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marriage, are reckoned as the same in the sight of God. It is He who said "she is thine aunt." Now if your aunt-in-law be your aunt, your sister-in-law is your sister.
Again, marriage with a wife's daughter or granddaughter is forbidden because "they are" thy near kinswomen, verse 17. What makes them "thy near kinswomen"? They are no blood relations. It is the oneness of husband and wife. "They shall be one flesh" (Gen. ii. 24). These words are repeated emphatically by our Blessed Lord (Matt. xix. 2) who added "so then they are no more twain but one flesh" (Mark x. 8.) This absolute unity and identity of man and wife is used as the type of the perfect union between Christ and His Church. He is our Head (Eph. v. 23,) "and we are members of His body," and after His example "so ought men to love their wives as (being) their own bodies." He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, &c., see (1 Cor. xi. 2.)
Husband and wife being one, the wife's kindred are the husband's kindred, and stand in exactly the same relationship to him as to her. And that this is not merely a deduction of right reason, but a Scriptural principle, is proved by the Divine assertion that the wife of an uncle "is thine aunt" the daughter or granddaughter of a wife is[1] "thy near kinswoman," and the wife of a father or a brother is spoken of as identical with her husband.
This is sufficient to settle the whole question for those who take the word of God as the infallible Rule of Righteousness, but there are many other considerations which must lead to the same conclusion.
- ↑ This is the translation of one of the best of modern versions, the French by Professor Segond. But if "her near kinswoman" is right, it follows that nearness of kin to the wife prevents marriage with the husband.
