22 Apr How does God define marriage?
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'”
-Genesis 1:27-28
God created the covenant of marriage; thus, He alone defines what it is. His definition of one man and one woman, husband and wife for life, as one flesh, eliminates the alternatives such as bestiality, homosexuality, fornication, polygamy, adultery, and the like. At the first wedding God brought the woman to the man, gave her away as her Father, and officiated the ceremony as their pastor. Upon seeing his bride for the first time, Adam responded to her beauty by singing her a song. Adam’s poetic words to his bride on their wedding day are the first recorded words of any human being.
Genesis 2:24 then explains how a man can overcome his state of being single that is not good. First, a man should leave his parents’ care and be responsible for himself. Second, a man should marry a woman he loves and who loves him and loves the Lord. Third, their marriage should be intimate in every way including sexual consummation, and they should spend the rest of their life becoming “one” as the Trinitarian God is “one.” [The same Hebrew word for “one” is used for a husband and wife in Gen. 2:24 and for the Trinity in Deut. 6:4.] Both Jesus and Paul repeat this process throughout the New Testament as the pattern God intends for marriage and sexuality. [Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:7–8; Eph. 5:31].
Also important is that, in the creation account, God establishes an order to the covenant of marriage and organizes the family with the husband as the head (singular headship) and husband and wife as the leaders (plural leadership).
How has marriage been a gift of God’s grace in your life whether it’s your marriage or another marriage close to you (parents, siblings, good friends, etc.)?
This is an excerpt from Pastor Mark’s booklet Real Faith: Answers to the Top 100 Questions About Christianity. You can get a free digital copy HERE or a physical copy for your gift of any amount during the month of April HERE.
