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Fingers in Pagan history

Rings in Christian history

Origins of the wedding ring

Betrothal Rings in Early Christianity.

How early the Christians adopted the Roman custom of the betrothal ring is unknown. There is no mention of betrothal rings in the New Testament, apparently because their use had not yet begun. The earliest Christian betrothal rings have been found in the Roman catacombs, underground burial-places dug outside the city of Rome from about A. D. 200.19 From about the same time we have the testimonies of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria about the Christian use of the betrothal ring. In the light of these archeological and literary evidences we can assume that Christians adopted the use of betrothal ring in the latter part of the second century.

The most common material of the betrothal ring found in the catacomb is bronze, though a few iron rings have survived. "As a rule, early Christian rings of gold are rare. This might be expected, as the use of rich and numerous ornaments was not in accordance with the teaching of the early church."20 Contrary to the pagan fashion of wearing a "ring on nearly every joint," the early Christians wore only one ring, the marital ring.21

It is interesting to note that the early Christians followed the Roman custom of using the ring for the betrothal ceremony rather than the wedding service. The reason appears to be that originally the wedding was not an elaborate ceremony as it is today, "but a simple affirmation of mutual love and obedience."22 In other words, betrothal rituals were more elaborate than wedding services. Even the betrothal, as Joseph Bingham explains, "was an innocent ceremony, used by the Romans before the beginning of Christianity, and in some measure admitted by the Jews, whence it was adopted among the Christian rites of espousal without any opposition or contradiction
 

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