Matrimony Vows (1928 BCP)

Matrimony Vows (1928 BCP) are the public promises made by the man and the woman in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer office for Matrimony. They stand after the minister's charge concerning lawful marriage and before the ring, prayers, pronouncement, and blessing. In the rite, marriage is not private sentiment alone: it is a public covenant made before God and witnesses, governed by God's ordinance, and blessed in the Name of the Holy Trinity.

The vows treat marriage as more than private affection or civil contract. It is a public covenant made before God and witnesses, governed by God's ordinance, interpreted by Scripture, blessed in the Name of the Holy Trinity, and ordered toward lifelong fidelity, mutual charity, holiness, and peace.

Place in the Prayer Book

The 1928 BCP directs that the persons to be married come into the body of the church, or be ready in some proper house, with friends and neighbours present. That setting gives the office both ecclesial and domestic meaning. The Church solemnizes the marriage publicly, while also recognizing that the married state will be lived out in the ordinary life of the home.

At the day and time appointed for Solemnization of Matrimony, the Persons to be married shall come into the body of the Church, or shall be ready in some proper house, with their friends and neighbours.

The office therefore stands between altar and household. It is not a eucharistic rite in itself, but it belongs within the same Prayer Book world as Baptism, Confirmation, the Daily Office, Holy Communion, and family prayer.

Holy Estate and Scriptural Ground

The opening exhortation defines Matrimony as a holy and honourable estate. It grounds marriage in creation, Christ's presence at Cana, apostolic teaching, and the union of Christ and his Church.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony.

The minister's charge also warns against unlawful union. In the Prayer Book, civil regularity, public consent, and obedience to God's Word belong together. The office leaves civil contract questions to state law, but it does not reduce marriage to the civil contract.

If any persons are joined together otherwise than as God's Word doth allow, their marriage is not lawful.

Consent and Vows

The first spoken act of the couple is consent. Each person is asked whether he or she will receive the other as spouse, live together after God's ordinance, and keep exclusive fidelity so long as both shall live.

Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?

The answer "I will" is followed by the plighting of troth. The vow names time, adversity, poverty, sickness, love, and death. Its language makes marriage a promised way of life, not merely a ceremony at its beginning.

I N. take thee N. to my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.

I N. take thee N. to my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.

Ring, Prayer, and Blessing

The ring is given in the Name of the Holy Trinity. The optional blessing of the ring asks that the giver and wearer may abide in God's peace and favour, but the rite's chief emphasis remains the vow and covenant between the man and woman.

With this Ring I thee wed: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The prayer asks that the couple may keep the covenant made between them, remain in perfect love and peace, and live according to God's laws. The office thus joins grace and obligation: the couple promise fidelity, and the Church prays for the divine blessing by which fidelity can be lived.

O GOD, who hast so consecrated the state of Matrimony that in it is represented the spiritual marriage and unity betwixt Christ and his Church.

This prayer is one of the clearest theological sentences in the 1928 marriage office. It interprets marriage through Ephesians 5, where the love of husband and wife is set within the greater mystery of Christ and the Church.

Pronouncement and Indissolubility

After prayer, the minister joins the couple's right hands and declares the dominical sentence on marriage. The words are drawn from Christ's teaching in Matthew 19 and mark the union as God's act, not only the Church's or the state's.

Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

The pronouncement that follows is Trinitarian: the minister declares the couple man and wife "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The final blessing asks that they may live together in this life and have everlasting life in the world to come. The office therefore sets domestic faithfulness inside the larger horizon of salvation.

Appointed Scripture

The 1928 propers appoint Ephesians 5:20-33 and Matthew 19:4-6 for Matrimony. These lessons are not ornamental readings. They supply the scriptural logic by which the Prayer Book understands the marriage covenant.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.

Ephesians gives the office its Christological depth. The husband is not given a model of domination but of sacrificial love; the household is to be ordered by reverence, charity, and the self-giving pattern of Christ. Matthew gives the office its creation and permanence logic:

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Together the lessons explain why the rite speaks of God's ordinance, exclusive fidelity, lifelong promise, and the spiritual marriage between Christ and the Church.

Historical Revision and Anglican Interpretation

The 1928 American vows should also be read historically. The older 1662 English office required the woman to promise obedience in both the preliminary promise and the marriage vow, and the ring formula included bodily worship and endowment with goods.

I N. take thee N. to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.

E. Clowes Chorley, historiographer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, identified this equalization of the promises as a significant feature of the American 1928 revision. His account confirms that the 1928 wording was not accidental modernization but a deliberate liturgical change.

The most significant change is that the vows and promises of the man and the woman are made exactly alike by the omission of the word "obey." They both undertake precisely the same obligation.

Anthony Sparrow's Restoration-era rationale explains why the older Prayer Book placed such weight on the exchange of promises: the contract was made before God's minister and the congregation, binding the parties to the sacred laws of marriage. His comment helps interpret the 1928 vows as solemn ecclesial promises rather than decorative wording.

Then follows the Contract in the future tense, whereby these persons mutually promise to the Priest, Gods Minister, before the Congregation, to enter into that holy state of Wedlock, and strictly to keep those sacred laws of marriage which Almighty God hath ordained.

Relation to Anglican Doctrine

Classical Anglican doctrine distinguishes Matrimony from Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Article XXV names Matrimony among rites commonly called sacraments, while reserving the title "Sacraments of the Gospel" for those ordained by Christ as generally necessary to salvation.

Those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel.

This distinction does not make Matrimony a merely secular matter. It places the rite in Anglican order. Marriage is a holy estate blessed by the Church and governed by Scripture, but it is not treated as a dominical sacrament in the same sense as Baptism and Holy Communion. The Prayer Book can therefore speak strongly about the holiness of marriage while preserving the Article's sacramental boundary.

Pastoral and Catechetical Use

In parish preparation, the office should be taught from the rite itself: public consent, lawful impediments, the vow, the ring, prayer for grace, the Matthew 19 sentence, and the final blessing. This keeps teaching close to the Prayer Book and prevents marriage preparation from becoming either sentimental advice or civil procedure alone.

The office also belongs with the wider pattern of Christian formation. Baptism begins the Christian life; catechesis teaches the Creed, Commandments, and Lord's Prayer; Confirmation strengthens mature profession; Holy Communion feeds the faithful; Matrimony orders a household in which those gifts may be lived. A Prayer Book marriage is therefore not isolated from worship, doctrine, or pastoral discipline.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Occasional Offices (1928 BCP)
• Matrimony (1928 BCP)
• Marriage Blessing (1928 BCP)
• Baptism (1928 BCP)
• Confirmation (1928 BCP)
• Catechism (1928 BCP)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• At a Marriage: 1928 Book of Common Prayer propers
• E. Clowes Chorley on the 1928 Prayer Book revision
• Anthony Sparrow, Of Matrimony
• The 1662 Form of Solemnization of Matrimony
• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer