Martin Luther: On Marriage Matters

One of Martin Luther's main themes is authority, authority of parents, of husband, of law, and of scripture. His concept of authority is that parents should not overextend their authority when it comes to forcing an engagement. They should not force a daughter to go into a marriage that they will not be happy with; he stated that this is not right in the sight of God, that it is not what God wants. Martin Luther was against secret betrothals because then the public will not know if a couple are married or not, and the wife can take on a second husband. If she does she is an adulteress in the sight of God, however, if she leaves her second husband to go back to her first, she is an adulteress in the sight of the public. Even though Luther is all for parental authority, he still rejects forced engagements.

Titlepage and Portrait from a 1581 edition of Mart...

Luther Before the Diet of Worms, photogravure afte...

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He believes this because a daughter should not be forced to marry someone she will not be happy with, parents must stay within limits. They cannot choose whether or not a daughter will love and be happy with her husband. So they, in the same way, should not make her choice for her. This is one of the few rights, he believed, one should have. Luther encouraged couples to marry not only for love, but for happiness as well. There will be arguments, but one needs to be happy for the marriage to have a higher chance of survival.

On the matters of divorce, Luther stated that adultery is a ground for divorce, and not everything that the Roman church has said. He believed that the innocent one should forgive the adulteress spouse. However, he said that if he just cannot bring himself to stay married, then he has...