MARRIAGE: ORDAINED BY GOD
Marriage is ordained by God; it is His institution. The first book of the Bible provides the details:
Marriage is the oldest institution, extending back to the Garden of Eden. According to the Scriptures, God made man and then God made the woman, and subsequently “He brought her to the man” (Gen. 2:22); thus, marriage is ordained by God and was initiated by Him at the time of creation. Properly understood, therefore, marriage is Theistic: it is of God, not man.
In marriage the two become one, the “two” being a man and a woman, and the “one” being the relationship that is formed by the two, a relationship that is comprehensive and profound. And for this relationship, God has established principles that are to govern it, and by their acceptance and implementation, these principles are to enhance the coming together of the two.
Marriage is neither a human invention nor an evolutionary development; its origin resides in the mind of God as part of His plan for the first couple, a man and a woman, and the subsequent couples that would come to populate the earth. Properly understood marriage is of God and is not merely a social contract between two people.
God did not ordain celibacy, a practice with roots in Greek dualism which separates the flesh and the spirit. The Lord declared that it was not good for the man to be alone. From the beginning, it was His determination that man and woman live in companionship, not in isolation and loneliness. In the Old Testament even the High Priest married (Lev. 21:13), the Levites married (Num. 6:1-6), and in the New Testament the pastor/elder/bishop is to be the husband of one wife (I Tim. 3:2). And Paul speaks of those in the last days who will give heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, and part of their false doctrine is that they forbid couples to marry (I Tim. 4:3). While some may be given the gift of celibacy (I Cor. 7:7), there is never in Scripture a call for abstaining from marriage. Marriage is normal and proper.
In the Old Testament marriage serves as an illustration of the relationship between God and Israel:
For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name (Isa. 54:5);
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you (Isa. 62:5);
I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal when you went after Me in the wilderness (Jer. 2:2)
“Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married to you” (Jer. 3:14; lit., “I am your husband”; also see: 7:34; 16:9; and 25:10 where judgment is associated with God taking away the sound of the groom and the bride);
. . . in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them (Jer. 31:32);
“And it shall be, in that day,” says the Lord, “that you will call Me, ‘My Husband’ ” (Hos. 2:16);
I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord (Hos. 2:19-20; see: Mal. 2:10-16).
Marriage was dignified by Christ when His first miracle was performed at a wedding (Jo. 2:1-11). He turned the water into wine so that there would be joy and happiness for the man and woman coming together, and for the friends who were celebrating their union. By His attendance and deed, the Lord bestowed His sanction and blessing on the joining of the groom and bride.
The presence of Jesus at the visible merriment surrounding their consummation reminds us of one of the two fundamental aspects of marriage. Though, in a sense, marriage is private—between a man and a woman who are before God—in another sense, marriage is public with a declaration before others of the relationship that is being established and a recognition by the culture of the covenant that the two have made. Thus, marriage has an inward and an outward expression, one that is both vertical and horizontal.
Furthermore, marriage is elevated by the Scriptures because it is used to serve as an illustration of the relationship of Christ to the individual believer and to the Church:
For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ (II Cor. 11:2);
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Eph. 5:25-27; see vs. 22-32);
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints (Rev. 19:7-8; see vs. 6-10 and 21:2, 9).
From Genesis to Revelation marriage is spoken of in Theistic and creational terms; it is always lifted up in importance and practice. It is never demeaned nor made optional, except when a believer does not marry and gives himself fully to the Lord’s work because the Lord has imparted to him the gift to live such a life (I Cor. 7:6-7); rather it is God’s plan for the continuation of the race, as well as for fulfillment and mutual enjoyment by the couple.
Marriage is the building block for human society. It is the basic component in any culture and to the degree that the practice of marriage reflects Biblical teaching to that degree the culture will be properly ordered in this fundamental relationship.
It is to be expected that the union between the husband and wife will be enlarged to include children, a heritage that is God’s doing. And in His Word He has revealed guidelines for the nurturing and disciplining of the children He gives.
But then, when the overwhelming majority do not believe in God, or they create a god of their making in their dark minds and hearts in these last of the last days — for the erosion of the traditional family after thousands of years of the traditional family being a bedrock foundation of every society through the ages — what can we expect otherwise? Really?
