Martin Luther’s views on marriage and the family revealed a radical departure from the traditional Catholic views of his times. He elevated marriage and the family to a place of honor and respectability at a time when the single life and celibacy were celebrated as a higher state of spirituality. He denounced celibacy as a cause of lust, rather than an aid to chastity. He advocated a moderate view on divorce at a time when divorce was almost impossible. He provided counsel to couples and those contemplating marriage. He encouraged priests to marry, and followed his own advice by getting married.

Just as he had done with the doctrine of grace that had been perverted and corrupted by the church, Luther devotes no less energy to the restoration of marriage and family to its biblical foundations. One of Luther’s most important contribution was in how he removed the sacred from the church and placed it in the family, so that the mundane activities of cooking, child rearing, and housekeeping took on a sacred nature.

Luther recognized that not only was the theology of Catholicism in need of serious reform, but also the institution of marriage and the family; in his irascible and earthy style, he went about that reform with a passionate intensity revealed in the power of his pen and the courage of his life.