Marriage and

the Family
by R.I. Rushdoony
A
n important aspect of the
Christian :marriage service,
which was once common
in many areas and still sur-
vives in some, was the crowning of the
bride and groom. In the Armenian wed-
ding service, a crown with a cross was
worn. Prior to the wedding, on the
eve thereof, in the home of the
bridegroom, and, separately, in
the home of the bride, bride and
groom were crowned and seated
on a chair, symbolizing a
throne. Friends and relatives
then danced the circle dance
around the crowned person,
singing the crowning song. Af-
ter each stanza, the chorus took
the crowned person on a tour of
the great Armenian monastaries,
declaring in song, "Now you are
facing (the Monastery ot) the
Holy Cross, wearing red and
green. May God keep you blame-
less to enjoy your Queen," or
"Now you are facing (the Monastery ot)
St. Thomas, wearing red and green.
May God keep you blameless to enjoy
your Queen," and so on.
On the wedding day, a procession,
with music and dancing, took the bride
and groom from their homes to the
church. Both took communion as a part
of the service. The bridegroom was
mantled as a king, a cross in his crown,
a dagger in his belt to defend his realm
and dominion, and the Gospel clasped
to his breast as the principle of do-
minion. The bride also was mantled and
wore a cross in her crown. The
"sharragon" or hymn sung pertained to
their coronation.
The wedding festival lasted three
days, with the king's throne in the
wedding-hall surrounded by an honor
guard. The purpose of the service was
to set forth the family as the central
area of dominion of the redeemed man,
and the husband and wife as king and
queen, exercising dominion under God.
In some parts of Armenia, it was com-
mon for men, on coming home, to
enter their house declaring, "I am a
lord!" Outside were the ungodly Turks,
and limitations on his power; here, he
was a lord in Christ. The Armenian
word for queen, "takkuhee," was often
used as a name for girls, and men often
referred to their wives as "my queen."
These old world marriage services,
with their coronation rites, represented
relics of a post-millennia! faith, a belief
that the redeemed man is re-established
in Adam's calling to exercise dominion
and to subdue the earth under God. They
witness to the fact that the central in-
stitution for this dominion is the fami-
ly. We are told, in Genesis 1:26-28,
And God said, Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness: and let
them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air and
over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that
The Counsel of Chalcedon Aug.-Sept., 1989 page 12
creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he
him, male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said
unto them, be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it;
and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over every liVing ffii"iig that moveth
upon the earth.
This text is of central importance to
the significance of marriage. While, on
an individualistic basis, dominion is
primarily given to man (I Cor. 11:1-
16), this does not mean that it is
reserved to man. It is unto "them" male
and female, that God gives the order to
exercise dominion. A central aspect of
subduing the earth is being fruitful and
multiplying, but it is far from all of it.
It is from the family that do-
minion goes forth; the family is
thus the nursery of dominion
and the historical center thereof.
Proverbs 31:10-31 makes clear
how important the woman is to
dominion and how practical her
calling is: she manages farms
and business, and is a queen ex-
ercising dominion.
The Armenian wedding ser-
vice included a prayer blessing
the crowns, and praying for the
eternal crowns which do not
pass away, and for a conquest in
history over the forces of Satan:
In thy living name, God and Lord,
maker of heaven and earth, who madest
all things by the word of thy behest,
thou fashionedst man, the first Adam,
and establishedst from him the marriage
of Eve. Thou blessedst the marriage of
Seth, and therefrom the earth increased
down to Abraham. Thou blessedst the
marriages of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
and they increased on earth and were
crowned in heaven. Out of the stock of
Judah thou blessedst David, and from
the seed of David, Mariam, and from
her didst beget the Saviour of the world,
for thou becamest crowner of all Saints.
Now with blessing let this crown be
blessed and the marriage of these per-
sons, that this servant and handmaid of
thine may pass their lives in peace in
all religiousness, To the end that Satan
be driven afar from their midst, and thy
mercy may come upon them, and that
we may utter to thee praise and glory,
together with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, now and ever.
