Marriage/Jews and early Christians on marriage after death

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Contents

Question

What can you tell me about Biblical, Jewish, or early Christian teachings about marriage which lasts beyond the grave?

Response

The Jews seem to have believed in eternal marriage from at least second-temple times, since they posed the question about the woman with seven successive husbands, asking which of them would be her husband "in the resurrection" (Matt. 22:28; Mark 12:23; Luke 20:33). The concept of eternal marriage is well-attested among Jews in the medieval period and is frequently mentioned in the Zohar, which also notes that God has a wife, the Matrona ("mother"), and is known in the Talmud. In the Falasha (the black Jews of Ethiopia's text) 5 Baruch, it has Jeremiah's scribe, Baruch, being shown various parts of the heavenly Jerusalem, with different gates for different heirs. The text then says, "I asked the angel who conducted me and said to him: 'Who enters through this gate?' He who guided me answered and said to me: 'Blessed are those who enter through this gate. [Here] the husband remains with his wife and the wife remains with her husband'"[1]

A hint of the eternal nature of marriage is found in Tertuillian's discourse on the widow, in which he wrote: "Indeed, she prays for his [her husband's] soul, and requests refreshment for him meanwhile, and fellowship (with him) in the first resurrection."[2] In the same passage, speaking of marriage, he wrote: "If we believe the resurrection of the dead, of course we shall be bound to them with whom we are destined to rise, to render an account the one of the other…But if 'in that age they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be equal to angels,' is not the fact that there will be no restitution of the conjugal relation a reason why we shall not be bound (to them), because we are destined to a better estate - destined (as we are) to rise to a spiritual consortship, to recognize as well our own selves as them who are ours…Consequently, we who shall be with God shall be together, since we shall all be with the one God - albeit the wages be various, albeit there be 'many mansions,' in the house of the same Father - having labored for the 'one penny' of the selfsame hire, that is, of eternal life; in which (eternal life) God will still less separate those whom He has conjoined, than in this lesser life He forbids them to be separated."[3]

The pseudepigraphic Joseph and Aseneth 15:6 has a heavenly messenger telling Aseneth, "Behold, I have given you today to Joseph for a bride, and he himself will be your bridegroom, forever (and) ever." In a later passage, the Egyptian king tells Joseph "Behold, is not this one betrothed to you since eternity? And shall be your wife from now on and forever (and) ever?" (Joseph and Aseneth 21:3). Pharaoh then tells Asenth, "justly the Lord, the God of Joseph, has chosen you as a bride for Joseph, because he is the firstborn of God. And you shall be called a daughter of the Most High and a bride of Joseph from now and forever" (Joseph and Aseneth 21:4).[4]

Some critics bring up Christ's encounter with the Sadducees as evidence against marriage for all eternity (Matt. 22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:35).

Main article: Marriage not needed for exaltation#Jesus and "neither marry nor given in marriage"

As noted earlier, Tertullian did not understand this passage to mean that there would be no marriage in the hereafter. More importantly, however, is the source of the story the Sadducees told Jesus. It comes from one of the book of the Apocrypha, Tobit, where a woman named Sara was married to seven men, each of whom died on the wedding night (Tobit 3:7-9; 6:13; 7:10-11). The text also notes that "Raphael [the archangel] was sent…to give Sara the daughter of Raguel for a whife to Tobias the son of Tobit…because she belonged to Tobias by right of inheritance [cf. Deut. 25:5-6]" (Tobit 3:17). Jesus probably had this account in mind when He told his Sadduceean interrogators, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" (Matt. 22:29). They had neglected to note that she had married an eighth husband and that God had sent an angel to arrange the marriage.

Conclusion

Exegetically, there is nothing in these passages to refute marriage in heaven, or belief, in some form or another, of God having a consort, and provides indirect evidence that Joseph Smith did restore a doctrine that has ancient support.

Endnotes

  1. [note]  Wolf Leslau, Falasha Antholog (New Haven: Yale, 1951, 1971), 65.
  2. [note]  Tertuillian, On Monogamy, 10.
  3. [note]  Tertuillian, ? Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Philip Schaff (Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886)4:56, 67. ANF ToC off-site This volume
  4. [note]  The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, (Broadway, New York: Doubleday, 1983), 2:202–47

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Mormon culture and attitudes wiki articles

FAIR web site

Mormon culture and attitudes FAIR articles on-line
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Marriage and sexuality FAIR link
  • Scott Gordon, "Education, Scholarship, and Mormonism," FAIR. FAIR link

External links

Mormon culture and attitudes on-line articles
  • "Mormons, education, and intellect," Adventures in Mormonism blog (6 May 2007). off-site
  • Terrell H. Bell, "Educational Attainment," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1:446–447. off-site off-site PDF link direct off-site
  • Cherry B. Silver, "Mormon Culture: A Worldview, review of People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture, by Terryl L. Givens," FARMS Review 20/1 (2008): 73–94. off-site PDF link wiki
  • "The Dimensions of Mormon Religiosity," Sunstone Symposium mp3 offsite

Printed material

Mormon culture and attitudes printed works
  • Stan L. Albrecht, Tim B. Heaton, "Secularization, Higher Education, and Religiosity," Review of Religious Research 26/1, Special Issue Co-Sponsored by the Society for the Sociological Study of Mormon Life and the Family and Demographic Institute of Brigham Young University (September 1984): 437–58. off-site

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