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.