09/15/2026
Have you ever heard a wedding vow that struck you as, well, odd? Or maybe you heard this simple set of vows, wondering if there was any biblical basis to them. We looked at each vow, and then compared it that what the Bible says on the subject:
"I take thee to be my wedded wife/husband."
Marriage is a personal choice and comes with life-long responsibility. There's a reason a wedding is such a big occasion. It's a joining of two unique people in holy matrimony, becoming one flesh.
“And the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Mark 10:8-9
"To have and to hold."
This vow isn’t talking about cuddling (though of course intimacy in marriage is a rich blessing from God, and is really part of this vow as well), it’s referring to a deep bond of oneness and unity.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24
"For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health"
This promise is about choosing love and commitment through life’s ups and downs. We aren't promised happiness in this life, so this vow holds us to endurance in love.
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:7
"’Til death do us part."
This last vow is a vow of lifelong commitment. In a world of temporary things, an emphasis on seasons, replacing what's broken instead of fixing it, this vow both biblical and counter-cultural.
Marriage is a bond that only death should dissolve.
“What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
Mark 10:9