Genesis 1:28 is often cited with re-
spect to the creation mandate to exercise
dominion, but it is too rarely noted that
the primary purpose of marriage is not
simply procreation, but that procreation
is an aspect of subduing the earth and
exercising dominion over it. This do-
minion is total: it is to include all the
earth and "every living thing that
moveth upon the earth." This mandate
to dominion is to man as male and fe-
male, and it is inherent in every institu-
tion man creates and every area of his
life. It is essential to the life of church,
state, and school, to the arts, sciences,
to every calling and every phase of life,
but, in its primary assignment and ori-
entation, it is given to the fami-
ly. The central area of dominion
All three children are exerc1smg do-
minion under God, and all three have a
strong sense of family. The daughter,
nearing retirement herself, has more of
a family life in her effect on other fami-
lies, and the love she has earned, than
the lawless mother in the first family.
In the first family, family life means
little more than a legal sexual relation-
ship and life under one roof, an essen-
tially biological concept of family life.
In the second family, family life is a
form of social organization with theo-
logical premises, so that it exists and
governs where no sexual relationship
exists.
The family as a social organization is
the prime area of dominion. It has far
more than personal significance. Origin-
ally, and, to some degree, in some areas
of the world, the family in the larger
sense, as clan and tribe has been ex-
but the pietist fails to see Christ as
King over Church, state, school, fami-
ly, vocation, arts and sciences, and
every area of life, and the pietist fails
thus to see the social significance of re-
demption and Christ's kingship.
The family in Biblical law controls
three centr11l areas of life, the control of
which governs society. Any institution
or agency which controls children, pro-
perty, and inheritance is the determining
agency in any society. Not surprising-
ly, the modem state, in its totalitarian
designs, has invaded all three areas in
varying degrees, by means of property
taxes, inheritance taxes, statist schools,
and laws limiting the jurisdiction of the
family. The state seeks to be the new
family of man.
The state, moreover, claims do-
minion over the earth and over man. It
has separated itself from God and pre-
sented itself as the new god and
creator, the source of determina-
is thus not politics nor econo-
mics but the family under God.
The family cannot be limited
to the modem atomistic family,
those living under one roof as
husband, wife, and children. The
marriage unit of husband and
wife is the nuclear family, but it
it not the sum total of the fami-
ly. To illustrate: on the one
hand, a family with three chil-
dren, nominally religious, is in
no sense Christian nor an area
The state is thus of necessity
hostile to the Biblical doctrine of
marriage and the family. The
state and the family represent
two rival powers claiming
jurisdiction over the same
territory and claiming the same
tion or predestination. The state
is thus of necessity hostile to
the Biblical doctrine of marriage
and the family. The state and
the family represent two rival
powers claiming jurisdiction
over the same territory and
claiming the same powers of do-
minion.
However, the degree to which
the state takes over the govern-
ment of man from man and the
family is also the degree to
which it disintegrates the soul
of man and the stability of
of dominion. Each member goes
his own way: there is no sense
of any moral responsibility to God or
to one another, nor to the grandparents.
This is a marriage and a family, but in
a biological sense and a legal sense, not
in a Christian or moral sense, in that
even adultery and fornication are tolerat-
ed within limits. In another case, the
family has three children, two sons and
one daughter. A son and daughter have
never married; all three children reside
some distance from home. They are,
however, a godly family. The parents
are supported in retirement by the un-
married son and daughter, with help
from the other son. The married son
was helped through the university by
his brother and sister. The family has
helped other relatives, and some friends
as well, and, while absent from their
small town home, have been important
in aiding some Christian causes therein.
power of dominion.
tremely important. The weakness of
these older forms has been the primacy
of blood rather than of faith. By in-
sisting on the primacy of blood, the
theological significance of the family
has been obscured, and, instead of do-
minion, the clan or tribe has aimed at
power. This has meant a separation
from rightful and godly authority and a
divorce of power from its justification
in terms of an ultimate moral law.
On the other hand, in the modem
world, romanticism and pietism have
reduced the family to the personal and
emotional level, so that marriage and
the family become purely personal to
the parties involved, and they are
indifferent to the theological and social
significance thereof. Thus, the pietist
sees Christ as King in the personal
sense, "my Lord," which indeed He is,
society. Because God located the pri-
mary exercise of dominion in and
through the family, it means that if
church, state, school, or any other
agency weakens the family the end
result is a weakening of themselves.
Dominion is best exercised in every
area when it is best exercised first of all
in the family. The nursery of man's life
is also the nursery of man's dominion
under God.
