Eberhard Arnold

Meeting Transcript, July 31, 1931

[Arnold, Eberhard and Emmy papers - T.S.H.]

[Draft Translation by Bruderhof Historical Archive]

EA 31/6

The Three Grades of Marriage

"Marriage is a union of two, in which one taketh the other to care for and the second submitteth to obey the first, and thus through their agreement two become one, and are no longer two but one. But if this is to be done in a godly way they must come together not through their own action and choice, but in accordance with God's will and order, and therefore neither leave nor forsake the other but suffer both ill and good together all their days. Marriage is, however, in three grades or steps."

First is the marriage of God to His people; the marriage of Christ to His Church; the marriage of God's Spirit to the spirit of man.

Second is the justice of God's people among themselves; the fellowship within the Church, the members of the Body of Christ forming a complete unity; the fellowship of spirit and soul.

Third is the unity between one man and one woman. This unity is not the first grade of unity; it is not unity proper. It is the last unity-visible, understandable, and recognizable by all.

Because marriage between man and woman is something that can be seen and grasped by everyone, it is an image, an outward sign of something invisible which is to become reality in the visible world. It is a sign pointing to the middle and highest grades of marriage. It points first to the fellowship of justice and brotherliness, the fellowship between God's Spirit and man's spirit. It points to the middle grade where everything in which we believe becomes visible. For as man is the head of woman, so the spirit is the head of the body, and God is the head of the spirit.

Thus marriage teaches us and leads us to God. When we regard and recognize marriage rightly, it teaches us to know God and hold fast to Him. If marriage is not regarded rightly, however, it leads men to death. There are not many who have truly recognized marriage, and therefore Paul says that a man does well not to touch a woman, lest in his ignorance he perish.

Man has the task of portraying the service of Christ. Woman has the task of portraying the dedication of the Church, of obeying her husband so that she may learn from him what the nature of the true God is. If she does not do this, she is forsaking her place in God's order. The man, for his part, has also received his place in God's order. He should have compassion for his wife, and in love and kindness care for her in material things and still more in spiritual things. The man should go before her in honesty and courage, so that through him she may become godly. For Christ's justice is to become manifest in man. If the man does not do these things but is negligent and irresponsible, he is forsaking the glory given him by God.

Both man and woman are given their tasks by God so that they may be led to recognize ever more deeply how the spirit must rule over the body and how God must rule over the spirit of man. The woman should follow the man just as the earthly body follows the heavenly, that is the spirit. She should follow, not from her fleshly or earthly will, but looking toward the Spirit and letting herself be ruled by the Spirit, looking toward Christ and letting herself be led and ruled by Him. When this happens in this way, man is kept close to God. Through the Spirit, through the Christ and the God of justice, man is held close to God.

Marriage should not be undertaken in the will of the flesh-- for the sake of beauty, youth, money, property, or anything of that kind. None of these things are of God. "As the angel said to Tobias, 'Hear what I say to thee and I shall show thee who they be over whom the devil hath dominion, namely, those who marry without regard to God in their heart, but only to satisfy the wantonness of the body, even as a mule or horse that knoweth no better; yea, over such hath the devil dominion.'" Man, then, should not choose anything for himself through the willfulness of the flesh.

What God has joined together through the unity and unanimity of the Church must not be severed by man. The couple should be given to each other in public marriage, before the Church; the Church must testify that these two have been given to each other and that no man can sever them.

Marriage is an image of the unity between Christ and His Church. The image must have a resemblance and likeness to what it portrays. So we should recognize that the third and lowest grade of unity, the unity between husband and wife, stands as a symbol for the middle grade.

The third and lowest grade of marriage, which we see so tangibly, points to the highest grade as well: the marriage between God and His people, between Christ and His Church, between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man.

Isaiah foretells the history of God's people in chapter 54:

Sing, 0 barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in travail!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

than the children of her that is married, says the Lord.

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; hold not back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,

and your descendants will possess the nations

and will people the desolate cities.

