Bouwman Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage

By Rev C Bouwman

Summary of Bouwman Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage

This is a 15 chapter work on marriage. Bouwman looks at the OT background, and the spiritual aspect of marriage as paralleling our relationship (Israel’s) with God as husband and wife. He has a chapter on divorce (his position is that it is valid for fornication).

Chapter Content of Bouwman Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage

01. INTRODUCTION
02. WHY A COURSE ON THE MARRIAGE FORM?
1. To combat secular influences on marriage
2. It is the consistory’s responsibility to instruct the congregation about God’s ordinance of marriage ARTICLE 67 – Marriage
3. The Marriage Form is the vehicle to Scripture’s instruction concerning marriage
03. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE SOLEMNISATION OF MARRIAGE AND THE MARRIAGE FORM
04. MARRIAGE “IN THE NAME OF THE LORD”
05. THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE – Genesis 2:18-24
   THE CREATION OF MAN AND WOMAN AND THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE
Sixth Day Overview
Sixth Day Detailed
06. GOD’S PRINCIPLES FOR MARRIAGE AS TAUGHT IN GENESIS 2:18
God’s assessment of man’s aloneness: “It is not good that man should be alone.”
God’s answer to man’s aloneness: the woman as helper
1. Companion for Each Other
2. The Woman as Helper
3. Order in Creation: the Man First, the Woman Second
4. The First Wedding Song.
5. God’s Principles for Marriage as Taught in Genesis 2:24
Conclusion
07. THE RESTORATION OF MARRIAGE – John 2:1-11
THE FALL INTO SIN AND MARRIAGE BREAKDOWN
CHRIST’S REDEEMING WORK AND THE RESTORATION OF MARRIAGE
Christ’s Gospel for Marriage
08. THE PERMANENCE OF MARRIAGE – Matthew 19:6
09. GOD: ISRAEL’S FAITHFUL HUSBAND
God and Abraham
God and Jacob
God and the Seventh Commandment
10. ISRAEL: GOD’S UNFAITHFUL WIFE
11. GOD’S RESPONSE TO ISRAEL’S FAITHLESSNESS
12. THIS MOTIF CONTINUED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
13. SCRIPTURE ON DIVORCE
Adultery: the ONE Permissible Ground for Divorce
The Case of the Unbelieving Spouse
14. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CHURCH’S STANCE ON DIVORCE
15. CONCLUSION

Introduction

For so many of us, the Form of the Solemnisation of Marriage has a very unique significance. It is the form that is read out on our wedding day, and contains the questions to which we voiced – maybe with eagerness, maybe with trepidation – those loaded words, “I do”; Since that day, though, we’ve learned in the hard school of life that life’s busyness has moved that Form more than an arm’s length from us.
Others, particularly the young, answer the urges God has created within them by searching for a potential marriage partner. But what should they seek in such a partner? What is marriage really all about? How can they prepare for marriage? As it turns out, the Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage gives golden answers to these questions and so many more.
Yet before we come to that Form itself, I want to spend some more time considering why a post confession course on the Marriage Form is in place. Ought the church not to restrict its teaching to, say, the confessions of the church?

Bouwman Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage