Home page

Fingers in Pagan history

Rings in Christian history

Origins of the wedding ring

History Repeats Itself.

The saying that "history repeats itself" applies in a special way to the history of the wedding ring. What happened in the early church and during the Middle Ages has been repeated in the internal history of several denominations which grew out of the Reformation. We have found that in the early church the use of the marital ring evolved through three main stages. In the first stage of the apostolic period, there was no apparent use of the marital ring. In the second stage of the second and third centuries, there was a restricted use of only one plain inexpensive conjugal ring which served also as signet ring for sealing purposes. In the final stage from the fourth century onward there was a proliferation of all kinds of ornamental rings and jewelry.

This pattern of no marital ring in the first stage, plain marital ring in the second stage, and all kinds of ornamental rings and jewelry in the final stage, has recurred in the internal history of various denominations that grew out of the Reformation. To appreciate more fully the recurrence of this pattern, we shall briefly look at the history of the wedding ring within the Methodist, Mennonite, and Seventh-day Adventist churches.