Marriage as a Covenant: The Old and New Testament Insights Within the Wedding at Cana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/ROOTS.2025.2.8Keywords:
Marriage, Covenant, Song of Songs, Wedding at Cana, Christ and the ChurchAbstract
Marriage in the biblical tradition is revealed as a divine institution established from the creation of the world, intended to ensure both the perpetuation of humanity and the communion between man and woman as an icon of God’s harmony. The Old Testament presents marriage as a covenantal reality, marked by the tension between the divine ideal of monogamy and the historical distortions brought by sin, yet always oriented toward the Creator’s original design. The Song of Songs offers a profound theological vision of conjugal love, in which eros, friendship, and fidelity converge in an exclusive, reciprocal relationship, elevating marital intimacy to the sphere of holiness and freedom. The prophetic writings unfold marriage as the privileged metaphor of God’s covenant with Israel, wherein divine fidelity surpasses human infidelity. This symbolism culminates in the Wedding at Cana, where Christ, through the transformation of water into wine, inaugurates the messianic time and raises marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. In this perspective, human marriage becomes an icon of the eternal covenant between Christ and the Church, a space where divine grace transfigures human love into communion with God.
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