# WCF 21.5 and 22: Is a wedding a worship service



## Romans922 (Sep 12, 2008)

Below is WCF 21.5 and chapter 22. 

I have a few questions:

1) Are we to take vows here meaning Marital Vows (thus, weddings are worship services)?
2) What did the Westminster Divines think about this same question?
3) What is the history of the Church's view on this same question?

I ask because I want to know if a wedding is a wedding ceremony or a worship service. Thus, many implications would arise from this. 

Solos: Wedding Ceremony (Yes); Worship Service (No)
Photography: Wedding Ceremony (Yes); Worship Service (No)

Help please.


> XXI.V. The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear,[17] the sound preaching[18] and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence,[19] singing of psalms with grace in the heart;[20] as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God:[21] beside religious oaths,[22] vows,[23] solemn fastings,[24] and thanksgivings upon special occasions,[25] which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner.[26]





> XXII.I. A lawful oath is part of religious worship,[1] wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calls God to witness what he asserts, or promises, and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he swears.[2]
> II. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence.[3] Therefore, to swear vainly, or rashly, by that glorious and dreadful Name; or, to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred.[4] Yet, as in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New Testament as well as under the old;[5] so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters, ought to be taken.[6]
> III. Whosoever takes an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth:[7] neither may any man bind himself by oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believes so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform.[8] Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority.[9]
> IV. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation, or mental reservation.[10] It cannot oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt.[11] Not is it to be violated, although made to heretics, or infidels.[12]
> ...


http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/XXI_fn.html#fn25


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Sep 12, 2008)

http://www.puritanboard.com/f67/should-marriage-integrated-into-worship-service-1250/
http://www.puritanboard.com/f54/wedding-sabbath-5383/
http://www.puritanboard.com/f47/communion-weddings-15462/
http://www.puritanboard.com/f15/wedding-sabbath-21456/
http://www.puritanboard.com/f47/minister-officiating-wedding-cerermonies-4504/

It is not a worship service any more than some other proceeding which contains certain religious elements (like an oath in a courtroom) although the church has a role in solemnizing marriage for believers. The Westminster Divines in the Directory of Public Worship advised that weddings not take place on the Lord's Day. It is a civil function primarily as it a creation ordinance for all people, believers and unbelievers, and not exclusive to the church, though believers ought to involve the church.


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## Grace Alone (Sep 28, 2008)

Wow, that sort of blows my mind. We got married on a Sunday afternoon and I thought it was a wonderful day to get married. It is a real stretch for me to see how it is wrong to have a simple church wedding on a Sunday afternoon. It certainly would not replace the worship service, so why wouldn't it honor the Lord to have a Christian marriage ceremony in the church on the Lord's Day afternoon?


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