Covenant Marriage Laws: The Law as Teacher, The Need for Evangelists

 This post is courtesy of Christianna Felix, Regent Law 3L:

Various revered thinkers and writers, including Thomas Aquinas and the Apostle Paul, have posited that the law has a pedagogical function. The law has been perceived as a schoolmaster, educating the common person about the bounds of virtue and morality. 

Do covenant marriage laws teach something from the Christian perspective? Three states—Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana—currently have some form of covenant marriage law. In essence, these laws make it more difficult for couples who have chosen to enter a “covenant marriage” to divorce and require them to acknowledge that marriage is a covenantal, lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. See Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 25-901, 903 (LexisNexis 2025); Ark. Code. Ann. § 9-11-803–04, 808 (2025); La. Stat. Ann. 9:273, 9:307 (2025).

These laws clearly reflect some traditional biblical principles, acknowledging that the marital relationship was created as one between male and female and generally meant to be a bond unsevered during life. See Mark 10:6–9. But, from the Christian perspective, they are missing an integral piece: an acknowledgment of the one who created marriage in the first place. “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 16:9 (emphasis added). 

Indubitably, problems outside the scope of this blog post would arise if states adopted covenant marriage laws including a declaration that acknowledged God as the creator of marriage and as a reason for its sanctity. Suffice it to say that perhaps the law instructs, but it cannot carry out Christ’s commission. See Matthew 28:18–20. Covenant marriage laws, or any laws that reflect biblical principles, do not carry the same effect as people bearing the testimony of Christ’s sacrifice on their lips. Those who support covenant marriage laws and participate in covenant marriage under those statutes for reasons related to their faith should also boldly declare the love and sacrifice of the very one who invented marriage in the first place.