Dist. 26, Art. 1, Q. 2
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/26/q/bon-sent-IV-d26-a1-q2
----------------------------------------
### Question II. *By whom the Sacrament of matrimony was instituted.*

Secondly it is asked, by whom the Sacrament of matrimony was instituted. And that it was by God, it seems:

1. By that passage of Matthew nineteen: *What God has joined together, let no man separate*; this is said of the joining which is in matrimony: therefore, if this is from God: it is evident, etc.

2. Likewise, this same thing seems [so]: because in Genesis one God said to them: *Increase and multiply*; but that increase was through the use of the matrimonial act: therefore matrimony was instituted by God.

3. Likewise, this same thing is shown *by reason*: because, if the Sacraments are from the human will, and everything of that sort is variable and mutable, whereas the Sacraments are immutable, it seems that not only this one, but also all the others are instituted by God.

4. Likewise, the greater the Sacraments are, by so much the greater is he by whom they must be instituted; but the Sacrament of matrimony is especially great, as is said to the Ephesians five: *This is a great sacrament*: therefore it was instituted by the greatest God, not by man.

**On the contrary:**

1. The institution of matrimony was in that word: *This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh*, etc.; but that word was Adam's, not God's: therefore it was instituted by man, not by God.

2. Likewise, if the Sacrament of matrimony is instituted by God, and in those things which are instituted by God the Church can change or arrange nothing: therefore neither concerning matrimony. But all day long it dispenses as regards this Sacrament: therefore, etc.

3. Likewise, it is not read that God spoke concerning matrimony, except when he said: *Increase and multiply*, etc.; and since this was also said to the beasts, it seems that he established it even among the beasts. But this is unfitting: therefore, etc.

4. Likewise, matrimony is contracted through human consent: therefore it is a human contract;

but human contracts are instituted by men: therefore, etc.

> **Conclusion.** The Sacrament of Matrimony was instituted by God, Adam being inwardly illumined.

**I respond:** It must be said that the institution of matrimony is from God. — But it must be noted that certain Sacraments are purely of faith, such as baptism and confirmation and the like; but certain ones are not only of faith, but also of the natural dictate; and such are penance and matrimony, yet nevertheless they are not wholly of the dictate of natural law. Those which are of the first mode God instituted *by commanding*; those which are of the second mode he instituted *by inwardly illumining*; and thus he instituted matrimony. Hence he himself did not command Adam to take Eve as wife, but illumined him inwardly, that he might understand that she was to be given to him as wife, and that for all his descendants wives were to be joined in that manner through free consent. Hence Adam, thus illumined, said: *This now is bone*, etc., and, as the Master says in the text, he spoke prophetically; and therefore that word was not from himself, but from God: and therefore the institution of this Sacrament was from God.

**To the arguments:**

*Ad 1.* And thus the first is evident.

*Ad 2.* To that which is objected, that then the Church can change nothing; it must be said that the Lord instituted the Sacrament as to form and as to matter, so far as befitted that time, excepting only father and mother; and because other persons according to diverse times had to accord with the institution, he left the legitimacy of persons to be dispensed by the Church; and concerning this the Church dispenses.

*Ad 3.* To that which is objected, that the Lord did not speak concerning matrimony except there: *Increase and multiply*; it must be said that this is false; nay rather, he spoke through Adam, when Adam, illumined by the Holy Spirit, spoke that word in the person of God; and this is evident, because in Matthew nineteen he repeats it as the word of God.

*Ad 4.* To that which is objected, that it is a human contract; it must be said that it is not *purely* human; and this is evident thus. For in matrimony there are two things: both the mutual *obligation* and the *indissolubility* of the mutual obligation; and although the first is *of man*, the second is *of the one instituting*; and by reason of that indissolubility matrimony especially holds the character of a Sacrament and of a sacred sign: and therefore it has its origin not from man, but from God; and this will appear better below, when the indissolubility of matrimony is treated.