alive and the other party is dead. While reciting the Marriage creed, the living spouse responds “I did” instead of “I do” and the entire phrase “until death do us part” is completely omitted from the recitation. After the posthumous wedding ceremony, the living spouse is entitled to live in and with the family of the deceased as a widow or widower.
26
Proxy-Marriage or Proxy Wedding: This is an arrangement where one of the parties is not present and is being represented by someone else. In some societies, the pictures of the bride or groom that is absent will be displayed. In the absence of both groom and bride, it is called Double Proxies.
27
Levirate Marriage: This is a marriage contracted to the widow of the deceased by the brother or a relation in the family of the deceased. The word “Levirate” has nothing to do with Levi in the Bible. Rather Levirate is a word coined from another Latin word “levir”.
28
Eternal Marriage or Sealing: This is a practice whereby marriages are performed with the phrase in the marriage creed “for time and all eternity,” instead of “until death do us part.” Eternal marriages are being performed for those who are still living as well as for someone whose other partner has died or for those couples who have died posthumously.
Above mentioned are some different types of marriages in different societies and cultures. Some of these marital practices change over time because culture practices are not static.
The biblically correct marriage is monogamy. This was what God instituted in Genesis 2:24, confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:5-6 and corroborated in the Epistles of Paul in
Ephesians 5:31.
“Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”
Genesis 2:24
“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.”
Matthew 19:5-6
“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.” Ephesians 5:31
