The indissolubility of marriageis based on a misinterpretation of Ephesians 5,which likens the relationship between husband and wifeto the relationship between Christ and the church.The latter relationship is a mystery,mysterion in Greek.Unfortunately the Latin word for mystery was sacramentum,and Augustine mistakenly argued thatthe mystery found in the Christ-church relationshipmust also be found in the husband-wife relationship.Since Augustine believedthe Christ-church relationship could not be broken,he erroneously concluded thatthe husband-wife relationship must be indissoluble.
Centuries later, medieval schoolmen or scholasticscompounded the errorby misinterpreting Augustinethinking that when he said that there is a sacramentum in marriage,he meant that marriage confers a sacramentlike baptism, confirmation, and so on.This is how scholastic theology came to the false conclusionthat marriage is a sacramentand that it is indissoluble.Little did the bishops at the Council of Trent realizethat their doctrine was based on a bad translation of Augustine,whose theology in turnwas based on a misunderstanding of the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Christian marriage is not indissolubleand there is no need for annulments,and Catholics do not sin when they divorce and remarry.An edited and reformatted excerptof an article on Catholica
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