MARRIAGE
Definition:
Marriage is defined as the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife. It is the state of being married; wedlock.
Brief Explanation:
Second in importance to our relationship with Christ and his church is the covenant of marriage. Marriage is not merely a legal agreement between two people (Adam and Eve), but is a covenant, a binding agreement that from the beginning was never to be broken. To have a successful marriage requires several things, to include maturity, love, sacrifice, discipline, compatibility, etc. From a biblical view, maturity and common faith are all that is required, but this does not disallow common sense in choosing a mate for life. Paul described two overriding characteristics of a healthy marriage, which are the blending of Love and Respect.
Matches are not made in heaven but on earth, by well intentioned, but often flawed people. Though marriage is to be till death do us part, not all will make it (approximately 50% of first marriages end in divorce, and 70% of second marriages), yet we must hold the sacred and sanctity of marriage high and not lower the standards of scripture. Where failure occurs, grace, mercy forgiveness and restoration are needed and readily available. For more see Dr. Stan DeKoven’s Marriage and Family Life: A Christian Perspective and Dr. Ken Chant’s To the Corinthians.
The Word of God:
Genesis 2:18, 23, 24
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”
Proverbs 18:22
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 6:14
“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
Ephesians 5:21,22
“…and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”
1 Peter 3:7
“You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”
Ephesians 5:25
“Husbands, love our wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”
Ephesians 5:33
“Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”
Hebrews 13:4
“Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”
1 Corinthians 7:4-7
“The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But this I say by way of concession, not of command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.”
Ecclesiastes 9:9
“Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.”