Because the family as a social organ-
ization is the prime area of dominion, it
has also been a primary area of deforma-
tion. Social deformation began as the
family saw itself as an area of tyranni-
cal power, as in ancestor worship. The
family was made into a lawless domain
wherein the head of the house or clan
exercised vast powers to the destruction
of its members. In Scotland, for ex-
The Counsel of Chalcedon Aug.-Sept., 1989 page 13
ample, the Highland clan chiefs treated
clan members as slaves without title to
their lands and lives. In old China, the
family could take the life of its mem-
bers or reduce them to servitude at will.
The Biblical family is a radical break
with the blood family. In the Biblical
family, ostracism is not, according to
Scripture, for violations of clan law in

God's law. All members of the family
are placed under God's law. Instead of a
purely immanent frame of reference, the
family in Scripture has a transcendental
framework and law.
Moreover, the particular family is
required to align itself with the cove-
.-- nant family as the family of God. The
early Christians spoke of themselves as
the "third race" (as against Greeks and
barbarians), and the "Christian race."
As a family, through the deacons, they
cared for their sick, unemployed,
widows, orphans, and needy members.
The church must be seen as the new
larger family; the twelve disciples re-
placed the twelve tribes, the old family
unity of blood, as the new family gov-
ernment and structure.
In the modem world, the nuclear
family sees freedom in dissociation
from its members. Relatives, grand-
parents, and then children are separated
from the family, not only physically,
having other residences, which is nor-
mal, but emotionally. The smaller the
family becomes, the weaker it is. Most
not marure-enougn tcflake-
the total brunt of one another's foibles
and weaknesses. The more people we
must live with, the more readily we
will make ourselves agreeable to one
another. Television is much given to
portraying dramatic clashes of persons
on frontier out-posts, in wagon trains,
and in like situations. This is nonsense.
People in such a context could not af-
ford to quarrel easily with one another;
they needed one another too much. As a
result, tension and conflict over minor
matters, while always present, was not
as freely indulged in. Those who have
known people from the pioneer era can
witness to their far greater tolerance of
foibles and weaknesses; such people
could speak candidly about the faults of
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to Rebuild America
Theme: Restoring Biblical Foundations
September 22-23, 1989
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Johnson City, Tennessee

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Home School Work Shop (Friday evening, Sept. 22) with
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The Counsel of Chalcedon Aug.-Sept., 1989 page 14
others with no intention of breaking
with them or fighting readily about
matters of difference.
In a modem urban context, we have
from thousands to millions of people
living around us. Being sinners, we
thus know that we have vast resources
for fellowship and friendship. As a
result, we can quarrel with some and
jOin-ours-elVes- -to-others --very-casua.lly.
We develop a low tolerance as a con-
sequence. People are expendable as
friends, because there are so many
people around us. The result too is a
lowered ability to put up with the
foibles of relatives and family mem-
bers .
The same problem besets the church.
A man or woman who troubles one
church can move from one congregation
to another indefinitely and find a new
area in which to exploit their foibles,
and the result is an undisciplined situa-
tion. The consequence is not dominion
but anarchy.
The wedding crown was once com-
mon to much of Christendom. It was a
symbol of the purpose of the Christian
family, to function as a particular area
of dominion under God, the key area in
which children and property are held. If
responsibility and dominion wane in
the family, they will wane in all soci-
ety.
Technically, the doctrine of salvation
means the soverieign acts of God's re-
deeming grace. This act, however, does
not occur in a vacuum and cannot be
held in abstraction from life. Man was
created to exercise dominion and to
subdue the earth under God, to develop
the implications of creation in terms of
God's law. Man's salvation is his
restoration to this calling. Where salva-
tion is present, there man awakens to
his calling and works to fulfill it.
Salvation means God's sovereign grace
and regenerating power in the life of
man. The idea of impotent Christianity
is a contradiction of terms. The power
of God in man's life means his active
kingship in every area, and an im-
mediate battle against the claims of the
Kingdom of Man. The family is the
first area of that kingdom, and the cere-
monial crowning of the bride and
groom was an expression of that faith.
by from Salva-
tion and uodty Rule, by Rousas John
Rushdoony, 1983, Ross House Books, P.O.
Box 67, Vallecito, California 95251.] Q