Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, wrote extensively on marriage and his thoughts have had a considerable influence on Christian reflection on human love. In this extract from Marriage and Virginity: The Excellence of Marriage, Augustine underlines the importance of marriage as a creation ordinance that is intended to hold society together and stabilize future generations.
Every human being is part of the human race, and human nature is a social entity, and has naturally the great benefit and power of friendship. For this reason God wished to produce all persons out of one, so that they would be held together in their social relationships not only by similarity of race, but also by the bond of kinship. The first natural bond of human society, therefore, is that of husband and wife. God did not create them as separate individuals and bring them together as persons of a different race, but he created one from the other, making the side, from which the woman was taken and formed, a sign of the strength of their union. For those who walk together, and look ahead together to where they are walking, do so at each other’s side. The result is the bonding of society in its children.