|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: as we or they have been given the power to make a woman out of
a man or a man out of a woman, or to nullify either sex, so
little have they had the power to [sunder and] separate such
creatures of God, or to forbid them from living [and
cohabiting] honestly in marriage with one another. Therefore
we are unwilling to assent to their abominable celibacy, nor
will we [even] tolerate it, but we wish to have marriage free
as God has instituted [and ordained] it, and we wish neither
to rescind nor hinder His work; for Paul says, 1 Tim. 4, 1
ff., that this [prohibition of marriage] is a doctrine of
devils.
|