Giving Our Sons and Daughters in Marriage—Our Covenantal Responsibility (1)
Den Hartog examines the biblical warnings against mixed marriages—unions between believers and unbelievers—drawing on Old Testament examples (Genesis, Deuteronomy, Ezra, Malachi) and Paul's New Testament instruction in 1 Corinthians. The article grounds parental responsibility in marriage choices within Reformed covenant theology, arguing that the separation of the covenant community from the ungodly world is a covenantal obligation, though rejecting a wholesale return to arranged marriages while acknowledging their historical advantages.
In both the Old and New Testaments strong warnings are given regarding mixed marriages. In the earliest history of the world, one of the chief ways in which the covenant of God was corrupted was that "the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose" (Gen. 6:2). This led to amalgamation of the seed of the covenant and the seed of the ungodly, the world. In Deuteronomy 7:3, God commanded Israel through Moses concerning the nations of...
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