4. Ratum and Legitimum Matrimonium
is conceivable among Christians, but not a
matrimonium legitimum non ratum; for a marriage
answering only to secular and not to
ecclesiastical law can not, by canon
law, be considered a
marriage among
believers, whereas to contract marriage
in disregard of secular law does
not diminish the sacramental character
of matrimony,
even when secular law does not
recognize such a union as marriage. Only by the
French theory can a matrimonium legitimum non
ratum exist among believers. In the ecclesiastical
Protestant concept, this distinction is impossible,
since it does not regard the Church as having authority
to pass laws on marriage. A civilly valid
marriage, therefore, can no more be ecclesiastically
invalid than a civilly invalid marriage can be ecclesiastically
valid, provided that the enactments of
the civil law are not absolutely inconsistent with
the divine Word. From a Protestant point of view
the question of a matrimonium legitimum non ratum
could exist only in the figurative sense of a marriage
not approved by the Church and hence not blessed.