Tertullian on Marriage

As a fitting end to my sermon series on marriage, came across this quotation from Tertullian. It is from a letter he wrote to his own wife. Tertullian was an early church father who wrote in the late 2nd and early 3rd century.

“Where are we to find language adequate to express the happiness of that marriage which the church cements, the oblation confirms, the benediction signs and seals, the angels celebrate and the Father holds as approved? For all around the earth young people do not rightly and lawfully wed without their parents’ consent. What kind of yoke is that of two believers who share one hope, one desire, one discipline, one service? They enjoy kinship in spirit and in flesh. They are mutual servants with no discrepancy of interests. Truly they are ‘two in one flesh.’ Where the flesh is one, the spirit is one as well. Together they pray, together bow down, together perform their fasts, mutually teaching, mutually entreating, mutually upholding. In the church of God they hold an equal place. They stand equally at the banquet of God, equally in crises, equally facing persecutions, and equally in refreshments. Neither hides anything from the other. Neither neglects the other. Neither is troublesome to the other.”

From the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament: Mark, p. 135.