......................................
Wedding Rings
Because God has not commanded
the use of any token to symbolize the marriage between two people in a wedding,
the choice is yours whether to use rings or not.
What does the Bible say about wedding
rings? What do they symbolize?
There
is not much evidence, if any, that suggests wedding rings have any religious
significance. The Bible is also silent about them.
Nevertheless,
many feel a ring symbolizes a never-ending circle of eternal love.
The
use of a ring in a wedding most likely came from an old Roman custom that
predates Christianity.
At a
time when arranged marriages were quite common, this token was likely a pledge
to fulfill the marriage contract.
Though
they had doubts about their use, Christians in the Roman Empire tolerated
wedding rings given in a betrothal ceremony.
In
the first century, it was common for those who were financially well off, both
Jews and Gentiles, to wear several rings (wedding, etc.) on their fingers as a
sign of their wealth and status in society.
The
book of James warns that those who wear such jewelry in church should not
be favored and respected more than those who do not (James 2:1-4).
The Bible does not mention any rings or other tokens of love used
in marriage ceremonies.
It does, however, have much to say about courtship and offers
couples a clear admonition on how to treat each other (Ephesians 5:22-25,
28).
Jesus underscored the importance of marriage as a lifelong
commitment by referring back to God's institution of the marriage covenant (Matthew 19:4-6).
Because God has not commanded the use of any token to symbolize
the marriage between two people in a wedding, the choice is yours whether to
use rings or not.
If their use encourages faithfulness to strengthen the marriage
bond then their use may be a good thing.
Traditions
One
European marriage tradition involves engraving a mate's name and the marriage
date on the inside surface of wedding rings.
In
the Old Testament, it was a tradition that the bride stood on the groom's right
hand side (Psalm 45:9).
The
right hand was thought a place of honor.
Modern
wedding tradition, however, places the bride on the groom's LEFT side as they
both face the person who officiates the ceremony.
Why
did the switch occur?
It
seems this placement grew out of the Middle Ages, when grooms (who many times
had to defend their brides during the ceremony) needed to have their right hand
free during the wedding ceremony in order to grab their swords.
Why
do people wear wedding rings on the next to last finger of the left hand?
This
tradition came out of the ancient Roman belief that this finger was the only
one that contained a vein that led directly to a person's heart.
Jewish
tradition places a simple ring (no stones or inscriptions) on the bride's first
finger of her right hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment