Matt. 16:19 And whatsoever thou shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Would the Lord permit superfluous words
to be placed in the scriptures? Consider the issue of whether or not the word “loose”
could possibly refer to anything other than marriage and divorce.
Marriage is a contract, and there was
a bill of divorcement, according to Mark 10:4. In this scripture, Christ
indicates that divorcement was permitted because of the hardness of the people’s
hearts in the days of Moses.
Since marriage is a contract, one must
look to the words of the contract where the terms are clear, definite and
unambiguous in eliminating the area in which the implied terms are sought to be
imposed. Therefore, when the contract clearly states, “UNTIL DEATH DO US PART,”
or do not intend to be husband and wife in the hereafter,” one can not claim
the relation to continue in the hereafter.
This is why Christ told the Sadducees
in Matt. 22:23, in answer to the question of which of the seven brothers who married
the same woman would in the hereafter have here no marriage ceremonies were to
be conducted. In other words, Christ did not state that the marriage relation did
Christ did proclaim the marriage contract did exist after death where it was
sealed by one having the authority to bind on earth and bind on heaven, but
that contracts not so sealed, and also the contract itself states that it
terminates at death, that there would be no husband and wife relations after
death. It is significant to note that the above quotation follows after Matt.
16, where Christ promised the keys to bind on earth and it shall be bound in
heaven, and Chapter 17 where Peter received these keys to perform a marriage
that would be given full faith and credit in the hereafter, and where the words
“until death do us part” were not used, but the same words that are used in the
ceremony in the L. D. S. Temples, where the husband and wife are sealed for
time and eternity, conditioned only upon their keeping the covenants they undertake,
and fulfillment of the commandments of the Lord.
The L. D. S. Church having proclaimed
the authority of holding the keys to bind on earth and that these parties will
be bound in heaven, also proclaims the authority to, under one certain circumstances,
loose on earth and loose the spouses from the contract in the hereafter.
The Apostle Paul told the saints at
Corinth that in the highest degree of glory in the Celestial Kingdom there must
have been a marriage consummated by one holding the keys:
I Cor. 11:11 Nevertheless, neither is
the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. (E.
L. Schoenhals, Celestial Law [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1963],
33-34)