GOD'S DESIGN FOR MARRIAGE
Scriptures on marriage, as well as any subject matter, must be studied together,
so that all statements and commands are put in context with the way God designed
it. Civil laws on marriage must also be satisfied—a marriage license must
be obtained and an approved marriage ceremony performed. So, let us study the
Scriptures to see what God wants marriage to be:
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen 2:24).
"‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made
them male and female,' and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?
So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined
together, let not man separate" (Matt. 19:4-6; see also, Mk. 10:5-9).
"...whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes
her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits
adultery" (Matt. 5:32; 19:9; Mk. 10:11-12; Lk. 16:18).
"But He said to them, ‘All cannot accept this saying, but only those
to whom it has been given: For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their
mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there
are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.
He who is able to accept it, let him accept it'" (Matt 19:11-12).
"It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual
immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own
husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise
also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own
body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority
over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with
consent for a time... so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack
of self-control" (1 Cor 7:1-5).
"Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators
and adulterers God will judge" (Heb 13:4).
"For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as
long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her
husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will
be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law,
so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man" (Rom
7:2-3).
"Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with
her? For ‘the two,' He says, ‘shall become one flesh'" (1 Cor
6:16).
From these scriptures, we learn God's design for marriage—one man and
one woman joined together as "one flesh"—the two touch, kiss
and "render affection due" one another—they are not to "deprive
one another" sexually, so they are not tempted to commit adultery with
someone else.
Marriage is the very closest earthly union—the two are like "one
flesh," and God prohibits anyone else from being sexually involved with
either mate. But, some people, such as eunuchs, can not fulfill this design,
as Jesus stated in Matthew 19—"All cannot accept this saying, but
only those to whom it has been given." But this exception does not set
aside God's design for marriage, any more so than the contingent "precept"
He gave Moses—to issue certificates of divorce to the Jews because of
the "hardness of their hearts" (Matt 19:8; Mark 10:5; Deut. 24:1-4).
And, the Pharisees "tested" Jesus about that "precept" of
Deuteronomy 24, but Jesus emphatically told them, "it was not so from the
beginning of the creation." God's design was and is the same as it was
for the first man and woman joined by Him in the garden of Eden—they were
as "one flesh" and meant to be so as long as both lived.
As Jesus reiterated in Matthew 19, everything about God's marriage laws have
remained the same from the very beginning of mankind—one man and one woman
joined together in a spiritual, mental and physical union for as long as they
both shall live. It is NOT a union that is lawful for two women or two men in
a homoseual relationship. And it is NOT a union that a divorced man or woman
can be in with another, unless the innocent mate divorced the guilty mate for
"sexual immorality." Otherwise, they are like a man joined to a harlot
in fornication. All sexual experiences outside of marriage is sin—the
"bed" is defiled!
We must let God's design of marriage be unadulterated—a lifetime commitment—as
the Scriptures command! "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate!"
by Hugh Walton
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