The people have been given over to their wicked, evil, at enmity with God, unrighteous hearts and minds. Imagining vainly, foolishly, they do not need God. They have been taught they are their own gods. And lawlessness and unrighteousness abound and grow by the day…
For those demanding, requiring, needing a sign or signs in order to believe, to act, to understand? Why they are everywhere today! There are more signs than there are not! If only one would open their eyes, their ears, their hearts, and souls to know. Between coming to discern well and rightly the whole Word of God and keen observation daily how can anyone not see what is unfolding, or ask for a sign? How blind can folks be!? Ahh, when serving the Enemy, Satan, who keeps them in bondage and their darkness people foolishly imagine they are wise, educated, sophisticated, and not in need of what is contained in the Holy Bible, not in need of a Saviour they remain banging about in utter darkness imagining they are the enlightened ones — as they plod along under heavy burden ever closer to eternal damnation in hell refusing the Light, the Truth, the Way to Life!
Come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Personally. Actually. Truly, While the door remains open and He blesses you with breath and a beating heart and the opportunity for eternal life. For no one knows what next year, the next day, or even the next hour holds for any of us.
Read on…
Ken Pullen, A CROOKED PATH, Thursday, December 1st, 2022
NOTE: Some of the above material was sourced from Embraced by Truth; Reflections on Theology and Life.
8 Out of 10 Teenagers Expect to Cohabitate, Not Marry, Study Finds
October 12, 2022
By Dan Hart
Reprinted from The Washington Stand
The Marriage Strengthening Research & Dissemination Center (or MAST Center) recently released a new report illustrating the vast scale of disillusionment regarding the institution of marriage in the eyes of America’s young people. Among other findings, the study found that almost 80% of teenagers (categorized as 15 to 19-year-olds) expect to cohabit before marriage, with 95% saying that they expect to marry someday.
In an article analyzing the report, Alysse ElHage of the Institute for Family Studies highlighted some particularly revealing comments from teenagers about their thoughts on marriage from a New York Times story from 2019.
A teen from Texas reflected:
I feel like nowadays it’s not really as important to get married, especially for people of my age and generation. The reason being is that we are being taught by our parents and educators that our education should come first in order to have a stable life financially and career wise, which causes many people to neglect the thought of marriage. Not only that, but society has also made marriage seem like it should be like the least important thing for a person to think about.
Another student from North Carolina wrote:
Asking if I want to get married someday is a poor question in my opinion. Marriage is just a title, a contract; it only begins to matter once love is in the picture. … I think it’s acceptable to live with a romantic partner without having plans to get married.
These findings and quotes combine for a perfect encapsulation of our current cultural view of relationships and marriage: living together is expected, while marriage is simultaneously a throwaway relic from prehistoric times but also a mythical ideal. As has become customary in our modern society, confusion and disillusionment now reign supreme.
How did we get to a cultural place where the concept of marriage has become so mocked and diluted? While many factors are at play here, arguably the most important factor is the societal loss of knowledge of why God created marriage for the human race, a covenantal relationship instituted at the very beginning of creation: “[H]e who made them from 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’? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6).
The extent to which teens are without solid foundational beliefs has been documented by the Barna Group, which found that about 4% of Generation Z has a biblical worldview. They also note that this number is the lowest of the three previous generations (10% of Boomers, 7% of Generation X, and 6% of Millennials).
The specific loss of a Christian understanding of marriage is key here. For the secular culture, marriage has simply become the formalization of a relationship of two people who are already living together. As alluded to in the two teen quotes above, marriage is seen as a foolish and unimportant idea, unless it has been thoroughly road tested by two people who have shacked up together to see how it goes, and then maybe done as a second thought if it happens to suit their fancy.
The first problem with this hypothesis is that it doesn’t work. Studies have consistently shown that couples who cohabitate before getting married divorce at higher rates than those who wait until marriage to move in together. The reasons for this have been intensely debated amongst university elites, but for believers, the reason is clear: When God’s laws against premarital sex are broken and ignored, the results are an absolute disaster. Since the sexual revolution began in the 1960s (when premarital sex began to become widely culturally accepted), the rates of divorce, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases skyrocketed.
Still, it’s quite telling that fully 95% of teenagers say they want to get married someday. Despite how profoundly our society has cheapened marriage and sex, our souls still yearn for God’s design for humankind at the deepest level. We long for communion and unity, to be known and loved intimately and exclusively by another in the form of a vow, which is a reflection of God’s love for us. We also know primordially that we are all the incarnation of the union of our mother and father — of an act that God designed only for marriage. The entire human race would not exist without the marriage of one man and one woman, Adam and Eve (see Genesis 2).
This latest study on cohabitation shows that we believers have our work cut out for us. While combatting the lies of the sexual revolution is important, it is perhaps more effective to witness to the beauty of God’s laws and the tangible ways that they bring happiness and joy to our own marriages and families. It should serve as further motivation to redouble our efforts to spread the gospel of life, sacred vows, commitment, and true love (John 15:13) to our friends, families, coworkers, neighbors, and others in our circles of influence.
Dan Hart is a senior editor at The Washington Stand.
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