Definition for One-Flesh Union
Glossary
One Flesh Union
One cannot fully understand the nuptial meaning of the body without first knowing what a covenant — especially a Covenant of Salt. They are one and the same. All covenants between God and man are Covenants of Salt.
What is a covenant? In the non-biblical sense, a covenant is a binding agreement, a contract between two or more persons. In the biblical sense, a covenant is much more: it is a solemn oath (sacratemtum in Latin) and a gift of persons.[1] To appreciate the wide gap in the relative gravity of a civil covenant versus a Divine/sacramental covenant, Dr. Scott Hahn tells us that the Trinity is a covenant relationship of three Persons in one God.[2] The word One is very important for understanding Covenants of Salt. This informs us of the nuptial meaning of the body. As St. Paul tells us, through the nuptial ceremony, a man and a woman become one-flesh. They become one family. Eventually, they have offspring. They are one family because of there exists a common genetic bond. Three-plus persons, one flesh.
A covenant is, therefore, a family oath, as can be seen by the very names given to the different Persons of the Trinity, i.e., Father, Son, and Spirit. We are meant to be part of that covenantal relationship. Otherwise, we could not rightly be called sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father (2 Cor. 6:16-18). Hahn tells us that a covenant is designed by God to forge bonds of sacred kinship; to turn people into spouses, sons, daughters, and parents ... both to each other and to Himself.[3]
We know what a Covenant of Salt is by looking at how it is entered into. According to M. G. Easton, a covenant is:
A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a “cutting,” with reference to the cutting or dividing of [one animal] into two parts, and the contracting parties passing between them [emphasis SML], in making a covenant (Gen. 15; Jer. 34:18, 19) [Thus the flesh, i.e., our salt of DNA, is involved in the covenant — SML]. … The corresponding word in the New Testament Greek is diatheke, which is, however, rendered “testament” generally in the Authorized Version. It ought to be rendered, just as the word berith of the Old Testament, “covenant.”[4][5]
The term covenant is also used to designate the regular succession of day and night (Jer. 33:20), the Sabbath (Ex. 31:16), circumcision [the covenantal “cutting” of the one flesh of the male sex organ — SML] (Gen. 17:9, 10), and in general any ordinance of God (Jer. 34:13, 14). A “covenant of salt” signifies an everlasting covenant, in the sealing or ratifying of which salt, as an emblem of perpetuity, is used (Num. 18:19; Lev. 2:13; 2 Chr. 13:5).[6]
Based on the ritual described above, we can thus define a covenant of salt as a one-flesh covenant between two parties. Interpreting the ritual described in Genesis and Jeremiah, we can say that an animal cut in half remains two halves of one-flesh. Therefore, each of the two parties walking between the single cut-in-half-animal is representative of one half of the one animal, i.e., each party entering into the family bond of the covenant of salt. Marriage, then, is two parties entering into a nuptial one-flesh, one-salt of DNA covenant bond between the parties.
Due to their eternal nature, all covenants are also salt covenants.[7] The reason why is because the substance of man consists of a composite unity of body and soul. Therefore, any covenant between God and man, through which man is to be redeemed, must involve both body and soul.
The only way fallen man could exist with God eternally is through a Covenant of Salt. The only salt that can provide man with the ability to be with God eternally is the salt of DNA of the incarnate Son of God. We are sanctified through Baptism.[8][9] Receiving this Sacrament, we become the Bride of Christ (the Church) and a member of the Mystical Body of the incarnate Son of God. This covenantal one-flesh Marriage is consummated when we receive the Eucharist, becoming one-flesh with our Savior on the salt of DNA wooden Cross.
A covenant forms a sacred kinship with God.[10] A type of family covenant is the Sacrament of Matrimony. The institution of sacramental marriage is the most complete image possible of the Holy Trinity existing within creation.[11] A sacramental marriage (as opposed to a civil marriage) is a covenant through which a man and a woman become one-flesh (Mt. 19:5-6, Mk. 10:8). It is a gift between two persons that is both unitive and fruitful. Man is made in the image and likeness of a God consisting of Three Persons in a covenantal relationship. This would mean that, from the very first moment of their creation, Adam and Eve would have been: 1) made, not born; 2) made for each other (made for a covenantal relationship)[12], and; 3) made such that the female was taken from the rib of the male. In a three-part blog, I prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Adam and Eve were made pretty much exactly as Genesis describes it.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Scott Hahn. (2011-07-18). A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture (p. 24). St. Anthony Messenger Press, Servant Books. Kindle Edition.
[2] Ibid., 29.
[3] Ibid., 26.
[4] M. G. Easton, “Covenant,” (1893), In Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (p. 164). New York: Harper & Brothers.
[5] This is why we use different words in describing the two main parts of Scripture, i.e., the Old and New Testaments versus the Old and New Covenants. I agree with Easton. The Old and New Covenants would be the more appropriate and explanatory wording. After all, virtually all of Scripture was originally written in Hebrew (the word berith is translated as “covenant”), and Covenant Theology is the “Big Picture” of Scripture.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Koniuchowsky, http://www.hebroots.org/hebrootsarchive/0209/0209b.html.
[8] According to the USCCB, “Lex orandi, lex credendi has become something of a tenet of liturgical theology, especially in the years since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Literally translated, it means ‘the law of prayer [is] the law of belief.’ The original version of the phrase, ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi (“that the law of praying establishes the law of believing”), highlighted the understanding that the Church’s teaching (lex credendi) is articulated and made manifest in the celebration of the liturgy and prayer (lex orandi). In other words, the liturgical form of the Sacraments and sacramentals teaches us that the salt of DNA of Jesus’ Body instrumentally gifts to us the graces necessary to purify the salt of DNA of our body through the flavor of the Holy Spirit. [USCCB, “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi: The Word of God in the Celebration of the Sacraments,” USCCB, https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catechesis/catechetical-sunday/word-of-god/upload/lex-orandi-lex-credendi.pdf, September 20, 2009 (accessed 08/01/2021)].
[9] As a Catholic sacramental, salt blessed by the liturgical prayer of a priest may be used by itself, unmixed, as in exorcisms, and [formerly in the exorcistic prayer at baptism]**, or it may be mixed with water to make holy water, as the Ritual prescribes (reminiscent of Elisha’s miracle). In whichever form, it is intended to be an instrument of grace to preserve one from the corruption of evil occurring as sin, sickness, demonic influence, etc. As in the case of all sacramentals, its power comes not from the sign itself, but by means of the Church’s official (liturgical, not private) prayer of blessing–a power the Church derives from Christ himself (see Matt. 16:19 and 18:18). As the Vatican II document on the Liturgy states (art. 61), both Sacraments and sacramentals sanctify us, not of themselves, but by power flowing from the redemptive act of Jesus, elicited by the Church’s intercession to be directed through those external signs and elements. [“Catholic Sacramentals,” Sacred Heart Holdings LLC, https://www.catholicsacramentals.org/about, accessed 8/08/2021].
[10] Ibid., 27.
[11] Pastoral letter of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/love-and-life/upload/pastoral-letter-marriage-love-and-life-in-the-divine-plan.pdf, November 17, 2009.
[12] CCC, n. 2361.