18 Bible Verses for an Engagement, and Why Betrothal Was Already Binding

Équipe Christian Pure

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Résumé

  • Betrothal in Scripture was legally binding: Matthew 1:19 has Joseph planning to divorce Mary before any wedding had taken place.
  • Ruth 1:16-17, read at weddings everywhere, was said to a widowed mother-in-law with nothing to gain.
  • Malachi 2:14 names God as the witness between the couple, which is the difference between a contract and a covenant.
  • 1 Corinthians 13 was written to a congregation suing its own members — conflict instruction rather than wedding poetry, which is why it survives a real marriage.
  • Amos 3:3 makes agreement the condition of walking together rather than its fruit, and an engagement is the season for finding out how much exists.

In the Bible, an engagement was already a binding thing. Betrothal was not a period of deciding. It was a covenant with legal standing, which is why Matthew says Joseph, finding Mary pregnant before the wedding, “had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:19). The word used of a man who had not yet had a wedding is divorce. That one detail changes the weight we give the season, and we have gathered the eighteen passages below around it:…

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Bibliographie (cliquer pour afficher)

Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.

Betrothal’s legal standing is visible in Matthew 1:18-19, where Joseph, not yet married, considers divorce.

Paul’s setting for 1 Corinthians 13 is the congregation he addresses in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 and 11:17-22.

The virtues Colossians 3:14 covers are listed at Colossians 3:12-13.

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