8/12/2019 1989 Issue 7 - Marriage and the Family - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Marriage nd

the amily

by

R I

Rushdoony

A

important aspect

of

the

Christian :marriage service,

which was once common

in

many areas and still sur

vives in some, was the crowning

of

the

bride and groom. In the Armenian wed

ding service, a crown with a cross was

worn. Prior to the wedding, on the

eve thereof, in the home

of

the

bridegroom, and, separately, in

the home

of the bride, bride and

groom were crowned and seated

on a chair, symbolizing a

throne. Friends and relatives

then danced the circle dance

around the crowned person,

singing the crowning song. Af-

ter each stanza, the chorus took

the crowned person

on

a tour

of

the great Armenian monastaries,

declaring in song, "Now you are

facing (the Monastery ot) the

Holy Cross, wearing red and

green. May God keep you blame

less to enjoy your Queen," or

"Now you are facing (the Monastery ot)

St. Thomas, wearing

red

and green.

May God keep you blameless to enjoy

your Queen," and

so

on.

n

the wedding day, a procession,

with music and dancing, took the bride

and groom from their homes to the

church. Both took communion as a part

of

the service.

The

bridegroom was

mantled as a king, a cross in his crown,

a dagger

in

his belt to defend his realm

and dominion,

and

the Gospel clasped

to his breast as the principle

of

do

minion. The bride also was mantled and

wore a cross

in

her crown. The

"sharragon" or hymn sung pertained to

their coronation.

The wedding festival lasted three

days, with the king's throne in the

wedding-hall surrounded by an honor

guard.

The

purpose

of

the service was

to set forth the family as the central

area of dominion

of

the redeemed man,

and the husband and wife as king and

queen, exercising dominion under God.

In some parts

of

Armenia,

it

was com

mon for men, on coming home, to

enter their house declaring, "I am a

lord " Outside were the ungodly Turks,

and limitations on his power; here, he

was a lord in Christ. The Armenian

word for queen, "takkuhee," was often

used as a name for girls, and men often

referred to their wives

as

"my queen."

These old world marriage services,

with their coronation rites, represented

relics of a post-millennia faith, a belief

that the redeemed man is re-established

in Adam's calling to exercise dominion

and to subdue the earth under God. They

witness to the fact that the central in

stitution for this dominion is the fami

ly.

We

are told, in Genesis 1:26-28,

nd

God said Let us make man in

our image after our likeness: and let

them have dominion over the fish

of

the sea

and

over the fowl

of

the air and

over the cattle and over all the earth

and over every creeping thing that

The Counsel o Chalcedon Aug.-Sept. 1989 page 12

creepeth upon

the

earth.

So God created man in his own

image in the image

of

God created he

him

male and female created he

them.

nd God blessed them and God said

unto them be fruitful and multiply

and replenish the earth and subdue it;

and have dominion over the fish

of

the

sea and over the fowl of the air and

over every liVing

ffii iig

that moveth

upon the earth.

This text is

of

central importance to

the significance of marriage. While, on

an individualistic basis, dominion is

primarily given to man (I Cor. 11:1-

16), this does not mean that it is

reserved to man. It is unto "them" male

and female, that God gives the order to

exercise dominion. A central aspect

of

subduing the earth is being fruitful and

multiplying, but it is far from all

of

it.

It

is

from the family that do

minion goes forth; the family is

thus the nursery

of

dominion

and the historical center thereof.

Proverbs 31:10-31 makes clear

how important the woman is to

dominion and how practical her

calling is: she manages farms

and business, and is a queen ex

ercising dominion.

The Armenian wedding ser

vice included a prayer blessing

the crowns, and praying for the

eternal crowns which

do

not

pass away, and for a conquest in

history over the forces of Satan:

In thy living name God and Lord

maker of heaven and earth who madest

all things by the word of thy behest

thou fashionedst man the first Adam

and establishedst from him

the

marriage

of

Eve. Thou blessedst the marriage

of

Seth and therefrom the earth increased

down to Abraham. Thou blessedst the

marriages

of

Abraham Isaac and Jacob

and they increased on earth and were

crowned in heaven. Out

of the

stock

of

Judah thou blessedst David and from

the

seed

of

David Mariam and from

her didst beget the Saviour

of he

world

for thou becamest crowner

of

all Saints.

Now with blessing let this crown be

blessed and the marriage

of

these per-

sons that this servant and handmaid

of

thine may pass their lives in peace in

all religiousness

To

the end that Satan

be driven afar from their midst and thy

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mercy may come upon them and that

we may utter

to

thee praise

nd

glory

together with

th

Father and the Holy

Spirit now and ever.

Genesis :28 is often cited with re

spect to the creation mandate to exercise

dominion, but it is too rarely noted that

the primary purpose of

marriage is not

simply procreation, but that procreation

is

an

aspect of subduing the earth and

exercising dominion over it. This do

minion is total: it

is

to include all the

earth and every living thing that

moveth upon the earth. This mandate

to dominion is to man as male and fe

male, and

it

is inherent in every institu

tion man creates and every area of his

life.

t

is essential to the life of church,

state, and school, to the arts, sciences,

to every calling and every phase of life,

but, in its primary assignment and ori

entation, it

is

given to the fami-

ly. The central area of dominion

All three children are exerc1smg do

minion under God, and all three have a

strong sense of family. The daughter,

nearing retirement herself, has more of

a family life in her effect on other fami

lies, and the love she has earned, than

the lawless mother in the first family.

In the first family, family life means

little more than a legal sexual relation

ship and life under one roof, an essen

tially biological concept of family life.

In the second family, family life is a

form of social organization with theo

logical premises, so that it exists and

governs where no sexual relationship

exists.

The family as a social organization is

the prime area of dominion. t has far

more than personal significance. Origin

ally, and, to some degree, in some areas

of the world, the family in the larger

sense, as clan and tribe has been ex-

but the pietist fails to see Christ

as

King over Church, state, school, fami

ly, vocation, arts and sciences, and

every area of life, and the pietist fails

thus to see the social significance of re

demption and Christ's kingship.

The family in Biblical law controls

three centr l areas of life, the control of

which governs society. Any institution

or agency which controls children, pro

perty, and inheritance is the determining

agency in any society. Not surprising

ly, the modem state, in its totalitarian

designs, has invaded all three areas in

varying degrees, by means of property

taxes, inheritance taxes, statist schools,

and laws limiting the jurisdiction

of

the

family. The state seeks to be the new

family

of

man.

The state, moreover, claims do

minion over the earth and over man. It

has separated itself from God and pre

sented itself as the new god and

creator, the source

of

determina

is thus not politics nor econo

mics but the family under God.

The family cannot be limited

to the modem atomistic family,

those living under one roof as

husband, wife, and children.

The

marriage unit of husband and

wife is the nuclear family, but it

it not the sum total of the fami-

ly. To illustrate: on the one

hand, a family with three chil

dren, nominally religious, is in

no sense Christian nor an area

The state is thus of necessity

hostile to the Biblical doctrine of

marriage and the family. The

state and the family represent

two rival powers claiming

jurisdiction over the same

territory and claiming the same

tion or predestination.

The

state

is thus of necessity hostile to

the Biblical doctrine of marriage

and the family. The state and

the family represent two rival

powers claiming jurisdiction

over the same territory and

claiming the same powers of do

minion.

However, the degree to which

the state takes over the govern

ment

of

man from man and the

family is also the degree to

which it disintegrates the soul

of

man and the stability of

of dominion. Each member goes

his own way: there is no sense

of

any moral responsibility to God or

to

one another, nor

to

the grandparents.

This is a marriage and a family, but in

a biological sense and a legal sense, not

in a Christian or moral sense, in that

even adultery and fornication are tolerat

ed within limits. In another case, the

family has three children, two sons and

one daughter. A son and daughter have

never married; all three children reside

some distance from home. They are,

however, a godly family. The parents

are supported in retirement by the un

married son and daughter, with help

from the other son. The married son

was helped through the university by

his brother and sister. The family has

helped other relatives, and some friends

as

well, and, while absent from their

small town home, have been important

in aiding some Christian causes therein.

power

of

dominion.

tremely important. The weakness of

these older forms has been the primacy

of

blood rather than

of

faith. y in

sisting on the primacy

of

blood, the

theological significance

of

the family

has been obscured, and, instead

of

do

minion, the clan or tribe has aimed at

power. This has meant a separation

from rightful and godly authority and a

divorce of power from its justification

in terms of an ultimate moral law.

On the other hand, in the modem

world, romanticism and pietism have

reduced the family to the personal and

emotional level, so that marriage and

the family become purely personal to

the parties involved, and they are

indifferent to the theological and social

significance thereof. Thus, the pietist

sees Christ as King in the personal

sense, my Lord, which indeed He is,

society. Because God located the pri

mary exercise of dominion in and

through the family, it means that if

church, state, school, or any other

agency weakens the family the end

result is a weakening

of

themselves.

Dominion is best exercised in every

area when

it

is best exercised first

of

all

in the family. The nursery

of

man's life

is also the nursery

of

man's dominion

under God.

