Someone was knocking on the door – a common enough occurrence if it hadn’t been the middle of the night. Caius turned over in his bed, saw, at a glance, that the sky was still dark and wondered if he had been dreaming.

No, there it is again! Up through the floorboards rose the sound of a knock, or rather a tap, on the wooden door below.

With a sigh, Caius pushed off his covers and rose to his feet. Someone must be in need of help. The stairs creaked as he made his way down them. Not even pausing to light a candle. 

In the room below, Caius stubbed his toe against some unseen object. He winced in pain. They’d better need help!

The sound repeated as he was reaching for the latch to open the door. Before him stood two figures, a man and a woman, silhouetted against the night sky.

“Come in.” He whispered and they readily complied. 

Caius groped through the contents of a nearby table, searching for a candle. “What brings you here at this hour?”

“We want to get married.” The young man said. “If anyone would help us, I was told it would be you.”

The priest turned to face the couple. The light of the candle in his hand, showed the girl’s worried expression and glinted off the young man’s armour.

Rome, 269 A.D.

An emperor named Claudius. A growing army of Roman soldiers. An ambitious campaign.

The Roman Empire was the leading world power for centuries. The powerful Roman army was its calling card and Emperor Claudius I intended to further increase and strengthen it’s ranks.

His strategy? Outlaw marriage.

Claudius had a hypothesis. He believed unmarried soldiers fought better than married ones.

  Married men were less willing to go off to war. When they did, their service was more likely to be inhibited by fear. Fear not only for themselves but for their families as well. What would become of their wives and children if they died?

Emperor Claudius figured he could improve his army by banning marriage. Thus, the edict went out and it became illegal for Romans to get married.

In an already promiscuous society, this didn’t seem like a big deal, for anyone except the Christians.

Rome was home to a young but growing church. A church which was already facing persecution. A church which was calling believers to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ, fully pleasing to Him (Colossians i.10). In the area of relationships between a man and a woman, this meant they were called to be chaste or married.

Obeying this aspect of God’s law suddenly became against Roman law.

An Attack on Marriage

We also live in a generation in which marriage is under attack. We may not be the subjects of an Emperor who decided to outlaw marriage in order to expand his army, but we face more subtle attacks each day — messages undermining the importance of this God-made institution.

Society tells us anyone who is “in love” should be allowed to get married and that “acts of love” shouldn’t be restricted to the confines of marriage. The truth is, God designed our sexuality and He is the only one who should determine the context in which it is used.

Marriage – A Picture of True Love

These days we constantly need to remind ourselves what love really is. Is it a feeling? An attraction?  A choice?

Or something much greater than all of those things?

John xv.13 tells us, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (ESV)

1 John iv.10 tells us, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (NKJV)

Love is defined by God. Who He is and what He has done on our behalf. Our love and acts of love, including sexuality, are meant to reveal that. Marriage is designed to be a picture of the love God has for mankind.

In other words, it is to be a picture of the gospel. 

God put the confines of marriage – one man with one woman, after they have become one before God – in place for our good. He made it a symbol to remind us that Jesus Christ lay down his life to purchase and sanctify for Himself one bride – the church.

Marriage as God defines it is important because it depicts the gospel to a lost and promiscuous world. Which is why we, as Christians, should always pay attention when it comes under attack.

Enter Saint Valentine

Valentine was a leader in the church. He was a man who believed strongly in the importance of following Christ and obeying His commands. He had a heart to see the people of the pagan society in which he lived transformed by the light and life of Christ.

It was because of this that Valentine, despite the Emperor’s law, continued to unite people in marriage. He held secret wedding ceremonies for many young couples.

 Eventually, he was discovered and on February 14, 270 A.D. – the first Valentine’s Day – Valentine was executed. He died for defying the Emperor, he died for obeying God, he died for defending marriage.  

It is so easy to loose sight of the why behind this holiday. It can be tempting to make it about us – celebrating our love or bemoaning a lack there of. It seems that the true meaning of love is quickly forgotten. But that is just what Valentines day was meant to remind us of.

Valentines day should be a time to celebrate God’s love for us, remember the confines He places on love and why, and learn from a man who gave his life to defend those things because he valued them so highly.

There is a need in this generation, as in 269 A.D., for marriage to be upheld regardless of men’s opinions. Will Christians, like Saint Valentine, rise to the task?

Happy Valentines Day!

In Christ

Quiana