📖 Biblical Definition
Scripture takes the marriage covenant with utmost seriousness. Jesus declares: "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matthew 19:6). The concept of annulment — declaring that a valid marriage never existed — is not explicitly addressed in Scripture, though the Bible does recognize situations where marriages are entered fraudulently or unlawfully. Ezra commanded the Israelites to put away foreign wives who had been taken in violation of God's law (Ezra 10:11). The biblical principle is that marriage is a covenant before God, and any dissolution must be weighed against His clear commands about the permanence of that bond.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The act of annulling; the act of making void; as the annulment of a law.
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ANNUL'MENT, n. The act of annulling; the act of making void, abrogation. Note: Webster defined annulment broadly as the nullification of any legal act. The specific application to marriage — declaring a marriage never valid — carries immense theological weight because it touches on a covenant made before God.
📖 Key Scripture
• Matthew 19:6 — "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
• Malachi 2:14-16 — "The LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth... he hates divorce."
• Ezra 10:11 — "Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Annulment is sometimes used as a theological loophole to dissolve marriages without calling it divorce.
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In both Roman Catholic and some Protestant contexts, annulment can function as a convenient fiction — a way to dissolve a marriage while technically avoiding the word "divorce." When annulments are granted for marriages that lasted years and produced children, the claim that "no valid marriage ever existed" strains credibility and conscience. The danger is using ecclesiastical procedure to circumvent what Christ plainly taught about the permanence of marriage. This is not to say that all annulments are invalid — genuine cases of fraud, coercion, or incapacity do exist. But the proliferation of annulments in the modern church often reflects a desire to escape the hard teaching of Jesus rather than to submit to it.
Usage
• "Annulment is a legitimate concept when a marriage was entered through genuine fraud or coercion — but it becomes a scandal when it is used as divorce by another name."
• "Jesus did not provide a loophole for dissolving marriages — He reinforced the permanence of the covenant that God witnesses between husband and wife."