"Gudz goda werck och skickelse"

Sammanfattning: ABSTRACT The purpose of this essay is to compare the Church of Sweden’s current view on marriage with partly the marriage view of Martin Luther and partly the view held within the church in Sweden after the Reformation. The objects for my analysis is Luther’s Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (first published 1520, my edition 1928 in Swedish), Swedish Church Ordinance of 1571 and Church of Sweden’s Church Order of 2019. My hypothesis, derived from previous research, is that Martin Luther’s basic view of marriage is still crucial for the marriage theology of the Church of Sweden today. I will be looking at four major themes: (1) the constitution of marriage as divine or human, (2) the importance of marriage within Christian life, (3) the possibility of annulment, and (4) the relationship between church and state regarding marriage. My first conclusion is that the similarities on marriage between Luther, Swedish Church Ordinance of 1571 and Church of Sweden’s Church Order of 2019 is mainly that marriage belongs in the worldly regiment, is possible to enter separate from the church as it is a human alliance, that the relationship between Christ and his church is seen as a role model for the spouses, and that the duty of the church for the ceremony is to convey prayer, blessing and teachings of marriage. My second conclusion is that of my sources only Luther describes marriage as the natural condition in which man should live, that only Swedish Church Ordinance of 1571 stresses the responsibility of the spouses to live virtuously and that the ceremony needs to take place in church for the marriage to be valid, and that only Church of Sweden’s Church Order of 2019 describes marriage as not limited to couples of different sex, as a sign of God’s love and that the spouses family responsibilities extends beyond the own children.