Question
Please can a father who is a minister of the gospel be disciplined on the ground of his grown daughter getting married to a man from Anglican church and conducting her wedding in Anglican church?
Answer
There are three questions that need to be resolved in order to answer your question: (1) Is it a sin for a Christian to marry an unbeliever?, (2) Is it a sin to have an Anglican wedding?, and (3) Did the father condone and lend his support to this marriage and wedding? I will examine each question in order.
Two passages are commonly used to try to prove it is sinful for a Christian to marry an unbeliever: First Corinthians 7:39 and Second Corinthians 6:14.
Let’s examine Second Corinthians 6:14 first. “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” The passage doesn’t mention marriage, nor does its context. Whatever linking of believers to unbelievers is forbidden is true of all relationships. If it’s sinful for a believer to marry an unbeliever, it’s sinful for a Christian go into business with a sinner. The passage doesn’t just forbid entering a relationship, it forbids being in the relationship. If it means a Christian must not marry a sinner, it means a believer married to an unbeliever must divorce the unbeliever. But the apostle Paul specifically forbids this (1 Corinthians 7:12-13). The immediate context of the verse reveals its meaning and application. “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Christians must not share in the sins of unbelievers.
First Corinthians 7:39 states: “A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” The meaning of the phrase “in the Lord” varies depending mainly on its context. It can certainly refer to being a Christian (Romans 16:11). But it can also mean “in harmony with the Lord’s will.” The apostle Paul commands, “Children, obey your parents in the lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1). He does not mean that children should obey their parents only if they are Christians but that children should obey their parents as long as the parents’ will does not contradict the Lord’s will. If Paul requires that widows marry Christians, he has set a requirement for them that the Lord has not set for other people. I know of no compelling, scriptural reason to take this position. So my position is that he requires widows, along with all, to marry someone whom they have the right to marry, a man who has the scriptural right to marry.
There is often a course that is good and another that is better (1 Corinthians 7:38). It is not a sin for a Christian to marry an unbeliever, but it is better to marry a Christian.
Is It a sin to have an Anglican wedding? Anglicans, like Catholics, view marriage as a sacrament of the church. This, of course, has no support in Scripture. Marriage predates the church by as far as the garden in Eden predates the Pentecost of Acts chapter two.
I have attended an Anglican wedding (Actually, Episcopal, as that denomination is known in America). The Lord’s Supper (called in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer “Holy Communion”) was served by an officiating priest to the couple getting married, although it was a week day (cf. Acts 20:7). Of course, this is wrong. So, I conclude that participating in such a wedding is sinful.
I do not know whether the father of the bride condoned the wedding or not. I cannot condone an Anglican wedding (I am not saying the couple is not married; they are).
