A Disabled Person Who Can’t Consummate a Marriage Isn’t Truly Married
Let's say there's a man who is a quadriplegic and he can't consummate the marriage and he's got a dear friend from childhood who wants to live with him and be his friend forever, I don't have any objection to that.
In Douglas Wilson’s own words: 2 quotes from 2021 to 2022, from Blog & Mablog and The Gospel Truth, each cited to the source.
In my experience talking about this, this is something that a good many tender-hearted Christians struggle with. They think it is endearing and sweet when a quadriplegic “marries” his high school sweetheart, regardless of the accident rendered him incapable of consummating the marriage. To be clear, I have no objection to such arrangements—I just don’t want to call it a marriage.
[Marlon Wilson: "Do you have to consummate marriage for the marriage to be valid? For example, if a spouse has a disability preventing consummation."] Yeah. Thank you, Monty, for picking up on that. I believe that an unconsummated marriage is not a marriage... I believe the definition of marriage is a covenant and a consummation. And if you have consummation without a covenant, that's simply fornication or adultery... If you have covenant, but no consummation, then what you are is just roommates or friends. And now, if there's a disability, I have no objection. Let's say there's a man who is a quadriplegic and he can't consummate the marriage and he's got a dear friend from childhood who wants to live with him and be his friend forever, I don't have any objection to that. But I just don't think it ought to be called marriage.