Times of dryness and of being forsaken by the Spirit shall be followed by times of marvelous fruitfulness of spirit. Again the time shall be, when the spirit of love and purity, of community and brotherliness, of justice and concord, shall be poured out over you. This spirit of oneness shall bring about mission. Then you will go out to the poorest people, to the lowliest and most oppressed, to proclaim to them the time of salvation and the justice of God's people.

Then will come the time of great fruitfulness. In the very midst of the time of decline, a new movement will arise in which throngs of people will come to the Father's house, to the justice of God's people, to the unity of the Spirit.

Isaiah continues:

Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame;

for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.

Thus God will marry His people. The forsaken woman is once more accepted by God; the material world will once again become the communion of the spirit and the flesh.

The marriage between God and His people becomes visible as a fellowship of justice, a justice for the wretched. This justice is not possible unless God becomes one with His people; unless the people, God's people, become His spouse. Just as a wife is devoted to her husband and surrounds him with the proofs of her love, so too the holy mountain will be fruitful. And the bridegroom will be a bridegroom of justice. And this justice will become visible. The city is now shown to be a city of open gates, of concord, a city with community of work and community of goods, a city of perfect love. That is the holy mountain.

This holy mountain cannot be attained unless the bridegroom of justice has made his dwelling in the city. He is beloved by justice; he is the one who protects justice on earth. There is no other justice than that of unclouded unity and community.

Let us believe in the bridegroom of justice! Then his justice will come to all those who dwell in the city. It will be evident that this justice is valid, not before men but before God. This is the justice that appeared with Christ Jesus in His living and dying. This is the first grade of justice: our bodies are to be bound no longer by the service of injustice, but by the service of justice.

The second grade of justice is that which results when visible justice springs forth from the marvelous justice of faith. Hand in hand, brothers work together to bring as many as possible in from out of the world, so that a loving throng may be assembled from this world and the third grade of justice may make its appearance.

Thus the kingdom of heaven is like a king who holds his son's wedding. The kingdom of heaven is compared to a wedding. There is no one who is uninvited. All are called, without exception. Not one is too pious to be invited. None is too godless to have been invited long ago. The bridegroom is the King of justice and the bride is the Church.

The bridegroom's friends stand and listen to him. When the bridegroom is present we must rejoice. We must pass on the joy of the wedding to people, we must bring them this news: the hour of the bridegroom is now; the moment of his arrival is now. Repent! Christ wants to show himself.

The Church must be brought to Christ as a pure virgin. The Church's task, therefore, is to wait for Christ in spotless readiness. A Church with the ultimate earnestness, with the holiest task, does not believe in people but believes for people, believes that the spirit rules over the body through the soul. This can take place only when God's Spirit commands the body.

The bright, pure raiment of the Church is the justice that has meaning in God's eyes. It is the justice of works, the justice that comes forth from the Church. Anyone who does not have this raiment of justice cannot take part in the wedding of the Lamb.

The Church does not consist in a gathered people, a people who by the strength of their hands have built up a communal life. The Church does not consist in these people who are brought together. The Church is the Jerusalem above, the mother of us all. We recognize this final fact in our faith in the Holy Spirit. We do not believe in a church that comes from human beings. We believe only in a single, perfect Church that comes to us from God through the Holy Spirit.

This fact, that the Church comes to us, is the ultimate reality of community life. We confess openly that we would never have been able to remain together in community had we not experienced this hourly coming down of the Spirit. We are not important, but the Spirit coming down to us-this is what is important. This is not a subjective feeling on the part of individuals, a feeling in which they may be mistaken; it is the objective fact of the Church.

The Holy Spirit comes only where He gives the Church to men. There is no other coming than the coming in the unity of His Church.

Where the bride is, the bridegroom is. Where the city-church is, the Spirit is. The one and only way the city-church can come into being is through the Spirit coming to us.

God's kingdom is justice in complete fellowship, peace, and unity; it is joy in perfect love. God's kingdom does not exist except in the coming of the Holy Spirit.

We know that a community of will has been formed when these very results become evident in that community: the proclamation of truth, conversion through complete repentance, dedication in complete faith and complete love which becomes reality in the community of action.

The coming of the Spirit to the gathered people in community—we testify to this through the place of Christian marriage in the perfect unity of the Church.