Because the family as a social organ

ization is the prime area

of

dominion, it

has also been a primary area of deforma

tion. Social deformation began as the

family saw itself as an area of tyranni

cal power, as in ancestor worship. The

family was made into a lawless domain

wherein the head of the house or clan

exercised vast powers to the destruction

of its members. In Scotland, for ex-

The Counsel of Chalcedon Aug.-Sept. 1989 page 13

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 7 - Marriage and the Family - Counsel of Chalcedon

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ample, the Highland clan chiefs treated

clan members

as

slaves without title to

their lands and lives. In old China, the

family could take the life of its mem

bers or reduce them to servitude at

will.

The Biblical family is a radical break

with the blood family. In the Biblical

family, ostracism is not, according to

Scripture, for violations

of

clan law in

- t h e - b l a a d ~ f a m i l y - b u t - f o r - - v i o l a t i o n s - - o f

God's law. All members of the family

are placed under God's law. Instead

of

a

purely immanent frame of reference, the

family in Scripture has a transcendental

framework and law.

Moreover, the particular family

is

required to align itself with the cove-

nant family

as

the family of God. The

early Christians spoke of themselves as

the third race (as against Greeks and

barbarians), and the Christian race.

As a family, through the deacons, they

cared for their sick, unemployed,

widows, orphans, and needy members.

The church must be seen as the new

larger family; the twelve disciples re

placed the twelve tribes, the old family

unity

of

blood,

as

the new family gov-

ernment and structure.

In the modem world, the nuclear

family sees freedom in dissociation

from its members. Relatives, grand

parents, and then children are separated

from the family, not only physically,

having other residences, which is nor

mal, but emotionally. The smaller the

family becomes, the weaker it is. Most

p e o p t e ~ a r e

not

marure-enougn

tcflake

the total brunt of one another's foibles

and weaknesses. The more people we

must live with, the more readily we

will make ourselves agreeable to one

another. Television is much given to

portraying dramatic clashes

of

persons

on frontier out-posts, in wagon trains,

and

in

like situations. This

is

nonsense.

People in such a context could not af

ford to quarrel easily with one another;

they needed one another too much. As a

result, tension and conflict over minor

matters, while always present, was not

as

freely indulged in. Those who have

known people from the pioneer era can

witness to their far greater tolerance

of

foibles and weaknesses; such people

could speak candidly about the faults of

Appalachian Conference

to Rebuild America

Theme: Restoring Biblical Foundations

September 22-23, 1989

Sheraton Plaza Hotel

Johnson City, Tennessee

~ p e ~ e r n

JEtJT 1Rll l1Jhtdioolt1ly

& Groff

Do10llnl00

Home

School Work Shop (Friday evening, Sept. 22) with

Dr. Milton Uecker ofGrace College and

CBN

University.

Cost: $25.00 per individual $35.00 Per couple

(includes buffet lunch on Saturday)

Registration:

ACTRA

P.O.

Box

1473

Bristol, N 37621

The Counsel of Chalcedon Aug.-Sept. 1989 page 4

others with no intention of breaking

with them or fighting readily about

matters of difference.

In a modem urban context,

we

have

from thousands to millions of people

living around us. Being sinners, we

thus know that we have vast resources

for fellowship and friendship. As a

result,

we

can quarrel with some and

jOin-ours-elVes-

-to-others

--very-

casua lly

We develop a low tolerance as a con

sequence. People are expendable as

friends, because there are so many

people around us. The result too is a

lowered ability to put up with the

foibles of

relatives and family mem

bers

The same problem besets the church.

A man or woman who troubles one

church can move from one congregation

to another indefinitely and find a new

area in which to exploit their foibles,

and the result is an undisciplined situa

tion. The consequence

is

not dominion

but anarchy.

The wedding crown was once com

mon to much of Christendom. It was a

symbol of the purpose

of

the Christian

family, to function as a particular area

of dominion under God, the key area in

which children and property are held. f

responsibility and dominion wane in

the family, they will wane in all soci

ety.

Technically, the doctrine

of

salvation

means the soverieign acts of God's re

deeming grace. This act, however, does

not occur in a vacuum and cannot be

held in abstraction from life. Man was

created to exercise dominion and to

subdue the earth under God, to develop

the implications of creation in terms of

God's law. Man's salvation

is

his

restoration to this calling. Where salva

tion

is

present, there man awakens to

his calling and works

to

fulfill it.

Salvation means God's sovereign grace

and regenerating power in the life

of

man. The idea of impotent Christianity

is a contradiction of terms. The power

of

God in man's life means his active

kingship in every area, and an im

mediate battle against the claims of the

Kingdom of Man. The family

is

the

first area of that kingdom, and the cere

monial crowning of the bride and

groom was an expression of that faith.

[ R e p r i n t e ~ by ~ e r m i s s i o n from alva-

tion and uodty Rule by

Rousas

John

Rushdoony, 1983 Ross House Books P.O.

Box

67

Vallecito, California

95251.]

Q